♃Balms
Salved by hand, blessed by the season's spirit.
Tending the spirits
beneath the stars
A small apothecary and retreat in the hills — listening to the plants, walking with the seasons.
Per herbas Per ignem Per silentium Per terram Per lunam
Above
We work with the moon's pull, the planets' rule, the season's wheel.
Within
We meet each plant as a teacher — its archetype, its ruler, its gift.
Below
We tend the soil, the hearth, the body — the slow earth-bound prayer.
The Apothecary
Tinctured, distilled, and rolled in devotion.
☉Essential Oils
Distilled in devotion — fire, water, breath.
☽Roll-Ons
Pocket rituals for the everyday sacred.
The Green Council
Each plant is a being. Each being, a teacher.
We work with the plants as our teachers carried them — by archetype, by ruling planet, by element. These are some of the spirits in residence.
The Dreamer · Keeper of Thresholds
☽Mugwort
Artemisia vulgaris
"She opens the gate between sleeping and seeing. We bow before walking in."
Ruler · MoonElement · Water
Enter her chamber →
The Beloved · Heart Opener
♀Rose
Rosa damascena
"She teaches the heart how to remain soft inside its thorns."
Ruler · VenusElement · Water
Enter her chamber →
The Warrior · Boundary Keeper
♂Yarrow
Achillea millefolium
"She mends what is torn — in the body, in the field around the body."
Ruler · MarsElement · Air
Enter her chamber →
The Torchbearer · Lung-Lighter
♄Mullein
Verbascum thapsum
"He stands tall on the road's edge, lantern in hand, breath in the breath."
Ruler · SaturnElement · Fire
Enter her chamber →
The Sun-Child · Skin-Tender
☉Calendula
Calendula officinalis
"She closes the day with her petals and the wound with her gold."
Ruler · SunElement · Fire
Enter her chamber →
The Faerie Guardian · Heart-Mender
♃Hawthorn
Crataegus monogyna
"She holds the in-between — between worlds, between heartbeats."
Ruler · JupiterElement · Earth
Enter her chamber →
The Wayfarer · Drawer-Out of Poison
♁Plantain
Plantago major
"She walks every road with us, low and patient, drawing out what does not belong."
Ruler · VenusElement · Earth
Enter her chamber →
The Grandmother · Hedge-Witch's Confidante
♀Elderflower
Sambucus nigra
"She stands at the hedge between worlds and offers her cream-white blessing to all who ask."
Ruler · VenusElement · Water
Enter her chamber →
The Quieter · Keeper of the Long Breath
☿Lavender
Lavandula angustifolia
"She lays a cool hand on the burning forehead of the mind, and the room goes still."
Ruler · MercuryElement · Air
Enter her chamber →
The Night Beloved · Keeper of the Sweet Hour
☾Jasmine
Jasminum grandiflorum
"She opens only after sundown, and the whole garden leans toward her perfume."
Ruler · MoonElement · Water
Enter her chamber →
The Green Smith · Iron-Mother of the Hedge
♂Nettle
Urtica dioica
"She stings the hand that took her carelessly, and feeds the body that learned to ask."
Ruler · MarsElement · Fire & Earth
Enter her chamber →
“We do not extract from the plants. We are introduced.”
The Sanctuary
A house held by the hills, the hearth, and the unseen.
We open Montestal a handful of times each year for small circles — days of plant walks, ceremony, distillation, shared tables, and the long silences in which the green ones speak.
The Wheel of the Year
Gatherings woven into the seasons.
Each circle is timed to a turning of the wheel — moonrise, equinox, harvest, hush — and shaped by what the plants are offering then.
An invocation
“We do not own the medicine. The medicine moves through us when we remember to ask, to listen, and to thank.”
— The Keepers of Montestal