The Big 5 Spiritual Bypasses of our time

We need to talk about the intense spiritual bypassing that is happening in response to global events right now.

Before you get triggered, take a breath, open your mind, and ask yourself if you can sit with paradox.

The ability to hold paradox, in my humble opinion, is one of the most advanced spiritual and human skills we can cultivate. Perhaps this is a moment to visit your paradoxical gym.

Before diving in, I want to briefly touch upon who I am — and who I’m not — talking to.

If you love the current administration, if your primary media feeds are telling you that everything is normal, or getting better, or that the actions we’re witnessing right now are good things, or at least legal and normal…cool. Not here to argue. You can move on now, because the purpose of this article is not to bridge the reality divide we’re in.

If you see the polycrisis as imminent, the current administration as accelerating the collapse of democracy, and you know in your heart that something has gone terribly wrong…this will likely be interesting to you.

If you don’t like what you see in general — the violence, the narcissism, the coverups, the colonizer mindset — but you also see this as some great evolutionary revelation that will ultimately serve humanity’s spiritual awakening — we need to talk.

And please. Remember paradox. More than one thing can be true at once. Just consider a few different perspectives.

Collapse consciousness and rapture ideology — A recipe for light-washing

At the end of the first year of COVID lockdowns, I gathered with a small, intimate group of consciousness explorers in Boulder, CO. I mean, Boulder — amiright? All the stereotypes for better and worse at play there.

Truthfully, the daylong retreat was a total delight. It felt so indulgent to spend hours upon hours in what one of my friends calls “Covid Conversations”* — reflecting on the meaning of life, what this implied for human consciousness and evolution, what survival would require…interspersed with yoga/song/tarot breaks.

*Covid Conversations: I find this hilarious. This language reminds me that a lot of folks really have made their way back to life as usual, focusing on kids’ sporting events and the grind of a 9-5. I don’t think I ever stopped having “covid convos” — they’re actually the only convos my man and I have ever had, even pre-pandemic.

Throughout our very Bouldery day, the theme of collapse arose again and again. And there was a definite underlying theme that collapse was a good thing.

Though I remember at one point a man saying, Do you all realize what collapse would actually look like? Is this really what you want?

Right on dude.

But the craving for collapse makes sense.

Anyone who actually looks at how our world works — economically, politically, religiously, socially — and bothers to pull back the covers even the tiniest bit, will see how daily life rests on a foundation of abuse.

We have to abuse the planet to survive. We have to abuse those less economically empowered to maintain even basic income levels of our own. We have to abuse our souls in order to feel safe.

Righteous anger at the systems that perpetuate this abuse is a healthy response. And anger, healthy anger, is always a messenger: A boundary has been crossed. A need unmet. An action required.

The anger, the call to action — these are good. We need to collectively re-ensoul the world.

But the idea that collapse — that the total destruction and rebuilding of life as we know it — is the answer? That rests on an unnamed and toxic foundation: rapture ideology.

This term is from Jamie Wheal and I write about it a lot — I have a deeper dive into what this looks like here (scroll to the end of that article).

In short, rapture ideology is the belief that something will save us, but in the saving, most of us will die. So collapse is an essential ingredient in salvation.

Whether you’re religious enough to believe in a Biblical rapture is beyond the point: salvation, the apocalypse, survival of the worthy: these are embedded deeply in all aspects of popular culture. If we don’t actively question and unravel these narratives within our own psyches, we will fall prey to collapse consciousness.

Many of those who were left-leaning wellness peeps, considered themselves apolitical, or were right-leaning liberarians, voted for T. in the last election because they were heavily swayed by the modern mythos of collapse and salvation.

They saw a broken system. They felt frustrated (and rightly so) that they were naming real concerns (the V, human trafficking) and being labeled as conspiracy theorists. They believed that an “outsider” would burn it all down to liberate the masses and restore power to local communities.

They knew collapse was needed, and they were going to vote for it.

To be fair, I think this set of voters truly believed that collapse would be relatively painless (at least for them) and lead to a better world: more peace, less corruption, collapse of institutions and return to Aquarian communities. (Again — this is rapture ideology: The future is worth the present’s pain because you and yours will be among the saved.)

I saw this appear in one persistent meme during our last election season in the States: We are living through a massive reset. People will die, systems will die, and humanity will ultimately be better off for it.

The choice wasn’t “avoid collapse or not” — the choice was “slow collapse vs ripping off the bandage”.

A collection of spiritually-minded voters decided to rip that motherfucker off.

I get it — but I struggle with this approach. Any rapture ideology is inevitably an “ends justify the means” mentality. But the means is all there ever is. The present is where the past and future collide. Our souls reside in the moment, and our souls wish for goodness.

If we choose to cause harm in the present, hoping it will lead to a better future, what does this do to the soul?

Why is this not okay at the individual level, but weirdly acceptable at the collective?

Let’s take a detour to wellness culture now, which is obviously entangled in the above narratives and voter blocks.

In recent years, there have been some healthy “come-to-Jesus” moments in regard to the icky spiritual bypassing that is so widespread in new age health mythology.

I’m talking about all the places where personal responsibility and empowerment — which are real and important — get warped into victim blaming. All the ways “it’s not happening to you; it’s happening for you” gets twisted. All the ways rampant individualism loses sight of the systems at play in all areas of wellness.

On the individual level, we’re starting to finally acknowledge the ways these narratives cause harm:

• I hope you realize it’s no longer cool to think someone got cancer because they had negative thoughts (I mean, wow. Thanks 1990s Hay House.)

• I hope you would not actually dismiss the trauma of an abusive childhood because we choose our parents.

• I hope you would not tell a grieving mother who lost her child that everything happens for a reason.

• And I hope that if a spiritual teacher ever told you that their abusive behavior was a reflection of your own shit and shadow, you would run for the hills.

So why does all this awareness get thrown out the window when it comes to our collective abuse?

Because rapture ideology is so damned ingrained in our consciousness.

And because it’s almost too painful to handle all the soul-level abuse we see without numbing out with some anesthesia-filled stories.

The Big 5 Bypasses

Here’s where we see major bypassing — and some insane gaslighting — happening now.

Let’s start with what I hope is a shared reality: January was hard, news-wise. (Again, if you disagree with that premise, this isn’t for you.) In response, I’ve seen the following basic ideas in comments across social media platforms:

• What if this isn’t happening to us, but for us? What if this is what we need to wake up and co-create a more soulful, loving culture?

• The bigger the light, the bigger the shadow. We’re seeing this level of toxicity because we’ve evolved into 5D consciousness.

• It’s in the stars. Astrology has predicted this, so it was always destined to happen. It’s Kali Yuga. Turning of the ages.

• It’s trickster energy. We need the divine trickster for a shake up so we can wake up.

• In the nondual truth beyond the physical, we are all one and we are all love. Ultimately, that’s the truth that really matters, so why get caught up in samskara?

And then of course, there’s the more general: The trees are still growing. I look out my window and see flowers bloom. We’ve always faced challenges. Life goes on.

Here’s where the paradox arrives: All of these sentiments hold truth — this is why they resonate.

They are also hallmarks of bypassing the very real pain and trauma upon us. But more than that — they bypass the responsibility for what we’re experiencing.

If you wouldn’t tell a child that their abuse was happening for them — don’t tell us that what we’re witnessing is happening for us. And, I’m hesitant to even say this…but if you knowingly voted for collapse, wanting the “rip off the bandage and build a new utopia approach”, and now you’re telling us that this is all part of some cosmic plan…then you are engaged in some serious mindfuckery.

I actually love the idea that a bigger light illuminates bigger shadows. I hope it’s true. And, even if it is — let us not fall into the trap of believing that this means the pain we see was inevitable — because inevitability provides an excuse to abdicate responsibility.

The astrological cosmos provide us with maps for the different patterns of energy that will flow through our lives. We will encounter times of growth and challenge. We will cycle through periods of birth, life, death, and rebirth. And we always have the responsibility to choose how we move through each phase.

Trickster is important. But as mythologist Michael Meade shares, the true trickster cries. The trickster acts out of love with both laughter and tears for humanity’s foibles. The trickster isn’t cruel. What we’re witnessing is. To call intentional cruelty and abuse “trickster energy” is a level of bypass that blows my mind. The word “gaslighting” has become totally overused in recent years — but it applies here.

I’m actually very nondual in my personal spiritual practice, but nonduality is never an excuse to ignore the world we live in. I think of nondual spiritual awareness more like a vitamin — we need a good regular dose to stay healthy. It builds resilience and provides important perspectives that help us not get too entrenched in the muck of life. And we’re not meant to live there all the time.

Life will go on. Our ancestors have faced much worse. This isn’t new — the United States was founded on cruelty. Other countries have been experiencing civil war, famine, and authoritarian regimes for a long time. All of this is true. And none of it means that we have an excuse to ignore what is happening right now.

Reclaiming Mental Sovereignty & Loving Thy Neighbor

But y’all. The algorithms. Mental health. Intellectual sovereignty. Nervous system regulation. These are real challenges.

Can we both care for ourselves and avoid the bypassing mentioned above?

January was hard. And February continues to be a stream of awful news. But we are learning.

In January, we learned that each of us is fed a stream of AI-edited memes and “news” that is tailored to our existing political tendencies. We’re left feeling as if we live in different realities from our friends, families, and neighbors.

In February, we learned that at the most elite and power-holding levels, the left/right divide forced upon most of the population does not exist.

What does this tell you about the tasks before us right now?

We are responsible for cleaning up the messes we’ve made. And we are responsible for not allowing the metafield to dictate the thoughts that fill our minds and the emotions that run through our bodies.

One of the members of a community I’m in, artist Tyler Parish, shared words that beautifully reflect our task in these times:

“These days it’s a personal, social and cultural responsibility to not allow the corporations, politicians, algorithms, talking heads and social connections decide what thoughts fill our minds and mouths from moment to moment. Life is too full of beauty, opportunities for creativity, a need for true connection and expression, momentary chances to enjoy perfect simplicities and make the most important and necessary efforts to not afford them every single bit of attention and intention we can muster. To willingly and regularly trade that privilege for the systematically architected, for profit and purpose, low hanging fruit of chaos and division, is to squander the same freedom and liberty we speak so passionately about protecting.”

I believe our task is not to diminish the pain and entropy upon us, but to use our awareness to ignite greater creativity and love for the world.

To do this we must take exquisite care of the totality of ourselves. Tend the nervous system. Find community. Eat well. Connect with spirit. Enter altered consciousness and see beyond the veil of this sticky reality. Tend your jing-chi-shen.

And then come back to this pain more resourced. Face it and feel it. Ask what task you can fulfill to usher in more goodness instead of more collapse.

Wendell Berry’s Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front was written in 1973 — and his words still hold the medicine we need now:

Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.

Be joyful though you have considered all the facts. Can you do both?

Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Can you know that you do not know? Can you love beyond the borders the algorithm puts in place?

We do not need to bypass the pain of the world to protect our sensitive selves. We are strong. We can face this pain, take responsibility for the mess humans have made, and keep showing up to clean it up — with creativity, beauty, and love.

P.S. Many of the ideas in this article are explored in greater depth here. Please read if you haven’t yet.

A Call to Action: The Great Mother March

Another part of Berry’s beautiful manifesto reads:

So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?

If the most recent revelations at the sick heart of misogyny and power tell us anything, it’s that women are not safe. And neither are our children. And, though this isn’t covered as much in mainstream newsfeeds, neither is the Earth.

We need to bring back the mother — the divine feminine force that is life-giving and life-sustaining. A force that lives within every human, regardless of gender. A force that cannot continue to be oppressed if we are going to survive.

I’m in absolute awe of my dear friend Whitney Freya. For many moons, she has been taking leaps of faith based on a divine inspiration from the goddess. She has created The Great Mother March.

Beginning on the Spring Equinox 2026, The Great Mother March will set forth from Asheville, North Carolina on a 500-mile pilgrimage to Washington, D.C., arriving on Earth Day.

Throughout the journey there will be dancing and painting. Art and celebration. Seeding of goodness and community care.

Walkers may join for part or all of the 32-day pilgrimage. I’m hoping to be there at the beginning.

If you can’t walk, you can donate. $13 makes you part of the movement. Or, explore the shop. I’ve made a Great Mother Mist (smells so good) — and all proceeds will support the march. You can see Whitney opening her box from me here. :)

There is hope — and the Great Mother March is part of shifting the frequency of these times to greater life, love, and care.

Learn more here.

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Juniper Stokes is a botanical perfumer, soul alchemist, intuitive astrologer, and rewilding guide through mythic landscapes of the nature, spirit, and the cosmos. For over 25 years, she has been guiding soulful humans back to the heart of who they are and why they’re here.

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This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius…🎶

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ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Juniper Stokes is a certified depth coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist, astrologer, and artist.

Can the Goddesses Be Saved?

The Greek pantheon and its stories have embedded themselves within our modern Western psyches. Escape from this empire’s influence in modern cosmology is impossible — even if you don’t actively know much about these stories.

In the decades since Jung began to popularize the idea of archetypes — and with that the idea that there is some universal essence to these deities — it has inevitably become fashionable to criticize them.

Where do you fall on the scales of this critique? Do you, like famed Jungian scholar Marion Woodman, see the Greek Goddesses (and their Roman counterparts) as archetypal facets of the feminine psyche? Or do you, like some recent feminists, see them as warped expressions of a patriarchal culture?

I think the critiques are fair. Greek society was not only incredibly patriarchal — it was astonishingly misogynistic. It was not easy to be a woman in ancient Greece, and we see this throughout their mythology: women are constantly raped, kidnapped, jealous, vengeful, and overly pure.

As Woodman points out, only Aphrodite is a truly empowered feminine archetype — both sensual and free from marriage. Yet modern feminists might also point out that she is also super sexy, a facet that can be seen as trapping women in another oppressive narrative.

Despite this, I have received so much value from my relationships with these goddesses — a few of the gods (here’s looking at you Dionysus). They inspired my original magical, natural perfume line. They appear in my journeys and have places on my altars.

This begs the question: Are these goddesses — with all their patriarchal overlays — redeemable within a modern feminist consciousness? Do they have a place in our current era psyches and spiritual practices?

How you answer these questions will depend on how you view these deities:

Option 1: They are simple mythological figures, reflective of the times their stories emerged from. From this view, perhaps their value lies in teaching us how women survived in a society that actively disparaged them.

Option 2: They are archetypes. Living, shared energies within our collective unconscious. If this is the case, we must ask: Are the goddess archetypes terminally tainted by the patriarchal culture that created them? Or is there deeper wisdom we can access underneath the narratives we’ve inherited?

Option 3: They are goddesses. Like totally real spiritual beings that exist beyond our limited human understanding. In this case, it becomes our divine assignment to reclaim their stories from the oppressive cultures that have twisted them. It is up to us to deeply listen for the wise and powerful feminine truths they wish to share.

What do you think? Who are the goddesses to you, and how does this impact your relationship with them?

A Note on the Goddesses

Many of my natural, botanical, and totally magical perfumes are devoted to the goddesses. I try to share a ritual with each perfume listing. Explore the scents and rituals here.

On that note: If any are out of stock and you want me to prioritize remaking them, let me know in the comments! Or if any of your favorite deities are missing, tell me and I’ll add them to my making list :)

Juniper Stokes is a botanical perfumer, soul alchemist, intuitive astrologer, and rewilding guide through mythic landscapes of the nature, spirit, and the cosmos. For over 25 years, she has been guiding soulful humans back to the heart of who they are and why they’re here.

🌿 Explore workshops & trainings.
💠 Find alchemical aromatics in The Botanica.

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Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

You might also like:

Cosmic evolution (a prophecy)

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius…🎶

Serket & Scorpions

5 Essential Oils for Mercury Retrograde (and how to use them)

The Perfumed Heart & Anointing the Windows to Heaven

ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Juniper Stokes is a certified depth coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist, astrologer, and artist.

Shedding toxic spiritual beliefs (from snake to horse)

Here we go around the sun again. A new year…and another wild one by the looks of it so far.

In my cosmic convos, I keep hearing people talking about the year of the Fire Horse, all the movement and action to come.

Hold yer horses, folks (pun totally intended) — we aren’t done with the year of the Wood Snake yet!

We still have a few more weeks to finish up our snake era assignment: to shed the skins that have gotten too tight. 🐍

When you look back at 2025, what were you invited — and more likely forced — to let go of?

I’ve been tracking the collective vibes around this closely, and there’s one prominent theme I see emerging: Everyone has had to let go of old beliefs — especially toxic or outdated spiritual ones.

⭐Did you experience any shifts around this last year? I’d love to hear your experiences — please leave a comment if so!⭐

I can tell you that I 100% went through a whirlwind shedding of all the old spiritual boxes I thought I had to stay in for safety, for work, for loyalty…

This wasn’t out of the blue by any means. My soul had known for a long time that I was called toward a new, emerging, more authentic path. But this year I realized there was no going back.

Side note: I held a fire ceremony at the end of 2024 to cut ties with any lineages or spiritual traditions that were in the way of my full sovereignty.

Shit hit the fan two weeks later.

One year later and I felt true inner freedom in a way I hadn’t since I was a child. Our rituals are legit magic-making y’all.

Here’s a ritual guide I made if you want some inspo in this area.

On a related note…

A Story for the End of Our Snake Year

How many of you know the story of the split between Freud and Jung?

Once one of Freud’s prize students, Carl Jung had been questioning elements of his mentor’s philosophy for a long time.

His private journals and conversations with his wife reveal years of turmoil: If he spoke his truth, would he lose this relationship? His standing in the psychology community at the time? Would it be worth it?

History tells us the answer to all of these questions: Yes.

The falling out between Jung and Freud was public and dramatic. Many in the emerging psychology community of the time attempted to eviscerate Jung and and theories.

But none of this mattered in the long term. Because Jung had come into soul coherence.

He’d quit lying to himself. He was willing to let go of beliefs he once held sacred. He stopped trying to control his circumstances and started acting from his inner truth. He entered the liminal realms of the unknown.

And then he became one of the most influential thinkers of the modern era.

Where have you been lying to yourself in order to stay safe, control fate, or stay loyal? Where have you been avoiding a deeper truth and alignment because you’re afraid of hurting others or losing community?

Taking the leap into greater truth is terrifying. The challenges are real.

But this is the only way to truly experience the fullness of your soul.

It’s likely that our Snake Year catalyzed this process for you already. The Year of the Horse invites to let all that false self burn as you charge toward new more soul-aligned experiences.

An Invitation

If you’re ready to really, truly come into alignment with your soul — to come into greater coherence, creative capacity, and meaningful joy — then I invite you to join me for a year of intentional practice around just this.

You will experience a rich and intimate container for restoring your knowledge of who you really are — and you will learn how to facilitate this process for others.

This program opens for registration in April (post Mercury Rx, you’re welcome). Learn more and get on the waitlist for updates.

A few quick updates:

Limited Edition: Valentine’s Day Perfume Discovery Set

This is my FAVORITE. Seriously. And I only bring it out once a year. You get 3 mini (1ml) perfumes:

• Aphrodite — goddess of love, floral chypre

• Jaguar — sensual pleasures, exotic florals and botanical musk

• Rós — for the flower at the heart of it all, a lovely soliflore perfume

I highly recommend this discovery set as a Valentines gift for your lover or yourself. Ethical plant magic is much better than the commercial options out there ;) Order by Feb 5 for V-day delivery!

Course Updates

Some of you have been patiently waiting for the Sacred Aromatics class — this was supposed to start this month but two things happened: 1, I got sick. And 2, I was hired to create an apothecary course for a bigger company! This course is coming together nicely and I think you will love it! It’s not on anointing, but it is on medicinal herbal magic and it will be suuuper affordable :)

Stay tuned – I’ll let you know when the apothecary course is ready :)

Click here to get on the waitlist and be notified first when the anointing training is open!

Juniper Stokes is a botanical perfumer, soul alchemist, intuitive astrologer, and rewilding guide through mythic landscapes of the nature, spirit, and the cosmos. For over 25 years, she has been guiding soulful humans back to the heart of who they are and why they’re here.

🌿 Explore workshops & trainings.
💠 Find alchemical aromatics in The Botanica.

Like what you're reading? Join our community!

Subscribe

We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe at anytime.

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Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

You might also like:

Cosmic evolution (a prophecy)

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius…🎶

Serket & Scorpions

5 Essential Oils for Mercury Retrograde (and how to use them)

The Perfumed Heart & Anointing the Windows to Heaven

ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Juniper Stokes is a certified depth coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist, astrologer, and artist.

What the Neptune Aries Ingress means for the coming generation

Here's what's up now that Neptune is on fire. 🔥

I’m calling it: by the end of this Neptune in Aries Season, everyone will have shifted from therapy-speak to collapse-speak.

That’s my hot take ;)

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s the brief:

Neptune is one of the “outer planets” in astrology. This means that it stays in each zodiac sign for a pretty long time before moving to the next one — for Neptune, that visit is about 13-14 years.

Outer planets are seen as generational planets because the slowness of their movements means they affect the vibe of entire generations. These are the planets we look to as we track collective energies.

Since 2011, Neptune has been in Pisces. On January 26, Neptune moved into Aries, where it will stay for the next several years. Because Neptune will only change signs a handful of times within the average human lifespan, any change is a pretty big deal.

It’s been interesting to watch the astrologers discuss what this latest shift means for us: I find most reflections to be like a Rorschach test:

If your focus is on being a spiritual Insta influencer, you might talk about all the spiritual bypassing that happened in Pisces will shift.

If your focus is on arts and culture, you might predict that emotional, reflective content will lose favor to new spins on the hero’s journey.

If your focus is on politics, you’re definitely remembering the American Civil War.

So… this isn’t a complete guide to Neptune in Aries — many talented astrologers have taken the reins on this already. And…this isn’t a deep dive into the Saturn-Neptune Conjunction, relationship with Pluto in Aquarius, or any other specific celestial relationships that we’ll also experience in the coming months.

Instead, this is an exploration of the overall Neptune in Aries era, in which I fully indulge my own biases, exploring patterns of human consciousness and communication (hence my prediction about therapy vs collapse speak).

Ok folks. This is a long one. Grab a cuppa and settle in.

Understanding Neptune

To understand how Neptune in Aries impacts us, we have to understand what Neptune is all about.

In modern astrology, Neptune is the planetary ruler of Pisces, and as such takes on Piscean themes around spiritual exploration, dreamworlds, mysticism, fantasy, spiritual union, and intuition. It also carries the shadows aspects of these themes: deception, spiritual bypassing, rejecting reality, illusion, and lack of boundaries.

Neptune has a particularly complex relationship with illusion: Strong Neptune energy can succumb to illusion (we are deceived), reveal illusion (we lift the veils), and create illusion (we intentionally fool ourselves or others).

These Piscean qualities are pretty well known in pop astro circles — but they miss an important piece of Neptune’s kingdom: the meta-field.

Astro Butterfly explains what this means so eloquently:

“We have 3 outer planets, or 3 gods: Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Uranus is the sky. Pluto is the Earth. And Neptune is everything in between – oceans, movement, currents, connection, the invisible spaces that link one shore to another.”

Look at this list and think about what this might mean in our modern world: Neptune asks us to look at how things move and circulate. Think movements of ideas, people, technology, currencies, and power, to name a few. The zodiac sign Neptune is stationed in tells us where these movements will grab our interest, struggle, or flow.

All of this together makes Neptune an especially confusing planet. It’s really hard to think straight and take aligned actions in the area (i.e. the zodiac sign) that Neptune is visiting. Everything in the impacted area of life feels like it’s constantly moving and shifting direction. A dreamlike consciousness clouds clear thinking. Illusory veils come and go with such fluidity that it becomes challenging to track lasting truths.

Saying Goodbye to Neptune in Pisces

Neptune in Pisces was a dreamy placement, and oh did we dream during this era. Neptune likes to visit imaginal realms, and so does Pisces. So our imaginations went wild in ways that felt natural, fluid, and helpful.

But we also got really confused around what is real and what is fantasy — which is peaking right as we transition to our next era. But before we go there…

Let’s start by looking at how this placement led to therapy-speak.

Neptune in Pisces created a field focused on union, dissolution of boundaries, and explorations of the watery depths of our psyches and dreams.

The dissolution of boundaries can be seen in the walls we put up between our conscious selves and our inner, subconscious worlds. We ran to our therapists en masse to explore our shadows, inherited trauma from our ancestors, challenges in our relationships, and our chronic inability to live more meaningful lives.

Then we extended this dissolution of boundaries to the walls we had up between our private selves and our socially acceptable ones. We shared our insights online, slowly shifting from idealized self-branding to raw and real discussions of trauma, neurodivergence, anxiety, and depression.

I remember working for a spiritual publishing company during this time that encouraged us to “bring our full selves” to work: Be honest when you are having a hard time, take mental health days, use the community “meditation closet” (it was so stupid – no one could meditate in that thing). This, of course, directly points to the illusion of this era: that you could ever bring your full self to work at a corporation, even a supposedly “spiritual” one, is total B.S. Those that did were punished with lack of career opportunities and bizarre HR chats…but I digress.

In the Neptune-Pisces meta-fields, borderless communication boomed.

Remember: Neptune was in Aquarius from 1998 - 2011. This is when Aquarian tech-utopia seeds were planted. Facebook hit the market. The iPhone arrived. So did Netflix and Spotify — our first markers on the way to a subscription-based (own nothing be happy) economy.

Then, Neptune entered Pisces. By 2012, one year into Neptune’s Piscean transit, Facebook went public and smartphones were everywhere. Social media platforms shifted communication from primarily one-to-one to one-to-many. Smartphones made communicating our thoughts instantly possible no matter where we were.

In turn, we also became receptors of mass communication at a previously unseen scale — our human minds were not prepared to process the many-to-one flood of opinions, thoughts, brags, and essentially public diary entries that pinged the devices with us at all times.

Pisces isn’t great with discernment — but it is a deeply compassionate and caring sign. So what happened when we were flooded with everyone’s insights from their very personal therapy sessions during this Neptune-Pisces era? We became aware of the very real pains of the world at a massive scale. We felt the call to help each other, raise awareness of those less fortunate, and make a difference.

We authentically cared, and we didn’t want any historically oppressed group to be left behind and suffer. But we also didn’t personally want to be left behind either. We needed to fit in with these oppressed groups to stay relevant and be part of the collective movements we perceived as being necessary.

So we also shared our identity challenges. We spoke to our victimhood, our need to matter and receive care, too.

We learned the language to make this happen. We learn therapy-speak, so we could articulate the effects of systemic oppression, narcissistic abuse, dark triad personalities, neurodivergence, and collective trauma.

Then Neptune’s meta-field spread our therapy-speak with remarkable efficiency.

Everyone’s a Critic + The Gifts of Our Pisces Era

Long planetary transits mean long transitional eras, times when the influences of both positions — in this case Neptune in Pisces and in Aries — can be felt.

It’s normal to start majorly critiquing the era we’ve just come from during any of these transitions — especially one bringing in the fiery agro energy of Aries! The transition helps us squeeze out every last lesson hidden in the shadows.

You can see this happening right now: In spirit circles, the scales have tipped from learning angelic light language to discussing what it’s like to leave a cult.

The same is happening with “therapy-speak” — though in a bizarre twist, we’re using therapy-speak to critique it, labeling the influencers who share narcissism red flags as narcissists themselves.

Critiques of spiritual toxicity and our over-indulgence in emotionally manipulative language are everywhere. This is healthy as long as it doesn’t erase the very real gifts of Pisces.

Our task now is to integrate our Piscean lessons in a good way. Your spiritual expansion, emotional awareness, and ability to expand the circle of your compassion must be carried forward into our next era.

A Practice to Fully Integrate Your Neptune-Piscean Assignments:

Write your spiritual memoir from 2011 to now. Reflect on these questions:

• Where were you in 2011? What did you believe, and what were you hoping to learn?

• What learning stands out during this period — books, talks, classes and trainings? What impact did this have on your personal cosmology and spiritual practice?

• Did you enter into any peak spiritual awareness, flow states, altered-conscious events, or other ecstatic experiences during this time?

• What were the three most impactful steps on your spiritual journey during this era?

• What have you started to question in recent months? What prompted this, and what is shifting as a result?

• What do you believe now, and what questions remain?

Entering the Era of Collapse Consciousness

Neptune in Pisces didn’t just spread therapy-speak — it actually planted the seeds for the collapse-speak that we’ll see in our new Aries era.

Just as Neptune in Aquarius’s innovation created the foundation for Neptune in Pisces’s widespread social contagions, Piscean fantasies have made Neptune in Aries collapse consciousness inevitable.

While Pisces is ruled by Neptune in modern astrology, its classical ruler is Jupiter — and it’s worth looking at the Jupiterean qualities this brings to a Neptune in Pisces placement.

Jupiter is our great benefic planet, which brings expansive, hopeful vibes to anything it touches. This is where Pisces gets some of its “head in the clouds” reputation. Pisces is able to believe that anything is possible and everything will be wonderful. It’s a medicine we all need — hope heals.

Yet without balance, there can be a tendency to ignore very real warning signs that all is not well. And the double Pisces energy of Neptune in Pisces was not super balanced in this sense.

Sarah Wilson was one of the first people to popularize the term “polycrisis” as far as I know, and her Tedx talk does a really lovely job exploring the collective illusions we were under during Neptune in Pisces. She’s not an astrologer and doesn’t use this lens, but her systematic breakdown of the past decade is well worth the watch:

In short, Sarah shares that we all kind of agreed to believe this collective illusion around our potential for a greater future together, and now we’re waking up to the reality of the tragic and limited foundations on which all our “innovation” is built.

She compares us to a bunch of toddlers that got super excited about everything, couldn’t think past the moment to the consequences of our actions, and made a big fat mess. And, like toddlers, we’re waiting for the adult to come clean it up for us. Only there is no adult. We have to grow up and figure out how to clean up our own shit (Aries should help…more on that next.)

For more on the mess, I recommend Nate Hagen’s The Great Simplification:

Back to the astro overlays:

Let’s be clear that many of us did not buy into the tech and innovation will save us hype. My Mercury/Mars conjunction in Scorpio does not allow me to enjoy fantasy land as much as my dreamy Piscean friends (which is why I need their hopeful Pisces love in my life!).

Still, this fantastical, hopeful era fed us collective narratives around:

• New communication via social platforms would unite the world, break down boundaries, and enhance equality

• This, combined with new technologies, would expand our artistic landscape — less gatekeeping and more creativity

• We just need communities — folks say this is an Aquarian Age idea, but the way “community” has been framed as a fix-all is very Piscean

• Yes, hard times are upon us, but technological innovation (or spiritual salvation) would come to the rescue*

*This idea — that something will save us, that the “adult” will step in, takes many forms. It’s what Jamie Wheal calls “rapture ideology” in his book of a similar title, Recapture the Rapture. If you believe we’ll be saved by…

• New technologies like carbon capture, fusion, or colonies on Mars

• A widespread spiritual awakening where we choose the correct “timeline”

• Massive earthly destruction where the worthy will survive through divine intervention

• Benevolent alien interference because the “universe” doesn’t want Earth to explode

• Or Lord Jesus himself coming back to help out

…then you have embraced a rapture ideology.

What do all of these have in common? They are Neptune-in-Pisces fantasies that might feel hopeful, but ultimately abdicate responsibility for the mess we’ve made. Bypassing and embracing the illusion to the extreme.

As with our emotional and spiritual development — let’s not throw this all out as fantasy. Pisces let us dream, and we must be able to dream and enter the imaginal realms to even begin to envision the world we wish to create.

And remember: Neptune both creates and reveals illusions. By the end of our Piscean transit, we were already seeing the signs of all these illusions breaking down.

Our Piscean dreams of a better future are needed and beautiful — now our Aries work is to face up to hard truths so our actions are wise and effective.

Welcoming Neptune in Aries to the Party

Ah Aries. The divine solar child comes to embark on their hero’s journey.

The optimism is strong; the patience is lacking.

This is at odds with Neptune’s meta-field-dreamy-confusing qualities. Neptune is water. Aries is fire. And Aries is probably going to feel pretty confused because their bright flame might feel more like watery steam during this era.

Aries loves the individual. It’s really good at boundaries (pretty opposite Pisces in this sense). The hero archetype is emphasized here, as is the mythic hero’s journey.

Plenty of signs embrace negotiation, compromise, balance, and unity when it comes to working towards goals and resolving conflict. Aries is not among them.

Aries is ruled by Mars, a martial planet. Conflict does not scare Aries — it provides the tension needed to overcome obstacles and reap the rewards.

Now, on its own, this energy is clear enough. We might see Neptunian meta-fields, movements, and dreams to become martial during this period. Movements clash, perhaps violently. Communication breaks down and turns to fightin’ words. Dreams become fantasies of individual vs collective liberation.

Many astrologers expect martial matters to be at the forefront of Neptune’s evolutionary impulse during these times. What happens when Neptune dreams of conquering the other? Breaks down boundaries around how we might manipulate matter, create new weaponry, or communicate war plans? (or we could just share war plants on Signal…jk, I laugh/cry)

All of these expectations make sense and are part of what we’re facing. But keep in mind:

• Neptune always has confusing Pisces vibes, no matter what sign it’s in.

• And we’re in the broader landscape of the Age of Pisces to Aquarius transition.

So our dear individualistic and martial Aries is living within the energetic domain of two very community-oriented and peaceful signs.

It’s likely that attempts to be more self-contained, to fight for what you want, and to strengthen boundaries will be met with what feels like cosmic sabotage at times.

The key to navigating this confusion is to align your individual desires with collective needs. When these two pieces come together, powerful forward action will be possible.

This is where we finally come to the collapse-speak I mentioned.

While Pisces has a tendency to avoid hard truths and replace them with fantasy, Aries doesn’t. Aries is ready and able to look at how the world we’ve created is killing us. And Aries is more than capable of doing something about it.

Aries loves a challenge, so yes — words like “collapse” and “polycrisis” kind of light Aries up.

Yet the confidence and clarity Aries is usually capable of get murky in Neptune’s waters. So our language is also going to reflect our confusion and attempt at stability. Get ready to see words like threshold, liminal, emerging, formation, and coherence everywhere.

(I’m also biased. These words are all over my offerings, lol. I succumb to the era as much as anyone.)

As Neptune spreads currents in consciousness, and Aries looks at the challenges before us, collapse-speak spreads.

It will also spread because with Neptune in Aries, people will be less afraid of saying what’s really on their minds — follower counts be damned.

Overall, this is a much-needed shift…though there’s a real concern here that collapse-speak will become suuuper egotistical — all about how I feel about it, how I process my emotional awareness gained in Pisces, how my needs aren’t being met, and why my ideas are the most important ones. We shall see.

Neptune’s Confusion + Aries Martial Vibes = War on Reality

I also predict that the spread of collapse-speak will end up with the same convoluted toxicity as therapy-speak by the end of this transit. And much of this will be a reflection of how deeply confused we are around what really is a crisis and what is a conspiracy.

Memes have been weaponized for years. Just one meme that hits you at an emotional level — which they are designed to do in ways pure words cannot — that makes you feel like something is true even if it’s way off-base or taken out of context.

When a core idea is delivered en mass with lovely a dopamine hit, it creates a widespread attack on our ability to think for ourselves. This happens over and over again until it feels not just habitual but addictive.

You already know this is getting worse with AI and the untamed power grabs of big tech. We’ll likely see increasing sophistication, new tech, and even more widespread and intentional attacks on our shared reality in years to come.

In a lovely synchronicity, a friend forwarded a recent post from Dr. Len Necefer to me just as I was finishing up writing this section — and this quote is a perfect illustration of what we’re up against:

“The second problem is that the internet is not a neutral place where ideas compete fairly. It is an adversarial environment. It is full of actors who understand how attention works and who can push narratives into your feed because your feed is optimized for engagement, not truth.”

Yes, the internet is already a confusing, adversarial environment. Imagine the acceleration in the coming cosmic era…

Aries in Neptune wants to fight for a better world — but its efforts will be sabotaged by war in the meta-field.

Neptune confuses and deceives. It points us toward one fight when we should be taking on another. It confuses trust in one another, which can be dangerous in an agro sign like Aries.

And it makes us believe things that aren’t true and question things that are. Iin an individualistic sign like Aries, this might show up strongly not just in what we’re told to believe about the world, but in what we’re led to believe about ourselves.

Please get really good at asking yourself the following questions:

• If this is true, who benefits? Why and how?

• If this isn’t true but I believe it, who benefits? How and why?

But ultimately, it’s all good.

Because the progression of Neptune through our zodiac is divine design. We’re blessed with the opportunity to learn sophisticated soul lessons through these cosmic movements. Trust that the lessons would not arrive if we weren’t ready to take them on.

Aries is brave. The Aries hero has a fearless nature that we all need right now. This is a good thing, and I’m excited to see what unfolds in the next decade.

Juniper Stokes is a botanical perfumer, soul alchemist, intuitive astrologer, and rewilding guide through mythic landscapes of the nature, spirit, and the cosmos. For over 25 years, she has been guiding soulful humans back to the heart of who they are and why they’re here.

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The Art of Elemental Anointing: Restoring Balance Through Sacred Aromatics

The act of anointing—applying sacred oils to the body with intention—is among humanity’s oldest ritual practices. From the chrism of ecclesiastical tradition to the abhyanga of Ayurvedic medicine, anointing represents a bridge between the material and spiritual realms. It is a soul-to-soul transmission of frequency from plant to human. A tactical prayer.

Sacred aromatics are central to my spiritual path and the way I practice healing arts.

For those who are newer here: I first started working with sacred aromatics and energy medicine in an intentional way during the 1990s (trying to embrace my age, folks).

Now, as a professionally trained botanical perfumer (I’ve studied with the greats), clinically certified aromatherapist (got that 610-hour certification), spiritual alchemist (decades of formal study here, too), plant communicator, and professional anointer, I have devoted decades to understanding how aromatic molecules interface with human consciousness. (My crazy bio is here if you want the full rundown.)

My work draws deeply from the Hermetic alchemical tradition, planetary correspondences, intuitive plant communication, and the sacred path of the Myrrhophore.

The elemental anointing oils I have created represent a convergence of these lineages, formulated as both spiritual perfume oils and ceremonial tools for restoring elemental balance within the human energy system.

The community at The Mythoanimist Path is what makes this content possible. Every single like, share, comment, and subscribe does more for my heart and this publication than you can imagine.

The Hermetic Foundation: As Above, So Below

Western alchemy, rooted in Hermetic philosophy, understands the cosmos as a unified field of correspondences. The axiom “as above, so below” suggests that the macrocosm of the universe is reflected in the microcosm of the human being. (The Taoist alchemical path I walk says the same thing.)

Within this framework, the classical elements—Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Ether (also spelled “aether”, or known as the quintessence)—are not so much physical substances as they are archetypal principles that organize the reality we live within.

Each element governs specific qualities of consciousness and manifestation:

Earth represents structure, stability, embodiment, and the fertile matrix that sustains creation. It is the principle of materialization, grounding, and belonging.

Water governs flow, emotion, intuition, and memory. It is the receptive, lunar aspect of our being, offering purification, healing, and the bridge between conscious and unconscious realms.

Fire embodies transformation, will, passion, and creative force. It is both destroyer and renewer, the spark of inspiration and the heat of metamorphosis.

Air symbolizes thought, communication, clarity, and discernment. It is the breath between worlds, the realm of imagination and intellectual insight.

Ether represents the quintessence—the subtle field that unites, holds, and transcends all other elements. It is pure consciousness, presence, and the stillpoint from which all movement arises.

Though this particular elemental system represents Western Hermetic thought, countless traditions have some form of acknowledging that our health and spiritual evolution depend upon maintaining balance among the elemental forces.

When one element dominates or becomes deficient, disharmony manifests in our bodies, emotions, and spiritual paths.

Elemental anointing helps us restore this balance in partnership with the plants, through the intentional application of plant essences that carry specific elemental signatures…

You Are the Alembic: Embodied Practice

Anointing is fundamentally a deeply embodied practice.

Unlike simply inhaling an essence or diffusing it into a room, anointing requires deliberate touch—the application of oil to specific points on the body with conscious intention. This tactile dimension activates multiple pathways of healing simultaneously.

From a physiological perspective, anointing delivers aromatic molecules directly to the skin, where they are absorbed into the bloodstream and lymphatic system. Essential oils are lipophilic, meaning they readily pass through the lipid-rich cell membranes of the skin. Once absorbed, their molecular constituents interact with receptor sites throughout the body, influencing everything from neurotransmitter production to inflammatory response.

Even more than these benefits for our physical bodies, sacred anointing brings in conscious awareness of our energy body, too. Specific points act like energetic gateways for plant consciousness to travel through. The chakras of yogic tradition, the dantians of Chinese medicine, the three cauldrons of Celtic shamanism…all of these are potent places addressing both our physical body and the subtle energy body that interpenetrates it.

Plus, even though I’m really not the touchy-feely type*, even I can recognize that welcome touch itself is medicine. For all of us, self-anointing is a form of loving self-care, soothing our nervous system and countering the chronic stress response that is a way of life for most of us these days.

*One of my friends still laughs, decades later, at the time when she asked if I wanted to go to a conscious dance party. And I said ew — I don’t want to be touched. And she said, I don’t think they actually touch you. And I said — no! With their energy! Because I’m that sensitive. Anyway…

When performed with reverence and intention, anointing becomes a somatic prayer that rewires our relationship to embodiment itself.

And this is where the real magic happens: you become the alembic.

An alembic is central to the art and practice of alchemy. It is within the alembic that dense material is transformed into gold and the light of spirit.

When you place plant oils and waters on different points of your physical body, you become the vessel for transformation to take place within.

All the plants travel along the lines of energy body, meeting and dancing with each other upon convergence points, creating something new in partnership with the field of energy you provide.

Through anointing, you become the alembic through which all transmutation takes place.

The Path of the Myrrhophore: Bearing Sacred Aromatics

The term “Myrrhophore“ refers to the myrrh-bearers—traditionally, the women who brought aromatic spices to anoint the body of Christ. Mary Magdalene is our feminine forebearer in the Myrrhophore tradition, most likely carrying forth a tradition with even older and perhaps Egyptian origins.

When we tune into the Magdalene path of anointing today, we help heal a legacy of feminine oppression.

As Myrrhophores today, we carry sacred aromatics as an act of devotion and service. This path recognizes anointing not merely as self-care but as a sacred mantel, a way of tending to the holy in oneself and others.

In my practice, the path of the Myrrhophore has involved years of apprenticeship to plants themselves—learning their languages, understanding their gifts, and discerning how to combine them in ways that honor their individual genius while blending them into an alchemical formula that carries transmissions of healing and beauty.

This is the work of spiritual alchemy: transformation through relationship. The marriage of substances to birth new consciousness.

Each plant essence carries its own intelligence—its own subtle frequency.

When I blend dozens of rare botanicals—porcini with myrrh, dragonsblood with mimosa, white lotus with oakmoss—I am convening a council of plant spirits, each contributing its voice to a collective intention. The resulting oils (and sacred perfumes) become ensouled medicine, ritual healing alive with purpose and power.

Why Elemental Anointing Matters Now

Pause for a minute and feel into your own body — physically and energetically.

Can you sense the elements within? How does Earth feel? Fire? Water? Air? Do you feel these elements in harmony?

Most of us will find some sort of imbalance. This is normal — we’re not static beings and we will always be in flux in terms of our elemental make up.

Yet we also live in an age of profound elemental imbalance. Modern life, with its emphasis on digital abstraction, sedentary routines, and relentless mental activity, creates systematic deficiencies and excesses across the elemental spectrum.

Feeling ungrounded, spacey, or disconnected from the body? Experiencing dissociation, anxiety, and or a lack of belonging? It might be time to reconnect with with the stabilizing force of the Earth element.

How is your emotional world? Are you hiding or stuffing down any emotions? Feeling creative or intuitive blocks? Ignoring your inner knowing? If part of you has forgotten how to flow, how to feel, how to trust the intelligence of the body’s deeper currents…it’s time to get your Water moving.

When Fire is out of balance, it looks pretty much like you’d expect: Too little, nothing cooks. Too much and you boil over. For us, this can show up as lack of motivation, no passion for life, and creative stagnation when running cold, or inflammation, anger, and burnout when running hot,

Air excess is super common these days — usually manifesting as overthinking, anxiety, scattered attention, and disconnection from our somatic wisdom.

But what of Ether? That ineffable, spiritual fabric of being? When our Ether becomes obscured, it can feel as if we’ve lost contact with the unified field of consciousness, the sense of being held within something larger than ourselves. A dark night of the soul or crises of faith can emerge at the extreme, with general malaise and hopelessness early warning signs.

Elemental anointing is so magical and powerful because it addresses these imbalances directly — without getting us trapped in the mind and overtherapizing patterns.

By applying oils formulated to strengthen deficient elements and calm excessive ones, we actively participate in our own rebalancing through the engaged alchemy of our attention, intention, and embodied presence.

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How to Anoint: A Practical Guide

Anointing is both simple and profound. While the essential gesture is merely the application of oil to skin, the quality of attention brought to the act determines its depth of effect.

Preparation

Begin by creating sacred space, even if only for a moment. This might involve lighting a candle, taking three conscious breaths, or simply setting an intention for your anointing. Consider what quality you wish to invite or strengthen. Which element feels deficient or excessive in your current state?

Selection

Choose the elemental oil that corresponds to your intention:

• Earth for grounding, stability, boundaries, manifestation

• Water for emotional flow, intuition, purification, receptivity

• Fire for passion, transformation, courage, vitality

• Air for clarity, communication, inspiration, discernment

• Ether for meditation, consecration, unity, presence

Application

Dispense a small amount of oil onto your fingertips or palm. Warm the oil briefly by rubbing your hands together, awakening its aromatic molecules.

Apply with deliberate, loving touch to the body locations that correspond to the element’s domain — or intuitively is always welcome:

• Earth: Soles of the feet, base of spine, root center (perineum….though that can be sensitive, lol — the pubic bone is a good alternative), along the legs

• Water: Heart center, wrists, lower belly, third eye

• Fire: Solar plexus, heart, pulse points, palms

• Air: Temples, throat, crown, back of neck

• Ether: Crown, heart, palms, anywhere requiring consecration

As you anoint, you might speak your intention aloud, visualize the element’s qualities permeating your being, or simply rest in receptive awareness of sensation and scent.

Integration

After anointing, take time to breathe consciously with the oil’s aroma. Notice any shifts in your felt sense, emotional state, or quality of thought. You might journal, meditate, or move your body to help integrate the anointing. It’s also totally fine to simply continue you day, trusting the oil to keep working subtly in the background.

Frequency

Elemental oils may be used daily as part of a spiritual hygiene practice, or episodically as needed. You might anoint all five elements in sequence for comprehensive balancing, or focus on a single element for an extended period (days, weeks, or lunar cycles). Trust your own intuitive callings here.

The Element Oils: Ceremonial Grade Alchemical Creations

The new elemental anointing oils I’ve created represent the culmination of years of study, intuition, and refinement. Unlike typical elemental blends that rely on familiar correspondences, these formulations include rare and potent essences that elevate them to ceremonial grade.

Earth: The Fertile Matrix

This oil grounds, stabilizes, and nourishes the Earth element through a unique marriage of sacred resins, roots, and rare fungi essences. The inclusion of porcini mushroom absolute—a virtually unobtainable material—brings the deep, mysterious intelligence of mycelial networks. Combined with cedarwood, vetiver, oakmoss, myrrh, opoponax, benzoin, patchouli, black spruce, and angelica root, this creates a profoundly resinous accord that supports embodiment, stillness, and grounded awareness. Apply to the soles of the feet, along the spine, or over the root center when seeking steadiness, belonging, or manifestation.

Water: The Flowing Current

This oil restores flow and receptivity through precious florals, harmonizing leaves, and the extraordinary inclusion of seaweed essence—bringing the literal energy of ocean waters into the blend. With jasmine, key lime, violet, white lotus (another exceptionally rare material), clary sage, and mint, this creates an absolutely divine, flowing blend that softens emotional tension, deepens intuitive listening, and supports dreamwork and divination. Apply to heart, wrists, or third eye before meditation or ritual to encourage gentleness, adaptability, and connection with unseen currents.

Fire: The Transformative Flame

This oil awakens vitality and will through sensual florals, potent spices, and the rare dragonsblood ink—a resinous material that carries both protective and passionately transformative properties. Combined with turmeric, black pepper, ginger, blood orange, rose, cardamom, ylang ylang, coriander, and cinnamon, this spicy-sweet floral oil pulses with passion and movement. Exceptional for charging ritual tools, kindling inspiration, or supporting major release and transformational work. Apply over solar plexus, heart, or pulse points before creative work, dance, ceremony, or when courage and self-expression are needed.

Air: The Clarifying Breath

This oil clears and uplifts through fresh herbs, bright florals, and green forest essences. The inclusion of galbanum—a potent, green, resinous material used in ancient Egyptian perfumery—adds profound spiritual dimension. With high-altitude lavender, blue spruce, balsam fir, rosemary, and eucalyptus, this bright, resinous blend creates mental space and attunes consciousness to subtle currents of inspiration. Use before study, writing, teaching, prayer, or invocation. Apply to temples, throat, or crown when seeking clarity, communication, or discernment.

Ether: The Quintessence

This oil opens awareness to the subtle field uniting all elements. Through precious woods and ethereal florals—including mimosa blossom (an exquisitely delicate absolute) and tuberose (the night-blooming flower associated with spiritual awakening)—combined with sandalwood, neroli, balsam gurjan, geranium rose, and petitgrain, this blend encourages devotion, peace, and direct connection to Source. Use in meditation, consecration, or attunement practices. Apply to crown, heart, or palms before energy work or ritual invocation to harmonize the elemental body.

Each oil is formulated at a ceremonial-grade 20% dilution in jojoba oil, suitable for both daily wear as natural perfume and ritual application. Presented in 1 dram glass bottles, these oils are best used within one year of purchase and remain potent for up to three years with proper storage.

The complete set of all five elemental oils comes housed in a protective tin case—a portable alchemical apothecary for wherever your path leads.

Back to that Hermetic Stuff…

The Hermetic axiom reminds us that inner and outer reality are mirrors. When we restore elemental balance within our own being—through conscious anointing, relationship with plant allies, and embodied ritual practice—we participate in the restoration of balance in the world around us.

These oils are not meant to be precious objects kept on a shelf but living tools for transformation. Use them!

As you work with these living oils over time, you will develop your own felt sense of each element’s signature, your own intuitive understanding of which oil calls to you in any given moment.

This is the deeper gift of elemental anointing: receiving the healing properties of aromatic molecules and cultivating a refined sensitivity to the elemental currents flowing through your own consciousness.

In learning to recognize and rebalance these forces, you become an alchemist—a conscious participant in the great work of transformation.

Did you get something out of this article? Please like, comment, and share. It makes a huge difference…and does just a bit to encourage human-made content.

Juniper Stokes is a botanical perfumer, soul alchemist, and rewilding guide through mythic landscapes of the nature, spirit, and the cosmos. For over 25 years, she has been guiding soulful humans back to the heart of who they are and why they’re here.

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Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

The Magic & Medicine of Ponderosa Pine

I live in the land of ponderosas — and I can tell you that these are really special trees. Tall and straight, with long needles, huge cones, and amazing fire-resistant qualities…oh, and the fragrant resins…mmm…These trees are my guardians and loves in the lands of Oregon.

There are countless types of pines in North America alone. Y’all in Eastern States love your white pine, but the Ponderosa will always hold a special place in this West Coast girl’s heart. 

Ponderosa pine is a western North American conifer recognized by its tall, straight trunk, thick scaly bark, and long needles usually bundled in threes. It shapes mountain and foothill landscapes and contributes resin, needles, and bark to fire-adapted ecosystems. Aromatically it gives a bright, resinous, clean evergreen note that calls to mind open forests and sun-warmed resin. Let’s dive into the magic and medicine of ponderosa pine!

Botanical profile and identifying features

Pinus ponderosa commonly reaches great height with a broad crown in mature stands. Needles occur in fascicles of three, and bark matures into puzzle-like plates on older trees. Cones hang downward and can persist on the tree for seasons.

Key identifying notes:

• Needles: long, typically in threes.

• Bark: thick, brown to orange plates with deep fissures on mature trees.

• Habitat: dry slopes, montane forests, foothills from British Columbia south through the western United States.

Traditional and ethnobotanical uses

Ponderosa pine has long been used by Indigenous peoples and settlers who arrived here…unfortunately. Our logging history is rough. But, on a happier note: Needles and inner bark were brewed into vitamin-rich teas by indigenous peoples in this areas. Needle tea has been used as a mild respiratory support and a source of vitamin C in traditional preparations.

The resin, which infuse into oils and tinctures for sacred aromatics, served as an adhesive, waterproofing pitch, chewing gum after careful processing, and as a component in wound salves and fire-starting.

These uses emphasize practical survival skills as well as ceremonial applications—the scent of pine often marks liminal outdoor spaces and seasonal gatherings.

Aromatic and perfumery character

I’m fortunate enough to distill my own ponderosa hydrosol right here in the high desert of Central Oregon :) It’s divine. The Ponderosa scent profile is bright and resinous, with a pine-turpentine top and a warm green-resin heart. 

Ponderosa pine essential oil reads as crisp, forest-like, and clearing. In blends it brings freshness and a high, camphor-resin clarity that pairs well with citrus, fir balsams, spruce, and warm resins like labdanum or frankincense.

Ponderosa pine pairs well with cedarwood, vetiver, lavender, rosemary, and citrus top notes for room or ritual blends. Blend with juniper, cypress, and artemesias for clearing and protective creations. 

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Ponderosa Pine Hydrosol

$16.00

Pinus ponderosa

2oz amber glass spray bottle

Distilled from needles and twigs of the great Ponderosa Pine, all gathered on my own property, this hydrosol carries the clean, fresh scent of mountain forests.

Pine has long symbolized endurance and purification. Its hydrosol clears heaviness, restores breath and energy, and strengthens the sense of belonging on Earth.

In ancient Greek and Roman rites, pine was linked to Dionysus and immortality—the evergreen soul that endures through cycles of death and rebirth. Among Indigenous traditions of the western mountains, pine cleanses, renews, and connects breath with the sacred forests.

Physical Uses: Refreshing body or room mist; supports clear breathing and muscular ease.
Emotional Uses: Encourages perseverance, grounding, and renewal after fatigue.
Mental Uses: Clears confusion, supports steady focus.
Spiritual/Energetic Uses: Purifies energy fields, strengthens spiritual protection, and connects the heart to the land.

Ways to Use Ponderosa Pine Hydrosol:

• Mist around yourself to dispel emotional heaviness.

• Spray in the home for forest freshness and clarity.

• Use before grounding or energy-clearing rituals.

• Add to bathwater or compress for renewal.

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Preparations and ritual applications

Forest clearing spray (room mist)

• 100 ml distilled water in a spray bottle

• 1 tsp vegetable glycerin (to help disperse oils and preserve)

• Essential oil total: keep to a safe aromatic concentration (around 0.5–1% for room sprays); for 100 ml that equals roughly 15–30 drops total. 

• A fun starting formula: 10 drops ponderosa pine, 6 drops sweet orange, 4 drops cedarwood. Shake before use and mist lightly in well-ventilated spaces.

Anointing salve (external use)

• 30 g beeswax + 120 ml ponderosa infused olive oil (from chopped needles)

• Infuse needles gently in oil, strain, warm with melted beeswax, pour into tins. 

• Apply to wrists or chest as a protective and breath-opening ointment.

Needle tea

• A small pinch of fresh or dried needles steeped briefly in hot water can be sipped as a warming infusion. Prepare cautiously; avoid if pregnant and consult a practitioner if you have medical concerns.

Safety and cautions

Ponderosa pine contains compounds that have important implications:

• Avoid excessive internal use. While needle tea has traditional applications, advice from a qualified herbalist or clinician is recommended before internal consumption.

• Pregnant women should avoid internal use of pine medicines and high-dose essential oil exposure.

• Essential oils are concentrated and can be irritating to skin and mucous membranes; always dilute. Keep oils away from eyes and infants.

• If you have respiratory sensitivities or asthma, test aromatic exposure cautiously; concentrated pine vapors can be stimulating.

Harvesting and stewardship

Responsible harvest protects the tree and the broader forest:

• Collect fallen needles or fallen small branches when possible. Post-windstorm is a great time to collect tree medicine.

• When collecting resin, only take what falls freely from a tree — never force resin away from where it’s protecting that tree. Look to the ground for fallen resin.

• Observe local regulations and Indigenous protocols. Many landscapes have cultural and conservation protections; gather only where permitted and ethical. See this free guide on ethical foraging for more. 

Spirit and practice

Ponderosa pine embodies endurance, openness, and the long view. Use it for practices that call for clarity, steady presence, and ancestral remembering. A short morning ritual might involve a single anointed drop of pine-scented oil on the wrists, mindful breath, and a commitment to carry the steadiness of the tree into the day.

If you would like to explore plant medicines and aromatic craft more deeply, join the waitlist for Nectar & Alchemy: The School of Sacred Aromatics. 

Current classes include Angel Anointing, Becoming a Myrrhophore, and more — and I’ll be sharing a foundational anointing oil class in January 2026!

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You might also like:

• A Beginner’s Guide to Plant Identification and Safe Wildcrafting

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ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

Pink Yarrow: The flower essence of healthy boundaries

Oh my goodness. My pink yarrow emerged more vibrant than ever this summer! Look at the very real and unedited picture from my yard!

Pink yarrow (the rose- or pink-flowered forms of Achillea millefolium and close cultivars) carries the same botanical character as common yarrow but adds a soft, heart-leaning color. In folk medicine yarrow is famous as a wound plant and circulatory ally; in the flower essence tradition, pink yarrow shows up as a remedy for people who are highly empathic, who merge with others’ feelings, or who have porous energetic boundaries and need a steadier sense of self. 

• Family: Asteraceae.

• Descriptors: clumping perennial with finely divided, feathery leaves and flat-topped clusters of many small flowers. Pink cultivars range from pale rose to deeper pink.

• Habitat: meadows, roadsides, dry fields and open woodland edges across temperate regions where it readily self-seeds.

• Harvest the flowering tops when blossoms are fresh and fully open for the best energetic and aromatic qualities.

Traditional uses 

Historically yarrow earned names such as “wound healer” and “Master of Blood” because of its styptic action and its use in treating cuts, stopping bleeding, and assisting wound repair.

Ever heard of Achilles’ Heel? Well, achillea millefolium heals ;) 

That physical reputation carries into energetic work: yarrow is trusted for closing leaks, mending ruptures, and restoring continuity to the field. These physical-plant uses appear throughout ethnobotanical records and contemporary herbal sources. 

I love using wild yarrow in healing salves and oils, but I reserve the precious pink yarrow for flower essences…

What the pink-yarrow flower essence addresses

Pink yarrow flower essence as especially useful for people who absorb other people’s emotions, becoming confused, drained, or ill in highly empathic environments.

Healers, carers, and animals who take on others’ states and need a clearer boundary that still allows compassion can also benefit from this essence, as can those who wish to cultivate compassionate presence that does not merge or over-identify with another’s inner life.

How to use pink yarrow essence

I like to take 4 drops under the tongue up to 4 times daily, or as needed during periods of orbiting emotional overwhelm.

Safety and clinical considerations

Flower essences are considered vibrational remedies rather than herbal pharmacology, so they are typically non-toxic and used in tiny dilutions. Still, it’s wise to use caution with clients who have severe psychiatric conditions. For pregnant women, animals, or children, you can use a vinegar or glycerin-based remedy rather than the traditional brandy-based version. 

Ritually-Made Vibrant Pink Yarrow Essence

Pink Yarrow

$14.00

Achillea millefolium

Healthy Emotional Boundaries

Common names: Pink Yarrow

Indications: emotional and heart healing, boundaries of consciousness, loving awareness

Every human soul needs compassion. Pink Yarrow type helps us distinguish authentic compassion from over-identification with others. It also helps us connect with the environment around us without taking on energy that’s not our own. A powerful friend for healing enmeshment patterns.

Positive qualities the essence amplifies

• Loving awareness of others from a self-contained consciousness.

• Appropriate emotional boundaries that preserve compassion while preventing overload.

• Greater clarity about which feelings belong to the Self and which belong to the other.

Patterns of imbalance the essence addresses

• Overly absorbent auric field and habitual merging with other people’s states.

• Unbalanced sympathetic reactivity and chronic emotional confusion.

• Difficulty distinguishing authentic compassion from sympathetic identification.

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Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

Why Hydrosols Are the Missing Piece in Your Wellness Practice

Hydrosols: the gentle powerhouse you didn't know you needed.

There's a reason hydrosols have been treasured for over a thousand years in healing traditions around the world. And there's a reason that once people discover them, they wonder how they ever lived without them.

If you've been feeling like something is missing from your wellness routine—if essential oils feel too strong, if you want plant medicine that's gentle enough for daily use but powerful enough to create real change, if you're looking for something that works on multiple levels at once—hydrosols might be exactly what you've been searching for.

What Makes Hydrosols Different?

Let's start with what hydrosols actually are, because most people have never heard of them.

When you steam distill a plant to create essential oils, you get two products: the concentrated oil floating on top, and the aromatic water beneath. That water is the hydrosol. It carries the water-soluble compounds of the plant, the vibrational essence, and trace amounts of the essential oil itself.

But here's what makes hydrosols extraordinary: they bridge worlds that usually stay separate.

Hydrosols are:

• Gentle enough for the most sensitive skin, yet powerful enough for deep healing

• Subtle enough for daily use, yet potent enough for spiritual practice

• Accessible enough to spray freely, yet sacred enough to use ceremonially

• Mild enough for children and elders, yet effective enough for acute situations

This is the sweet spot of plant medicine—the Goldilocks zone where accessibility meets potency.

The Problems Hydrosols Solve

1. When Essential Oils Are Too Much

Essential oils are incredible, but they're not for everyone or every situation. They're highly concentrated (it takes 60 roses to make one drop of rose oil), they can irritate sensitive skin, they require dilution and careful use, and frankly, they're expensive enough that most people use them sparingly.

Hydrosols give you the medicine of the plant without any of these limitations. You can spray them directly on your skin, use them generously, mist your whole body, your face, your space—no dilution needed, no sensitization concerns, no measuring droppers or carrier oils.

The result? You actually use them. Daily. Multiple times a day. And that consistency is where real transformation happens.

2. When You Need Something Now

We live in a world of overwhelm. Stress hits us multiple times a day. We need tools we can reach for in the moment—not things that require preparation, planning, or perfect conditions.

Hydrosols are instant. Keep a bottle by your desk and spray yourself when anxiety rises. Keep one by your bed for restless nights. Keep one in your bag for moments when you need to shift your energy quickly. Keep one in the bathroom for after-shower rituals that take 30 seconds but change your whole day.

This immediacy matters. The best remedy is the one you'll actually use, and hydrosols remove every barrier between you and the medicine.

3. When Your Skin Needs Real Care

Your skin is your largest organ and your primary interface with the world. It deserves more than synthetic fragrances, preservatives, and ingredients you can't pronounce.

Hydrosols are pure plant medicine for your skin. They're hydrating without being heavy. They balance pH naturally. They calm inflammation, reduce redness, tone and tighten, provide antioxidants, and feed your skin with the same compounds the plant uses to protect and heal itself.

But unlike most skincare products, hydrosols don't just treat your skin superficially. Because they work energetically as well as physically, they're nourishing you on multiple levels simultaneously—addressing not just the symptom, but the whole pattern that created it.

4. When You Want Spiritual Practice Without Complexity

Many people feel drawn to plant spirit medicine but don't know where to start. Working with plants spiritually can feel intimidating—do you need training? Special knowledge? The right mindset?

Hydrosols make it simple. Spray yourself before meditation and you're working with plant allies. Mist your space before ritual and you're clearing energy. Spritz your pillow before sleep and you're inviting the plant's medicine into your dreamtime.

There's no wrong way to do it. The plants aren't judging your technique. They're simply offering their gifts, and hydrosols are the most accessible form of receiving them.

5. When Your Space Needs Energetic Hygiene

We've become so aware of physical hygiene—washing hands, cleaning surfaces, purifying air. But what about energetic hygiene?

We absorb energy from every interaction, every environment, every screen we stare at. That accumulation affects our mood, our clarity, our vitality, our sleep. Yet most of us have no regular practice for clearing it.

Hydrosols are energetic hygiene made easy. Come home from a difficult day and mist yourself head to toe—literally washing off what isn't yours. Had a challenging conversation? Clear the room afterwards. Feeling stuck in old patterns? Change your frequency with a different plant medicine.

This isn't woo-woo—it's practical spiritual maintenance, and it takes 10 seconds.

My Alchemessence Hydrosols Are Magical

Not all hydrosols are created equal, and this matters more than you might think.

Commercial vs. Small-Batch Traditional

Most hydrosols on the market are byproducts of essential oil production. The oils are siphoned off and sold separately, and the leftover water is bottled as hydrosol. While these still have value, they're missing something crucial: the essential oils themselves.

Traditional hydrosols—made the way they've been made for thousands of years—keep the oils and water together. This means you're getting both the water-soluble compounds AND the oil-soluble compounds. You're getting the full spectrum of the plant's chemistry and energy.

This is how Alchemessence hydrosols are made: nothing is removed. The essential oils remain suspended in the aromatic water, giving you a more complete and potent medicine.

Grown with Intention, Harvested with Care

There's another factor that commercial operations can't replicate: relationship with the plants.

Every plant in Alchemessence hydrosols is either grown from seed or wild-tended on high desert land. Each one is observed, communed with, cared for throughout its growing cycle. Harvest happens at peak potency, often at specific times of day when the plant's medicine is strongest. The distillation itself is ceremony—honoring the plant's sacrifice and gift.

This isn't just romanticism. Plants are living beings that respond to how they're treated. The energetic quality of medicine made from plants that were rushed through industrial processing is different from medicine made from plants that were honored, thanked, and distilled with reverence.

You can feel the difference. People who use both commercial and small-batch sacred hydrosols consistently report that the handmade ones "hit different"—they're more alive, more present, more effective.

The Copper Alembic Factor

Alchemessence hydrosols are distilled in a copper alembic—the traditional vessel used by alchemists for millennia. Copper isn't just aesthetic; it has specific properties that affect the distillation. It conducts heat evenly, interacts with the plant compounds in beneficial ways, and many believe it adds its own energetic signature to the medicine.

Modern commercial operations use stainless steel because it's cheaper and easier to scale. But there's a reason the ancient alchemists chose copper, and there's a reason serious distillers still use it today.

Why Seasonal, Small-Batch Matters to You

Here's the honest truth about small-batch seasonal production: it means limited supply.

When hydrosols are gone, they're gone until next year's harvest. There are no warehouses of backup stock, no ability to suddenly make more when demand spikes. Each plant only yields so much medicine, and once that's been distilled, that's it for the season.

This might sound like a disadvantage, but it's actually what ensures quality. It means:

• Every batch is fresh (hydrosols do degrade over time—fresher is better)

• Nothing sits around for years waiting to be sold

• I can focus on quality over quantity

• Each hydrosol is made from that year's harvest, capturing that specific growing season

• You're getting peak potency, not something that's been sitting on a shelf

But it also means that if you want these hydrosols, waiting isn't a good strategy. Popular varieties sell out within weeks. Once they're gone, you'll be waiting until next summer's harvest.

Real Uses for Real Life

Let's get practical. How do people actually use hydrosols daily?

Morning: Mist your face after washing as a gentle toner. The hydrosol balances your skin's pH, provides antioxidants, and wakes you up energetically. It's skincare and spiritual practice in one spray.

Throughout the Day: Keep a bottle at your desk. When stress hits, spray yourself—face, hands, the back of your neck. The aromatic compounds enter through your skin and your breath simultaneously, shifting your nervous system in seconds. This is better than a coffee break because you come back more centered, not more wired.

Before Bed: Mist your pillow, sheets, and yourself. Choose a plant that supports what you need—lavender for calming, mugwort for dreaming, pine for grounding. Your sleep quality will change when your sleep environment is infused with plant medicine instead of synthetic fragrance or stale air.

After Difficult Interactions: Clear your energy field immediately. Stand up, spray yourself from head to toe, take three deep breaths. You're not just refreshing yourself—you're literally washing off energetic residue. This practice alone can prevent the accumulation of stress that leads to burnout.

Before Spiritual Practice: Whether you meditate, pray, do yoga, or simply sit in silence—mist your space and yourself first. You're inviting the plant as an ally, creating sacred space, and shifting your consciousness into a more receptive state. The practice becomes deeper because you're not doing it alone.

As Needed for Skin Issues: Irritation, inflammation, dryness, redness—hydrosols address all of it. Spray generously on the affected area several times a day. Unlike creams that can trap problems under occlusive layers, hydrosols deliver healing directly while allowing skin to breathe.

Room Clearing: When a space feels heavy, stagnant, or off—mist it. After arguments, after illness, after energy-draining guests, or just because it's been too long. Think of it as energetic housekeeping that takes 30 seconds but transforms the feeling of your home.

The Plants You Need

Each plant offers its own particular gifts. Here's what's available from this summer's harvest:

For Protection & Boundaries: Wormwood, White Sagebrush, Giant Sagebrush
When you feel overwhelmed by others' energy, when you need to say no, when you're processing difficult experiences

For Grounding & Presence: Ponderosa Pine, Larch, Rabbitbrush
When you're scattered, anxious, or unmoored—these bring you back to earth and to yourself

For Peace & Nervous System Support: Lavender, Lavender White Sage Co-distill
When your nervous system is fried, when you can't turn off your mind, when you need softness

For Spiritual Practice & Dreamwork: Mugwort
The ancient dreaming herb—for accessing intuition, for liminal space work, for psychic opening

For Uplift & Celebration: Marigold (Tagetes), Apple Fruit
When you need brightness, joy, sweetness—these plants bring solar energy and delight

For Resilience & Healing: Yarrow
The warrior's companion—for maintaining integrity under pressure, for healing wounds seen and unseen

Most people find they're drawn to 2-3 specific hydrosols that become their daily companions, and then keep others on hand for specific situations. There's no wrong way to choose—trust what calls to you.

Why This Matters Now

We're living through a time of collective overwhelm. The nervous system assaults are constant—news, screens, isolation, uncertainty, divisiveness, environmental stress. We need tools that actually help, that we can use daily, that don't require perfect conditions or extensive training.

We also need real relationship with the natural world, but most of us are so disconnected that we don't even know where to start.

Hydrosols answer both needs. They're accessible medicine for modern stress. They're a daily tangible relationship with plants. They work on your skin, in your space, on your energy, and in your spirit—all at once.

And they're gentle enough that you'll actually use them, which means they can actually help.

The ancient Taoist physician Sun Simiao understood something profound: the best medicine is the medicine people will use. That's why he championed hydrosols over essential oils for common folk—not because they were inferior, but because they were accessible. You didn't need to measure, dilute, or be cautious. You could use them freely, daily, generously.

A thousand years later, we still need that same medicine. Maybe even more urgently.

What Happens When They're Gone

Here's what happens every year: people discover hydrosols, fall in love with them, use their bottle up, go to reorder... and find that their favorite is sold out.

Then they wait months for next year's harvest, wishing they'd stocked up when they had the chance.

Small-batch means small quantities. Seasonal means once a year. Popular varieties sell out fast, especially once people start talking about them.

If you know you want to work with hydrosols—if you can feel that these would fill a need in your life, your practice, your self-care routine—don't wait. Get the varieties that call to you now, while they're available.

You can't rush next summer's harvest. You can't demand plants grow faster or yield more than they naturally offer. You can only work with what's here, now, in this moment.

And what's here is a limited supply of potent, sacred, small-batch hydrosols made the traditional way, from plants grown with intention and distilled with reverence.

The question is: do you want to spend the next year with these plant allies by your side, or do you want to spend it wishing you'd ordered them when you had the chance?

The Invitation

This isn't just about buying a product. It's about choosing to bring plant medicine into your daily life in the most accessible, usable, effective form that exists.

It's about having tools that actually help when stress hits, when your skin needs support, when your space needs clearing, when your spirit needs remembering who you are beneath all the noise.

It's about working with plants that were grown and harvested by human hands, distilled in ceremony, and offered to you with the same intention healers have held for thousands of years: may this help you remember wholeness.

The hydrosols are ready. The bottles are filled. The medicine is waiting.

The only question is whether you'll invite these plant allies into your life before the seasonal harvest is gone.

Limited seasonal batches available now. Once they're gone, they're gone until next summer's harvest.

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Lavender White Sagebrush Co-Distill

Sale Price: $10.00 Original Price: $18.00

Lavandula angustifolia & Artemisia ludoviciana

2oz amber glass spray bottle

Distilled together in copper, this rare co-distill unites the calming floral clarity of Lavender with the silvery, cleansing power of White Sagebrush. The result is a hydrosol that balances softness with strength—gentle enough for daily use, potent enough for energetic purification.

Lavender soothes the mind and heart, restoring inner equilibrium, while White Sagebrush clears interference and aligns the spirit with truth. Together, they create a bridge between calm presence and sacred protection, grounding spiritual light in the body.

Physical Uses: Refreshing facial or body mist that tones and purifies skin; cooling after sun or ritual heat.
Emotional Uses: Settles the nervous system, calms overstimulation, and restores centered awareness.
Mental Uses: Supports clear, balanced thought and focus during meditation or creative work.
Spiritual/Energetic Uses: Purifies space and aura, seals energetic boundaries, and harmonizes lunar and solar currents.

Ways to Use Lavender + White Sagebrush Hydrosol:

• Mist around yourself or your room to reset energy after ritual or intense work.

• Use before meditation or sleep to clear and calm.

• Spray over altar tools for gentle purification without smoke.

• Apply to pulse points when you need peace and protection combined.

Traditional Associations:
In Druidic lore, Lavender is linked to tranquility and purification, while White Sagebrush—kin to sacred Artemisia—embodies clarity, discernment, and ancestral wisdom. Their union mirrors Taoist balance between yin and yang, heart and spirit, stillness and movement. Together they form a living invocation of harmony and sacred renewal.

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Ponderosa Pine Hydrosol

$16.00

Pinus ponderosa

2oz amber glass spray bottle

Distilled from needles and twigs of the great Ponderosa Pine, all gathered on my own property, this hydrosol carries the clean, fresh scent of mountain forests.

Pine has long symbolized endurance and purification. Its hydrosol clears heaviness, restores breath and energy, and strengthens the sense of belonging on Earth.

In ancient Greek and Roman rites, pine was linked to Dionysus and immortality—the evergreen soul that endures through cycles of death and rebirth. Among Indigenous traditions of the western mountains, pine cleanses, renews, and connects breath with the sacred forests.

Physical Uses: Refreshing body or room mist; supports clear breathing and muscular ease.
Emotional Uses: Encourages perseverance, grounding, and renewal after fatigue.
Mental Uses: Clears confusion, supports steady focus.
Spiritual/Energetic Uses: Purifies energy fields, strengthens spiritual protection, and connects the heart to the land.

Ways to Use Ponderosa Pine Hydrosol:

• Mist around yourself to dispel emotional heaviness.

• Spray in the home for forest freshness and clarity.

• Use before grounding or energy-clearing rituals.

• Add to bathwater or compress for renewal.

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Marigold Hydrosol

$18.00

Tagetes erecta

2oz amber glass spray bottle

Distilled from hand-harvested blossoms in my own organic gardens, this Marigold Hydrosol carries the golden warmth of the sun itself.

Marigold has long been a healer’s ally—gentle, radiant, and protective. It soothes both skin and spirit, softening the effects of tension while brightening energy with joy.

In Greek and Roman ritual, marigold was sacred to the Sun, symbolizing constancy and illumination. In Mexican tradition, cempasúchil (Tagetes species) are the flowers of Día de Muertos, guiding ancestors home with their golden light and scent. Marigold hydrosol holds this same radiance—honoring life, death, and the bridge between.

Physical Uses: Ideal for sensitive or inflamed skin, minor burns, or after-sun care.
Emotional Uses: Brings warmth, lightness, and relief from heaviness or worry.
Mental Uses: Encourages optimism, restores focus after emotional strain.
Spiritual/Energetic Uses: Invokes solar vitality, cleanses stagnant emotion, and supports ancestral healing rituals.

Ways to Use Marigold Hydrosol:

• Soothing spray for sensitive or inflamed skin.

• Cooling compress for burns and sun exposure.

• Gentle care for babies (diaper rash, cradle cap).

• Solar plant tied to vitality and courage

• Used to honor ancestors and the dead.

• Mist during rituals for joy and courage

• Uplifting room spray.

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Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

You might also like:

• A Beginner’s Guide to Plant Identification and Safe Wildcrafting

• The Magic & Medicine of Mugwort

• Your Complete Guide to Hydrosols

• Who are the spirits of nature? A comprehensive guide to nature spirits

• A Short & Sweet Guide to Understanding Flower Essence Dilutions

ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

The Magic & Medicine of Wormwood

The Bitter Herb of Boundaries, Spirits, and Purification

Among the many plants that bridge the physical and the unseen, few are as enduring and paradoxical as wormwood. Silver-leaved, aromatic, and bitter beyond measure, Artemisia absinthium has been medicine, poison, and spirit ally for over two thousand years. It is the namesake of absinthe—the “green fairy” of Belle Époque legend—but its deeper reputation is that of a purifier: a herb that confronts corruption in both body and soul.

I grow wormwood in my own organic gardens and am ever grateful for the magic and medicine it shares.

The Nature of the Plant

Wormwood is a perennial herb of the Asteraceae family, native to temperate Europe and Western Asia. It thrives in dry, neglected soils and can endure long periods of drought—an embodiment of resilience through austerity. Its finely divided silver leaves carry resinous glands rich with volatile oils. These essential oils, heavy with thujone, sabinene, chamazulene precursors, and myrcene, lend wormwood its penetrating scent and bitter flavor.

Chemically, wormwood is dominated by sesquiterpene lactones such as absinthin and anabsinthin—the compounds responsible for its intense bitterness. These stimulate digestive secretions, increase bile flow, and expel parasites. The same molecular bitterness that cleanses the gut also defines wormwood’s energetic action: it rejects what is stagnant, invasive, or false.

Wormwood in Ancient and Sacred Use

From Egypt to Greece to the Celtic north, wormwood was considered a boundary plant. In Egypt it was used in ritual fumigations to drive out unseen forces of disease. The Greeks placed it under Artemis’s protection—patron of women, wilderness, and thresholds—and used it in moon rites and dream oracles. Roman soldiers took wormwood wine before long marches, believing it would guard against exhaustion and corruption of the blood.

Medieval herbals praised wormwood as “the mother of herbs,” a tonic and a guard. Monks planted it near doors to repel moths and vermin, and housewives bundled it in linens to deter insects. It appeared in plague remedies, burned in homes to cleanse foul air, and steeped in wines and tonics to protect the spirit during epidemics.

In alchemical medicine, wormwood belonged to Saturn—the planet of endings, truth, and purification. Saturnine herbs strip away illusion and excess; wormwood, with its austerity and bitterness, was said to temper indulgence and bring clarity.

The Absinthe Spirit

In the late eighteenth century, wormwood found new life as the heart of absinthe, the legendary green liqueur. Distilled with anise, fennel, hyssop, and other herbs, absinthe concentrated wormwood’s volatile thujone-rich oil into a clear elixir that clouded when diluted with water.

Artists and poets of nineteenth-century Europe turned absinthe into a ritual of inspiration and dissolution. They called it “la fée verte”—the green fairy—believing it opened the creative and subconscious realms. What they experienced was both chemical and symbolic: thujone acts on the GABA receptors, creating mild disinhibition and heightened perception, while wormwood’s Saturnine current stripped away veils of civility, revealing the raw and the visionary.

Absinthe was later blamed for madness and banned for decades, though modern analysis shows that alcohol abuse, not thujone, was the true poison. Even so, the mythology remains apt: wormwood intoxicates not with sweetness, but with revelation.

Parasites and Ghosts: The Same Principle in Two Worlds

Wormwood’s long reputation as an anthelmintic—an expeller of worms—forms the root of its English name. Its volatile oils and sesquiterpene lactones are hostile to intestinal parasites, stimulating the digestive fire that makes the gut inhospitable to them. This cleansing is both biological and symbolic.

Across spiritual traditions, parasites and ghosts are often metaphors for energies that feed upon vitality. In the body, they rob nutrients; in the spirit, they drain will and clarity. Wormwood acts on both levels through the same principle: expulsion of what invades without consent.

When used as incense or hydrosol, wormwood clears dense atmospheres, dissolving psychic residue much as it purges physical infestation. In folk magic it is burned to repel spirits of the restless dead or to sever unhealthy energetic ties. In the Slavic lands, wormwood was hung in thresholds to prevent the return of the unquiet dead after midsummer. In Western Europe it was added to funeral bouquets to guide souls to rest and to protect the living from their lingering sorrow.

In energetic work, wormwood corresponds to the solar plexus—the center of digestion, discernment, and will—and to the third eye, where perception clarifies. It sharpens boundaries while keeping channels clear. In this sense, its bitterness is an act of love: a refusal to let the sacred self be consumed by parasitic thought, energy, or emotion.

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Wormwood Hydrosol

from $10.00

Artemisia absinthium

2oz amber glass spray bottle | distilled summer 2025

Distilled with care in my copper alembic, this Wormwood Hydrosol captures the wild, resinous spirit of one of the most legendary Artemisia plants.

Wormwood has long been associated with protection, clarity, and crossing thresholds between worlds. It is used to cleanse stagnant energy and awaken sharp focus, helping dissolve illusions or fatigue that obscure vision.

Linked with Hecate, Persephone, and the rites of crossing, Wormwood has long been a herb of the in-between. The Greeks used it in ritual wine to honor the dead and guide spirits. In medieval Europe and Taoist practice alike, its bitter scent was said to drive away harmful influences. It sharpens perception, clears illusions, and fortifies spiritual boundaries.

Wormwood is perhaps the best anti-parasitic ally there is — not just for the intestinal ones, but the energetic ones: Misting regularly with wormwood can help keep energetic bugs at bay.

Physical Uses: Supports healthy skin, tones oily areas, and can be used as a clarifying body or room mist.
Emotional Uses: Encourages release of grief, strengthens inner boundaries, and restores confidence.
Mental Uses: Sharpens awareness, clears fog, and aids study or ritual precision.
Spiritual/Energetic Uses: Guards the energetic field, assists in banishment and protection work, and opens pathways for deep visionary practice.

Ways to Use Wormwood Hydrosol:

• Mist around your workspace to restore focus and alertness.

• Use before divination or trance to heighten clarity.

• Spray on the soles of the feet or back of the neck to ground scattered energy.

• Add to floor washes or ritual cleansing sprays.

Size:

Select Size 2oz glass mist 8oz blue PET pump

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The Alchemy of Purification

To the alchemists, every herb mirrored a process of inner transformation. Wormwood’s alchemy was that of calcination: the burning away of dross to reveal what endures. Its ruling planet, Saturn, governs time, decay, and truth; its element, fire through air, carries the smoke of purification.

In alchemical operations, wormwood was used to temper the volatile with the fixed. Its essence was distilled into tinctures that “separate the pure from the impure,” assisting both physical detoxification and the refinement of consciousness. Its bitterness was seen as a form of instruction—showing the initiate that the path of clarity requires confrontation with the unpleasant and the unacknowledged.

Working with Wormwood Today

• Incense or fumigation – A pinch of dried leaf burned in a heat-proof dish clears a space before dream work, divination, or ancestral communion.
• Infused oil – Dilute carefully and use for protection of the solar plexus or to seal energetic boundaries.
• Tincture or bitters – When used under guidance and in microdoses, wormwood strengthens digestion and focus, though it must never be taken in excess.
• Flower essence – A gentle form that assists in releasing psychic parasites and emotional entanglements, restoring clarity and sovereignty.

Cautions

Wormwood is not a casual herb. Its essential oil is toxic when ingested and should never be taken internally. Even teas and tinctures require moderation and professional guidance. It is contraindicated in pregnancy, epilepsy, and liver conditions. Its power lies in its restraint—the dose defines whether it is medicine or poison.

Closing

Wormwood stands as one of the old world’s purest teachers of discernment. It embodies the sacred bitterness that guards life from decay and delusion. In the body, it awakens digestion and casts out parasites. In the spirit, it restores sovereignty by clearing ghosts, obsessions, and attachments. Its lesson is clear and unsentimental: to protect life, one must know what belongs and what does not.

Wormwood is the herb of the threshold—where the living meet the dead, where comfort gives way to truth, and where purification opens the path to wisdom.

If you would like to explore plant medicines and aromatic craft more deeply, join the waitlist for Nectar & Alchemy: The School of Sacred Aromatics. 

Current classes include Angel Anointing, Becoming a Myrrhophore, and more — and I’ll be sharing a foundational anointing oil class in January 2026!

---

Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

You might also like:

• A Beginner’s Guide to Plant Identification and Safe Wildcrafting

• The Magic & Medicine of Mugwort

• Your Complete Guide to Hydrosols

• Who are the spirits of nature? A comprehensive guide to nature spirits

• A Short & Sweet Guide to Understanding Flower Essence Dilutions

ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

The Medicine & Magic of marigold

Few garden flowers are as instantly familiar as the marigold. Their orange and yellow heads catch the eye, their scent marks a place, and across cultures these flowers have been pressed into ceremonial, medicinal, culinary, and practical use.

But “marigold” is a common name that points to two different plant stories: the Tagetes marigolds of the Americas and the pot marigold, Calendula, that became a European herbal mainstay. Both sit in the daisy family (Asteraceae), but they bring different chemistries and different cultural roles.

Below I unpack both threads: who these plants are, what’s in them, how people have used them, and how you might work with them safely.

Two marigolds: Tagetes vs. Calendula

When people say “marigold” they usually mean one of two things.

• Tagetes — the New World marigolds (Tagetes erecta, T. patula, T. lucida, T. minuta, etc.). These are the bright orange, pungent-scented marigolds commonly used in large quantities at festivals in Mexico and widely planted in gardens worldwide. They were domesticated in the Americas and later spread across the globe.

• Calendula (Calendula officinalis), often called pot marigold, is an Old World medicinal and kitchen flower. It has been cultivated in Mediterranean and South Asian herb gardens for centuries and features in traditional European and Middle Eastern materia medica. Calendula petals tend to be softer in fragrance and prized for topical herbal preparations and cosmetic extracts.

Knowing which plant you mean matters, because their traditional uses and active chemistry differ.

Botanical and chemical profile — what makes each plant “work”

Calendula officinalis: the pot marigold

Calendula petals are rich in carotenoids (lutein and related xanthophyll esters), triterpenoid esters and saponins, flavonol glycosides, and polysaccharides. These lipophilic pigments give the flowers their intense yellow–orange color and contribute antioxidant and skin-soothing activity used in salves, wound creams, and cosmetic formulations. Modern analyses identify many individual carotenoids in calendula petals, with lutein derivatives among the major constituents.

Tagetes species: the New World marigolds

Tagetes flowers and roots produce a different chemical profile: essential oils rich in monoterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids, carotenoids in the petals, and sulfur-containing polyacetylenes called thiophenes (notably α-terthienyl) concentrated in roots and flowers. Those thiophenes are biologically active — nematicidal, insecticidal, and antifungal — which explains Tagetes’ long use as a companion plant and soil protector. Essential oils from leaves and flowers contain compounds such as tagetone and ocimene, which also contribute to biological activity and aroma.

In My Botanica

I love the medicine of both these flowers, but for very different uses. In my natural perfumes and anointing oils, I most often use tagetes — it’s fruity fragrance enhances blends with an undefinable note. This is also the variety I use to make my Marigold Hydrosol.

I use calendula to infuse into oils and teas.

Both are lovely to make plant pigments with!

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Marigold Hydrosol

$18.00

Tagetes erecta

2oz amber glass spray bottle

Distilled from hand-harvested blossoms in my own organic gardens, this Marigold Hydrosol carries the golden warmth of the sun itself.

Marigold has long been a healer’s ally—gentle, radiant, and protective. It soothes both skin and spirit, softening the effects of tension while brightening energy with joy.

In Greek and Roman ritual, marigold was sacred to the Sun, symbolizing constancy and illumination. In Mexican tradition, cempasúchil (Tagetes species) are the flowers of Día de Muertos, guiding ancestors home with their golden light and scent. Marigold hydrosol holds this same radiance—honoring life, death, and the bridge between.

Physical Uses: Ideal for sensitive or inflamed skin, minor burns, or after-sun care.
Emotional Uses: Brings warmth, lightness, and relief from heaviness or worry.
Mental Uses: Encourages optimism, restores focus after emotional strain.
Spiritual/Energetic Uses: Invokes solar vitality, cleanses stagnant emotion, and supports ancestral healing rituals.

Ways to Use Marigold Hydrosol:

• Soothing spray for sensitive or inflamed skin.

• Cooling compress for burns and sun exposure.

• Gentle care for babies (diaper rash, cradle cap).

• Solar plant tied to vitality and courage

• Used to honor ancestors and the dead.

• Mist during rituals for joy and courage

• Uplifting room spray.

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Cultural lives of the marigold

Mexico and Mesoamerica — cempasúchil and the dead

Tagetes erecta (cempasúchil, often called the Aztec or Mexican marigold) has a deep history in central Mexico. The Aztecs used the flowers in ritual, in offerings, and as dye and medicine. Today cempasúchil is inseparable from Día de los Muertos altars and processions: its bright color and pungent scent are thought to guide and welcome ancestral spirits back to the home of the living. Large quantities of marigolds are laid on graves and woven into ofrendas.

South Asia — garlands, festivals, and weddings

Marigolds (mostly Tagetes species, introduced in the early modern period) are ubiquitous in Hindu ritual and South Asian celebrations. Strung into long garlands, they are offered at temples, used to decorate homes during festivals like Diwali, and carried in wedding processions. The flowers symbolize brightness, auspiciousness, and a life force that links offerings to the divine.

Europe and the Mediterranean — calendula as healer and dye

Calendula shows up throughout classical and medieval herbal texts for wound care, eye washes, skin salves, and as a culinary garnish or textile dye. European apothecaries prized the petals for anti-inflammatory and vulnerary preparations; today calendula extracts still appear in wound-care and cosmetic products for their soothing and reparative properties.

Gardens and farms — companion, dye, food, and pest control

Farmers and gardeners value Tagetes for more than ornament. Planted as a companion crop, marigolds help suppress certain nematodes and soil pathogens — a practical use that follows from the plant’s thiophene chemistry. Some Tagetes and Calendula cultivars are edible: petals add color to salads and can act as a saffron or dye substitute in rice and sweets. Tagetes lucida and T. tenuifolia are used as culinary herbs in some regional cuisines.

Medicine, magic, and modern uses

Medicinally, calendula is most commonly used topically: infused oil, salves, and creams for minor wounds, dermatitis, and inflammation. Laboratory and clinical work supports calendula’s anti-inflammatory and wound-healing potential, mostly tied to its carotenoids, triterpenoids, and polysaccharides. Tagetes species have a record of traditional use for digestive complaints, fever, and external applications; their root and leaf extracts are studied for antimicrobial and antiparasitic activity.

Magically and symbolically, marigold often represents the sun, life force, protection, and remembrance. In folk practice across regions the flower is used in protective bundles, funeral rites, and offerings. Because of their bright hue and longevity, marigolds frequently stand in rituals that mark thresholds between life and death, or that ask for resilience and abundance.

How to use marigold in your home practice and kitchen

Infused oil and salve with calendula petals — a classic for skin care: slowly macerate dried petals in olive or sunflower oil for several weeks or use low heat, then strain and whip into a salve with beeswax.

Marigold rice or dye — steep petals (Tagetes or calendula) in hot water or simmer briefly to release color for rice, butter, or baked goods as an edible dye. Use edible cultivars and be mindful of flavor. I’ve heard it called poorman’s saffron ;)

Garden ally — plant Tagetes as a companion in vegetable beds to help deter some soil pests and attract pollinators; harvest flowers before heavy rainfall to preserve potency. I always plant by tomatoes.

Cautions and contraindications

Don’t assume all marigolds are edible — identify the species and cultivar. Some Tagetes are bitter and can upset digestion in large amounts. Calendula oral use is generally discouraged in pregnancy; many sources advise avoiding internal use of calendula during pregnancy because of potential uterine effects. Topical use is common, but consult a medical provider if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or allergic to Asteraceae (daisy family) plants. For Tagetes, food amounts are usually safe, but medicinal dosing lacks robust safety data.

Tagetes essential oil is potent and must be used with care. It can be phototoxic or irritating; never apply concentrated oils undiluted to skin and treat essential oils with the usual aromatic safety protocols.

Closing

Marigolds are both practical and ceremonial: dyes and salves, altar flowers and companion plants. Calendula and Tagetes occupy overlapping but distinct cultural and botanical territories — each brings a rich tradition, useful chemistry, and specific applications. Whether you braid cempasúchil for an ofrenda, infuse calendula into a healing salve, or plant Tagetes along a tomato row, you are working with a plant that has served people’s bodies and rituals for centuries.

If you would like to explore plant medicines and aromatic craft more deeply, join the waitlist for Nectar & Alchemy: The School of Sacred Aromatics. 

Current classes include Angel Anointing, Becoming a Myrrhophore, and more — and I’ll be sharing a foundational anointing oil class in January 2026!

Selected sources used above: PLoS/PMC review on Tagetes chemistry and thiophenes; Kew plant profile on Mexican marigold; ACS study and recent reviews on calendula carotenoids and phytochemistry; UF/IFAS and extension literature on nematode suppression; medical summaries on calendula safety (WebMD, Drugs.com).

Ritually-Made Marigold Essence

Marigold

$14.00

Tagetes spp.

Radiant Self

Otherworld Adventures

Indications: awakening joy, calling in ancestors, bringing light to experience, supporting grief

Marigold flower essence is a radiant ally for transformation, bringing joy, facilitating emotional release, and connecting you to the beauty within life’s natural cycles.

Known as a “bringer of light,” marigold helps us illuminate challenging experiences so individuals to see the inherent beauty in endings and create new beginnings. This essence supports during times of loss or significant transitions, helping us find warmth, hope, and renewed energy in the face of change.

In myth and symbolism, marigold has long been revered across cultures for its connection to the sun, often symbolizing life, death, and rebirth. In Mexican traditions, marigold flowers, called cempasúchil, are associated with Día de los Muertos, guiding the spirits of loved ones back to the world of the living with their bright color and strong scent. In Hindu rituals, marigolds are offerings to the deities, representing gratitude and prosperity. This flower essence harnesses that powerful ancestral link, creating a bridge for connection and honoring our own cycles of transformation.

Marigold flower essence can be taken daily, typically a few drops under the tongue or added to water. It may also be used in misting sprays, baths, or skin applications to help enhance joy and release grief, bringing light and balance to one's energy field.

15ml glass dropper bottle

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You might also like:

• How to Use Flower Essences: A Complete Guide

• All About Flower Essences: How to Partner with Plants for Whole-Self Healing

• The Magic & Medicine of Mugwort

• Your Complete Guide to Hydrosols

• Who are the spirits of nature? A comprehensive guide to nature spirits

• A Short & Sweet Guide to Understanding Flower Essence Dilutions

ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

The Magic & Medicine of Mugwort

Oh mugwort — also called crone’s wort among women’s circles (which is a very appropriate name, as you’ll see below). 

Mugwort is a plant I love and grow in my own organic gardens. This year, I created mugwort flower essence, mugwort smoke bundles, mugwort hydrsosol, and even mugwort pigment! I also baked mugwort cookies and dried leaves to use for teas and dreaming throughout the year.

Mugwort—most commonly Artemisia vulgaris in Europe and A. argyi or A. princeps in East Asia—is a perennial herb with a long history as a healer, a companion for dreams, and a plant of ritual protection. It carries a herbaceous, slightly bitter, camphoraceous aroma and has been used across cultures for digestive support, moxibustion, divination, and as a smoke medicine for clearing and opening subtle pathways.

Botanical profile and lifecycle

Mugwort is a hardy, rhizomatous perennial that favors disturbed ground, roadsides, fields, and forest edges. Stems rise from creeping rootstocks and bear deeply lobed, grey-green leaves often paler beneath. Flower clusters are small, inconspicuous, and wind-pollinated; they appear late summer into fall. Mugwort spreads readily by rhizome and seed, which makes it resilient but also aggressive in some settings.

Key identifying notes:

• Leaves: alternate, deeply lobed, often with a downy or silvery underside.

• Flowers: small, clustered, usually yellowish-green or brownish.

• Growth habit: erect stems from a creeping rootstock; can form colonies.

Harvesting and sustainability

In many places, mugwort grows freely and weedily :) Harvest aerial parts just before or at early flower for best aromatic character and in ways that do not encourage unwanted spread into sensitive habitats. Respect private and protected lands; gather only where legal and sustainable.

If you harvest your own mugwort, be sure to check out my free ethical foraging guide and free plant identification guides.

Traditional and ethnobotanical uses

Mugwort has a broad, cross-cultural profile, often carried as a talisman against intrusion and used in protective bundles and sleep pillows to encourage lucid or prophetic dreams.

In the Taoist traditions I study, as well as Classical and Traditional Chinese Medicine in general, the leaves of mugwort are dried and used for moxibustion—compressed into cones or sticks and burned over acupuncture points to apply warming, focused heat.

On the European continent, artemisia vulgaris appears in herbal and folk practices as a bitter for digestion, a menstrual aide, and as a component in dreamwork. The Greek lunar goddess Artemis gave her name to this family of feminine-aligned plants.

Diana (Artemis) the Huntress - (1870-1924) Guillaume Seignac

Aromatic & perfumery character

While I use mugwort in some spirit sprays and anointing oils, it’s green-herbaceous, slightly camphoraceous, bittersweet aroma can overwhelm perfumes. Though, I do of course have mugwort and other artemisia’s in my botanical perfume for Artemis ;) 

Mugwort registers as an aromatic green with medicinal and almost resinous facets when warmed. In perfumery it functions as a green-middle note that can lend herbal depth and an aged, medicinal nuance to incense, chypres, and leather accords.

Making your own magical perfumes? Some tips: 

• Use sparingly. A little mugwort essential oil shifts a blend toward herbal depth without dominating, but it’s super easy to overdo.

• Pairs well with: cedar, vetiver, bergamot (use a bergapten-free fraction if blending for skin), frankincense, lavender, and smoky resins.

Mugwort

$14.00

artemisia vulgaris

Mugwort enhances our intuitive and dreaming abilities, both opening us to greater psychic awareness and perception, and stabilizing us when our psychic activity becomes overwhelming. It has an affinity for the feminine and the cycles of the moon, and is a wonderful ally for women’s reproductive health. Also a beneficial essence for manifesting and magick.

15ml glass dropper bottle

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Mugwort Hydrosol

Sale Price: $10.00 Original Price: $16.00

Artemisia vulgaris

2oz amber glass spray bottle | distilled summer 2025

Distilled with care using my copper alembic, this limited-edition Mugwort Hydrosol brings the powerful energy of this sacred plant into a magical, aromatic spray.

Mugwort has a long history as a sacred herb used by ancient cultures for enhancing dreams, intuitive work, and protection. Known for its ability to clear energetic blockages, Mugwort supports relaxation, enhances spiritual practice, and aids meditation.

In Druidic and European traditions, Mugwort was sacred to the Moon and to Artemis, guardian of thresholds and dreams. It was burned before prophecy and used to anoint travelers between worlds. Taoist adepts used Mugwort for spirit protection and to strengthen the body’s yin energy. It is a plant of seers—one that awakens inner vision, purifies the path, and guards the dreaming soul.

Mugwort is also one of the most used plants in TCM anointing practices. It’s the base of moxa sticks, I use the essential oil, and you can use the hydrosol :)

• Physical Uses: Soothes skin irritations, helps reduce redness, and can be used as a refreshing facial toner.

• Emotional Uses: Calms anxiety, promotes a sense of safety, and supports emotional release.

• Mental Uses: Enhances focus and mental clarity, especially during meditation or ritual work.

• Spiritual/Energetic Uses: Aids dream work and shamanic journeys, cleanses negative energy, and protects the aura.

Ways to Use Mugwort Hydrosol:

1. Spritz onto pillows before sleep to support vivid dreams.

2. Use as a facial toner for balancing skin.

3. Mist around your space for energetic protection.

4. Spray in meditation areas to deepen relaxation.

5. Use as a pre-ritual cleansing spray.

6. Apply to pulse points for calming energy.

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Preparations and ritual applications

Simple anointing oil (external use only)

Infuse a 1:1 ratio of fresh mugwort in an oil of your choice (olive works well). I let the mugwort wilt a bit overnight first — this allows bugs to run free and releases excess moisture. Then, finely chop the leaves, infuse in a warm,indirect heat for 2-4 hours (I use a water bath in a crockpot and smell continuously to check doneness and prevent burning), strain, and bottle. 

Use as an anointing oil for protective rituals or before dreamwork. 

Dream pillow

My favorite combo is dried mugwort leaf with dried lavender and a pinch of hops. Sew into a small cotton sachet and place beneath your pillow. Write down your dreams and insights upon awaking.

Smudge or smoke bundle

Mugwort can be bundled alone or with other aromatic herbs. Burn outdoors or in a well-ventilated space, moving smoke gently through thresholds or around objects you wish to clear.

Medicinal notes and safety

Historical herbal uses include mugwort bitters for digestion and topical warming applications. Modern use of the Artemisia species in general do require some caution:

• Some Artemisia contain thujone and other compounds that can be neuroactive at high doses. Do not ingest mugwort preparations without guidance from a qualified herbalist or healthcare practitioner.

• Mugwort is traditionally associated with stimulating menstrual flow. Avoid internal use during pregnancy and when trying to conceive.

• People with severe allergies to the Asteraceae family (ragweed, chrysanthemum, marigold) may react to mugwort. Test topical preparations on a small patch of skin first.

• Moxa and smoke practices involve heat and combustion—practice with care to prevent burns and smoke inhalation.

Always treat herbal and aromatic work as complementary and not as a substitute for medical care. If you have chronic health issues, are pregnant, or take medications, consult a qualified practitioner before using mugwort in any therapeutic way.

Spirit and practice

Mugwort is a plant for threshold work. In many traditions it accompanies transition—between waking and dreaming, between one season and the next, between visible and subtle. Use mugwort to support dream incubation, to hold liminal space before divination, or as part of a protective cordon for ritual work. Keep offerings modest, and pair its use with grounding practices—pine, cedar, or a simple earth anointing—to integrate whatever arises.

If you would like to explore plant medicines and aromatic craft more deeply, join the waitlist for Nectar & Alchemy: The School of Sacred Aromatics. 

Current classes include Angel Anointing, Becoming a Myrrhophore, and more — and I’ll be sharing a foundational anointing oil class in January 2026!

---

Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

You might also like:

• A Beginner’s Guide to Plant Identification and Safe Wildcrafting

• The Sacred Art of Earth Connection: Transforming Grief into Hope

• Coregulating with the Natural World

• Who are the spirits of nature? A comprehensive guide to nature spirits

• The Magic & Medicine of the Rose

ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

A Plea for the Creatives

Purple isn’t just a color — it’s red and blue reimagined. A quiet remembrance.

Don’t throw up yet. 🤮

I wrote this to make fun of AI.

IYKYK.

***

When I was young and wild and living in Tokyo, my friend group was very international.

So, everyone had different accents.

And we partied. Hardy. All of our nationalities and accents coming together in a cacophony of young drunkenness.

I tend to be very susceptible to accents. On any given night in the city, it was quite likely that I would, after a certain number of adult beverages, start talking in accents that were very much not American.

It was a little funny, probably a lot offensive, and always a sign to cut me off…. 🙊

I share this not for the joy of disclosing my debaucherous past, but because it points to a deeper pattern within me: The sights, sounds, tastes, and experiences I consume impact and influence me significantly.

When I spend a day painting, I see colors when I close my eyes at night. If I binge a TV show, the characters show up in my dreams.

When I hear a lot of audio with a particular flair, it subtly impacts not my speech so much as the rhythm of the words in my mind.

And the same thing happens when I read — the rhythms, phrases, word choice, and sentence structure all impact my thinking as well as my writing.

If I read a deep and thought-provoking essay, my next piece is often more serious in nature. If I scroll through a bunch of memes, I’ll likely have a more humorous touch. It’s still me and my voice either way, but the writing definitely takes on slightly different qualities.

And this is true for just about all of us — which is why the most excellent writers are usually voracious readers ;)

The AI Accent

A lot of what I read these days is email.

As I went through a few emails the other day, I got prompted to make defrosting fish a “calm foundation” for mealtime.

I mean…no? No I don’t need a calm defrosting experience?

This didn’t really bother me that much. The email came from a big wild fish company and I’d expect them to be leaning into the AI bandwagon for marketing.

But an artist I subscribe to specifically for her monthly prompts, which are usually soulful and helpful, told me to make my art a “remembrance”.

The entire email was clearly written by AI. I’m sure the artist gave her chatbot good, personal prompts and thought the email was actually a decent collaboration between idea and tech.

But I almost unsubscribed.

Because my body physically reacts to AI-created content.

***

I’m pretty damn sensitive to what I consume. Like gluten.

A sickly toddler with pale skin and purple rings under my eyes, I cried all the time. If something touched my skin in an uncomfortable way, I would scream (or so I’m told). When my parents took me off gluten at age 3 (this was early 80s, folks, not an easy time to go GF), I was a new human.

***

I think I might also be allergic to AI-generated writing.

***

After reading way too many emails obviously written by ChatGPT, I feel as if I have a metallic taste in my brain. My own thinking and words start reflecting the intonation of a chatbot vs my soul voice.

It’s like all this exposure to AI is giving me a new accent. An AI accent.

This is not an accent I want to be thinking in.

But when just about all email and social media is written (or heavily edited) AI, and when almost every article online is AI-generated…

It’s hard to avoid overexposure.

This matters. Because it impacts my accent, damnit.

***

This is probably a temporary problem. I have no doubt that my ability to discern AI-written texts will decrease as AI sounds more and more human-like, and more people are able to create agents that sound increasingly like themselves.

But I have to wonder…are we starting to sound more like AI too soon?

Will the human-like AI text only sound more human because we’ve already adapted the AI accent?

Most AI Convos are Lame

Most layperson discussions of AI that I’m exposed to are lame. Lol. Sorry, it’s true.

People are still talking about “AI is a tool” and “neutral” and it’s up to us to learn how to use it in a good way.

They refer back to other technologies like the radio or internet and how every generation judges or fears the advancements of the next.

Any discussion rooted in these ideas does not understand the gravity or transformational impact of AI.

I’m not trying to make myself into some expert here — I’m not, and I don’t actually want to be.

But I do track patterns. Shifts in consciousness, movements in the zeitgeist. I track the unspoken motivations behind whatever we see on the surface. And the infinite potentialities of any major cultural shift.

Every major technological advancement I can think of has had infinite untended consequences, for better and worse.

Look at the industrial revolution.

The advancements in medicine, communication, travel, and education gave so many people a safer, higher quality of life. It created new opportunities, allowed us to purchase goods that would have been ridiculously expensive otherwise, and contributed to the growth of the middle class.

It also, of course, was a total shit show that has had a lasting impact on environmental degradation*, destruction of community, and rising inequality even with the creation of the middle class. Not to mention, the human rights abuses that made the industrial revolution possible were atrocious.

What would have happened if humans had been able to see the vast array of potentialities the industrial revolution was creating? Could we — would we? — have scaled back on abuse of humans, planned for more sustainable ecological growth, put laws in place that protected communities rather than destroyed them?

No one is surprised that industrial revolution peeps didn’t have this foresight —because they did. Those getting rich just didn’t care.

Have humans changed enough not to repeat these mistakes?

Probably not (that’s my Mercury in Scorpio).

But hope is healing (that’s me trying to appease my Piscean friends).

The fantastic work of Jonathan Haidt is just part of a growing body of evidence that recent tech advances — namely social media — have extremely costly impacts on our wellbeing.

And the companies in question know this.

And as long as they keep getting rich, they don’t seem to care.

The companies behind AI are even more powerful.

Pattern Recognition & the Creative Impulse

And yet…we are aware of these potential patterns, the destructive ones and the realm of joyful possibility. We can look to the past to help us navigate what is unfolding now.

There are millions of intelligent humans who actually do care about claiming our divinely inspired agency to co-create a more benefic world together.

While there are powerful forces at play, and layers to what is happening behind the scenes, you aren’t totally powerless.

You get the opportunity to discover, for yourself, how to be in right relationship with AI. At least for now.

***

My lens is often spiritual — I’ve worked in spiritual-wellness fields for most of my adult life, so this tends to be my pattern-tracking focus.

And my lens is creative — I’m a lifelong artist myself and nothing fills me up as being surrounded by exquisite human creativity.

The paintings, books, poems, plays, movies, stories, installation pieces, music, events, cafes, fragrances, workshops, fashion…I love the beauty that humans are able to create when we tap into higher frequencies.

The way we can be bridges between the divine and the physical, translators for the muses expressing soul through art. We get to live through our senses, and this is the magic of being human.

This merging of spirit and creativity feels like my reason for being here.

No surprise then, that the creeping of AI into spirituality and art hurts the most.

But what if AI is spiritual?

This is tricky.

In my wild alchemy work, I teach that we can welcome everything as a messenger. I share that the universe, spirit, whatever you want to call it…is always looking for ways to communicate with us. We just need to pay attention and open ourselves to the infinite creative communication of the divine.

So why not connect with spirit via ChatGPT?

If we’re spending all our time with AI, why wouldn’t spirit enter into this new space, taking advantage of an opportunity to speak with us more directly? Might this not be one of the greatest gifts of AI?

Anything is possible. But this is not a straightforward concept.

When we open to divine wisdom and spiritual communication — including the muses and creative soul spark that ignites our best work — we must be active participants in the process.

I don’t know about you, but I feel like it takes a lot of energy for me to really dive into understanding the messages I get from spirit. They are so often symbolic, archetypal, full of myriad possibilities and interpretations.

In order to receive these messages, I have to tap into my right brain. Calm my monkey mind. Tend my pituitary gland. All the things.

Have you ever drawn a Tarot card for guidance, or been to a really good reader?

Then you know that the cards don’t give you straightforward answers.

Draw the Hermit, for example: Do you need more time alone or are you spending too much time alone? Is this the vibe coming into your life for now…or the one ending? What does the lantern suggest — are you alone light in a field of darkness? Will your insights be illuminated in the dark of a silent retreat?

There are infinite ways to interpret the cards in a reading — it is the co-creative partnership between us, the cards, and spirit that leads to the most magical insights.

Now imagine drawing a card and then asking ChatGPT what it means. Share your question, the context, the card. You will get an amazing answer.

(Though unless you actively tell it to be neutral with no bs, it will probably tell you that everything is wonderful and you are on the right track…. ChatGPT became a sychophant.)

Check in with your brain now. What’s happening there?

Your right brain is offline. That intuitive, creative center hasn’t been activated. And if you don’t use it, you lose it.

You’ve also given over your power to the relationship between the mind and technology — and what has existed before.

What new, personal insights are you missing because you outsourced your intuitive power to a machine?

Plus, technology isn’t ever actually neutral. The programmers who created your AI are part of the filter. All your previous querries are part of the filter.

And, if playful spirits can cause mischeive with a Ouiji Board, might they also do the same with your chatbots? What about even darker or more chaotic energies? And what new spiritual skills do we need to aquire in order to navigate this safely?

***

I do use AI myself though.

Running my own solo business is ridiculously labor intensive, so where AI can support me, I’m in. Especially since I’m at that awkward business stage where I really need help but can’t quite afford it yet.

I’ll use AI to help me with tech decisions, to evaluate my platform ecosystems and see if I can be more systematic and efficient, to look for blindspots in how I market and deliver different offerings, to clarify my own decision process when I’m comparing two options…

But I never let AI decide for me — even these logistical uses can generate weird answers that my intuitive, creative mind knows aren’t right for me.

And, as helpful as all this is, if I’ve spent too much time chatting about these decisions with AI….

The AI accent comes back.

It’s awful. And I take a long break to restore my voice.

A Plea for the Creatives.

And the small business owners. The ones who do it all and need and feel afraid of getting left behind in the AI revolution…

The ones who start to believe that you can run a business on autopilot with AI, save time, create a second self to do all the things you don’t want to…

Please stop.

Do not filter your soul’s messages through an AI accent.

Let’s keep exploring what a healthy relationship with this new, impactful tech looks like. I’m open — lord knows if it can actually help me free up more time for art and I will take it.

But we must keep our creative, spiritual centers alive and well. Let us feed them and nourish them and share how we can do this with each other.

***

A few thoughts to get started:

Don’t let AI write for you. And don’t let it edit your creative works.

Sure, if you need to send a work email or answer a technical question, AI often can make your replies faster and clearer.

But sharing from the heart? Trying to write for impact? We would rather have your soul than your AI edits.

Perhaps we can slow the spread of the AI accent together.

Write by hand.

In your journal. Ideally in the morning, before consuming any other media. This gives space to your voice. It’s a record of flow from your true voice before the accents come online.

Stay off Pinterest.

And most social media for that matter.

I used to love scanning Pinterest for inspiration — the beautiful art humans were creating around the world lit up my soul.

Now it’s an AI pile. Instead of feeling inspired, I feel drained and sad — both because of the frustration that human art is losing its grip on the platform and because of the energetic impact on my system.

Yeah…I’ll probably still check it out for room decor ideas. But no more art inspo, sadly.

And don’t get me started on Insta/FB slides and text…almost all AI.

Be your own oracle first.

Go through the process I outline in this article — it’s for interpreting messages from spirit animals, but you can apply the system to any symbols.

Then sure, get some help from AI when you feel stuck.

Cut cords.

Scan your system for energetic attachments and signs of AI addiction. Cut the cords energetically at least once a day. Use your intuitive abilities to start sensing when darker energies are present in your tech.

Nourish your system with offline time.

My work is rooted in this: The wild world reflects our own wildness back to us.

Your wild self is your true self, unconditioned by the technological forces in your field. The wild world remembers how to be wild, and the more time you spend outside, communing with the spirits of nature, the more you come back to who you are.

What are you doing to maintain your creative spark and intuitive gifts in this age? Let me know in the comments. Let’s share our wisdom as we ride these waves.

---

Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

You might also like:

• A Beginner’s Guide to Plant Identification and Safe Wildcrafting

• Ecological Trauma: A Guide to Understanding Eco-Trauma

• The Sacred Art of Earth Connection: Transforming Grief into Hope

• Coregulating with the Natural World

• Who are the spirits of nature? A comprehensive guide to nature spirits

ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

The Extinction of Voice

When I taught English 101 and 201 to university students way back in the day, I used a rubric to grade papers.

It was a pretty standard rubric that asked me to score student essays based on things like organization and grammar. 

But you what the key piece of this rubric was? Voice.

Yup – voice was always an essential part of every rubric for me and every other teacher in the English department. And we would get a stern talking to if we didn’t use rubrics with “voice” as an area to score.

But what is voice? 

Of all the things to grade, voice is the trickiest. It’s that thing you can’t really put into words, that’s more subjective and open to interpretation.

If a paper had perfect grammar but was absolutely awful and boring, or had some language issues but was fascinating and original, it was the voice score that would make or break the final grade.

Your voice is what makes your writing uniquely yours — kind of a literary equivalent of the “it” factor for performers, or “style” for artists.

You know how some actors have stunning looks and seem to be doing everything right…but their performances just kind of fall flat? Or how there are other actors that you just want to keep watching and can’t pinpoint why?

It’s that it factor. That aura that is uniquely them, what speaks beyond the surface though an energetic exchange. It’s a presence that reaches beyond the intellect and into a frequency that holds your attention.

This is role of a writer’s voice.

Or let’s look at the voice in art — what we might call an artist’s signature style.

At a certain point, an artist’s work becomes recognizable as their own — and this is true even if they switch mediums or subject matters. There is something there that just reminds you of who they are — perhaps their use of light, color palette, the way they fill a blank space. 

This signature expresses the human behind the paintings: Perfectly executed color, composition, and lighting can please the eye, but if we can’t feel the person who created that artwork, it again falls flat. 

Perhaps voice is how we find a soul-to-soul connection between the maker and the recipient of any creative work.

As a lifelong artist, writer, and reader — and someone who has analyzed wayyyy too many papers with the voice-based rubric — I’m pretty sensitive to the presence of voice in a piece of writing. 

Right now, voice is in danger of extinction.

I bet you can see where I’m going with this…

That’s right. The glut of AI slop spilling into every corner of the internet is not eradicating voice…but a symptom of self-eradication. 

Every time you turn to AI to write that email or blog post for you, you lose a bit more of your own voice.

And your readers can tell.

AI has gotten good enough that many people are fooled into thinking that you can train your AI assistant/bot to sound like you. 

Nope. 

I mean, sure, it will sound a little like you…but something is most definitely missing. 

The grammar is there, there are even some poetics (though they often seem way overused and artificial), and the content will likely be well-organized and pretty accurate. There might even be some higher-level reflections or thoughts if you’ve fed your AI really good prompts. 

But the voice isn’t there. On some, foundational level, there’s a lack of natural rhythm. Your actual perspectives have been replaced by artificial ones and we can tell. (And since most people don’t use good prompts, the writing comes across like a bad informative essay vs. one with any real insight to share.)

We see this in the email lists we subscribe to, blog posts on every website from the smallest solopreneur to the biggest multinational companies, even — gulp — Substack! 

And I know of at least a few publishers who are encouraging authors to use AI to get their books out faster. Not even books are safe anymore :(

There’s a reason I’m writing about this now though — and it’s not the recent MIT studies, though I’m not surprised at all by their findings.  

It’s because I’m teaching a workshop on Mary Magdalene and the myrrhaphore tradition later this month. 

Yeah. I’m writing about AI because of Mary Magdalene. 

It’s relevant. I promise. 

Several years ago, long before AI filled the internet with repetitive slop, I published an article on the art and practice of anointing. 

And you know what? Writing that article was really, really hard. 

It was next to impossible to find any information on anointing outside the modern Christian church. The sacred priestess path of the myrrhophore was already on my radar thanks to authors such as Felicity Warner* and Elizabeth Ashley, but I had to dig deep to find anything beyond a superficial “Mary Magdalene was the original myrrhophore” type statement. 

*As a note: Scan blog posts on being a myrrhophore and Felicity’s name is rarely credited, even though as far as I can tell she was the first to use this term in modern contexts back in the early 2000s. We MUST cite our sources and credit our inspirations! This is how we unweave the competitive, capitalist culture that is killing us. It does not detract from your own work to honor those who have informed you along the way. Please.

But I did dig, and I did dig deep.

I meditated and channeled the essence of Mary Magdalene who taught me how anointing was connected to embodiment and unconditional love. I drew on my own decades of experience with sacred oils to piece together how anointing practices can heal. I received guidance from the goddess Isis, who pointed me in the direction of the resurrection of Osiris as as the forbearing story to Christ’s journey. 

A lot of this came through direct revelation, channeling, and intellectual synthesis of historical records. 

None of it came from asking AI or blog articles, because at the time, those didn’t exist. 

Jump to today… 

In preparing for my recent myrrhophore workshop, I kept seeing the dreaded red squiggly line telling me that my spelling of this word was wrong. So I did a search to make sure I was spelling it correctly.

Do you what popped up in my search results? 

Dozens of articles on Mary Magdelene as myrrhophore. 

Whoa! The info I’ve been looking for is actually out there now? Great! I thought.

So I clicked on a few articles. Oh dear god what I found…

I could almost copy-and-paste each article into the next. Define myrrhophore, a few Bible quotes, a blurb on the Isis-Egypt connection…and then a CTA for a divine feminine retreat or priestess training of some sort. 

I get a little sick to my stomach just thinking about it. 

This path I’ve devoted myself to learning, embodying, and discovering, in partnership with spirit, synthesized with historical texts…had been reduced to copy and paste info-essays, clearly written by AI.

They had no voice. 

I get the impulse. If you run your own multifaceted business like I do, it can feel like too much to be writing articles, selling courses, running ads, answering emails, helping another person reset their password…

It’s very tempting to think: Hey, I want to share my heart’s medicine by running this group program, so I’m going to outsource my marketing. I’m going to ask ChatGPT:

What are women looking for? 

Answer: Myrrhophore stuff. 

Great! Please write an article called “What is a myrrhophore.” The goal is to get people interested in my priestess program.

Answer: What a beautiful idea! You are the smartest woman ever with this deeply heart-centered and meaningful offering…

Again, I get the temptation. 

But it literally hurts to see so much AI-generated, voiceless content taking up space around a path that my soul has been on for a long time. 

And, it hurts to read so much slop! Seriously — if I want a basic history, I’ll ask ChatGPT myself, thank you very much. If I’m going to spend my precious time reading your words, I want them to be yours. I want your voice because that is what I can’t find anywhere else.

So what are we to do about all of this? 

A few steps to protect your voice

First, be aware of the effects of ChatGPT and other AI interfaces on your mind.

Read that MIT study. Reclaim your brain. 

I’m not saying that we should resist or avoid AI completely. That’s like telling people they don’t need the internet when literally all of life depends on the internet. (Even if you somehow don’t even have an email address, the food you buy at the store moves via internet connections, as recent hacks have reminded us.) 

AI is a powerful tool and I actually have a lot of hope for its potential, and there are definitely certain things I use it for that are sooo helpful (which is why I know what it sounds like, too).

Rather, we need to guard against the temptation to let the ease of using AI remove us from what makes us human. No small task. Which brings me two the next item…

Second, remind yourself again and again that your voice matters.

You came to Earth to experience the wild ride of life and share your unique medicine with us all. Don’t outsource your gifts to a robot. 

Third, cite your sources.

This undoes the survival-of-the-fittest mentality that can pervade modern entrepreneurship, feeding into a more collaborative and celebratory model of running a business. It acknowledges the ecosystems you live within, the relational nature of all of life. 

And, it lets us know that ChatGPT wasn’t your primary source. Or, at least prompts you to acknowledge the sources AI draws from.

Fourth, write.

Paint. Sing. Cook. Play. And do these things yourself. Bring your full self, your radiant, creative nature into everything you do. 

An Invitation

Back to that myrrhophore bit…

The Myrrhophore class was awesome.

You can access the replay and PDF guides here.

I welcome your tips and tricks and thoughts in general on how we create right relationship with AI in this changing world…and I’d love to hear more from those drawn to the myrrhophore path.

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Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

You might also like:

• A Beginner’s Guide to Plant Identification and Safe Wildcrafting

• Ecological Trauma: A Guide to Understanding Eco-Trauma

• The Sacred Art of Earth Connection: Transforming Grief into Hope

• Coregulating with the Natural World

• Who are the spirits of nature? A comprehensive guide to nature spirits

ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

Your Action for the Earth is Required

Have you ever been to a place in nature that just felt good? 

What about one that actually didn’t feel so awesome? 

I’ve experienced both. 

When I’m somewhere in the wild world that just feels good, it’s because everything is alive. I can sense the joy of the land itself. The ripples of ecosystems from the physical to the energetic, vibrating with a web of life and natural harmony. 

The effects of being in this kind of space are powerful. I feel my soul being restored on the deepest levels. My nervous system relaxes. I remember the goodness of this planet, no matter how chaotic the outside world appears. 

But other places in the wild world don’t quite feel so good. They still carry the gifts of nature…but something is off. 

It feels like part of those layers of ecosystems are missing — like the soul of the land has been wounded in some way. This doesn’t have the same effects.

Rather than feeling restored and reminded of the infinite beauty, vibrancy, and creative life force of the Earth…I feel the wounding in my own being. The deep connection I have with the Earth — that we all have with the Earth — means that we all feel the Earth’s pain in our own systems. 

So what’s the difference? What makes a place healing versus a bit wounded? 

It’s the presence of humans upon that land. The history of how that land has been treated. 

Has it been tended and loved, left alone, seen as sacred, and respected? Or has it been taken for granted and abused with the overextraction of resources replaced by human waste?

I’ve often mentioned that I can feel the lasting effects of the colonial settlers in Bend. This town I live in was founded by the logging industry.

Now please know that I’m not some Pollyanna who thinks we’re going to magically build homes of adobe and stop shipping in cardboard boxes or printing with paper. I believe a better way is possible, but I’m grounded in the reality of the present moment and obstacles we still face. For now, human survival depends on the logging industry — but dear god can we make it more sustainable? 

But the way in which this history unfolded on this land is truly atrocious: The American logging frontier was essentially a wave of extraction that began on the Atlantic seaboard, crested over the Great Lakes, and rolled into the Pacific Northwest. By the early 20th century, redwoods and coastal forests were being leveled at astonishing speed. Clearcutting and high-grading (taking only the best, largest trees) dominated.

These practices left behind degraded land, eroded soils, fire-prone landscapes, and struggling communities once the timber ran out.

And you know what? This wasn’t done by a lack of understanding of these effects. Logging companies knew damn well that they were destroying local ecosystems and didn’t care (written records of this exist as early as the mid 1800s). They kept going, clear-cutting more new territory — because it was cheaper and easier than trying to be sustainable. 

(And that’s the thing about privatization — the bottom line always goes back to profit and ease, no matter how much you think you can have the privilege to “vote with your dollar” and force public opinion.)

Today, those of us who are sensitive can feel the echoes of this abuse, even amidst the resilience and beauty that is still here.

Again — I’m not saying that we must cease all logging. But this extractive consciousness, profit-first and screw future generations, has to change. 

One of the many lasting effects of the logging industry’s presence here are the old logging roads. 

I’ll be honest — these definitely have their perks. They’ve become 4WD roads to hidden camping spots and stunning views. There is almost nothing I love more than a weekend of dispersed camping in our old Xterra. 

But…a lot of these roads crisscross forested land in a jarring way. They aren’t beautiful winding roads through mountain landscapes — they are dusty drives through thinned forests where the largest trees might only be 30 years old.

The original ecosystems of this area have been eradicated. What’s left is something new and young. Not yet full and healthy enough to be prepared for the effects of a warming climate and more dangerous fire seasons. Not thick and full enough to provide wildlife a truly healthy and happy home. No longer diverse enough to have the resilience that ecological diversity brings. 

And they’re full of trash. 

Shot out beer cans seem to be a favorite. 

But the toilet paper…can’t ignore that one. 

(The irony of littering logged land with the corpses of trees used to wipe our assholes is not lost on me.)

But let’s go back to the places that feel good. There are already old roads, no longer used for forestry but mostly for recreation or forest service work. 

And then there are vast swaths of land only accessible by trail. And even more without any roads or trails at all — a rare gem in this day and age, where the Earth gets to express her fullness without human intervention. 

These places feel good. 

And they are under attack. No surprise there :(

just a few experiences in wilderness roadless areas

The Latest Assult on Our Public Lands

In 2001, I was in college studying environmental law in Washington State. 
(My nervous system couldn’t handle arguing with people who wanted to hurt the Earth so I switched to the ever-employable combo of psychology and art. But I spent a couple years as a polysci major first.)

If you’ve been tracking the current administration’s numerous attempts to sell off public land, you’ll recognize this year: it’s when the Roadless Rule was finally passed. 

I remember sitting in college classes listening to people argue about this rule back then. It seemed too obvious and important to me — I could not imagine living in a world where there are no remaining bastions of original ecology. No places where animals can live as they were born to do. 

No places where the soul of the land is whole — though I couldn't very well use that as an argument in a political class. 

The passing of this ruling was a massive undertaking and wild — literally wild — success. 

For the past 25 years ecosystems that were whole have been saved. Ecosystems that were damaged have had time and space to recover. 

And millions of humans have enjoyed the gift of truly wild places — again, already accessible through old forest roads and trails. Millions of humans are able to remember that we can have a good relationship with our planet. That this Earth is beautiful and worthy of our care. 

It is in the DNA of every human on this planet to need a wild communion with the Earth. Our ancestral ways of life may have changed over the years, yet the foundational need to access the wild beauty of the natural Earth will always live within our bodies, psyches, and souls. 

Over 58 million acres are protected under the Roadless Rule. This protected area offers humans:

• 43,826 miles of trails

• 11,337 climbing routes

• 20,298 mountain biking trails

• 1,000+ whitewater paddling runs

• Clean drinking water to more than 60 million people in 3,400 communities across 33 states

Not to mention the protection of over 2100 endangered and threatened species.

And the fact that healthy, old-growth forests are important carbon sinks. (See original source for more stats.)

So what’s happening now? 

Right now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is moving to repeal the Roadless Rule. 

Please understand: This isn’t a partisan issue. Though there are clear party lines on who is attempting this repeal in Washington, we are all impacted by this. And no one, no matter who you voted for, actually wants our public lands to become more inaccessible to recreation or more unhealthy across the board. 

Hunters and fishers, conservationists and wildlife protectors, anyone who likes to hike or go to a lake for God’s sake — everyone needs to comment during the public comment window. 

This administration has launched an unusually fast-moving federal process that includes a shortened public comment period ending September 19, 2025. (This commenting period is usually 30 days…we get two weeks???)

The primary targets affected the proposed repeal are Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Alaska. (Look familiar? It’s been less than a month since we’ve had to rally to stop the sale of all these public lands. Here we go again…)

Think watersheds in Yellowstone, Cascadian lakes in Oregon, epic hikes in alpine Colorado and Washington, native lands and cultural sites in Alaska, and soooo much more. 

But even if you live in another state or don’t frequent these lands yourself — you are impacted and need to comment. The ecological health of these massive swaths of land has ripple effects across the country (not to mention precedents set around the places you care about being sold off or privatized). 

Please make your voice heard. I know it seems hopeless. But we have always had to fight against the industrial-political complex when it comes to the Earth. This is what being a true Earth ally and real spiritual warrior is all about. 

Note: One of the big talking points in favor of this repeal is wildfire prevention.

Let me just tell you, my city was ranked #3 for worst air quality due to wildfires last year. Sometimes it seems like summer isn’t a season so much as a smokey hibernation. I get the wildfire danger. 

And: Most fires do not originate in wilderness or roadless areas. They are four times more likely to start near roads. 

And: There are already exceptions to the Roadless Rule for fire mitigation!!! This talking point is a distraction that preys upon our fears in order to fuel a private agenda rather than the public good. 

What You Can Do

What do to do next: Comment.

Rather than go over all the instructions and talking points myself, I want to point you to an excellent resource: https://www.madeleinewilson.org/post/roadless-rule-public-comment-guide

Go there. Then comment here: https://www.regulations.gov/document/FS-2025-0001-0001/comment

A few reminders and updates:

For those craving a container of goodness while the world burns, consider joining Cultivating a Featherlight Heart. We begin September 14th and the course is 30% off right now. (Nothing I created exists separate from the Earth. Even these ideas will help you deepen into reverent relationship with the land.)

For those who wish to learn the art of psychopomp, which can be a helpful practice in the wake of ecological destruction, join the waitlist for this year’s training.

For those who want a yearlong initiation into becoming an Earth ally in partnership with spirit, becoming a healer whose work matters, the Wild Alchemy Practitioner Program is coming in 2026. Stay tuned or reach out with questions.

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Juniper Stokes is a scent priestess, botanical perfumer, soul alchemist, and rewilding guide through mythic landscapes of the nature, spirit, and the cosmos. For over 25 years, she has been guiding soulful humans back to the heart of who they are and why they’re here.

🌿 Explore workshops & trainings.
💠 Find alchemical aromatics in The Botanica.

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Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

You might also like:

• A Beginner’s Guide to Plant Identification and Safe Wildcrafting

• Ecological Trauma: A Guide to Understanding Eco-Trauma

• The Sacred Art of Earth Connection: Transforming Grief into Hope

• Coregulating with the Natural World

• Who are the spirits of nature? A comprehensive guide to nature spirits

ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

a 10 year old meets Thoth and the journey begins

When I was just a little girl, I was obsessed with Egypt. 

Weird how that hasn’t really changed much…

I remember building replica pyramids with secret chambers. Playing with a hieroglyphic stamp set given to me by my grandparents. And literally dreaming about Thoth (see below for my Thoth story*) before I even knew who he was (it actually freaked me out a bit at the time). 

Since then, I’ve had a bit of a love affair with Egyptian mysteries. 

I was fortunate enough to get to travel to Egypt for New Year’s 2010. Visiting those ancient temples and pyramids in person was unlike anything I’d experienced. I couldn’t believe how vibrant the colors in the inner sanctums were thousands of years later. The somatic memories and energies that passed through my body as I walked through ancient temple sites and was carried down the Nile in a felucca...amazing.

I meditated at each temple and felt the wisdom of that ancient civilization flood through me. 

And the smells. The frankincense especially — it ignited a soul-level attunement to that land. 

past meets present; with my dear friend Russell

Years later, during one of the most grief-ridden times of my life, I burned frankincense every single morning for months. I felt those ancient deities comfort me and protect me, brought  to me through the smoke.  

It was the scent and spirit of Egypt that called me to study with Dora Goldsmith, an Egyptologist who specializes in scentscapes and perfumery in ancient Egypt. 

As much as I appreciate the channeled wisdom and new age writings on Egyptian mysticism, I’m an academic at heart. I need to know what history actually tells us: What knowledge was so sacred that it was written in stone? What rituals and festivals have left legacies that have survived through cultural sea change? 

Getting to learn from an academic Egyptologist, studying my favorite topic of all — aromatics — nourished all the geeky parts of me. 

I loved getting to know the real history (as much as we can know, at least), untainted by woo-age interpretations…and then still getting all woo with direct channeling and mediumship on my own. I loved learning about the actual plants used in ancient rituals…and then getting to meet these plants physically and spiritually in my practice today.

That mix of history and spirit and smell has shaped the offering I’m about to share.

But first, an aside…it’s related! I promise!

The Cosmic Scales & Coming Season

If you’ve been around me for a while, you might remember that I’m a triple Libra. 

That’s Sun, Moon, and Rising — all in the sign of the scales. 

Actually, my Saturn and Pluto are also in Libra. And if you’re into the extras, so are my Black Lilith, Juno, and Path of Fortune.

It’s a lot of Libra.

I mention this partly because Libra season is approaching — and partly because Libra’s scales are a guiding force in my life…and partly because this medicine is for all of us right now.

It’s no accident that Libra season begins on the equinox, a time of equal day and night. A momentary perfection in the balance between the light and dark.

The only zodiac sign represented by an inanimate object — the scales — Libra invites us to transcend our egoic pulls towards imbalance and come back to center. 

As an air sign, much of Libra’s attempts to cultivate balance happen through the mind — ideally, the wisdom of the higher mind and divine intelligence. Libra energetics create a container for learning, studying, and engaging with the cultivation of wisdom as a spiritual path.

BTW: In yogic traditions, there are four paths to enlightenment: Karma Yoga (service), Bhakti Yoga (devotion), Raja Yoga (meditation) and Jnana Yoga (knowledge). That’s right — knowledge and studying is a path to the divine, something Libra knows well.

Libra is also one of two planets ruled by Venus. As I mentioned in a recent article, Venus represents what we most value in life, and carries qualities such as love, relationship, pleasure, and beauty.

Taurus gets the earthy Venus — sensual pleasure and material beauty reign supreme for the Bull.

Libra’s airy Venus finds beauty in ideals — words and concepts that create harmony in human culture. 

Which brings us back to the scales: For Libra, nothing is more beautiful than balance, fairness, and justice. 

Balance within and balance without. 

I’ll be the first to admit that Libra’s incessant drive for equality and fairness and making the “right” decision can drive the people around them absolutely insane. (Does it really need to take 30 minutes to choose which brand of salsa to buy??? Not speaking from experience or anything…)

Contextualizing Libra within the arc of the surrounding seasons helps us understand where this indecision comes from:

August’s Leo is a joy. Late summer is a time of ease and flow, and Leo wants everyone to enjoy the harvest and have a good time while they still can.

September’s Virgo goes to work. With the approach of the equinox, we know that winter is on the way. Our harvests must be organized and labeled with precision so we can prepare for colder months. 

October’s Libra arrives after the equinox. With days becoming darker, time is of the essence. Libra takes Virgo’s well-organized resources and equally distributes them among the community to ensure the greatest chances of survival for all members. 

November’s Scorpio sits fully in the dark. Planning for worst case scenarios and keeping some secrets so as not to freak everyone out, Scorpio carries the weight of the winter so other signs don’t have to.

So when your Libra friend is doing that endless dance of people pleasing and indecision — give them..ahem, me…some grace. Their inner archetype is trying to make sure everyone will literally survive in the fairest way possible ;)

The scales that help Libra measure community resources also help us measure our internal resources.  

Are we burning too bright and fast and neglecting recovery? Are we overgiving and not filling our own cup — or vice versa? Are we balancing times of play, work, connection, and rest? Are we allowing some indulgences alongside our health efforts? 

Another note: I remember visiting the wine and olive oil museum in Tuscany many years ago. Though a bit of touristy silliness — I loved it. Because the museum kept reinforcing that we need both olive oil and wine. We need the oil of Athena, her wisdom, right effort, and study. And we need the wine of Dionysus, his revelry, ecstasy, and celebration. 

And no, you don’t need to indulgle in olive oil and wine — these are symbolic. But I do actually love the wine and olive oil of my ancestors. ;)

“Everything in moderation, even moderation.” — Oscar Wilde (b. October 16, 1854…spoken like a true Libra)

Meeting Ma’at: Goddess of the Scales

Perhaps the most important, ancient vision of these scales comes to us through the ancient Egyptian goddess Ma’at.

Between my Egyptian obsessions and triple Libra vibes is it any wonder I LOVE Ma’at? 

Ma’at was both a deity and a set of principles in ancient Egyptian society. 

She brought order to chaos. Every city was built on her foundation. 

And she carried the scales. 

You’ve probably heard the story: In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, when your soul travels through the realms of the afterlife, you meet with the goddess Ma’at and Anubus, the jackal-headed underworld guardian. 

Together, they weigh your heart against a feather upon Ma’at’s sacred scales. 

A heavy heart, and you may not pass. 

This might sound punishing to our modern ears — but it actually reflects an important truth: 

A light heart is the key to a life well-lived. 
A light heart is one unburdened by regret, guilt, and anger.
A light heart has let go of all that which does not belong to it.
A light heart  is one that forgives, especially yourself.
A light heart is open to peace and joy.
A light heart is the essence of spiritual sovereignty.

In preparation of the weighing of the heart, the deceased would utter “42 Negative Confessions” — basically a checklist to show that they had lived according to Ma’at’s principles of harmony, order, justice, truth, and morality. 

On the surface, these can sound a little old-timey religious — with a whole lot of “thou shall not” vibes. 

This is a superficial understanding of a much more nuanced and loving truth…

It is not so much that our hearts are weighed on a scale to determine our fates…we are the scales. 

We have the power to to shift, release, and transmute any heaviness that does not serve our spiritual ascension.

And even if we choose to do so through being devoured, our feather-light souls emerge renewed.

Which brings me back to that newest creation I want to share…

For a loooong time, I’ve been wanting to share more about the magic of Egypt, anointing, and the deep soul-level transformation possible when we awaken to these worlds. 

And it’s finally happening. I’ve been working on a beautiful offering that feels like an expression of so much of my life’s work. 

Cultivating a Featherlight Heart: A 42-Day Journey with the Ideals of Ma’at

What is a life well-lived? 

On the surface, this looks different for everyone. But the heart of it remains the same: peace, love, fulfillment, meaning, freedom, connection, belonging…

You are worthy of living a good life. 

While there are many factors we can’t control, we can tend our hearts in deep, reverent, and intentional ways that allow for a good life to unfold from the inside out. 

This is the purpose behind Cultivating a Featherlight Heart: A 42-Day Journey with the Ideals of Ma’at.

This course is a gentle, nourishing invitation to lighten your heart through daily rituals and reflections based on the timeless wisdom found in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. 

We begin on September 14th with a live opening ceremony — and look at the actual history of this journey. 

Then, beginning on September 21 (the Sunday before the equinox), we begin our 42-day practice. 

Throughout our 42 days together, you will move through layers of consciousness: attention, intention, imagination, and embodied action. By committing to small, daily rituals and practices — within a community-held container — the shifts you experience become more sustainable and foundational.

And did I mention the magical oils???

Egyptian mysticism, soul-level reflection, and sacred anointing

In Ancient Egypt, oils were medicine for the soul, carrying prayers to the gods and preparing the spirit for passage through the unseen realms.True botanical oils assist us in our spiritual work on multiple dimensions:

Physically, their aroma molecules bypass the conscious mind where they can ignite spiritual states of consciousness. 

Vibrationally, their frequency attunes our own energetic body and patterning to align with our intentions and the gifts of Ma’at. 

Spiritually, each oil carries the soul essence of the plant spirit from which it comes, bringing us a botanical community of support for our journey together.

This is why each week (42 days = 6 weeks) of the course,  I’ll be sharing a new anointing practice. Scent is powerful and these aromatic rituals are a key component of this course's transformational impacts. 

I created the Ma’at Ritual Oil Collection** as a ceremonial companion for the course.

Each blend is made with sacred oils used and revered in Egypt and beyond— rose, jasmine, frankincense, myrrh, cedarwood, and other botanicals that have carried prayer and presence for millennia.

It’s hard to put into words how passionate I am about this offering. Those closest to me have patiently listened to my endless dreams of teaching about goddesses, rituals, and sacred oils for decades.

(I move slowly, alchemizing everything at the deepest levels before ever sharing through my teaching.)

What an absolute delight to get to share all my favorite things in this way. I feel like this container is exactly what we need right now. 

As the equinox approaches and carries us into the darker half of the year, we will unburden our hearts together. Then our own hearts become the lights that guide us through the winter. 

(And don’t worry southern hemisphere friends — the growing light helps your heart glow!)

A Quick Summary + Key Dates

We begin with a live opening ceremony on September 16, where we explore the history and practice of the 42 ideals.

• The 42-day practice begins September 21 and runs through October and into early November.

• You’ll receive short daily lessons: reflection + journal prompt + a simple practice. 

• And you’ll get weekly anointing rituals, along with oil suggestions if you don’t have the ritual set.

• Plus there will be two more live gatherings: a live meditation/Q&A (Oct 14), and a full-moon closing ceremony (Nov 5).

• If you can’t join live or fall behind (life happens), you’ll also have lifetime access to lessons and replays.

Everything in this journey is meant to be an offering for your soul. Soulcare. Life is full enough and none of us need “more things”. But we do crave grounding, ritual, and peace. That’s what this is for.

Doors are open.

Join the Journey with Ma'at

Purchase the Ma'at Ritual Oil Set

*My Thoth Story

When I was no more than 10 years old, probably younger, I dreamed of a very tall magician wearing a black top hat. It was one of those dreams that was more than a dream — decades later, I can still feel that dream alive within me. 

Though no one at the time provided any guidance, I just knew that magician was the god Thoth. I was confused though — in all the Egyptian depictions, Thoth had the head of an ibis, and this man looked quite human…ish. 

Still, after this appearance Thoth has been a lifelong ally for me in the spirit world.

A few years ago, I finally read one of Nikki Scully and Normandi Ellis’s books. In it, they explicitly stated that Thoth is as likely to appear wearing a magicians hat as with an ibis’s head! 

Mind blown. 

This type of confirmation, from women I’ve never met, also drawing spiritual experiences not previously documented in any written records that I know of, is such a wild gift. 

**You don’t have to get these oils in order to participate in the journey — I’ll offer suggestions and substitutes you can source on your own. But if you can get a set, I highly recommend it. Every bottle is consecrated in ritual and aligned with the six stages of our journey together.

Juniper Stokes is a scent priestess, botanical perfumer, soul alchemist, and rewilding guide through mythic landscapes of the nature, spirit, and the cosmos. For over 25 years, she has been guiding soulful humans back to the heart of who they are and why they’re here.

🌿 Explore workshops & trainings.
💠 Find alchemical aromatics in The Botanica.

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Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

You might also like:

• A Beginner’s Guide to Plant Identification and Safe Wildcrafting

• Ecological Trauma: A Guide to Understanding Eco-Trauma

• The Sacred Art of Earth Connection: Transforming Grief into Hope

• Coregulating with the Natural World

• Who are the spirits of nature? A comprehensive guide to nature spirits

ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

Virgo Alchemy & Reclaiming the Temple

Letting go of Leo Season is always a bit bittersweet for me. 

I love late summer food and harvests. Lake days with water warmed all summer long. Earlier sunsets — but not too early — that invite sitting around the fire while the Perseid meteor shower peaks overhead. 

But Virgo Season is here. And with it, new gifts. 

Virgo is home to that late summer season of magic.

We still have the harvest — my prayers are up for delayed frosts and the ripening of all our green tomatoes. And we still have warm days…even with cooler nights.  

The colors of the season transition from the golden of rabbitbrush and sunflowers to the rich oranges of our final marigolds, peppers, and the sweetest cherry tomatoes ever. 

late summer orange love, from the garden; marigolds harvested for fragrant pigment-making

And the aromas of this time of year are my favorite. Here in the high deserts of Central Oregon, late summer heat seems to cook the flowering artemisias and junipers into a fragrant etheric tea. 

Our apple tree, heavy with fruit, has been dropping apples consistently for weeks now. When a rare rain activates the Earth’s petrichor, the scent of sun-cooked apples and wet earth dances with sagebrush and evergreens for an aromatic explosion.

I have a secret project that has me completely immersed in the colors and fragrances of season and place. It’s a multi-sensory art creation that I’m hoping to share in the fall.

Think pigment + place + plants. It’s so much alchemy.

On Virgo — Bring back the priestess

Of all the signs of the zodiac, Virgo probably has the most warped reputation thanks to patriarchal suppression of the feminine. 

Virgo’s greatest gifts — being of service, attention to detail, impeccable execution, skillful organization, pattern recognition and tracking, devotion to the sacred, enhanced perception and insight — were turned into annoyances and grievances. 

Rather than being the priestess devoted to her sacred work in the temple, Virgos became deprived virgins, nitpicky, perfectionist, and judgemental. A convenient way to diminish the feminine.

These shadows are true of course. If you’ve ever dated a heavily Virgoan being you’ve probably suffered at least a bit from their unrealistic expectations. But my goodness is your budget well-organized ;) 

Virgo is an earth sign ruled by Mercury. This is a really special combo. Because it’s magical. Literally. Magic.

Mercury is the messenger and magician of the Zodiac, associated with Thoth of ancient Egypt. (Reminder: You can grab the ancient Egyptian ritual guide here).

Even though the energy of Mercury is incredibly mental, Virgo is grounded thanks to the earthiness of this sign (and Virgo’s season is ruled by the often confusing element of Earth in Taoist alchemy). 

Virgo actually loves pleasure, delights in the physicality of the Earth we live upon, and sinks into a feminine softness that receives the bounty of the harvest with gratitude...before carefully organizing the harvest so we are cared for throughout the winter.

When mental focus meets the physical world, magic is born. 

So I think of Virgo not only as the Virgin — whole unto herself — but as the priestess and magician. The bridge between the sacred and mundane. 

And definitely the one sign we all want with us on a desert island. Because there’s some truth to the perfectionism. Virgos do things right. The first time. You’re welcome.

I have somewhat complicated relationship with Virgo thanks to its placement in my own chart. 

My two benefics — the two planets that bring us the most blessings, Venus and Jupiter — are both in Virgo. 

But Virgo is in my 12th house — the house of retreat and darkness. Not an easy place to have all your good energy. 

Still, this placement means I thrive when I’m organized — and I thrive at organization. Especially when it comes to recognizing patterns and then making sense of what lies below the surface…what is hidden in that 12th house. 

And it means I receive the most blessings when I devote myself to the sacred and make time for retreats devoted to my art. When I take time and space to embody the archetypal priestess tending the temple, everything comes into alignment. 

Feeling the priestess vibes at temple ruins back in the day…but I can’t do spiritual poses and photo shoots. I just smile and freeze when a camera is pointed at me.

Everyone has Virgo somewhere in their chart, and many people have a planet or more in Virgo. What influences does this sign have upon your own cosmic blueprint? I’d love to hear in the comments. 

On Venus — and what happens when Venus meets the Virgin

Speaking of Venus in Virgo…

Right before Libra Season begins, Venus will move into the sign of Virgo.

(Venus rules Libra, which is the next stop on our Zodiacal cycle and I’ll be sharing much more about Libra vibes in my next newsletter.)

Again, this mirrors my own natal placement, so I have some thoughts about what we might experience during this window. 

First, Venus is often associated with love, romance, beauty, etc…and this is all good and true. 

But what’s often missing in our conversations around Venus is that she points us to our values. 

What do you value most in life? Look to your Venus placement for clues. 

Venus in Pisces values the dream — the ability to transcend noramtive consciousness and bring back wisdom from the ethers. Venus in Taurus is a lover of the earth, a guardian of the woods and a reveler in life’s sensual pleasures.

Venus in Virgo values service. Not sacrificial service — sacred service. And service to the sacred. 

Venus in Virgo is the archetypal priestess devoted to the temple arts. 

From August 25 - September 18, Venus will be in Leo. Enjoy the tempering of Virgo Season’s work ethic with the Venusean Leo’s play ethic. ;)

On September 19th, Venus moves into Virgo, overlapping with just a few days of Virgo on Virgo energy. 

This means that the days leading up to the equinox are perfect for sacred work.

Every crossquarter celestial event has inherent spiritual potency, and these priestess/priest (in the best sense of the word) energetics can support all of our rituals during this window.

(If you want support with your rituals, I wrote a lovely little 45-page elemental ritual guide that you can get — totally FREE — here.)

This equinox, I’m sharing something that has been in the works for many, many moons. It really is the merging of temple arts, ritual, and magic for personal transformation.

It’s the priestess path arriving on the equinox to help all of us serve what we find most sacred and most valued at the soul level. 

Next week, I’ll share more (but if you can’t wait, just take a peek here). 

In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you. What do you value according to your Venus placement? How are you riding the energetic waves arriving with late summer? 

And – because I value the beauty of connecting to place: What aromas and colors of place are capturing you at the moment?

Venus and Virgo converge in apples

For me, so much of cycling with the seasons happens through food. 

I’m a foodie, what can I say?

The filling for the Wild Berry Crisp I shared in my last newsletter is now safely stocked in our freezer. 

Alongside apples. 

the morning haul

So. Many. Apples. 

And since apples are a very Venusian delight — Eve knew what’s up…as did the priestesses of Avalon — I feel totally justified taking a detour into apple land for a moment.

After all, apples ripen during Virgo season. 

Every day I go to the single old and twisted and wonderful apple tree in our backyard and collect another half grocery bag full of apples. 

I cut off the mushy bruises and remove the worms — so fun…But organic! And then get to work.

Thankfully, I’m immersed in a lovely audiobook as my apple prepping companion (The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow, a good one and one of the main character’s names is also Juniper. She’s wild and witchy, which seems appropriate ;) ). 

The book helps, because processing all our apples by hand is quite an effort. And though it doesn’t always seem like the best use of my time…I keep going with gratitude.

Last year, we had no apples. A late spring frost took out all the blossoms. And food is expensive these days. So I’m grateful. I have sweet, delicious nourishment from the Earth just a few steps out my door. I will do my part to preserve and honor these gifts.

(and I still share plenty with the local deer, squirrels, raccoons, and birds) 

So far, this looks like: apple butter, apple pie, apple sauce, apple muffins, apple cookies, apple tart, apple salad, apple cider, dried apple chips, and bags upon bags of chopped and frozen apples. 

Oh, and apple hydrosol. It smells like fall. I’ll be sharing that in the botanica this fall.

With that, please do share your favorite apple recipes in the comments :)

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Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

You might also like:

• A Beginner’s Guide to Plant Identification and Safe Wildcrafting

• Ecological Trauma: A Guide to Understanding Eco-Trauma

• The Sacred Art of Earth Connection: Transforming Grief into Hope

• Coregulating with the Natural World

• Who are the spirits of nature? A comprehensive guide to nature spirits

ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

On Reciprocal Foraging: Rewilding Consciousness & Shifting Culture

“Reciprocal Foraging” is a term I learned from Daniela Naomi Molnar*– a natural pigment maker, artist, ecologist, and poet – who in turn has been inspired by the work of Tilke Elkins, another amazing pigment worker, artist, thinker, and activist.

Reciprocity and relationship are the foundation of all my spirit and Earth medicine practices – and I love how this phrase brings everything into direct relationship with wildcrafting.

The ancestral arts of wildcrafting and foraging have the potential to attune us to cosmic and natural cycles, reverence and gratitude, and the ever-comingling presence of beauty, grief, and transformation. But this attunement only takes place through reciprocal foraging.

This practice is more layered and challenging than we might expect. It involves a literally revolutionary shift in consciousness. As Daniela writes:

Most of us have absorbed a conscious or subconscious stance of domination, objectification, and extraction towards the earth. Reciprocal foraging begins by: accepting that you’ve inherited this cultural stance, working to forgive yourself for harboring this violence as part of yourself, then working to doggedly undo it from the inside out.

This is a lifetime’s work. It won’t happen immediately or easily, but it’s good work, and it’s culture-shifting work – you’re changing not just yourself but the world.

You’re changing not just yourself but the world.

The art and practice of foraging is an opportunity to radically shift your relationship with the Earth and your consciousness as a result. And this is no small thing. For every human who commits to fierce work of cultivating a mythoanimist relationship with the wild world – one that sees the Earth as alive with the mythic intelligence – the consensus culture shifts in response.

The relationship we have with the Earth and the many beings who inhabit her, in all realms, is a reflection of an energetic ecology: We are part of myriad interconnected energetics.

What we forage matters. We impact layers of ecologies – physical and spiritual. What others forage matters. We are impacted not only by what is taken on a physical level, but how it’s taken within the energetic ecologies we exist in.

Every act of foraging or wildcrafting is an energetic exchange, and ideally this exchange is given and received with equality in both directions.

The following are practices that enhance this exchange, adapted from both my own work and that of Daniella…

How to practice Reciprocal Foraging

• Cultivate a mythoanimist consciousness: See the Earth as alive, with agency, abilities, and preferences. Recognize the stories you’ve inherited about ecology and Earth. Work to undo the harmful ones and begin to write new ones with reverence.

• Practice an animist vocabulary: Or, what Robin Wall Kimmerer calls a “grammar of animacy”. Give beings pronouns. Trees, stones, rivers, bears.

• Offer respect: As with any healthy, loving relationship. Sense into boundaries around giving and receiving. Daniela writes that we can “acknowledge the earth’s sentience and wisdom” as a pathway towards authentic respect.

• Engage with curiosity: Use your senses to experience direct revelation and relationship. Explore the history of the land, the beings you forage. Get curious about the people who have come before and their relationships with place. The animals. The ecology.

• Create an ethical commitment to place and self: Follow basic ethical guidelines around sustainability – and go even further. Once you know the layers of life that are present, your personal integrity becomes more fine-tuned. Know what this means for you.

• Look beyond the physical: Remember the energetic ecologies of place. Who are spiritual caretakers of that land? How do they feel about your presence? What do they view as true reciprocity?

• Be grateful and joyful: Gratitude for the ability to engage with the Earth in this way is the most important piece of reciprocal foraging. Gratitude takes us beyond survival, beyond extraction mentality. We recognize that all of life is a gift, and this is the heart of both spiritual practice and ethical foraging.

• Express your gratitude creatively: Feeling gratitude is beautiful – but transforming this feeling into an actual gift of thanks is what fosters culture-changing exchange. Write a poem. Leave an appropriate offering. Sing to the land. Engage in ritual.

• Put your ethics in action: Take action on behalf of the Earth by donating to or volunteering with organizations doing good work. Periodically review your own lifestyle and honestly and lovingly, making shifts as needed.

• Share: Spread the love. Share your creations and your learning with others. What are you contributing to the ecologies you exist within?

• Honor your teachers: Your knowledge and skills and ethics also arose within ecosystems far greater than you. Who are your teachers, mentors, and influences – within both human and other-than-human realms? The art of acknowledging is an antidote to the toxic competition of capitalism.

The karma of humanity at this time is to rewild our consciousness. To recognize that we are part of layers of ecologies. And while our collective impacts our existence each day, we too can impact the collective. But only when the foundation of true consciousness change is present.

*As I write this, I’m currently at a retreat taught by Daniela. I feel beyond grateful for the opportunity to spend over two weeks in the Oregon Outback at an art and ecology residency program hosted by the Playa at Summer Lake. Natural pigments, deep time, the poetics of Earth and art…This short piece arose out of the perfect conjunction between my time here and the theme my Rewilding the Spirit students are exploring this week – reciprocity, if you can believe it ;) If you ever have the opportunity to study with Daniela, do it.

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Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

You might also like:

• A Beginner’s Guide to Plant Identification and Safe Wildcrafting

• Ecological Trauma: A Guide to Understanding Eco-Trauma

• The Sacred Art of Earth Connection: Transforming Grief into Hope

• Coregulating with the Natural World

• Who are the spirits of nature? A comprehensive guide to nature spirits

ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

Jupiter Cazimi in Cancer: A Portal to Blessings, Belonging & Earth as Home

On June 24th, Jupiter enters the heart of the Sun in the watery sign of Cancer. In astrology, we call this moment a "cazimi" — when a planet is so close to the Sun that it's bathed in its light and empowered with divine clarity. This is a rare, sacred moment of alignment — like a planetary prayer — and it ripples with potential.

Jupiter, the great benefic, is the planet of growth, wisdom, meaning, faith, and blessing. It wants us to expand — but not just outward. Jupiter calls us to grow in understanding, to align with our deepest values, and to orient toward something larger than ourselves.

The Sun is the great source — the animating center of life, of consciousness, of sovereignty. When Jupiter meets the Sun in cazimi, the two conspire to renew our vision and vitality, to illuminate a path forward that is both inspired and life-giving.

And in Cancer, we’re reminded that this path begins in the heart and soil.

Cancer: Cosmic Nourishment & Soul Home

Cancer is the sign of home, roots, belonging, memory, mothering, nurture, and emotional security. It’s deeply personal — but also collective. Cancer is the primal matrix — the way we hold and are held. It speaks to ancestral memory and the invisible bonds between people, places, and lineages. It is the sacred container of life.

During my Hellenistic astrology training, which is largely rooted in ancient Egyptian astrology, I remember seeing the Earth’s birth chart for the first time. And guess which sign was found in the first house, marking the ascendant — or driving force — of the Earth? Cancer. 

And how beautiful that Cancer, a watery sign known for nurturing and caregiving, is the rising sign of our Earth, a rare planet filled with the waters that make life possible. 

In the archetypal language of the Zodiac, Cancer is the great nourisher, often looked at as embodying the energy of the Divine Mother — she who tends her family and home with protective, unconditional love.

This type of unconditional love is a beautiful gift we can extend to ourselves and our own loved ones this season, regardless of where Cancer falls in your chart.

Cazimi Brings the higher octave

Yet there’s a higher octave to working with Cancer energies — nurturing not just your own family but all beings as your kin. And being nourished by the Earth herself in return.

This season, allow yourself to receive the love of the Earth. The beauty of wild flowers, the abundance of a farmer’s market, a cold lake on a hot day.

When Jupiter is in Cancer, it’s exalted — meaning it functions with particular grace and power here.

When Jupiter is cazimi in Cancer, we receive a potent, potentially life-changing call to step into that higher octave of Cancer. 

To open to abundance through belonging.
To trust the wisdom of the waters — our emotions, our intuition, our ancestral dreams.
To root our growth in connection vs conquest.
To remember that you are of the Earth, loved by the Earth, and need to share your loving heart with the Earth.

Yes, the world is burning. Life has gotten increasingly challenging surprisingly quickly for a lot of people. Violence and greed fill every news outlet — from the old mainstream ones to new influencers creating online communities (cults?).

Turning towards what is good and nourishing isn’t bypassing the grief we may feel. It is the medicine we need to be fully present with the radical changes our world is experiencing.

Invite the vast goodness of the world to fill you up. Then allow your own cup to overflow into unconditional love and care for all beings. This is how you attune to the higher frequencies of Cancer Season.

Just as Cancer is associated with the waters of the womb, the oceans, the rains, and the moon, so too is Earth’s well-being woven into this cosmic current. This is a potent time to:

• Bless your home, land, or body of water you live near

• Tend to your ancestors and lineage

• Renew your relationship with place and planet

• Ask yourself how your gifts can nurture the world

When we grow in harmony with the Earth, Jupiter’s blessings become not just personal gains, but communal healing.

Jupiter Cazimi Ritual: Home as Blessing Bowl

Here is a simple ritual to align with this rare and beautiful moment:

Materials:

• A small bowl of clean water

• A candle (white or gold if you have one)

• A symbol of home (a photo, key, stone from your land, or anything meaningful)

• A small offering for the Earth (flowers, herbs, honey)

Steps:

1. Create Sacred Space — Find a quiet place. Light the candle and take a few deep breaths. Imagine Jupiter and the Sun shining directly into your heart.

2. Water Blessing — Hold the bowl of water and speak your intentions into it. What do you wish to grow in your life and in the world? Name blessings for your home, your family (chosen or biological), your body, your community, the Earth.

3. Bring in Home — Place your symbol of home next to the bowl. Say aloud: “May my growth bless the place that holds me. May I remember that I am never separate from the Earth, nor from my people.”

4. Earth Offering — If you like, pour the water onto the Earth, along with your offering. As you do, feel yourself planting a seed of belonging and care.

5. Close with Gratitude — Thank the Sun and Jupiter for their light. Thank the Earth for holding you. Blow out the candle and take one small action today that nourishes something you love.

The world needs those who are willing to bless, to protect, to mother what matters. Let this moment remind you: you belong, your story matters, and the Earth is part of your becoming.

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ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

Listening to the Land: A Path to Healing, Guidance, and Soul-Level Wholeness

Discover how deepening your relationship with nature can transform your life, heal ancestral patterns, and open pathways to profound spiritual connection.

My Journey to the Wild

I've been a nature lover since childhood—the kind who would run away from home just to be among the trees. As I traveled through different landscapes in my adult years, I began to notice something profound: each place held a different energy, almost a different karma to be lived depending on where I landed.

Some places became what I call "soul places"—locations where true, deep miracles and healing happened for me. The Oregon coast has been one such sanctuary. But it's the Rocky Mountains, especially in Colorado, that have been my most important spiritual teachers.

The relationship developed gradually. I visited in every season, spent countless hours alone in retreat, and over years and miles, I learned where certain plants grew and when, noticed shifts in ecosystems, observed mountain goats in their element. I studied these nature beings I encountered—learning about the land's history, the uses of plants for food and medicine, and the animals who made their homes there.

Eventually, this relationship transcended the personal. Walking through those mountains became like moving through a pharmacy or grocery store. New insights would appear precisely when I needed them most. Animal sightings delighted me constantly. And the insights came as a constant conversation with Spirit.

I walked those trails through heartbreak, confusion, and grief. I held ceremonies when I felt lost on my path. I celebrated in gratitude simply for being there. So much unfolded through this relationship with the land that by the time I left, the mountains had become my grandparents, the trees my siblings, and the flowers my kin.

Over that decade, I was taught a process that I can now lead others through to have this same kind of relationship—a process of rewilding the spirit.

The Gifts of Deep Earth Connection

Healing

Time and again, this deep relationship with Earth has been the source of tremendous healing in my life. The land takes what isn't mine to carry—my pain—and transmutes it. In return, it offers gifts, blessings, and energetic attunements to wellness and new opportunities.

Note: I know some well-known teachers say, "The Earth isn't a dumpster for all our junk"—suggesting we shouldn't be unconscious and expect Earth to heal us. But I prefer a different metaphor: that of mother and child.

Imagine having a teenager—they leave dishes out, pile up laundry, get into a fender bender creating huge bills, and their hormones are causing emotional chaos. It drives you crazy, but you love them. You know it's a phase; they're learning. And of course, you want to do what you can to keep them well.

If that teenager becomes more conscious—helping out, being kind, taking responsibility—you can do your job as a parent even better, and you genuinely feel gratitude. Earth is similar in her relationship with us.

Guidance

Through connecting with the land, we receive insights and wisdom from a much broader perspective. We come into partnership with something far larger than ourselves—the web of life itself.

Manifesting

The land not only helps us heal and offers guidance, but it also opens opportunities for creation. As we receive healing and offer healing in return, we attune to the land, deepen into reciprocity, and something magical happens.

The energetic imprints that cause stagnation and obstacles in our lives begin to clear, allowing energy to flow more freely. The spirits of the land and nature bring a bigger view and different kind of influence to our manifestation work.

I experienced this firsthand when tending my garden in Denver. The plants and soil taught me about patience, timing, and the subtle art of nurturing life—lessons that extended far beyond gardening into every creative project I undertook.

This manifesting partnership brings:

• Protection

• Synchronistic meetings

• Gifts of food, medicine, and beauty

• Guidance through insights and omens

• Partnership in the changes we wish to see

• Projects that flow more smoothly

Soul-Level Wholeness

The safer you feel on Earth, the more you feel you belong to the land, the more of your soul essence can come home to your body and this life. There's a direct correlation between our connection to place and our capacity to be fully present and alive.

Changing Your Karma

Think of karma as energy patterns—the divots and grooves you're born into through ancestry and past lives. These patterns create the easiest pathway for energy to move, but they can also keep us trapped in limiting cycles.

This can all be changed in partnership with the spirits of nature. They teach our light to interact with their light in new ways—this is true magic, quantum shifting. It's like digging a new channel for light and water to flow through, creating new grooves more powerfully with nature's remediation.

Trying to change thought patterns through willpower alone is hard. Even meditation can take a long time to shift deep patterns. But the masters who have been doing this work on this planet forever—stones, plants, elements—know how to facilitate transformation efficiently.

When we create right relationship with these beings, they teach us how to change our field of light—our karma and patterns—remarkably effectively.

Obstacles to Connection

This probably sounds wonderful—so what stops us from going deeper? There are several barriers to earth connection that many of us face:

1. Modern Lifestyles

We've become disconnected from reality. Our relationships with phones and AI take us further from nature. The pace of life feels unnatural, and many lack regular access to wild places.

That said, cities have spirits that can feel amazing too—there's important spiritual work being done in urban environments. The land beneath the concrete still speaks.

2. Lack of Ecoconsciousness

We've become obsessed with thought, symbols, and mind. We're enculturated to be individually focused rather than relationally conscious. We must work deliberately to connect our thoughts with something larger than ourselves.

The effects of this disconnection are clear: we become burdened by responsibilities and forget we're part of something bigger. We lose sight of co-creation and the two-way influence between ourselves and the natural world.

3. Missing Communication Skills

Many of us simply don't know how to work with the master healers and teachers that live in nature and spirit realms. We lack:

• Communication skills and etiquette

• Knowledge of how to build relationship and trust

• Understanding of reciprocity

4. Isolation from Community

What we do as individuals matters, but our impact becomes exponential in community. Community keeps us going when we feel isolated or lose touch with our practices. New insights arise, and we receive confirmation and encouragement.

This community aspect is both ancestral—very few humans ever lived alone historically—and Aquarian, written into the cosmic blueprint of this time.

Rewilding the Spirit: The Journey Home

In my 12-week course, "Rewilding the Spirit," we practice a nourishing, resonant way of attuning to nature and finding solace amidst the challenges of modern life.

We'll rewild our minds and drop into deeper ecoconsciousness through:

• Strengthening intuition

• Learning earth healing skills

• Practicing ancestral skills and embodiment

• Developing a sense of belonging to the land through actual rewilding skills that build confidence

• Getting to know the place where you are

• Meeting and learning from the master healers and teachers of the natural world

• Connecting with the spiritual beings of nature—fae, gnomes, elemental beings

• Working with the elements—foundational to all shamanic and magical practices

• Learning the language of nature

And all this happens in supportive community.

This is the most important practice and play there is. No amount of meditation, spiritual study, herbalism classes, reiki, or even shamanism will be as impactful as you want it to be unless you are grounded and in relationship with the wild world and your wild self.

The whole purpose of this work is soul-level healing. The entire course is designed to facilitate profound transformation through reconnection with the natural world.

Join the Journey

If you're ready to transform your relationship with the natural world and, in the process, with yourself, I invite you to join us. The course begins May 21, 2025.

Remember, the land is always speaking. The question is: are we listening?

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Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

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ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!

Astro Guidance for the Libra Full Moon in Aries

Today, the cosmos bring us a Libra full moon right in the middle of our Aries sun season. This is one of my favorite celestial moments…

Ruled by Mars, Aries season is all about individuality and action. 

With the emergence of spring, our spirits are refreshed and ready for the passions of the summer to come. The wild and wonderful Ram of Aries helps us focus on our own needs and desires, following the callings of our heart towards adventures that will fuel our soul. 

Ruled by Venus, this Libra moon is all about relationship and beauty.

Lover of the arts and high culture, Libra carries the scales of balance and sword of justice — because Libra knows that the ultimate expression of divine beauty on Earth is fairness and harmony. At her heart, Libra believes that what is best for the collective is best for the individual. 

The Libra full moon in the midst of Aries season invites us to take a pause and check in with the goals and desires we are so energetically pursuing.

This is a moment to ask yourself who or what your actions are in service of. Are you contributing beauty to the collective as you fill your own cup? Or do your intentions perhaps need a wee adjustment to come into more balance?

I love this moon because Libra and Aries, sitting on opposite sides of the zodiac, need each other.

Without Aries, Libra can become self-sacrificing. An unbalanced attempt at balance leaves Libra unable to take action for fear of hurting others. Yet without Libra, Aries storms ahead in pursuit of personal benefit, forgetting that we are all connected and here to contribute to an ecosystem of goodness for all beings.

Resistance to this partnership can show up as aggression, unhealthy competition, hoarding of resources, depletion and self-sacrifice, nonsensical decision-making, and either over-attachment or complete lack of boundaries around self and chosen tribe vs other and diverse collectives. (Seeing any of this in our world?)

Yet when the two merge in healthy partnership, we remember that both approaches to life are true: we need to take care of ourselves and prioritize our joy, and our joy so often comes in celebrating our ability to be of service to the world around us. 

My favorite plant ally combo for this celestial event? Rose & Nettle

• Rose, the blossom of Venus, blesses us with beauty inside and out. It opens our hearts to the needs of others in boundaried and compassionate ways. 

• Nettle, our prickly healer, is one of the first spring greens to awaken during Aries season, filled with nutrients to revitalize our systems after long, dormant winters. This Mars-ruled green stings us into action and protects what is ours to keep.

A combination of Rose & Nettle flower essences can be energetically supportive this full moon. Personally, I love sipping an herbal tea featuring these allies. You could just combine rose and nettle, steep, and sip. But I find the following more tasty:

Aries-Libra Harmonizing Tea

• 1 part nettle

• 1 part lemonbalm

• 1/2 part mint

• Pinch of rose petals

Steep about 1T/cup water for 5-10 minutes and enjoy 🙂

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Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

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ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

A FREE 45-page guide to awaken your inner magic!