All About Flower Essences: Spring Has Sprung in the Garden!

Life is bursting up out of the ground-- and we're offering a sale to bring it to your door!

After a very upsetting and unexpected late season deep freeze here in Austin, TX, our replanted seeds and replacement plants are already germinating and growing again— and shooting their stems up out of the soil everywhere the eye can see!

Seeing our plants bounce back so quickly has helped me cultivate a serious attitude of gratitude, and to celebrate the garden’s resurrection from the freeze we’re now offering 75% off of everything on our Etsy shop with orders of $100 or more. This means that you’ll get $100 worth of goodies from our garden (or our self-published decks) for $25, enabling us to get the energy reinvigorated and moving ahead of what is shaping up to be a big— and early— harvest!

Our TOTEM Readings ATX Etsy Shop can be found HERE, and you don’t need any promo code or special link to take advantage of this sale for the next month!

Considering the undulations we’ve already experienced in this Wood Snake Year, I’m focused on keeping things simple— and staying present and vigilant with all of our little flowers, trees, and herbs. To that end, I’ve doubled down on what already works— and what folks want more of in flower essence form— instead of experimenting or scaling in new or novel ways.

Black Mirror, made of Black Mirror Iris

One of these magical plants we’ve planted yet more of are the incredible black irises behind our TOTEM Flower Essence of the same name. I mean, just take a look at these awesome— and very Woo— Black Irises from the last few years:

Our Black Mirror TOTEM Flower Essence facilitates psychic connection to the “other side”, and is ideal for anyone wanting to explore divination: reading tarot cards, gazing into a crystal ball or scrying mirror, and even navigating the world of astrology. If you’ve been feeling dulled or disconnected from your intuitive superpowers, consider picking up a bottle of this “magical potion” during this seasonal sale. Black Mirror is a best seller, but I expect we’ll be able to keep it in stock as we’ve planted an additional six new bulbs this Spring!

Astral Travel, made of Poppy

While our Astral Travel TOTEM Flower Essence, made of poppy flowers, isn’t necessarily a best-seller like Black Mirror is, I think it’s going to have a big year. And, if not, I at least get to watch the sweet, meandering paper-thin, bright red flowers blowing in the breeze out in the garden:

For whatever reason, the deep freeze we experienced didn’t do a damn thing to these flowers! And, because I was nervous about losing them and, of course, planted even more poppy seeds, our garden is going to be booming with these magical red blooms.

Our Astral Travel TOTEM Flower Essence is ideal for anyone wanting to dive deeper into the world of Woo— with a specific focus on astral travel, lucid dreaming, and other forms of sentient psychic exploration. If you’ve been feeling disconnected from other realms, your dreams, or just your intuition, Astral Travel is an excellent addition to your flower essence toolkit— and is included in our 75% off sale currently underway on Etsy.

Orange Glow, made of Nasturtium

Honestly, nasturtium is kind of the flower that started it all around here at TOTEM.

When I lived in the West Loop in Chicago, I regularly walked by a fancy, Michelin-starred restaurant named Elske. They had an interior herb garden and beautiful outdoor fireplace, as well as a few stunning, simple and *very* Scandinavian planters in the front, facing the sidewalk.

And, pouring out of one of these planters were dozens of nasturtium flowers on their winding vines.

For “some reason”, I was inextricably drawn to these orange, aubergine and yellow-colored blooms, often sitting on a bench just to spend a few moments to look at them before heading to the Green Line to go to Oak Park, where my meditation center was located. And, even though I was already a full-time working shaman, I had not yet unlocked the world of intuitive herbalism— or discovered that we are often drawn to herbs, plants, trees and flowers that hold within them the specific spiritual medicine we need at the moment.

Now that I’m an herbalist with a small but robust backyard flower essence garden, I relish the annual opportunity to hand-harvest the nasturtium flowers, feeling grounded and connected with every handful:

Our Orange Glow TOTEM Flower Essence, made of these gorgeous nasturtium flowers, is ideal for anyone feeling disconnected from the “good stuff” in life: being present, enjoying downtime, and the ability to “be” without feeling the compulsion to “do”.

In other words: I needed nasturtium back all those years ago in Chicago, and I absolutely still need nasturtium all these years later in Austin!

The best part? While Orange Glow Flower Essence isn’t necessarily a best seller, I’ve noticed that the clients that do gravitate to it always stock up on it— often buying 6+ bottles at one time to ensure they don’t run out of the good stuff. And, when they place these orders, I personally feel seen and understood!

The TOTEM Flower Essence Deck

The TOTEM Flower Essence Deck is an interactive invitation to walk through our mystical TOTEM Flower Essence Garden no matter where you live! It’s currently available on Etsy and on Amazon, and is included in our 75% off Etsy offer:

• On Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1722481522/totem-flower-essence-deck

• On Amazon: https://a.co/d/5JbBY4n

The TOTEM Flower Essence Deck is designed to empower the spiritually-curious to reclaim the ancient wisdom that comes from these herbs, plants and flowers, providing a line of sight into the alchemical wonder of backyard herbalism and hedge witchery.

We designed this deck to be used both as a learning resource AND as a divinatory tool:

• For Education: For those interested in flower essences or spiritual herbalism more broadly, this deck can provide robust and highly differentiated detail on the energetic attributes of various plants, flowers, herbs and trees.

• For Divination: As a tool of divination, the TOTEM Flower Essence Deck can be leveraged much like a tarot deck or oracle deck, arming the user with a line of sight into the energy body, spiritual experiences and/or needs, and potential energetic (and material) solutions for better living—including flower essences.

My favorite bit of feedback on this deck comes from the delightful

AJ Goodwin

, who nailed it by first saying to me that the TOTEM Flower Essence Deck felt like the sweet, funny little sister to the “bitchy, big sister” of our TOTEM Tarot Deck.

AJ, as per usual, totally nailed it, and I’ve never appreciated a piece of feedback more in my life;)

This deck is typically priced at $60, but with any order of $100 or more on Etsy, you’ll get 75% off— a great deal to secure a copy of our self-published labor of love!

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Inject a little color in your life

In this Wood Snake Year, our health really is going to be our wealth. We’re barely two months into the undulations of the Wood Snake, and I’m already wiped, seeking out sunlight, fresh air and, above all else, color!

I’m currently resisting the impatient, childish urge to stare at the green shoots in the garden to will them to flower and bloom into full color. I guess I’ll just have to rely on the cards from our Flower Essence Deck for this “hit” of the good stuff until the real thing arrives;)

And, if you can’t take advantage of our flower essences or related deck, try to get in on this good gardening stuff this year! The Wood Snake’s energy is very supportive of organic gardening, herbalism, and alternative medicine— even if you’re just growing a few herbs in your kitchen window! Herbal teas, tinctures or aromatherapy blends from your favorite local shops or Etsy purveyors can also move the needle in this Wood Snake Year, inviting you to return to a simpler time in which we were all more connected to the earth and her bounty.

Big or small, personal or professional, I can assure you that any connection to the flora of this beautiful planet will make a positive difference for you.

And, if nothing else, you can always go outside and touch dirt. As someone that now considers weeding to be a form of therapy, I can absolutely vouch for the grounding power of soil!

Happy Spring!

-Rachel