Samhain
THE SEASON OF THE WITCH
Samhain ("SOW-in"), the Celtic New Year (October 31st - November 1st), marks the season's final harvest, and a brief moment of equilibrium between light and dark. At this delicate balancing point, where the darkness and the light meet, is a sacred threshold where the veil between worlds grows gossamer-thin and the visible and invisible overlap. Here substance becomes shadow and shadow becomes substance. What is known recedes as the unknown rushes in. In this momentary pause in time’s wheel, ancestors draw near, spirits wander, and the unseen realm becomes accessible to those who know how to look.
Plants were the living bridges of every Samhain practice—technologies of consciousness for purification, protection, divination, and integration. Smoke spirals of Mugwort, eldest of herbs, both marked and revealed thresholds between worlds. Woven into crowns and worn by seers, mugwort sharpened second sight and helped to distinguish benevolent ancestors from wandering shades with darker intentions. Most precious of all, mugwort held the key to remembering—ensuring sacred visions survived the journey back to waking consciousness.
Ancient Celts believed the gods of the Wild Hunt thundered through dark autumn skies at Samhain, gathering the souls of the recently deceased, while mischievous spirits wandered moonlit crossroads aiming to ensnare the unwitting and unprotected. Against these chaotic energies, folk sought sanctuary in the hedge magic of protective plants. Lady's Mantle wrapped them in her protective cloak, Oak lent sovereignty and strength, Hawthorn guarded thresholds, Blackberry wove thorny boundaries against malevolent forces, and Elder—most powerful and dangerous of all—could summon spirits when burned, though only the wise dared invoke the Elder Mother's mysteries.
Sacred preparation for Samhain began days before, with plant fasts and ritual teas purifying both body and spirit for the work ahead. Apples served dual purposes—sliced horizontally to reveal the protective pentagram for divination, or left whole as sweet offerings to pacify restless spirits. Yarrow opened the inner eye while maintaining psychic boundaries, protecting practitioners as they walked between worlds. At dawn on Samhain, the bean-sidhe (wise women herbalists) gathered Elecampane root to invite visions, while Self-Heal was tucked into pockets to maintain sovereignty during spirit encounters.
These plants remain our allies still, patient teachers in navigating life's sacred thresholds. Spiritually and medicinally, they offer us what they offered our ancestors—protection when we're vulnerable, clarity and insight when the path grows dark, centering and courage when we must face our shadows, and sacred, restorative rest when the work is done. Through leaf, root, seed, flower, and thorn, plants remind us we are forever woven into the great spiral of life and death that connects all beings across the turning wheel of time.
This autumn, we consider the energies of Samhain in our Season of the Witch Collection, a special curation of our Signature blends that support deeper engagement with ancient seasonal rhythms and liminal spaces for dreaming and visioning. The Season of the Witch collection features oneirogens (dreaming herbs), protective plant medicines, grounding and centering herbs that anchor the heart and spirit, herbs that support ancestral connection, and herbs for sacred, integrative rest.
Read on to learn more about the ancient plant witch medicine of our featured blends!
Teas for Dreaming, Insight, & Vision
ORACLE
Crafted with sacred oneirogens that enhance dreamwork and deepen our capacity for vision, particularly during this most mystical season.
Blue Lotus opens the third eye and crown chakras, facilitating clearer visions and dream recall.
Mugwort, known as the "dream herb," enhances prophetic dreams and astral projection. Its thujone content stimulates the pineal gland, making it invaluable for scrying and divination work.
California Poppy provides gentle sedative properties without the narcotic effects. It helps create the relaxed receptivity needed for otherworldly communication.
Hawthorn carries deep Celtic associations with the fairy realm and the otherworld, and provides protection and heart-centered grounding while traversing spiritual realms.
Gotu Kola functions as a powerful nootropic, strengthening pituitary function and enhancing intuition and memory. This "herb of enlightenment" supports sustained meditation and helps integrate visionary experiences into waking consciousness.
SCORPIO
Perfectly attuned to Samhain’s transformative energies, Scorpio is associated with the dark—seasonally, emotionally, and psychically—is crafted to promote psychic sensitivity and aid in shamanic/shadow-retrieval work.
Chrysanthemum holds special significance for honoring the dead in many cultures. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, it clears heat from the liver and brightens the eyes—medicinally supporting eyesight, vision, and insight, assisting sight beyond the veil.
Bilberry enhances night vision both literally and metaphorically. Rich in anthocyanins, it protects the eyes and can assist the "second sight."
Lemon Balm soothes anxiety while maintaining mental clarity, promoting gentle grounded tethering for successful dreaming.
Blackberry Leaf carries protective qualities in folk magic, creating safe boundaries during dream work.
Teas for Protection, Boundary-setting, & Sanctuary
NYX
Nyx is both a powerful and foundational blend for protection and nourishment during the Samhain season, helping the mind, body, and spirit build a grounded, energetic resilience.
Lady's Mantle, known as "Our Lady's Cloak," has long been associated with Mary and protective feminine deities. During Samhain, Lady's Mantle creates an energetic cloak of protection to shield the psychically vulnerable as the veil thins. Its deeply astringent properties help to energetically "seal" the aura.
Milky Oat Tops are a premier nervine trophorestorative that help rebuild depleted nervous systems and strengthen myelin sheaths. As such, Milky Oats enhance our resilience, helping us maintain energetic boundaries while remaining open to spiritual communication.
Blackberry, Bilberry, and Raspberry creates a "thorny hedge" of protection, reminiscent of the bramble barriers in fairy tales that guard sacred mysteries.
Blackberry is traditionally planted at property boundaries for protection against malevolent spirits. Bilberry enhances both physical and psychic sight. Combined with the other berries, it specifically supports discernment — helping distinguish between helpful ancestral guidance and potentially misleading energies.
Raspberry Leaf is a traditional a women's ally, but energetically it also helps "birth" new understanding from shadow work. It eases transitions and is ideal for navigating Samhain's liminal energies of death/rebirth.
Elderberry carries immense folkloric significance for Samhain. The Elder Mother was believed to dwell within elder trees, and her permission was always sought before harvesting. Medicinally, elderberry's immune support helps maintain physical vitality. Psychologically, it connects us with ancestral wisdom and the energy of the Crone.
Hawthorn is a threshold guardian plant sacred to the fae. In this blend, hawthorn protects the heart while keeping it open to the work of ancestral healing. It helps prevent us from becoming overwhelmed by inherited grief or family shadows that may emerge at this time, seeking to be healed.
Lavender, while commonly known for relaxation, also has strong purifying and protective properties. It helps maintain clarity and prevents the attachment of unwanted energies during spirit communication.
HUNTRESS
Energetically and functionally, Huntress is a blend about personal and psychic sovereignty and empowered resilience. Where Nyx offers the sheltering protection of an impenetrable hedge, so to speak, Huntress offers the inviolable personal boundaries and hyper-vigilance of the huntress. Chaotic energies may be afoot during this season of liminality, darkness, and wind, but Huntress creates sanctuary through fierce strength rather than shelter.
Siberian Ginseng and Shatavari build resilient boundaries through adrenal strength, physical and mental stamina, and adaptability.
White Oak is the sacred tree of Artemis, strong, resilient, astringent. It literally strengthens bone, and has a similar impact upon us energetically, helping form a kind of energetic shield, or strength.
Ginkgo enhances blood circulation to the brain and sharpens the mind and awareness
Tea for Staying Grounded & Centered Through Samhain
HEARTH
In Celtic tradition, the hearth was the axis mundi of the home — the central point where all worlds meet. During Samhain, when boundaries thin and spirits wander, the hearth fire was never allowed to die. It is both anchor and sanctuary, grounding the household while the energies of the “Wild Hunt” raged and spirits roamed.
Dandelion Root, Chicory Root, and Sarsaparilla Root create a powerful subterranean anchor. These roots work to tonify the liver and stabilize blood sugars, and energetically pull consciousness down into the body, ensuring we will never get lost in dreams, divination, or the chaotic energy of liminal spaces.
Rooibos and Honeybush are warming, mineralizing “red earth medicines”. Balancing, grounding, and nourishing to the blood.
Cacao grounds and centers the heart, keeping it open but rooted and clear.
Rose and Lavender plants literally vibrate at high frequencies (320MHz and 118MHz respectively) which help repel lower, chaotic energies, and keep one’s energy centered, calm, and clear.
Blackberry leaf helps us maintain clear internal boundaries.
Tea for Honoring & Connecting with Ancestors
EROS
The name "Eros" (love/life force) honors the continuing spark that connects us across generations. This blend acknowledges that honoring ancestors isn't just about death—it's about celebrating the love and life force they passed down to us.
Pomegranate Arils are perhaps the reigning fruit of the underworld, symbolizing death/rebirth, threshold crossing, and connection to the those who have crossed.
Red Lotus is a sacred flower used by the ancients as a bridge between worlds. It signifies spiritual purity, enlightenment, and rising from darkness. In a spiritual or sacred context, the flower helps to open the gateway to hypnagogic states where visions and ancestral communications can occur.
Elderberry is the reigning herb of Samhain, known as guardian of the threshold, and used as a traditional herb for honoring the dead.
Fig is an ancient sacred food, used for offerings to the dead in many traditions as well as nourishment for spiritual journeys.
Clove is used to banish negativity and create sacred space.
Hibiscus, Red Grape, and Almond each lend beauty, love, abundance, and a promise of fertility and renewal to the blend.
Tea for Sacred Rest
HYPNUS
Red Poppy is one of the most revered flowers in the world since ancient times offering gentle sedation without the narcotic alkaloids of its cousin P. somniferum. Red poppy contains rhoeadine alkaloids that calm overactive minds and ease the transition between waking and sleeping consciousness.
California Poppy provides complementary anxiolytic support through different alkaloid pathways. Together, these poppies create a smooth, supported transition into restorative sleep states while helping to maintain dream recall.
Skullcap, Passionflower, and Hops form a powerful nervine trinity that helps relax the mind and body, ease anxiety, reduce adrenaline, and help increase GABA activity.
Magnolia Bark is used in Chinese medicine in combination with other herbs to promote sleep by helping reduce adrenaline and increase GABA activity Magnolia's honokiol and magnolol compounds are powerful anxiolytics that also protect neural tissue during sleep.
Honeybush provides sweet grounding and mineral-rich nourishment. Its pinitol content supports healthy glucose metabolism during sleep, which can help prevent blood sugar drops and 3am waking with anxiety.