I took a course at the California School of Herbal Studies in late 2022 and fell in love with everything I learned. I learned so much that I nearly put on a wellness retreat with the teacher. In the end, I decided that the healing I was already selling (and the women I was already selling it with) were more authentic (and necessary) than any Orange County mom bragging about how her Yoni steam tik-tok went viral.
I focused on growing my own herbs for a while after that, and though I’ve been bested by a pest I haven’t decided to tackle yet, I haven’t bought green onions or garlic for a year. Many uncommon herbs – or, more accurately, common herbs with less commonly known healing properties, are difficult to grow (especially when the only pesticide you’ve tried is withering looks) but fairly easy to find online.
This post is focused on four herbs that go really well together smoked before bed. However, you don’t have to smoke them. You don’t have to do anything, really.
If you want to try this herb blend but don’t want to smoke, you can make tea for drinking or bathing.
General Tips
Brewing teas for medicinal purposes means using at least a quarter cup of dried herbs for a four-cup French press-sized amount of tea rather than the teaspoon or so that comes in a tea bag. To get the medicinal properties, teas must also sit covered for at least fifteen minutes to steep.
The founder of modern herbalism, Rosemary Gladstar, taught me how to make an herbal bath. It’s simple. Fill one or two cheesecloth or recycled paper teabags with herbs and tie them to the spout. Turn the water as hot as it will go and let it pour over the bags as the tub fills at least halfway. From there, adjust the temperature to your comfort. I used to think this method would be ineffective, but then I tried a weed bath bomb.
Use the bitter herbs for baths or smoking. Your skin & lungs can’t tell that Damiana tastes like shit.
Four Herbs for Sleep
Here are four really interesting herbs that, together, can help you reclaim deep sleep, remember your dreams, or work something out in the astral planes:
Mugwort
This plant – weed, really, is indigenous to most of the world and has been used for thousands of years to promote psychic dreams & healthy sleep. It is also known to ease the restlessness, irritability, and discontentment that is part of the human condition. It has a light psychoactive effect.
If you are a pot smoker, mixing a bit of this into your bedtime bowl can help reverse the effect that marijuana has of dampening the dreaming mechanism. If you are trying to cut back / quit pot smoking, it can be a nice evening alternative!
Mugwort tea or smoking, even sleeping with a sachet before bed, can be a nice way to enter dreamland again – even if you’re a daily weed user, even if you’re stressed by daily life beyond measure.
Mugwort is kind of an ugly word, but its botanical name is Artimisia, after the goddess Artemis. If I rebrand to face in that’s totally the name I’m using.
Damiana
Damiana doesn’t taste great—when I use it, I bathe in it. Damiana helps sleep and can be helpful, specifically when disjointed sleep or dreams are related to unhealed childhood trauma.
While mugwort is a mild psychoactive, Damiana is a mild sedative—together, they form a powerful nightcap alternative. The Aztecs also used this native plant as an aphrodisiac. It is also known to ease stress and anxiety.
Wild Lettuce
Yes, this is an herb you can buy in bulk online. It is most known for relaxation, pain relief, and mild psychoactive effects. It will bring more detail into your dream work, as well as help you retain the memory longer upon awakening.
Mix this with mugwort & damiana to smoke before bed for psychic dreams.
Yarrow
This herb is most sacred to Celt & Driud cultures. While the witches in MacBeth used it to divine the future, we use it now mainly for protection. When you use it in conjunction with the others, it protects you in your astral meanderings. It’s basically a condom for the dream world.
Outside of dreamwork, Yarrow is a powerhouse of anti-inflammatory, immune-enhancing, and digestion-easing properties. We would probably use more of it if it didn’t taste so terrible. Well, that’s in the past now. Now you know of baths & smoking.
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Even the craziest dreams will slip from our consciousness quickly, so if you are interested in remembering or recording yours, it’s advisable to keep a dream notebook and pen right by the bed. Happy dreaming, everyone! See you on the astral planes.
XOXO,
Your one wild & precious Aviva Ruse
