Elder Sisters Apothecary (2025)

07/10/2025

In the olde ways of many cultures, Autumn initiates the space of preparing and beginning the season of completion. It was a time when things were to be released and people let alone — when what we had held in our hands was to be appreciated and remembered without interference, to be let go and to be let to go where it wants to go to then rise and come again in its own time. Whether wheat or apples, a job, a relationship, or a dream made manifest, we seem to spend an enormous amount of time in thinking, imagining, preparing, working, and worrying things into our idea of fullness. Often, we find it a great difficulty to keep alive an attentive identity that can also be present when the season of a thing has past its apogee.

For the last several years, October has brought about quite a bit of death (physical & metaphorical) in our lives. A cut in the fabric of the veil that spirals us back into the profound lessons of loss and being with the (mostly unwanted) space it creates. We feel this in the microcosm of our daily lives, and the macrocosm of our Collective. If, alongside grief, we can cultivate patience and curiosity to be with the space created by what has left us, perhaps we will also find ourselves dancing with mystery and the vastness of possibility that is not yet.

As the trees create their own dance with the Autumn winds, shedding their leaves with grace, how might you too find ease in the letting go of what is past its time? How might you lean into the energies of the Autumn season with full presence in the release? May you feel into and receive the gifts of the season and the wisdom that lives within it.

Herbal Apothecary Herbal Remedies Nature Wisdom Celtic Path Pagan Witch Land Rituals Old Ways

06/10/2025

🪦💀𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐇𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬💀🪦

This weekend we had the honour of vending with at Mount Moriah Cemetery in Philly surrounded by those whose footsteps have long disappeared from this physical realm. Our gracious hosts and neighbors took their first and last breaths in the 19th and early 20th centuries and generously shared their Land and ground with us.

Daniel Levengood
Mary Levengood
Matthew Fleming
Elizabeth Paul
The MacAllisters

Samhain is the time of our ancestors, yes, but there is another gift to be given, another gratitude to be expressed. It is a time to remember the unremembered, to honour the forgotten, to pay homage to sunken graves and call forth names lost to the humus. The graves sing of their stories — all the complexity, pleasures, and chaos of living. Their songs ride the Autumn winds calling out through whispers to be heard, yearning to be remembered.

As the veil thins, listen to the Spirits that call you. How might you honour those lost by time? If the call to deepen your connection to the Spirit world is beckoning you, the Samhain Online Course is open for your exploration (🔗 in b!0)

May the descending mist, seen and unseen, encourage you to be still and find time to listen. May the softening October light open portals for you to see, hear, feel, and honour the unremembered.

Herbal Apothecary Witch Shop Herb Shop Witch Products Samhain Seasonal Occult Beyond the Veil Samhain Online Course Samhain History Folklore Ritual Practice

03/10/2025

So much gratitude to all who placed orders for the Samhain Sh0ppe Update and the many of you who wrote such kind reflections, notes, and comments. We are thrilled with how much resonance there is for the Samhain Online Course and we love seeing how many of you are drawn to learning, discovering, and deepening into the rich history, folklore, and magickal traditions of the Samhain season. Our hearts are full and we are truly so grateful. For those of you who might have missed it (thanks algorithm), there are still items left in the Sh0ppe so go ahead and grab them while you can. The Samhain Course portal will remain open for registration for one full lunar cycle so if you feel the call to enrich your connection to the season, perhaps this offering is for you.

Living as stewards of the Earth and serving community (be it two legged, four legged, winged, finned, or stemmed) is the root system of our work and our life. Thank you for being here, supporting our craft, elevating our wee business, and choosing sustainable, Earth centered, homegrown plant medic!ne & magick!

It is no surprise that Harvest season, especially this crossroads time of Samhain, is a favourite time of year for us — the potency of all that seems to come alive and become accessible in the invisible realms while death and decay takes hold of the visible landscape. Magick is afoot across Land, Sea, and Sky. Our ancestors knew this — may we find our kinship and connection to it as well.

Wishing you the beauty and bounty of the harvest within and without and the invitation it offers you into a deeper presence of your unique magick. 🖤🍁

Herbal Apothecary Witch Shop Ritual Magic Samhain Altar Old Ways Occult Thinning Veil Liminal Time Crossroads

02/10/2025

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

We gather our inspiration from Nature — where life and the Land meet. We hear the call of our Ancestors through the rustling of leaves and the changing Autumn winds. The invitation to distant worlds from the blanket of mist that’s been profoundly present each morning at sunrise — a fleeting gift for those who choose to be awake. The Otherworldly wisdom offered from the grazing stag - the great knowing from the bald eagle circling over head. The vibrancy from Calendula, still bright despite the waning and decay that surrounds her. The steadiness and strength from stone that has been here all along, but just now beginning to reveal its unwavering presence as the living withers and returns to soil.

We look to Nature to be reflected back. We honour the roots of Samhain that come from the Land - that are the Land. A time to dance with mystery, to converse with the unseen, to honour those that came before, to pay reverence to the forgotten, to learn to find pleasure in the endings of things.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐧𝐥!𝐧𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝟎𝐩𝐩𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝟕𝐩𝐦 with an abundance of offerings to join you on your journey through this liminal time. May the extraordinary possibilities that live in the unseen dark sing to you this season, and may you too find inspiration in the waning.

Herbal Apothecary Herb Witch Dark Artist Wheel of the Year Samhain Ritual Women Owned Small Business Homegrown Handcrafted

01/10/2025

October has arrived and with it the magick, folktale, & myth that is deeply entwined within this time. Amongst many things & for many cultures across the world, it is the time of our Ancestors — a time to remember our beloved dead & hold space for those who have been forgotten; a time to reflect on all the many countless people, energy, & beings that had to come together & mesh together & live together for us to take a breath; a time to remember we are part of something much larger than ourselves & are not isolated or bound by the lives we live.

Above all else, it is a profoundly potent time of connection — something much needed for the health & heartbeat of the Collective Soul in our current world. Connection to our Bloodline & those that came before, whose bodies have created our bodies — blood to blood, bone to bone, story to story — and whose memory grounds us in the leylines of our lineage. Connection to our Ancestors of Inspiration & all whom have shaped this life. The lineage of teachers, mentors, & wisdom paths that ignite our vibrancy, growth, & unfolding; the ancestors of our wonder & joy. And finally, connection to our Ancestors of Land & Place — the Spirit of the Land & the Spirits who inhabit that Land. The stories infused in stone & the medicine buried deep within the soil. The wisdom unearthed beneath fallen leaves & the teachings whispered by the wind. Connection to the memory that we do not own the Land — it has lived, dreamed, & breathed long before any of us co-existed — and we honour the more-than-human ancestors who have graciously given us place in this life.

As the veil thins & our connection to the Ancestors is closest, we offer to you the Ancestors Ritual Box for Honour, Veneration & Connection. Crafted in sacred reverence for the Three Ancestors, the box is here to ceremonially guide you in deepening your relationship with all that has come before you, known & unknown. A ritual representation for each of the Three Ancestors is included along with a talisman that connects all three. A full Ancestors ritual including an Intention Spell completes the box. This potent limited edition ritual offering lands in the Sh0ppe tomorrow at 7pm.

29/09/2025

𝐑𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐥𝐝𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐲𝐬…..

As we step closer to October and the release of The Samhain Collection, we wanted to share with you some of our inspiration for the new and returning seasonal offerings that will be landing in the Sh0ppe on Thursday.

Connection to the olde ways has always been the root system of our study, our practices, and our living. Following something back in time and history to its beginning, learning and embodying the wisdom of the ancients, then carrying that knowledge and energy forward to see how it makes sense in the modern world has been the fundamental path of our work. It fills us with awe and wonderment daily and connects us in deep bone knowing to the lost (much needed) medicine of people and place that has come before us.

The Samhain Collection is inspired by those that came before — plants, people, culture, stories, and Spirit of place. The wisdom that has been passed on to us as we have stood on the Lands of Scotland & Ireland imbues all of our offerings, yet it is particularly present in this collection. All that we have learned from the voices of the plants there, the messages from the Land, our teachers and time with elders, our Ancestors, the energies of visible and invisible has guided the inspiration, growing, crafting, and ceremonies in which these offerings have been birthed into being.

Now more than ever can we each find solace in our connection to our ancestors and all those that came before? Can we seek out the olde, gathering the necessary medicine to tend our modern wounds and alchemize our collective healing? Can we harvest the wisdom that lies deep within our bones passed down through blood and stardust to create our path forward?

The Samhain Collection lands in the onl!ne Sh0ppe Thursday 10/2 at 7pm et. May you feel deep connection to the energies of what came before you as the veil thins. May these ancient remedies and traditions be a balm to your Soul. May the magick of the season offer you the tending you need both known and unknown.

26/09/2025

With October being less than a week away, we are so excited to announce the extraordinary line up of events we have throughout the Northeast. October will have us wildly busy, and we are truly so honoured to be part of each and every one of these extraordinary events — we needed an extra slide to fit them all in.

To kick off the month we have our Samhain Sh0ppe Update on Thursday 10/2. There are lots of returning seasonal favourites along with new incredible offerings to journey with you through this liminal time. We’ll also be opening the portal to the Samhain Online Course - Back to the Root: Ancient Wisdom in a Modern World where we explore the ancient beliefs, folk traditions, rituals, & magick of the Samhain season through its root from the Land and people from which it comes.

October weekends take us to some of our favourite events of the year! We are thrilled to be part of such an astounding collection of markets and faires throughout the Samhain season. It is always such a gift to connect in person with those of you living all through the Northeast, and we cherish this time of year for that gift.

Autumn Magic Witchcraft Ritual Magick Witchy Events Occult Halloween Samhain Liminal Time

25/09/2025

With each passing Autumn day, we are feeling the natural pull into liminal time— the time between time. The beckoning of the liminal places here on the Land at Witchwood are strengthening and when we get close, it’s almost as if we can hear the sounds of what’s beyond the veil through those portals.

We are entering into a threshold time—neither here nor there — a time between stories. The portals of the liminal be it in time or place asks us to come to the edge, to sit boldly with the unknown, to wait and see what emerges in this time and space between.

This for us is true magick— the magick happens without effort, without trying. This is how we craft, how we create, how we pour energy into our herbal and magickal offerings. We channel Spirit, we breathe in the wisdom of the liminal, we shape our presence to be invitational to the voices of our Ancestors, we listen to the Land’s dreaming. This is how we live.

In this dance between formless and form so many incredible offerings have taken shape for the Samhain season. It is our honour to create from this liminal magick and we cannot wait to share all with you. Our Samhain Sh0ppe Update arrives a week from today on 10/2 along with the opening of the registration portal for the Samhain Online Course — Back to the Root: Ancient Wisdom in a Modern World. If you too, feel the call to deepen your relationship with the thinning veil and this magickal time, our offerings are here to support you.

May you find yourself on the edges and have the courage to remain. May you receive the potent magick offered to those who wait, who listen, who open themselves to receive.

Autumn Samhain Magick Betwixt and Between Liminal Time Over the Hedge Thinning Veil Otherworld Old Witchcraft Ancient Ways Honor Ancestors

24/09/2025

As we settle into the energies of mid-harvest, we watch as Nature begins the descent into her final decay. The light is fading even more quickly now and the crossroads into the darker half of the year feels just up ahead. It is a time of the thinning of the veil between life on Earth and Otherworld, a realm of ancient consciousness and profound possibility — a source of life and inspiration that we simply cannot imagine on our own — a connection to the invisible and the liminal places within and without, above and below.

This thinning veil comes at a time when the sunlight is rapidly diminishing, the day is noticeably getting shorter making room for the darkness of night and the space of mystery and new possibility that live in the dark. A time to go inwards, to explore that which we may fear most within the unseen corners of ourselves. A rememberance to hold this fertile darkness in equanimity with all that is shining brightly within ourselves and within the light of day, for it is in the darkness of the womb that we began, the darkness of the soil the seed sprouts, the darkness of the night that the new day is born, and the darkness that one day we will return to.

Henry Vaughan, the seventeenth century metaphysical poet, called this portal of the unseen and unknown, “a deep but dazzling darkness”, What would it be like to come to your own root in the dark? To dwell on the edge of what is visible and invisible within you? To trust the dark as a place of unimaginable birth — that beautiful, disturbing, not to be ignored, deep but dazzling darkness.

Darkness is not just a lack of light. It isn’t even the opposite of light. It is a wonderful, tangible thing with characteristics all of its own, and to define it in relation to light ignores its beauties and conceals its mysteries. Darkness is the place where life comes from. Darkness is the great melting pot, the great cauldron of creativity, the womb, the cocoon, the cave. Darkness is a great, wondrous thing of beauty.
~Sharon Blackie~

Old Ways liminal time Night Magic Ancestors

23/09/2025

Yesterday we stacked wood. Hour after hour we moved in the meditative rhythm of tending the logs that will fill the belly of the hearth and keep us warm this winter. We honoured the energies of Autumn Equinox with necessary hard work that acknowledges the shift of seasons and the Land’s descent into the dreamscape of Winter. We honoured our Ancestors for whom this task was one of many for their health and survival as the dark overtook the light and the cold descended upon them. We honoured the old sacred calendar, when time was marked by the rhythms of the Earth — when people lived in a deep reciprocal relationship with Land and Sky, attuned to the subtle shifts in light, season, and cycle.

There is a profundity of simple ceremony. Calling the directions, honouring the elementals, are not just reserved for elaborate spells, beautiful altars, and fancy dress. It can be how you begin each day, holding the intention of your daily life as ceremony. It can be how you begin a task, large or small — stacking wood, washing dishes, cleaning your home — everything you do can be held as sacred engagement and participation with life and Spirit.

Ritual is a living, breathing relationship with the invisible and the unknown. It’s a conversation with Spirit seen and not seen, and we are but one side of that conversation. When you’re called to deepen your relationship with Nature, to live with the subtle realms within and without, to live from a place of deep intuition, that call can feel like memory. It’s in you and always has been. It’s in all of us.

May the wisdom and energy of Autumn Equinox continue to inspire you. May this transitional time of Land and season tune you in to ancient memory. May your rituals and ceremonies connect you to the sacredness in and of everything.

Autumn Wisdom Ritual Magick Hedgewitch Witchcraft Liminal Time Wheel of the Year Spiral Occult Pagan Old Ways

22/09/2025

Autumn Equinox is here — the threshold of the darkness overtaking the light. A moment in time marking mid-harvest and whispers of the olde ways when folks had no choice, but to pay attention to the seasonal spiral of the Land & her creatures alongside the tides of Moon & Sun. While the day & night are not of equal length where we live, we do contemplate the essence of balance this day brings before the night becomes longer than the day and we begin the descent towards the dark half of the year.

Beyond the vibrant colours & exquisite visual display that Autumn offers to us each year here in the mountains of the Northeast, there is a stark beauty at this mid-harvest season in the death of things. The natural movement towards quiet, stillness, & rest. The wisdom of the spiral way reminding us once again to cherish & honor death and release as deeply as we do life & growth. For after every period of expansion, there will always be a period of contraction. We find this in the seasons, in our breath, in all that is green and growing, in ideas and dreams, in our own living and dying.

As two beings who keep time with the seasons, navigating the year by Land and farm, Autumn feels like a completion of a cycle — a coming home. As we walk this journey into the mystery of the deepening dark, we are finding balance between the call to simmer in the liminal spaces between and the thrilling energy of the Apothecary’s busy season. Much is on the horizon this October, and we will be announcing our extraordinary upcoming events this week along with the harvest of offerings we have been working on all summer long in honour of the roots and Spirits of the Samhain season.

For now, we wish you continued abundance through mid-harvest season, and a dazzling descent into the mystery of the dark. May you be reminded today of the innate balance that lives within you always — May it offer you a sense of steadiness in times of chaos & possibility in times of stagnancy. May you receive with conscious gratitude the renewed sustenance from all that has nourished your body, your soul, your heart, and your Spirit this harvest season.

Beannachtaí Cónocht an Fhomhair/Autumn Equinox Blessings

Elder Sisters Apothecary

07/10/2025

06/10/2025

03/10/2025

02/10/2025

01/10/2025

29/09/2025

26/09/2025

25/09/2025

24/09/2025

23/09/2025

22/09/2025

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