Greetings Plant Lovers, Mystical Creatures and Friends,
Autumn feels like it is already here, with just a lunar cycle to go until the Equinox, I am leaning into the seasonal shift. As we enter into the solar sign of Virgo with the dark of this New Moon, I want to reflect on the energy of it’s Tarot correspondence, The Hermit IX.
The Hermit speaks to us in this modern life, in this time of unraveling and planetary destruction, when so many of us feel the pull to retreat. It can be hard to rise each day when the world holds so much pain, grief, and starvation, yet this is exactly the moment to reflect on our humanness. The Hermit grants us permission to rest, to cry, to sit in solitude with ourselves, our gods, and our ancestors. The Hermit’s lamp is the primal fire, the fire of the first spark, the volcano, the forest burning, the sun shining, the hearth that cooks our food, and the inner flame of creation and destruction. Through this fire, we are nurtured, incubated, and transformed. Like the butterfly, we emerge from the cave of reflection with a new way of being, carrying forward deeper values, new vision, and refined strength.
Corresponded to Virgo, the Hermit is the wisdom of analysis, health, and service, guided by Mercury, planet of story, truth, and healing. In solitude, the Hermit undertakes an alchemical process of refinement, purifying thought, behavior, and spirit, not in separation but in communion with nature’s wisdom. The Hermit leans on the staff of the trees, hears the voices in the wind, and feels the unseen life within the soil. Though we may not all have the privilege to fully retreat in our capitalist world, we can engage the Hermit in daily moments of quiet, through writing, meditation, and sitting with the elements. In these small rituals of solitude, we regenerate and prepare to step back into the turning of the wheel, moving forward into life renewed, into a future we dream of as just, kind, and peaceful.
The Hermit teaches us that to step inward is also to step outward into the vastness of connection. Just as the lamp illuminates the hidden pathways of the soul, so too do we glimpse the hidden migrations of life itself, seeds carried on the wind, birds tracing invisible lines across continents, animals moving in rhythm with water and season. Belonging, then, is not a fixed state but a becoming, a weaving. To ask what it means to be native or naturalized is to enter the same mystery the Hermit carries: how we root, where we belong, and how the fire of transformation makes us part of the living whole….
Naturalized:
What Plants Can Teach Us About Home,
Culture, and Identity
“The plants and animals have a lot to teach humans when it comes to borders, migration and naturalization…
Plants travel thousands of kilometers in the bellies and wings of birds and in the fur of mammals. Seeds and spores have been found in the upper reaches of the atmosphere. Plants and animals know no borders, they are fluid and territorial beings. In our individual human experience, we are overwhelmed by information, from the hit of our social media scroll, the countless news articles, YouTube channels, long form podcasts and blogs like this. We actually have the ability to filter and manage what we see on the screen. Yet, when it comes to the informational download of the outside world, we cannot turn off that screen. As every sun sets, we receive information from the cosmos, in shimmers of starlight, and in the song of evening birds. Our relationship with place and our perspectives on who we are within those places is informed by the ecosystem itself...
So who are we when our landscape is littered with bomb shrapnel and rubble of the homes we once occupied? Who are we when our bed is the sidewalk and somehow even in our sadness and plight so few seem to notice? Who are we when we grow up barefoot and fearless? Our identity to place is formed by the soil beneath our feet…”
SACRED PHARMAKON:
Regenerative Earth Traditions
125- hour training
Embrace the Wisdom of
Root, Leaf, Flower & Flame
Crete, Greece
June 12 - July 2, 2026
Following the Verdant Path of the Good Medicine Road and the traditions of Hygeia’s Garden, you’ll gain clinical skills, practice client intakes, and explore the ethics of community herbalism. Each day blends herbal arts with ecology, learning plant chemistry and energetics, the soil–fungi–mineral web, and fire and water traditions for healing. Guided by the elements and the cyclical rhythms of the living Earth, each module honors a different part of the plant, a body system, and a sacred correspondence with an element of nature and tradition.
By journey’s end, you’ll be rooted in the regenerative cycles of land and body, carrying home practical tools, deep knowledge,
and the sovereignty of the healer’s path.
Special just for Village Witch Readers.
Save an additional €100 off the Early Bird tuition if you register before next New Moon (Sept 21, Autumn Equinox) with coupon code: PHARMAKON
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Tarot Readings
A rich and transformative experience that bridges the symbolic and the practical. Drawing from her deep studies in archetypal psychology, astrology, world mythology, art history, deep ecology, and elemental magic, Sarah channels the Tarot to help clients gain clarity on their life path, relationships, and energetic patterns.
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A Wellness Consultation with Sarah is an in-depth exploration of your health profile, where together we explore the various roots of your concerns, deciphering patterns and imbalances. Sarah will craft for you a custom protocol focusing on your diet, herbs, mushrooms, and supplements, as well as suggestions for movement, adjunct therapies, rituals, journaling exercises and other practices to support your overall vitality. |
Who wants to get witchy with us in Portugal?
This is the final few spaces left!
Registration will close soon.
Herbalists & Alchemists Portugal, October 5 - 12
For witches, alchemists, herbalists
and all those interested in the magic of herbalism.
In this immersion, we practice the Alchemical proverb:
As Above, So Below.
As Within, So Without.
As the Universe, so the Soul.
To come back to the knowledge rooted deep within that transcends culture, borders and religions that place us above all other creatures. We are in practice with the plants to be in service to all life, to learn skills and nurture relationships. Through magic and science, ritual and community, we work to mend the pains of the world. Learn from medicine people who have dedicated their lives to being bridges between humans and the green world, as they share their knowledge and experience.
This course takes a deeper dive into medicine making beyond tinctures and teas. Learning about flower infusions making Agua Florida, working with alchemical extracts known as spygerics, sitting with the fire, stones and sweat in the Temezcal and making plant pigments for illuminating your medicine journal.
I am grateful if you have made it this far. I am constantly thinking about the folks out there who this writing may touch. I feel you and I am open to you. It would be so great to hear from you. It isn’t my strongest quality in [fast] responses, but I read all your messages and they mean a lot to me. I would be particularly curious to hear if there are any themes you would like me to muse on.
As always, may the good green world hold you in her abundant arms, may she kiss you with gentle breezes and may her waters wash you clean and run clear.
blessed be,
sarah marie
