Here's a pic of R. Gordon Wasson drinking the pressed juice of amanita muscaria in Japan, circa 1965. Wasson theorized that amanita muscaria was Soma, the hallucinogenic sacrament of the Vedas. Many different people have suggested that many different plants are in fact Soma, so take this theory with a grain of salt. My guess is that Soma has more to do with symbology than actual matter, but I tend to think of everything as symbolic.

“Like vanishing dew
a passing apparition 
or the sudden flash of lightning — already gone.
Thus should one regard oneself”

Had to include a little brugmansia on my tombstone 👻

This morning, as I was sitting at my dining room table finishing up instruction cards for the datura ointments I am about to ship out, the mail-person drove up with a very special package from a poisonous plant friend.

When I opened it and gazed upon these little beauties I felt like time and my heart had stopped - love at first sight! I’ve been meeting and working with amanitas during my dreamtime for the last year, all the while patiently waiting for them to visit me irl. I’m planning on working with them (for the first time in my life!) this week, while the veils are at their thinnest 🍄

I made a *small* batch of datura innoxia ointment for myself and some poisonous plant friends. I have a bit left - send me an email if you are interested in one! Most people use it as a topical pain killer and/or aphrodisiac. I primarily use it for journey work. I have a saved story on instagram and several blog posts where I share more info about datura.

Nettle and calendula this morn 💚🌞

Goldenrod, mugwort, staghorn sumac 🍂

“Roaring dreams take place in a perfectly silent mind. Now that we know this, throw the raft away.”

— Jack Kerouac, The Golden Eternity

✨Work With Me✨

I believe that you are a wise and powerful being who already possesses the ability to live as your authentic self. Through our work together you will remember how to access these forgotten parts of yourself.

Our current society sets us up for feeling a lifetime of emptiness, always looking outside of ourselves for a sense of fulfillment or meaning. Maybe this next job/vacation/romantic partner/purchase/home will finally make me happy! But as we’ve all experienced, the type of fulfillment that comes from external experiences is temporary and fleeting, leaving us hungry for the next fix.

What if being yourself is enough?

Are you at a crossroads? Saturn return? Going through a major life transition? Feel like something is missing? Just want some extra support or guidance?

What could a session look like?
• Intuitive tarot reading
• Bringing clarity to your life’s goals - what is your true purpose?
• Begin to see your shadow and discuss integration methods
• Look at your astrology chart
• Clearly visioning what you’d like for your future and mapping out how to get there
• Directions for home practices such as: meditation, dream interpretation, herbal medicine, suggested ritual work, shamanic journeying, movement, and intuition accessing and building

Why work with me?
I have dedicated my life to the practice of grounded non-duality. After spending many years on the periphery of the typical “light and love” communities that saturate the new-age world, I came to the realization that a deeper relationship to these teachings was possible… but not without doing the deep and magical work of shadow integration, an often missing aspect of self-love and awakening the spiritual self. Shadow work is the ground for “love and light” and if we ignore this integral part of ourselves we stagnate. In my own experience I became far more intuitive and spiritually awake once I became comfortable sitting with and integrating my shadow selves.

To learn more, visit the "work with me" section of my website ☺️

I'm offering 50% off all 1:1 sessions through the month of October when you use the code "Samhain"! Learn more here

I could caption this with something like “witch in the city” and it would just be another lovely looking Instagram window of a smiling white girl living a magical life. But! Yesterday brought some interesting lessons for me and I’d rather share that with you all instead.

All week I felt SO excited to be teaching about my FAVORITE topic in this AMAZING space in BROOKLYN!
Cut to the morning of the workshop: my dog woke me up super early and I couldn’t fall back asleep, when I stood up to get out of bed my back went out, my period came early with heavy, intense cramping, and I had what felt like a mini bout of stomach flu right before I had to drive into the city. Phew! And yet I was still excited to teach and still laughing at the trickster nature of these poisonous plants. I got through the lecture part of class fine, then when it was time for the shamanic journey I was hit with a throbbing headache. While working through my personal discomfort during the journey, a clear message started to emerge:
I can still be myself, my truest, deepest Self, even when I’m suffering, even through pain.

If you are alive in a human body you will suffer, that’s a given. AND yet you can still be your brightest, truest Self through your suffering.

Being a super sensitive one I’m always trying to create a safe environment for myself where I won’t become overwhelmed. Even though I’m someone who constantly teaches that you are ok exactly as you are, and that suffering is a part of life, my under the surface inner dialogue still tends to go something like “if xy&z are all ok, I will be ok too.” Yesterday gave me a little reminder of what it feels like to surrender to the pain I can’t control.

Last night I dreamt of fly agaric again... in my dream my garden gnome, Franklin, presented me with 2 dinner plate sized mushroom caps. I knew that they were safe because Franklin was gifting them to me. I’m looking forward to someday working with this ancestral medicine 🍄✨

One of the reasons I decided to major in painting at a Buddhist university was so that I could avoid paper writing... And now I dedicate almost all my free time to researching, writing about, and experimenting with poisonous plants 🤷🏻‍♀️
P.S. I took this photo to send to my grandma who likes to see what I’m feeding myself.

Poke essence ✨🖤✨ helping to release stuck energies/feelings, setting boundaries, it can be very grounding/physical, and it’s good for work with otherworlds 🖤✨

I chose the shop name "Persephone Collective" a few years ago when my intention was to open a brick & mortar shop of witchy goods... a collective. But since that doesn't look like it's meant to happen, I wanted to change my username to reflect more of what I'm offering here. I have been contemplating this change for a while, and today on my 30th (!) birthday, it feels like it's time to make the jump.

I deeply resonate with the Persephone myth - I see it as a lesson in taking difficult life experiences and turning them into your source of power. Persephone is not only the goddess of springtime and flowers, but she is the queen of the underworld. We hold both. We are not either/or. I try to hold awareness of this as I walk my path and I hope to bring others to a deeper acceptance of this in themselves as well. Soon I will be publicly be offering 1:1 coaching (still struggling to bring myself to use the word coach but can't seem to think of a better alternative) to help bring you into a deeper sense of yourself. This will be through the use of many tools such as tarot, meditation, shamanic journeying, hakomi, herbal medicine, non-duality, and more. I feel that the name shift better suites what I am working on this lifetime and how I hope to work with others as well. Also, someday (hopefully very!) soon, my second book will be done. It will be called Persephone’s Path and it will be all about the Persephone myth and what I’ve written above.

Thank you for coming along on this journey with me!

Cloudy, rainy, chilly days are my happy days. I’m more productive, more relaxed. We’ve had several of these days in a row after a whole summer of increasingly less rare 90 degree days and hardly any rain. This past summer felt so oppressive and tiring.
I feel like myself in this gray weather, like I can breathe and rest again 🌧🖤☁️

Did you know that it’s ok to not always be busy?
Do you know that it’s ok to rest? It’s ok to take a break. To stop thinking. To do nothing at all.
Spiders weave their beautiful web and then wait patiently. Work then rest.
Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing is ok. You are ok.

Every single time I post anything about datura I get at least one message or comment either warning me of the dangers of datura or asking me to give directions on tripping with her. I’ve shared about lots of poisonous plants - foxglove, belladonna, henbane, hellebore, mandrake, bittersweet nightshade, aconite… none of these seem to inspire the amount of interest and/or concern that datura does. I believe that datura is a plant that really wants to work with us humans. So what do we need to understand to best work with her?

First of all, datura can be a dangerous plant! When used improperly she can cause terrifying hallucinations that last for days, the loss of bladder and bowel control, respiratory arrest, central nervous system depression, temporary blurred or lost vision, and in rare cases coma, seizure, or death. However, most datura related deaths are the result of poor judgement and loss of coordination resulting in accidental death.

But when used properly… ah! She can be the most sweet, supportive, opening, transformative, loving presence. She is a plant that has the power to change your life for the better. To me she always feels like a wise grandmother - wrapping me up in her soft arms while still teaching me tough lessons with firm, loving boundaries.

You should wear gloves when harvesting, weeding, or transplanting datura.

You should never ingest or smoke. Even if you are under the guidance of someone with many years of experience doing so, someone who is in a long lineage of this kind of worship, I would be cautious. Ask yourself, why do I want to ingest or smoke this plant when there are other options that are 100% safe? Many times you will find that it is a desire to build ego identity or it may be stemming from a belief that healing has to be heroic, difficult, or painful. Most of the time it seems to be a desire to get high under the guise of spiritual practice. This is not to say that all who ingest are doing this, but it is certainly something to be aware of! Becoming aware of these shadows sides of plant work is difficult and there can often be many barriers to seeing them, which is why I recommend a minimum of 5 years of devotion and connection to a poisonous plant before you even consider ingestion. And even then, wait for the invitation from the plant, not the other way around. And even then, ask yourself the question, why, again.

Datura should ALWAYS be approached in reverence. I have never had a negative experience working with her, which I believe comes from the deep respect I have for her power and wisdom and always doing my best to listen to what she is telling me. I initially approached her with a big dose of healthy fear. I honestly didn't want to work with her because I knew what she was capable of. But alas, her call continued to pull me towards her. Don’t rush a relationship with her. Let her come to you.

Please don’t ever treat datura as a cheap, easy way to have a trip - I can almost guarantee it won’t be pleasant when approached this way. It is a sacred plant in the deepest meaning of the word and should be treated as such.

The safest (yet still extremely powerful) ways to work with her are through flower essences, plant spirit medicine, and just sitting in her presence. You can ask her to visit you in your dreams too. Topical ointments from a trusted source are another safe source of connection.

Ideally, we should be approaching ALL plants with this kind of respect. The plants that want to work with us will seek us out. We don’t need to go looking for them. If you want to build a relationship with a plant, treat them the same way you would treat a person you wanted to enter into a partnership with. Ask them if they want to work with you, respect their boundaries, listen when they say no, be kind and loving, and work towards quieting the mind enough to really hear what they are saying. Ask before you harvest, ask before you take in their medicine. Having a mindfulness practice is probably the most important and useful tool to have in your plant medicine arsenal.

If you want to drop more deeply into datura wisdom, check out week 3 of my Poisonous Plant Medicine course

TFW when you’re completely energetically depleted from overextending yourself all weekend and you find a giant datura patch while driving through the suburbs 🖤🖤🖤 Datura said to take in its essence as a hummingbird drinks the nectar of a flower.

Baby mandrake root 

2nd edition of “Here You Are” is now available! This printing has an updated introduction and an easier to read font. The images are also slightly glossier making the color pop more.

Deeeep thanks to those who have supported, shared and bought copies of the first printing. This book is essentially my essence and life’s work in physical form 💗

Also - due to an error with my printers I have some slight misprints available for almost half off. Misprinted and perfect versions available for purchase through my website 🙂