Ritual Herbalism Podcast

Welcome back to the Ritual Herbalism Podcast, a space where we explore the sacred threads of plant medicine, seasonal wisdom, and the ways we return to ourselves through earth-centered ritual.In this episode, “Plants as Ancestors & Elders: Wisdom for the Descent,” we arrive at Samhain, a threshold of remembrance, mystery, and the turning toward the darker half of the year.You may also wish to revisit Episode 6, Herbs for the Ancestors: A Samhain Journey, where we explore the traditions, folklore, and plant allies that have long accompanied ancestral remembrance and the honoring of the unseen world.Leaves loosen from the trees. Forest pathways emerge from beneath the summer canopy. The scent of damp soil rises as the Earth receives what the growing season has released. While the outer landscape seems to withdraw, this season invites a different kind of attention: to the ancestors who shaped our lives, and to the botanical elders who have accompanied generations before us.What if plants are not simply offerings used to honor our ancestors? What if they are ancestors in their own right, ancient companions whose presence holds memory, continuity, and relationship?Episode Themes:At the heart of this episode is an exploration of plants as living elders, connecting the visible world with the mysteries beneath the Earth.In this episode, we explore:the botanical ancestors of the aboveThe plants have shaped life on Earth across an almost unimaginable span of time. Trees in particular offer a powerful image of continuity. Some stand through the lives of parents and grandparents, witnessing the changing landscape and those who pass beneath them.Ginkgo, with its ancient evolutionary lineage and luminous golden autumn leaves, becomes a striking elder at Samhain. In this episode, a ginkgo growing on family land holds memories of children growing up and of a beloved dog, Rainfeather, laid to rest beneath its branches. As its leaves fall, the tree offers a quiet teaching: release and continuity can exist together.Pine offers another kind of companionship. Evergreen through winter, it becomes a symbol of constancy during vulnerable passages of life. The episode reflects on pine flower essence and its traditional associations with self-acceptance, revealing how a relationship with one plant can become woven into the story of healing and belonging.The Wisdom of Roots and the DescentAs branches reach toward the heavens, roots descend into the hidden world below. In autumn, many perennial plants gather resources underground while fallen leaves and stems become nourishment for the soil. What appears to be an ending aboveground is part of an ongoing transformation beneath our feet.A story of students carefully unearthing a magnificent yellow dock root brings this teaching into focus. The work requires patience, many hands, and a willingness to kneel close to the Earth. Root medicine brings us to our knees, into attention, humility, and perhaps a place of prayer.The episode also considers the bitter qualities of roots such as dandelion, burdock, yellow dock, and angelica, valued in digestive herbalism. Their relationship with digestion becomes a reflection on grief: not something to erase or hurry past, but an experience we slowly learn to carry and integrate. The inner fire is not meant to burn sorrow away. It helps sustain life while sorrow remains.Angelica, Hawthorn, and Living LegacySome plants connect us to ancestral landscapes and to the hands that gathered medicine before us. Angelica, with its warming aromatic root and associations with spiritual protection, reaches both above and below. Seeds planted after the passing of an Irish grandfather become a living bridge between family history, place, and the present.Hawthorn, familiar in Irish hedgerows and rich in folklore, brings the heart into conversation with herbal tradition. When a student carries hawthorn into her own bitter preparation, another form of ancestry becomes visible: the knowledge and relationships we pass forward. A living legacy is not only what we inherit, but what continues through others.The Plants That Hold MemoryAncestral remembrance is not always found in names or written histories. It may arrive through the fragrance of a flower, a familiar fruit, or a recipe prepared with herbs passed through a family. Roses, lilacs, apples, St. John’s wort, dandelion, and calendula can become doorways into memories and imagined connections with earlier generations.This episode invites us to recognize the plants present at our beginnings, through our becoming, and at the thresholds of loss. Their medicine also lives in relationship.Ritual InvitationFor Samhain, consider a plant that belongs to your ancestral story. It might be an herb used in family cooking, a flower from a childhood garden, or a tree associated with someone you love.Bring a leaf, dried flower, photograph, or carefully gathered branch to an ancestor altar, or prepare a familiar meal and share the stories it awakens.You do not need to know every name or every story. Begin with gratitude, curiosity, and attention. As the season turns, remember that we walk among elders, teachers, and kin. The plants have traveled through countless cycles of darkness and return, and their companionship remains available as we make our own descent.Thank you for walking this seasonal path and listening to the Ritual Herbalism Podcast. Blessed Samhain.Registration is open for our Flower Essence Practitioner Program. This is a beautiful offering for those who are interested in working with the energetics of the plants. https://www.twinstartribe.com/flower-essence-practitioner Get full access to Twin Star Tribe at twinstartribe.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to the Ritual Herbalism Podcast, a space where we explore the sacred threads of plant medicine, seasonal wisdom, and the ways we return to ourselves through earth-centered ritual.In this episode, “The Living Pharmacy: Autumn Medicine & the Intelligence of the Landscape,” we arrive at the threshold of the Autumn Equinox, when day and night come into near balance before the year begins its descent into the darker half.The landscape is already responding. Mornings become cooler. Shadows stretch longer. Berries deepen into shades of red, purple, and black. Gardens begin slowing their exuberant production, while beneath the soil roots begin gathering their resources inward.And if we pay close attention, we might notice something else. The medicine is changing too.Episode Themes:At the heart of this episode is an exploration of the Living Pharmacy, the idea that the landscape itself becomes a seasonal materia medica when we learn to recognize the patterns unfolding around us. Rather than seeing medicinal plants only as individual remedies, we explore what happens when we begin noticing who is growing together, which plants become abundant at particular times of year, and how the medicine of the landscape changes alongside the seasons.In this episode, we explore:Autumn Equinox & The Turning InwardThe word equinox comes from the Latin aequus, meaning equal, and nox, meaning night. For agricultural communities throughout the Northern Hemisphere, this seasonal threshold has long been associated with harvest, preservation, gratitude, and preparation for winter. Grain was gathered. Fruits and vegetables were preserved. Seeds were saved. Communities considered what the growing season had provided and what would be needed to carry them through the darker months ahead.Today, the Autumn Equinox is sometimes called Mabon within contemporary Pagan and earth-centered traditions, although the use of Mabon as the name of the equinox celebration is relatively modern. Whatever name we use, people around the world have long recognized this turning point from summer abundance toward autumn gathering and winter preparation.The Living PharmacyA few weeks ago, while standing beneath an elder tree with a group of students, I began looking at the plants growing nearby. There was pokeberry, marshmallow, echinacea, and elecampane, all occupying the same little community of land. These are very different plants with different histories and herbal applications, yet each has a relationship within traditional herbalism to some aspect of the immune, lymphatic, or respiratory systems. Standing among them, I once again had the unmistakable feeling that I was standing inside a pharmacy. Not a pharmacy of bottles and labels, powders and capsules, but a living pharmacy whose shelves change with the seasons. Once we begin noticing these patterns, they seem to appear everywhere.During the hottest weeks of late summer, Joe Pye, also known as Gravel Root, Goldenrod, and Wild Hydrangea make their appearance, plants traditionally associated with the kidneys and urinary tract, at a time when we are often sweating more, working outside, and becoming dehydrated more easily. Then autumn approaches and another collection of plants comes into prominence. Elderberries darken. Echinacea returns energy toward its medicinal roots. Elecampane and marshmallow gather strength beneath the soil. Rose hips begin ripening. The shelves of the Living Pharmacy are changing.The Seasonal Materia MedicaFor thousands of years, herbal knowledge was necessarily bioregional. People knew the plants of their valleys, mountains, forests, marshlands, deserts, and coastlines because those were the medicines available to them. The landscape itself was the materia medica. Spring brings young greens, bitter herbs, mineral rich plants, and traditional lymphatic allies. Summer brings flowers and aromatic plants. Late summer brings ripening fruits, berries, and seeds. Autumn draws the herbalist’s attention downward toward the roots. There is a beautiful rhythm here.Spring medicine rises, summer medicine opens, autumn medicine gathers, and winter medicine remembers. The plants are not merely changing around us. They are demonstrating different ways of being alive. Who Is Showing Up in the Landscape? Seeing the landscape as a Living Pharmacy also raises another question. Which plants do we consider worthy of relationship?Some of the most abundant plants surrounding us are described as introduced, naturalized, or invasive. These plants can evoke complicated conversations about ecology, conservation, and belonging, conversations worthy of an entire episode of their own. Yet from the perspective of the herbalist, it is interesting to notice how many of these successful plants also have long histories as medicines, foods, fibers, dyes, and useful companions to human communities.The Living Pharmacy invites us to become curious about who is actually here, what relationships these plants are participating in, and what their presence might reveal about a changing landscape. Whether a plant is native, introduced, naturalized, or considered invasive, paying attention begins with learning to see it.Preparation as MedicineThe Autumn Equinox reminds us that the season of harvest is also the season of preparation. Elderberries ripen before the deepest part of respiratory season. Aromatic herbs are gathered and dried before winter. Roots are harvested before the ground freezes. Fruits become preserves. Herbs become tinctures. Garlic is stored. Seeds are gathered for another year.Preparation itself can become a form of medicine.Seasonal herbalism invites us to ask not only, “What should I take?” but also, “What is happening now?” What is changing around us and within us? What requires nourishment? What requires release? What might we begin tending before it becomes urgent? The wisdom is not simply knowing the plant. The wisdom is knowing when.Ritual InvitationThis episode concludes with an invitation to return to a place you know well. It might be your garden, the edge of a field, a familiar trail, a patch of woods, or simply the plants growing around your home. Rather than going there with the intention of gathering medicine, simply observe.Notice what is still flowering and what has gone to seed. Which berries and fruits are ripening? Which plants are beginning to withdraw? What are the birds eating? Which plants are growing together?Ask yourself what the landscape is preparing for and then turn that same attention inward.What are you preparing for as we move into the darker half of the year? What have you gathered during the abundant months that can now be preserved, shared, or carried forward? What might you be ready to release?Perhaps choose one plant that continues to draw your attention and spend some time sitting beside it. You do not need to harvest it or even know its name.Let the ritual be the act of noticing itself. The pharmacy is alive all around us. Our work is to remember how to listen.Do you want to learn the foundation of herbalism? To become a community herbalist and learn the importance of ritual herbalism? Our 2027 Foundations of Herbalism Program is officially open for registration. This is our most popular program, so it fills up quickly.Want to go deeper?Join us at Twin Star Tribe to explore the art of ritual herbalism, energetic plant medicine, and ancestral healing. Our online and in-person offerings are here to support your journey—whether you’re just beginning or deepening your path with the plants.Come be part of a growing community rooted in Earth wisdom, sacred remembrance, and collective transformation. Visit our website at www.twinstartribe.com and step into the circle. We’d be honored to welcome you.Disclaimer and release of liability: information and services provided on this website, by Lauren “Lupo” Passero and by Twin Star Herbal Education and Shakti Exchange LLC are not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any medical condition and have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Information provided on this website and during all classes, programs and trips are for educational and entertainment purposes only. Get full access to Twin Star Tribe at twinstartribe.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to the Ritual Herbalism Podcast, a space where we explore the sacred threads of plant medicine, seasonal wisdom, and the ways we return to ourselves through earth-centered ritual.In this episode, “Lammas, Sacred Sovereignty & Solar Herbs,” we arrive at the first harvest, a seasonal threshold known as Lammas or Lughnasadh. While the exuberance of Midsummer still lingers in the landscape, something quieter has begun to emerge. Grain bows beneath the weight of ripened seed. Gardens move beyond blossoms into nourishment. Herbs stand in their fullest expression after months of gathering sunlight.Lammas reminds us that every harvest tells a story.Months ago, seeds disappeared into darkness. Through rain, sunlight, and countless unseen relationships, they slowly became what they were always meant to be. This holy day invites us to pause long enough to notice not only what has ripened around us, but what has quietly matured within ourselves.Episode Themes:At the heart of this episode is an exploration of sacred sovereignty, not as power over others, but as the quiet practice of living in right relationship with ourselves, our communities, and the living world.Through the lens of Lammas and the first harvest, we explore how the plants themselves model a form of leadership rooted in generosity, reciprocity, and nourishment rather than domination.In this episode, we explore:Lammas & The First HarvestHistorically, this seasonal celebration has been known by two names that reflect different cultural traditions. Lughnasadh marks the beginning of the harvest season within the Celtic world, while the Christian tradition came to know the festival as Lammas, from the Old English hlafmaesse, or “Loaf Mass.”The image of the first loaf of bread offered in gratitude becomes one of the central reflections of this episode.Bread is more than nourishment. It is relationship made visible.Every loaf carries within it the story of sunlight, rain, living soil, pollinating insects, fungi, farmers, millers, bakers, and community. Every slice reminds us that nothing truly nourishes us alone.Herbalism as RelationshipModern herbalism often emphasizes constituents, actions, and protocols, all of which have great value. Yet throughout much of history, herbalists asked another question before asking what a plant could do. They asked who the plant was.This episode explores herbalism as a practice of relationship rather than extraction. Every medicinal garden becomes an act of reciprocity. Every seed saved preserves biodiversity and memory. Every plant invites us back into conversation with the more-than-human world.Solar Herbs & The Wisdom of the SunAs Lammas arrives during Leo season, we also explore the ancient tradition of astrological herbalism. Across Egyptian, Greek, Persian, medieval, and Renaissance traditions, herbalists recognized symbolic relationships between the heavens and the Earth. Plants associated with the Sun often expressed warmth, vitality, courage, generosity, and illumination.Whether understood symbolically or spiritually, these correspondences encouraged generations of herbalists to observe nature with remarkable attentiveness.This episode explores four beloved solar herbs and the wisdom each carries.Calendula teaches us that healing does not require becoming hardened. Its golden blossoms remind us that healthy boundaries and an open heart are not opposites. Through both its traditional herbal uses and its flower essence, calendula becomes a teacher of compassionate strength.Rosemary has long been associated with remembrance, clarity, and devotion. Beyond its role as a circulatory and cognitive tonic, rosemary invites us to consider a deeper kind of remembering. One that gathers together the parts of ourselves scattered through grief, obligation, or distraction. Drawing upon the Egyptian story of Isis and Osiris, this episode reflects on healing as an act of becoming whole again.Chamomile is often underestimated because of its gentleness; chamomile offers another expression of solar medicine. Supporting both digestion and the nervous system, chamomile reminds us that resilience is not the absence of emotion, but the ability to return to steadiness with compassion. Its flower essence speaks to emotional equilibrium, patience, and the quiet confidence that does not need to prove itself.Sunflower Standing tall beneath the summer sky, sunflower becomes perhaps the most visible expression of solar medicine. Its flower essence has long been associated with authentic leadership, healthy self-esteem, the healing of the father wound, and the balanced expression of the divine masculine. Rather than teaching domination, sunflower reveals another model of power One rooted in generosity, stewardship and service. And the willingness to create the conditions in which others can flourish.Rethinking SovereigntyOne of the central questions explored throughout this episode is:What if we have misunderstood power?Nature offers another possibility.The Sun nourishes rather than dominates.The oak does not compete with the maple.The river does not ask the mountain to become something else.The plants reveal that the healthiest expressions of strength are rooted in reciprocity, relationship, and the quiet confidence of becoming ourselves fully.Ritual InvitationThis episode concludes with a simple Lammas ritual centered around breaking bread in gratitude.Whether baking a loaf with fresh rosemary or sunflower seeds, gathering around the table with loved ones, or quietly sharing a meal alone with a cup of herbal tea, the practice becomes an invitation to honor the countless relationships that sustain life. Listeners are invited to reflect upon what they are harvesting in their own lives and how that harvest might become nourishment for others.Do you want to learn the foundation of herbalism? To become a community herbalist and learn the importance of ritual herbalism? Our Foundations of Herbalism Home Study course is a great way to start. Start to take the steps on your herbal pathway from the comfort of your own home and at your own pace.Whether you’re an herbalist, gardener, or someone simply longing to live more seasonally, I hope this conversation offers a moment to slow down, reflect, and celebrate the quiet abundance of the first harvest.As the wheel continues turning toward autumn, may we remember that true sovereignty begins not with control, but with relationship.Want to go deeper?Join us at Twin Star Tribe to explore the art of ritual herbalism, energetic plant medicine, and ancestral healing. Our online and in-person offerings are here to support your journey—whether you’re just beginning or deepening your path with the plants.Come be part of a growing community rooted in Earth wisdom, sacred remembrance, and collective transformation. Visit our website at www.twinstartribe.com and step into the circle. We’d be honored to welcome you.Disclaimer and release of liability: information and services provided on this website, by Lauren “Lupo” Passero and by Twin Star Herbal Education and Shakti Exchange LLC are not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any medical condition and have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Information provided on this website and during all classes, programs and trips are for educational and entertainment purposes only. Get full access to Twin Star Tribe at twinstartribe.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to the Ritual Herbalism Podcast, a space where we explore the sacred threads of plant medicine, seasonal wisdom, and the ways we return to ourselves through earth-centered ritual. In this episode, “Summer Solstice, St. John’s Wort & The Bringer of Light,” we arrive at the threshold of Midsummer, the longest and brightest day of the year. A seasonal turning where the sun reaches its highest point in the sky and the world stands fully illuminated.The gardens spill outward. Forest edges blur into green abundance. Bees move heavily through blossoms while herbs rise toward the sun in full expression. Everything feels visible. Alive. And yet, there is something quietly paradoxical about this moment. Because even as the light reaches its fullest point, the cycle has already begun to turn.The word solstice comes from the Latin solstitium, meaning “the sun stands still.” For months, the light has been increasing, extending itself further across the landscape until finally it arrives at its furthest reach. And then, almost imperceptibly, the descent begins.This is the threshold of Midsummer. The height of light and the beginning of its return toward darkness.Episode Themes:At the heart of this episode is an exploration of illumination, not only as a seasonal phenomenon, but as a relationship we are being asked to tend within ourselves and within the world around us.In this episode, we explore:The Wisdom of the SolsticeSummer Solstice reminds us that illumination is not something we possess forever. It is something we tend. Under the longest light of the year, very little remains hidden. The gardens reveal their flourishing and their failures equally. The body reveals its vitality or its exhaustion more honestly. What has been growing beneath the surface becomes visible.And perhaps this is part of the medicine of the season. Not only abundance, but awareness.This episode also explores the relationship between fire, devotion, and burnout. In a culture that often mistakes exhaustion for worthiness and productivity for value, the natural world offers another rhythm entirely. At high noon, even the animals retreat to shade. Birdsong quiets. Deer rest in tall grass. The bees themselves slow in the thickest heat.Radiance is balanced by rest.The Herbalist as Keeper of LightMidsummer has long been one of the great seasons of herbal gathering. Calendula, chamomile, mint, rose, yarrow, tulsi, and St. John’s Wort all stand in their fullest vitality beneath the longest days of the year. For many herbalists, this season feels deeply instinctive. Baskets grow heavy against the hip. Bundles hang drying from rafters and porches. Oils begin steeping in windowsills beneath the summer sun.What blooms freely now becomes medicine for the darker months ahead.This episode reflects on the possibility that part of the herbalist’s work has always been to gather light while it is abundant and carry it forward carefully into more difficult seasons. The apothecary becomes more than a collection of remedies. It becomes a living archive of relationship.St John’s Wort & The Bringer of LightAt the center of this episode is St. John’s Wort, a plant long associated with protection, illumination, resilience, and the driving away of darkness.Blooming near St. John’s Day and the Summer Solstice, the plant has occupied an important place in European folk traditions for centuries. Gathered beneath the longest light and hung over thresholds and doorways, it was believed to ward against nightmares, heaviness, illness, and harmful influences. In some traditions it became known as Fuga Daemonum — “the devil chaser.”But beyond folklore, St. John’s Wort also offers profound physical, emotional, and energetic medicine.This episode explores: St. John’s Wort for nerve pain and tissue trauma, infused ruby-red oil as stored sunlight for darker seasons, flower essence for psychic heaviness and intrusive dreams, emotional resilience and nervous system support, and important considerations surrounding cytochrome P450 interactions and internal use.Most importantly, this episode reflects on the deeper teaching of the plant: St. John’s Wort does not fight darkness. It introduces light.Light in Modern TimesWe are living in a time where many people feel psychically overwhelmed. Saturated by speed, fear, crisis, nervous system exhaustion, and disconnection. Darkness has always existed. But what feels different now is how many people no longer experience enough true light.Sunlight. Rest. Embodiment. Community. Beauty. Stillness. Joy.Meaning.This episode asks what it means to remain in relationship with light during difficult times, not through avoidance or denial, but through presence, reverence, beauty, and connection.Ritual InvitationThis episode concludes with a simple Midsummer ritual practice centered around light, reflection, and tending the inner fire with care. A gentle invitation to slow down, gather seasonally, and remember that radiance and rest belong together.Do you want to learn the foundation of herbalism? To become a community herbalist and learn the importance of ritual herbalism? Our Foundations of Herbalism Home Study course is 40% off through June 26th! Start to take the steps on your herbal pathway from the comfort of your own home and at your own pace.Want to go deeper?Join us at Twin Star Tribe to explore the art of ritual herbalism, energetic plant medicine, and ancestral healing. Our online and in-person offerings are here to support your journey—whether you’re just beginning or deepening your path with the plants.Come be part of a growing community rooted in Earth wisdom, sacred remembrance, and collective transformation. Visit our website at www.twinstartribe.com and step into the circle. We’d be honored to welcome you.Disclaimer and release of liability: information and services provided on this website, by Lauren “Lupo” Passero and by Twin Star Herbal Education and Shakti Exchange LLC are not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any medical condition and have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Information provided on this website and during all classes, programs and trips are for educational and entertainment purposes only.Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Twin Star Tribe at twinstartribe.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to the Ritual Herbalism Podcast, a space where we explore the sacred threads of plant medicine, seasonal wisdom, and the ways we return to ourselves through earth-centered ritual.In this episode, “Beltane & Rose: Deepening Relationship with Plants,” we arrive at the threshold between spring and summer, a moment in the turning of the year when the earth is no longer quietly waking, but fully alive. This is a season of movement, of expression, and of connection, where life is no longer hesitating, but reaching outward in every direction.A year ago, I recorded the first episode of this podcast during this same season. The same deep spring energy was present. The same turning of the wheel. And yet, something has shifted. There is something about returning to the same place in the cycle that reveals not only what has changed in the land, but what has changed within us, and in the way we are in relationship with the world around us.In that first episode, I spoke about the cicadas, creatures who spend years beneath the surface, living quietly in the dark before emerging all at once, climbing toward the light, singing, and becoming visible. At the time, that story felt like one of emergence, of finding voice, and of rising from something unseen into something fully expressed. Now, standing here again in this same season, I feel that story differently. Not as something that simply happened, but as something I was in relationship with. And this recognition opens into the deeper invitation of Beltane, not simply to notice that life is returning, but to consider how we are meeting it.Episode Themes:At the heart of this episode is an exploration of relationship, not as an abstract idea, but as something we are already participating in. Through breath, through the body, and through our connection with the plant world, we are continuously in exchange with the living systems around us. This episode invites us to move beyond knowledge and into presence, into a way of being that is rooted in attention, reciprocity, and connection.In this episode, we explore:The Energy of BeltaneWhere the Spring Equinox brought balance, Beltane brings movement. The days have grown longer, the air has warmed, and the land is no longer holding back. Everything is reaching branches extending outward, roots deepening, blossoms opening. It becomes difficult not to notice that nothing in the natural world exists in isolation. Everything is in relationship. The trees with the soil. The soil with the rain. The blossoms with the pollinators. The warmth of the sun with the life it is calling forward. And this movement is not only happening around us. It is happening within us as well. Our inner landscape mirrors the outer one, awakening through sensation, through desire, through the simple awareness of being alive inside a body that can feel. Beltane reminds us that to be alive is not only to exist, but to be in relationship.The Green BreathOne of the most profound ways we are already in relationship with the plant world is through breath. What we inhale is what plants release, and what we exhale is what they receive. This continuous exchange, sometimes referred to as the green breath, is a relationship that exists whether we acknowledge it or not. When we begin to notice this, something shifts. We move from asking what we can take from the plant world to recognizing that we are already in a shared rhythm, a shared life. Relationship is not something we need to create. It is something we can choose to become aware of.Plants as RelationshipIn modern herbalism, plants are often approached through their uses, edible, medicinal, utilitarian. These frameworks are valuable, but they are not the whole story. Plants are not passive resources. They are living beings, breathing, responding, and participating in the same world that we are. To be in relationship with a plant is not only to know what it does, but to know how to be with it. To sit, to notice, to return again and again, allowing something to unfold over time.For me, this understanding began long before I had the language for it. There were times in my childhood that did not feel stable, but the plants were always there, consistent, quiet, present. I did not realize until much later that what I was experiencing was relationship, a way of being with the world that is often described as animism. In many ways, the plant world was one of the first places I experienced a sense of safety.The Medicine of RoseAt the threshold of Beltane, one of the most beloved plant allies begins to bloom, rose. Across time and culture, rose has been associated with love, beauty, and devotion. It has been woven into poems and ceremonies, carried in grief, offered in celebration, and present at some of the most meaningful moments in human life. Its petals are soft, delicate, and deeply fragrant, inviting us closer. And yet beneath them are thorns, sharp, protective, and unmistakable. Rose does not offer beauty without boundary. It does not invite closeness without awareness.To be in relationship with rose is to learn something about love, not as an idea, but as a practice. The practice of opening, and the practice of remaining with ourselves as we do. The practice of softness, and the practice of discernment, existing together.Rose has long been used as a medicine of the heart. It supports the nervous system, softens emotional tension, and brings warmth and sensation back into the body. But beyond its physical effects, its deeper medicine is relational. It teaches us how to stay, to remain present with what we feel, even when it is tender, even when it asks something of us. And it is no coincidence that rose blooms at Beltane, a season of heightened sensation, beauty, and pleasure. A time when the body is invited back into relationship with the world through the senses.We are living in a time that feels complex and uncertain. In moments like this, it can feel difficult to speak about beauty, pleasure, or love, as though these experiences are secondary or indulgent. But what becomes clear through this work is that they are not luxuries. They are forms of medicine. To feel pleasure in a time like this is not to ignore the world. It is to remain connected to it. To remember what we are still capable of feeling, and what is still worth being in relationship with.Ritual InvitationThis episode concludes with a simple ritual for deepening your relationship with the plant world, one centered on breath, presence, and the recognition that relationship is always present.Both our Green Witch Immersion and our Green Witch online course invite you to build relationships with the plant and embody the pathway of ritual herbalism. We will gather with students this weekend for our immersion but our online course is open year round for those who feel the call. Learn moreWant to go deeper?Join us at Twin Star Tribe to explore the art of ritual herbalism, energetic plant medicine, and ancestral healing. Our online and in-person offerings are here to support your journey—whether you’re just beginning or deepening your path with the plants.Come be part of a growing community rooted in Earth wisdom, sacred remembrance, and collective transformation. Visit our website at www.twinstartribe.com and step into the circle. We’d be honored to welcome you.Disclaimer and release of liability: information and services provided on this website, by Lauren “Lupo” Passero and by Twin Star Herbal Education and Shakti Exchange LLC are not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any medical condition and have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Information provided on this website and during all classes, programs and trips are for educational and entertainment purposes only. Get full access to Twin Star Tribe at twinstartribe.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to the Ritual Herbalism Podcast—a podcast exploring the sacred threads of plant medicine, seasonal wisdom, and the ways we return to ourselves through earth-centered ritual.In this episode, “Ostara, Persephone, and the Medicine of Dandelion,” we step into the threshold of the Spring Equinox, the moment in the turning of the year when day and night stand in perfect balance and the earth begins its steady return to life.This is a season of emergence.A season when light begins to win its slow return.When seeds begin to stir beneath the soil.When what has been quiet and hidden begins to move again.Across cultures, this moment in the wheel of the year has been honored through stories of descent and return, death and rebirth, darkness and light.One of the most enduring of these stories is the myth of Persephone. The daughter who descends into the underworld and whose return to the surface world marks the arrival of spring.Her story reminds us that life often begins in darkness before it rises into the light.And that what appears dormant is often preparing for transformation.Episode Themes:At the heart of this episode is one of the great plant teachers of early spring: dandelion.A plant that many people overlook.A plant that pushes up through sidewalks, gardens, and fields alike.A plant that arrives each year as one of the first green medicines after the long quiet of winter.In this episode, we explore:The Mythic Energy of the Spring EquinoxThe equinox is a moment of balance.Light and darkness share the sky equally.It is a pause in the cycle of the year—a threshold between the inward turning of winter and the outward movement of spring.Cultures across the world have honored this moment with symbols of fertility, rebirth, and emergence.Eggs. Seeds. Returning light.These symbols remind us that life begins in stillness before it bursts into motion.Persephone and the Medicine of DescentThe myth of Persephone tells the story of seasonal movement.Her descent into the underworld marks the barren quiet of winter.Her return to the surface world marks the greening of the earth.But the story is not simply about loss and return. It is about transformation.Persephone does not return the same as she left.She returns as someone who has walked in the dark.And this myth mirrors the cycles we experience in our own lives.Periods of retreat.Periods of uncertainty.Periods when growth is happening beneath the surface, long before it becomes visible.Dandelion: A Teacher of Early SpringDandelion arrives just as the earth begins to wake up.Its roots reach deep beneath the soil.Its leaves spread low to the ground.Its bright yellow flowers rise toward the returning sun.It is both grounded and reaching.Just like the season itself.In herbal tradition, dandelion is known as one of the great spring bitters; plants that help stimulate digestion, support the liver, and encourage movement within the body after the stillness of winter.It reminds us that spring is not only about beauty.It is also about circulation, cleansing, and awakening.One simple way to work with dandelion this time of year is through a fresh green tincture, made from the young leaves as they first emerge. Bitters help awaken digestion and invite the body back into motion as the seasons shift.Ritual InvitationBecause this is ritual herbalism, this episode also includes a simple Spring Equinox ritual centered on the symbol of the cosmic egg.Across many traditions, the egg represents life held quietly in darkness before it emerges into the light.A container of potential.A symbol of creation waiting to unfold.This ritual invites you to sit with that threshold moment and honor the parts of your life that are still forming beneath the surface.Not everything needs to emerge all at once.Some things need time in the dark before they are ready to break open.Access our herbal resource video library! Receive hours of free herbal education and community care classes. Inside our free online resource library, you will find herbal education for beginners and active herbalists, plant spirit connection practices, ritual teachings and seasonal support, short trainings and guided learning experiences, and resources you can revisit anytime. https://www.twinstartribe.com/online-resourceWant to go deeper?Join us at Twin Star Tribe to explore the art of ritual herbalism, energetic plant medicine, and ancestral healing. Our online and in-person offerings are here to support your journey—whether you’re just beginning or deepening your path with the plants.Come be part of a growing community rooted in Earth wisdom, sacred remembrance, and collective transformation. Visit our website at www.twinstartribe.com and step into the circle. We’d be honored to welcome you.Disclaimer and release of liability: information and services provided on this website, by Lauren “Lupo” Passero and by Twin Star Herbal Education and Shakti Exchange LLC are not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any medical condition and have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Information provided on this website and during all classes, programs and trips are for educational and entertainment purposes only.Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Twin Star Tribe at twinstartribe.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to Ritual Herbalism—a podcast exploring the sacred threads of plant medicine, ancestral memory, and the ways we return to ourselves through earth-centered ritual.In this episode, “The Herbalist in a Time of Revolution: Community Care in Seasons of Unrest,” we are speaking into a moment that many of us can feel in our bones.A moment of change.A moment of tension.A moment when the world around us feels uncertain, and the ground beneath us feels like it is shifting.For some, this is political unrest. For others, it is social upheaval. For many, it is a deep sense that the systems we have lived inside are cracking, and something new is trying to be born.Episode Themes:And in times like these, it is natural to ask what our role is.What does it mean to be an herbalist during a revolution.What does it mean to practice healing when there is fear in the air, anger in the streets, grief in the body, and exhaustion in the spirit.What does it mean to support our communities when people are overwhelmed, under resourced, and struggling to stay steady.This episode is not a political analysis. It is a community care offering. We will be talking about:Herbalism was Never Only About the IndividualIn our modern often trendy wellness culture, herbalism is sometimes presented as something private.A tea for stress.A tincture for sleep.A supplement for energy.But historically, herbalism has always been communal.It has been practiced in villages and households. In the care of children and elders. In moments of birth, illness, grief, and recovery.It has been passed through generations as survival knowledge.What Revolution Does to the BodyPolitical unrest does not only live in the news.It lives in the nervous system.It lives in the breath.It lives in the gut.It lives in the muscles.It lives in the way we sleep, the way we hold tension, the way we brace for what might come next.This is not weakness.This is the body responding to stress.And one of the most radical things we can do during a revolution is support the body so the spirit can stay present.The Herbalist as a Community Support RoleIn times of revolution, the herbalist is not a savior.The herbalist is not the center.The herbalist is a support beam.A steady presence.Someone who knows how to bring the body back to itself.Someone who knows how to offer comfort without minimizing reality.Someone who knows how to create small pockets of safety in a world that feels unsafe.The herbalist may be the person who brings tea to a meeting.Who keeps extra electrolytes and herbs in their bag.Who knows how to make a compress.Who offers a calm voice when someone is spiraling.Who reminds people to eat.To drink water.To breathe.To come back into the body.And in this way, herbalism becomes part of the infrastructure of care.It becomes part of what holds people together.Ritual InvitationThis episode is an invitation to remember that herbalism has always been more than personal wellness.Herbalism is a tradition of people caring for each other.Herbalism is medicine that lives in kitchens, in gardens, in community spaces, and in the hands of those who refuse to let each other fall through the cracks.Herbalism is a practice of resilience.A practice of relationship.A practice of remembering that we belong to each other.If you’re looking for language around what many of us are sensing in the current astro-political climate, I recommend the Ritual Herbalism Podcast episode 7 Flower Power: Modern Herbalism & The Return of Plant Wisdom with special guest Ilana Sobo. It frames this moment through revisiting and learning from our nation’s past while understanding the current Astro influences of this time.Let us begin.Ready to become your own community herbalist? Registration is open for our Foundations of Herbalism program. You can choose to join us in New Milford, CT, Asheville, NC or worldwide online. Learn more at https://www.twinstartribe.com/2026-foundations-of-herbalism-programs.Want to Go Deeper?Join us at Twin Star Tribe to explore the art of ritual herbalism, energetic plant medicine, and ancestral healing. Our online and in-person offerings are here to support your journey—whether you’re just beginning or deepening your path with the plants.Come be part of a growing community rooted in Earth wisdom, sacred remembrance, and collective transformation. Visit our website at www.twinstartribe.com and step into the circle. We’d be honored to welcome you.Disclaimer and release of liability: information and services provided on this website, by Lauren “Lupo” Passero and by Twin Star Herbal Education and Shakti Exchange LLC are not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any medical condition and have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Information provided on this website and during all classes, programs and trips are for educational and entertainment purposes only.Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Twin Star Tribe at twinstartribe.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to Ritual Herbalism—a podcast exploring the sacred threads of plant medicine, ancestral memory, and the ways we return to ourselves through earth-centered ritual.In this episode, “The Space Between: Yule and the Twelve Omen Days,” we enter the deep heart of winter and the ancient traditions that shape this season between years. The Winter Solstice, or Yule, marks the longest night and the quiet rebirth of the sun, a turning point long honored by our ancestors as the beginning of a sacred season rather than a single night of celebration.Yule opens the door, but it is the days that follow that carry the magic forward.Beginning on December twenty-fifth, the Twelve Days unfold as an extension of the solstice blessing. These are the days when time grows thin, when the year is neither old nor new, and when reflection becomes its own kind of ritual. Across cultures, they were understood as a passageway between worlds—a liminal corridor where insight arises, intuition sharpens, and the shape of the coming year quietly begins to form.In this episode, we explore the folklore of the Twelve Days, their history in Ireland and Italy, the herbal allies associated with this season, and a guided Twelve-Day ritual practice to help you welcome the year with intention and clarity.This is a slow, reflective journey. Brew your tea. Light a candle. Let yourself linger in the space between.Episode Themes:Yule, liminality & the wisdom of the omen days. We exlpore The origins of the Twelve Days. In the world before electric lights and digital calendars, people lived by the rhythms of the sun and moon. The discrepancy between the lunar and solar year left days unmoored—time belonging to neither cycle. Across Europe, these became the Twelve Nights or Twelve Days between the years, viewed as enchanted, prophetic, and spiritually potent.The Omen Days: Listening to the Months AheadThe Twelve Days were known as the omen days because each one was believed to reflect a month of the year to come. People watched the weather, dreams, emotions, animal encounters, and unexpected signs, understanding each day as a mirror held up to the future.In this same spirit, this episode offers a Twelve-Day herbal ritual practice. Each day is paired with a month, a theme, a plant ally, and a journaling prompt to support deep listening.You may begin on December twenty-fifth, or whenever you feel called to step into the space in-between.Ritual InvitationWe invite you to walk the Twelve Days with us. See it laid out in writing at our Substack post here: https://open.substack.com/pub/twinstartribe/p/the-space-between-yule-and-the-twelve?r=4ca29d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=trueWant to go deeper?Join us at Twin Star Tribe to explore the art of ritual herbalism, energetic plant medicine, and ancestral healing. Our online and in-person offerings are here to support your journey—whether you’re just beginning or deepening your path with the plants.Come be part of a growing community rooted in Earth wisdom, sacred remembrance, and collective transformation. Visit our website at www.twinstartribe.com and step into the circle. We’d be honored to welcome you.Please remember that not every herb is right for every person. Know your medicine and consult a trusted herbal practitioner before beginning new remedies. Get full access to Twin Star Tribe at twinstartribe.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to Ritual Herbalism—a podcast exploring the sacred threads of plant medicine, ancestral memory, and the ways we return to ourselves through earth-centered ritual.In this episode, “Flower Power: Modern Herbalism & The Return of Plant Wisdom,” we’re joined by special guest Ilana Sobo, herbalist and founder of the Flower Power Project. Together, we travel through time, back to the revolutionary bloom of the 1960s and forward into the present moment, where the spirit of Flower Power is rising again with renewed force.This is a conversation about plants as teachers, ritual as remembrance, and the cycles, astrological and earthly, that return us to the wisdom of the living world.Brew your tea. Open your heart. Let the plants speak.Episode Themes: Flower Power, cultural cycles & the rising herbal renaissanceWe begin by returning to the roots of the 1960s Flower Power movement, a time when beauty became activism, when flowers were symbols of peace, and when gardens became places of community, imagination, and ecological hope.This was not simply an aesthetic.It was a cultural remembering.A remembering of earth.A remembering of relational living.A remembering that plants hold intelligence, magic, and medicine beyond the clinical.Today, that remembering is resurfacing. And Ilana’s work with the Flower Power Project carries this lineage forward—bridging ritual herbalism with contemporary needs for connection, healing, and collective transformation.Astrology & The Cycles That ReturnThe cultural revolutions of the 1960s emerged during the Uranus–Pluto conjunction, a time of rupture, awakening, and deep transformation.Uranus disrupts. Pluto reforms. Together, they catalyze.We now live through the square of that same cycle:a moment of pressure, friction, and evolutionary demand. The resurgence of herbalism, ritual work, ecological awareness, and collective questioning mirrors this astrological climate. These are not isolated trends. They are expressions of a cycle returning, a call to re-root into the living world.Ritual InvitationA grounding ritual shared in this episode:Take a slow walk and allow your body to move without destination. Notice which tree draws your attention. Stand with it. Place your hands against its trunk and feel the steadiness held there. Root your feet into the earth beneath you. Offer the tree what you are holding. Receive the quiet strength that rises through its roots. Let this moment serve as a reminder to turn inward and listen to what is deep and true within you.Learn with UsFor those who feel called to understand plants through the lens of astrology, the full Astro Herbalism Course is now available as a self-paced online program. This offering brings together planetary correspondences, energetic patterns, and the larger cosmic cycles that shape our work with the green world. The course allows students to explore how astrology can illuminate the emotional, spiritual, and medicinal dimensions of plant practice.Listeners of this episode receive twenty-five percent off the course using the code ASTRO2025. The program can be accessed through twinstartribe.com/astro-herbalism-immersionor by DMing us “Astro” on Instagram @twinstartribe.This course extends the themes of this episode by inviting practitioners into a deeper dialogue with the plants, the planets, and the cycles that weave them together.Ilana Sobo is a community herbalist, Ayurvedic Practitioner and Yoga Instructor and offers courses, classes and consultations in Connecticut and Vermont. She has spent over 28 years in the fields of Ayurveda, Yoga and Herbalism and has worked with & apprenticed for several of the pioneers in Botanical Medicine & Ayurveda in the US. You can visit her at flowerpowerproject.com. Together, we teach the Practicing Herbalist, a 9-month immersion course designed to guide participants in taking the next steps toward becoming confident and compassionate Herbal Practitioners. Learn more at https://www.twinstartribe.com/level-3-the-practicing-herbalist.Want to go deeper?Join us at Twin Star Tribe to explore the art of ritual herbalism, energetic plant medicine, and ancestral healing. Our online and in-person offerings are here to support your journey—whether you’re just beginning or deepening your path with the plants.Come be part of a growing community rooted in Earth wisdom, sacred remembrance, and collective transformation. Visit our website at www.twinstartribe.com and step into the circle. We’d be honored to welcome you.Please remember that not every herb is right for every person. Know your medicine and consult a trusted herbal practitioner before beginning new remedies. Get full access to Twin Star Tribe at twinstartribe.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to Ritual Herbalism—a podcast exploring the sacred threads of plant medicine, ancestral memory, and the ways we find our way back to wholeness through ritual.In this special edition episode, “Herbs for the Ancestors: A Samhain Journey,” we gather at the threshold of the year, where harvest ends and winter begins, when the veil thins and the ancestors draw near.Samhain is a liminal time, both an ending and a beginning. It calls us to remember, to root, and to listen. Across cultures and generations, this season has been honored as a portal between the worlds, a time to reconnect with those who came before us and to walk the green path of remembrance.In this episode, we reflect on the roots of Samhain, explore ancestral traditions from around the world, and walk with plant allies that help us bridge seen and unseen realms.This is a slow, sacred journey. Brew some tea. Light a candle. Let yourself be guided.Episode Themes: Samhain, ancestral memory & ritual plant alliesWe explore:* The ancient roots of Samhain:Once known as “summer’s end,” Samhain marked the Celtic New Year—a firelit turning point between seasons, when the veil between worlds grew thin and the ancestors returned home.* Cross-cultural reflections:From Día de los Muertos in Mexico to La Festa dei Morti in southern Italy, the spirit of Samhain echoes globally: memory is medicine, death is a return, not an end.* The legacy of the Green Witch:Through persecution and forgetting, the herbalists, witches, and wise ones carried the flame of remembrance. Every Samhain candle, every herb gathered, is part of that legacy.Plant Allies of the veil: Herbs for ancestral connection & protectionThese herbs guide us gently through the thinning veil. They cleanse, protect, and open the heart to ancestral wisdom.* Sage (Salvia officinalis): A purifier and protector. Clears stagnant energy, supports clarity, and teaches that all endings are transformations. Whispers: “All that you lose is only changing form.”* Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris): Herb of dreams and vision. Opens intuitive pathways, invites ancestral dreams, and connects us to the liminal. Murmurs: “Dream, and remember.”* Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus): An herb of the heart and memory. Strengthens resolve, protects the spirit, and honors the dead. Speaks: “Remember who you are, and those who came before.”* Elder (Sambucus nigra): Tree of the threshold. Strengthens immunity and spirit connection. Held as a guardian between life and death. Says: “Death is not the end, but a doorway.”* Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa): A shadow guide. Supports transformation, releases ancestral pain, and calms the nervous system. Whispers: “The shadow is your teacher.”* Angelica (Angelica archangelica): A radiant protector. Brings divine guidance, restores vitality, and reminds us we are not alone. Sings: “You are guided. You are held.”Ritual InvitationBring these herbs into your practice with intention:* Burn sage and rosemary before ritual to clear space and open your heart* Drink mugwort and elderflower tea before dreamwork or meditation* Anoint with angelica or black cohosh essence during grief rituals or when calling in ancestral support* Place rosemary on your altar as a symbol of remembranceEach herb is a doorway, each ritual a return.Learn with UsIf this Samhain journey resonates, you’re already walking the path of ritual herbalism.Our Green Witch Online Course is now open for registration, a guided journey into plant spirit connection, ancestral remembrance, and the sacred rhythms of the seasons. This immersive course weaves herbal wisdom, ritual practices, and Green Witch traditions to help you deepen your practice and tend your own apothecary with intention. Early bird enrollment is open through November 3. Save $100 with code WITCH at checkout. After that, the door closes on November 15th, and we begin. Join us, and step fully onto the green path. Not sure if this course is for you? Watch our free class from the program through the button below.Samhain teaches that life and death are lovers in sacred dance. That nothing truly ends. That memory is a bridge, and ritual is how we walk it.Across centuries, the Green Witch tradition endures.We are still tending the altars.We are still speaking with the plants.We are still remembering.May the herbs of Samhain: sage, mugwort, rosemary, elder, black cohosh, and angelica, guide you through this turning of the wheel.May your path be rooted, protected, and lit with ancestral fire.If this episode speaks to you, please share it, subscribe on your favorite platform, and leave a review—it helps more people find this work and return to their roots.Know your medicine. Trust your rhythm. Let the sky and the soil guide you.Want to go deeper?Join us at Twin Star Tribe to explore the art of ritual herbalism, energetic plant medicine, and ancestral healing. Our online and in-person offerings are here to support your journey—whether you’re just beginning or deepening your path with the plants.Come be part of a growing community rooted in Earth wisdom, sacred remembrance, and collective transformation. Visit our website and step into the circle. We’d be honored to welcome you.Please remember that not every herb is right for every person. Know your medicine and consult a trusted herbal practitioner before beginning new remedies.tw Get full access to Twin Star Tribe at twinstartribe.substack.com/subscribe