The Astroherbalism Apothecary: Crafting Herbal Charms for Your Moon Sign
One of the reasons I love astroherbalism is the way that it combines the practical with the profound where we seek to support the intangible (i.e. inner world experiences and emotions) through hands-on creativity (i.e. simple herbal charms aligned with our healing desires).
Following the first part of this series where we explored the energies of our Sun sign, I want to turn our attention to crafting charms and potions that support the energy of your Moon sign. While knowing your Sun sign used to be the extent of most people's knowledge of western astrology, more and more folks can easily name their Moon sign, too, and being a very pro-lunar sort of witch, I love this celestial culture shift.
As with my last post in the astroherbalism apothecary series, I'll be sharing some recipes with you, but what I really want to share with you is a framework for creating your own unique herbal charms for your Moon so that you feel inspired to use what is readily available to you.
To do that, we'll explore how our Moon sign shapes our energy and the common ways that our lunar energy can get disrupted. As an herbalist, I work with astrology as a story-telling-listening tool and a way to help folks get to know and name the healing needs of their body (and by "body" I mean physical form, emotional and mental experience, the psychic body, and so on). Within traditional western herbalism, our Moon represents our consciousness, the way we perceive experiences, our feeling body, and our most honest stories. Some of us, for example, process our feelings quickly, while others take a longer time to figure out what our feelings are. Our ability to digest and process our experiences, to form stories from them, and let ourselves feel our feelings profoundly shapes our understanding of wellbeing in our life.
Throughout our life we figure out what it is that makes us feel comfortable and at home within our world, allowing us space to process our lived experiences. It is our Moon sign which represents and helps to guide us on this journey of homecoming and exploration.
When it comes to supporting our Moon sign there are three primary paths that I focus on: recipes that help us integrate lunar energy, recipes that settle and center us, and recipes that help us strengthen our intuitive instincts. To help you identify what path may be most useful for you at this time in your life, I've created brief descriptions of each path as well as key phrases that you may or may not connect with. I encourage you to read these phrases out loud and if something resonates, to consider pursuing that path of magickal healing. Once you've identified what type of path will be most useful for you at this time, you can choose a few suggested herbs and then follow the guide below to creating your custom Moon sign charm.
Crafting Your Lunar Charms
I’ve suggested a variety of herb types and plant allies to create your own Moon sign charms. The simplest approach would be to use whole dried herbs, combining them together to create an herbal charm bag or spell bottle. You can also build a Moon sign altar, adding your chosen plant allies to it. If you have the flower essence version of whatever plants you resonate with, you can easily craft your own flower essence potion. For those of you with herbal experience, you can choose herbs to make your own Moon charm tea, tincture or topical herbal oil, taking into consideration appropriate individual needs and contraindications.
When available I’ve linked to the full plant profile of any of the plant ally suggestions below that are available for free on my community blog - they all contain additional magickal information you might find useful. You can find all of my plant profiles in The Plant Ally Library (which is available on a sliding scale as well as to all of my patrons for free).
image via @diosming97
Integrate Your Lunar Energy
Herbs and essences that help us integrate the emotional part of our experiences, reduce stress, and generally assist us in honoring our intersecting identities and stories in all of our wondrous wholeness.
Key phrases that indicate you might benefit from an integrative charm include:
I feel like I'm a constantly changing up who I am depending on who I'm with.
I feel uncomfortable in my own skin.
I have a story to live, things to tell, but I'm afraid to do it.
People wouldn't like me if they really knew who I was.
Everything feels tangled up inside.
Herbs for an Integrating Moon Charm
I think of integration charms like meeting places at the crossroads - different path are converging to a singular point. When all these paths come together representing our various identities, responsibilities, and experiences, an integrative charm helps to bring all of these different parts of ourselves into a harmonious whole. Plant allies traditionally associated with the safe journeys like Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) work well with plants that represent and support the integration of wisdom like Sage (Salvia officinalis). In general, seeking out herbs that are associated with pathways and waysides, boldly scented plants, and herbs with bright colors are all good options.
Here are a few plant allies for a integrative Moon charm to consider:
Stone allies can be a beautiful addition to an herbal charm if you already have them in your collection, including those that help us integrate disparate parts of ourselves such as Moonstone, Rose Quartz, and Sodalite. Choose your favorite colors that you feel represent who you are best for any candles, fabric, bottles or other items that you incorporate into your charm.
image via @sharonmccutcheon
Center Your Lunar Energy
Herbs and essences that help us create a protective cocoon around our energy, find equilibrium after a period of stress or shock, and to deeply nourish our nervous system.
Key phrases that indicate you might benefit from a centering charm include:
Everything and everyone is getting on my last nerve.
I just seem to feel so much more than everyone else.
I don't know what to do with all of my feelings.
Life feels overwhelming.
I struggle to connect with what I really want.
Herbs for a Centering Moon Charm
Focus on herbs that help to draw lunar energy towards you, drawing energy in and downwards, helping to root and ground our Moon selves. Roots can be very grounding and you can incorporate the roots of lunar plants into your charm such as the root of Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) or California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica). In general, herbs that are considered soothing, cooling, and calming are all good options, including herbs with cooling colors like blues, purples, silvers, and gentle greens.
Here are a few Moon centering herbs to consider:
Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)
Rose (Rosa spp.)
Lavender (Lavandula spp.)
If they are already in your collection, you might consider adding a stone ally to your charm, especially those that are grounding and centering including Black Kyanite, Obsidian, Smoky Quartz, and Bloodstone. Deep navy blues and forest green tones are also great for any candles, fabric, bottles or other items that you incorporate into your centering charm.
image via @wyxina
Strengthen Your Lunar Energy
Herbs and essences that not only increase the volume of our intuition so that we are able to hear it better, but our willpower and ability to follow through with our intuitive guidance.
Key phrases that indicate you might be in need of an intuition strengthening charm include:
Something feels off about {situation or relationship} but I feel stuck.
I know this feels wrong but I don't want to rock the boat.
I don't know how I ended up in my current life.
I don't feel like I fit into my life.
Life seems to be passing me by, but I don't know what to do next.
Herbs for a Intuition Strengthening Moon Charm
When we're working from a place of strong lunar energy we are able to connect with and follow the guidance of our intuition. Intuition is often presented as a mystical gift reserved for a select psychic few, but in fact, it's a common skill of our species to quickly and unconsciously sort through past and present information and experiences to come to a place of instinctive reasoning about a situation. Our Moon represents that ability to perceive, filter, and organize our consciousness in a way that appears invisible to us - in other words, our intuitive abilities.
When we have been raised to distrust our intuition or have developed a pattern of ignoring our intuitive insights, it can take a lot out of us, increase our stress, and often leads us into patterns of living that feel out of sync with who we feel ourselves to be. A strengthening charm is going to be partially nourishing to our energy and partially energizing. We can incorporate herbs that are nourishing to our nervous system but also ones that feel magickal to us on a deeply felt level, as well as symbols, colors, and objects that pull at our sense of enchantment.
Here are a few Moon strengthening herbs to consider:
Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)
Yarrow (Alchemilla millefolium)
Elder (Sambucus nigra)
Rose (Rosa spp.)
Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)
Juniper (Juniperus spp.)
There are also a variety of stone allies you might consider working with to help strengthen your intuitive gifts and lunar energy such as Moonstone, Clear Quartz, Amethyst, and Labrodorite. You might also consider choosing purple and blue tones for any candles, fabric, bottles or other items that you incorporate into your charm.
image via @vixenly
Creating Your Moon Sign Charm
Decide on the form that your Moon charm will take (i.e. a spell bottle, a charm bag, a solar altar, flower essence potion, tea, etc.) and gather all of your ingredients and items. You should also have a bowl with water in it and a stone of your choosing as well as a candle and candle holder. Since water is the element of the Moon we’ll be integrating it as part of our charm.
If you are able to perform this charm on a night during a Moon phase that aligns with your needs (check out this series on rituals for the lunar phases for guidance), but if you're only able to perform this ritual during the day, no worries!
Ground and center (perhaps with a tree of life meditation) and settle into sacred space through your preferred method. Lay the items for your charm out before you, placing the stone in the bowl of water, and the candle positioned so that its flame will reflect in the water.
Begin by holding your hands over the water and stone, charging up a space within and around you to assist your magick, saying:
Water holds
All land, all dreams
May I be held
Betwixt and between
Next, light the candle, whispering:
Dancing on the water
Light of the Moon
I whisper now
A healing rune
{strengthening, integrating, centering} charms
I gather round
By Moon and story
I am crowned
Visualize the light dancing on the water, the moon in the sky, and your own inner light illuminating the space within and around you, filling up the spaces within your lunar energy needs healing, and crowning you with your own lunar energy.
When ready, begin to craft your charm, naming aloud the purpose of each item that you are adding to it such as:
Mugwort for centering my dreams
Rose for strength and insight
Sage for intuition and wisdom
Once the charm has been made, pass the charm around the flame and over the water nine times, visualizing gathering up the Moon flame and energy of water into your charm. Anoint the charm and then your forehead with water in a crescent Moon shape, saying:
By plant, by flame,
by water, by stone
By lunar wisdom
I know to be my own
I am {strengthened, integrated, centered} by this spell
Nine times about
All is well!
Blessed be!
You can now use your charm as you please, carrying it with you or placing it in an auspicious place in your home. The charm can be re-charged by putting it under moonlight and/or repeating the Moon charm ritual as needed.
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If you’re looking for more lunar inspiration, be sure to check out the Moon Studies section of my astroherbology archive, such as a guide for making herbal medicine by the Moon and a lunar return series to help you learn about your very own monthly Moon day.
Subscribers of my Magick Mail get free access to my not-so-secret grimoire of lunar recipes and rituals (there’s over 120 of them!). And for those of you ready to dive deep into your Moon-centered studies, you’re invited to The Lunar Apothecary.
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the first post in this series on your Sun sign, and I’ll be back again with creating charms for your Ascendent.
May your inner Moon illuminate the path ahead!
This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎
