How to Build a Relaxing Bedtime Ritual with Herbs

Sleep is the thing most modern adults are deficient in and the thing most of them have complicated feelings about: the frustration of lying awake, the anxiety about not sleeping, which then makes sleep less likely. An herbal bedtime ritual does not solve all of this,...

Herbs and the Solstice: Midsummer Plant Traditions

The summer solstice marks the year’s longest day and the point at which the light, having reached its peak, begins its long turn toward winter. In the folk calendars of Northern and Western Europe, this transition point was one of the most significant of the...

Yarrow: The Wound Healer of Ancient Battlefields

Achillea millefolium takes its genus name from Achilles, who, according to the myth, was taught by the centaur Chiron to use yarrow on the wounds of soldiers in battle. Whether or not the myth is historically accurate, yarrow pollen has been found in Neanderthal...

Herbs in the Norse Tradition: A Brief Exploration

The Norse and Northern Germanic herbal tradition is one of the least well-documented and most underexplored in English-language herbal literature, which makes it something of a hidden archive for those willing to look. What survives comes through a few key sources:...

Herbs for Grief and Transition: The Plant Tradition of Support

Grief is one of the most profound and most physically demanding experiences a human body goes through. Contemporary medicine increasingly recognizes that prolonged grief has measurable effects on the immune system, the cardiovascular system, and the nervous system:...