Astro Herbalism of Aquarius with Kyle (Tippecanoe Herbs) & Michelle Lundquist
Our herbalist doctors of the astrological doctrine of signatures return to review the Aquarius archetype as expressed in the plant kingdom, part 4 of our 12 part series. Michelle Lundquist of Michelle's Healing Home, Kyle Denton of Tippecanoe Herbs, and Mario Garza of Symbolic Studies are a mighty wisdom council indeed!
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In this episode
Core themes
Aquarius Through the Star Card
Mario said the Star card was a direct expression of Aquarius and tied it to Polaris, noting that the Star is followed by the Moon and the Sun in the major arcana. He described the urns of Aquarius as holding water, frequency, vibration, consciousness and electricity. The panel talked about the celestial ocean, the opposite axis to Leo and its Crater cup, and the card's esoteric title Daughter of the Firmament. Gabe explained that he placed the Tower card in Aquarius because of its lightning strike, and described the tower as complete in this sign.
Rosemary as Polar and Memory Plant
Michelle described rosemary as a hardy compass plant, a lung tonic and a memory herb used at weddings and hand fastings, and she repeated a legend that where rosemary flourished the woman ruled the home. Kyle said he saw it as a stimulant of the nervous system that moved circulation from the feet upward, and he cautioned that it could aggravate someone already holding tension in the head. A panelist shared a slide of Mary as Star of the Sea to link the plant's names, Dew of the Sea and Rose of the Sea, to Marian symbolism.
Skullcap and Blue Vervain for Tension
Michelle described skullcap as a calming nervine in the mint family that she said felt like a gentle warm cap, and noted that its fallen flower looked like a little cup or yarmulke. Kyle said that Matthew Wood's writing recorded skullcap as a remedy for what was once called hydrophobia, and he painted the skullcap person as someone who wore a serious face while holding tension. Michelle then described blue vervain for overthinking and high standards, and warned that it was too bitter for tea. Kyle said he used it often in his nervine formulas.
Yarrow, Achilles and Lion's Mane
Michelle described yarrow as the herb of Achilles and Chiron, known as soldier's woundwort, and said she took it for protection before crowds or healing sessions. Kyle called it the plant he used most, said he hung it over his shop door, and said its distilled oil came out sky blue. The panel also traded word play on yarrow, arrow and warrior. In a Telegram voice message, James of Family Fungi described lion's mane as an edible mushroom that, he said, studies linked to nerve repair, and he spoke about repairing family lineage.
Cacao Ceremony and Symbol Weaving
Chance described cacao ceremonies as a heart opening practice in which a group amplified the feeling, and he said the ceremonial plant was more bitter and earthy than candy. He also pointed out the name Theobroma and read it as a god name. Kyle confirmed that cacao was a vasodilator when asked. Gabe offered what he called a dark spin, tying a sacred drink to initiation, Baphomet and the book Communion. The panel then wandered through Swiss chocolate, Templar banking and cacao as currency, treating the thread as a playful weave rather than settled fact.
Quotes
“It's going to be an endless, mere recursion loop of infinite appreciation because I just feel like the luckiest podcaster ever that I get to host these legends.”
“Astro herbalism, astro yoga. We're just applying the principles of the resonant pattern of nature to all kinds of things in our inner and outer world and allowing that to shed light and wisdom upon our perception.”
“The cacao ceremony doesn't have to be big and crazy. It's like we honor the plant, we ask for its power to open our hearts and to do that together, which amplifies the experience for each individual, and it's really a potent medicine.”
“This realm is so strange and beautiful. Really put our mind to looking at the keys and the patterns and pictures. It's like you walk into a cave filled with gems and then there's a room and in that room there's another cave filled with gems.”
“I'm thinking about the nervous system aspects of rosemary and how it helps calm down an excited peripheral nervous system through stimulation, which is kind of oxymoronic, but because it stimulates the circulation throughout the periphery, it allows that nutrition to get to a wasted and withered supply of nerves.”
“I hang it above the door in my shop so it has that protective quality. In order to enter the shop you have to be able to pass underneath this protective yarrow that I grow especially, and I say to it as it's growing, one day I'm gonna harvest you and you're gonna have to protect our shop, and it works.”
“I think the tarot cards that correspond with the signs, a particular sign that has a tradition of corresponding with that sign, is essentially a direct representation of that sign. So when you look at the Star card, you are looking at a direct expression of Aquarius and everything it represents.”
“I think it's brilliant that the Star card is followed by the Moon card, which is followed by the Sun card. And so we're talking about this Trinity system of Polaris, the Moon and the Sun, so polar lunar solar energies.”
“The urns of Aquarius are said to hold many things, including water, frequency, vibration, consciousness, electricity, which is fascinating. I was just going over some of my videos and I was reminded that electricity at one point was considered a liquid of sorts.”
“It's kind of crazy watching over the last two, three years how the organic growth has happened. Like first, a bunch of us were sort of magnetized to each other. And now a bunch of people are just launching amazing projects.”
“Even when I've taken it personally, it almost feels like putting this gentle warm cap on your head. It helps just kind of bring you down a little bit, slow the mind, prepare you for sleep.”
“In my tarot on the zodiac alignments I actually also bring the Tower card into Aquarius and it has served me well many times to do that, and one of the reasons is because it's getting struck by lightning. It has the lightning bolt striking the tower from above, and those priests often are depicted falling out of the tower.”
“I think the Wheel of Fortune over there around Libra in Virgo, as you're crossing into fall Equinox, that's laying the circular foundation of the tower. And then when we come here to Aquarius the tower is complete. It's time for lightning to strike.”
Gabriel, known on air as Slick Dissident, co-hosts InnerVerse's Vibe Rant show and is a longtime recurring guest on the podcast. He teaches occult symbolism and tarot on his YouTube channel, ranging across the Major Arcana, the esoteric Enneagram, mythology and archetype, mystic linguistics, and the symbolism hidden in popular film. He is best known for Tarot-tories, his own system mapping the 22 Major Arcana and zodiac archetypes onto the geography of the United States.
See all Gabe episodes→Kyle and Serena Denton are community herbalists creating wild-crafted and organic plant medicines out of Milwaukee since 2015. I have used their teas and tinctures on an almost daily basis for years now. Kyle is a great friend of InnerVerse and has appeared on the channel more times than I can count. These products work, not in the allopathic "pharma-medicine" way, but in a terrain-support, consciousness bolstering plant-teacher sort of way.
