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Botnia x Alison Dale: Astrology inspired by the plants of our hydrosols
Alison Dale–artist, ecological astrologer, and friend of Botnia’s founder, Justine–designed our newest seasonal hydrosol packaging with the winterscape of New Mexico in mind. Alison grew up in the high desert mountains of Northern New Mexico (along with Justine), where she fell in love with the trees that thrive in the dry summers and snowy winters. As a kid, she made forts, salves, and headdresses from their branches and needles, and feels deeply at home when she’s around them. After many years of living in big cities, Alison returned to the southwest to deepen her relationship with the plants, planets, and cycles of life that vividly reveal themselves under the desert’s big blue skies. With her background, it made perfect sense for Alison to bring in the soul of a New Mexican winter to our newest hydrosol.
To honor the interconnectedness of astrology, herbalism, and the plants that guide us through each season, we invite you to journey with us through Alison’s astrology reading of winter and explore how the resilient spirit of evergreens and roots can serve as both inspiration and grounding forces during the colder months.
From Alison:
Did you know that herbalism, botany, and astrology have been interlinked for millenia? The ancient phrase “As above, so below” helps us visualize this, reminding us of the alchemical correspondences between the macrocosm and the microcosm, the parallel worlds of plants and planets.
During the seasons of fall and winter, our attention shifts from delicate, colorful blossoms to resilient, strong evergreens like piñon pine and juniper, as well as to roots like osha, ginger, and turmeric. In the colder months, many plants and trees begin to direct their energy to their roots below ground, a drastic shift from sending energy to their leaves, blooms, and fruits in spring and summer.
Some trees and plants that thrive in colder, darker environments keep their leaves year-round, and we look to them for inspiration in the depths of winter. The plants that don’t shed their leaves protect their precious lifeblood, water, by curling up the surface area of the leaf and turning the water back inward toward the tree.
The shift to the darker months affects people in the same way. The fall from the light of summer into the depths of winter’s darkness is a universal sign to redirect our energy inward–both to our inner emotional worlds and to the underworlds of our ancestry, our roots of belonging.
Evergreens can grow in environments where other trees would struggle, such as at high altitudes and latitudes and in colder average temperatures, so we can look to their survival during the dark months of the fall and winter as inspiration for resilience and inner strength!
“They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds.”
–Dinos Christianopoulos
Lasting from October 22 to November 21 of this year is a fixed, feminine water sign that reminds us of our emotional depths and ancestral inheritances. Ruled by Mars and Pluto, Scorpio is a determined, active sign that helps us remember the gems of wisdom and gold that lie beneath the ground, in the underworld. Nuts, cones, and seeds from piñon trees fall to the earth this time of year, to be reabsorbed and composted into the rich soil below over the winter months.
Scorpio is not only represented by the fierce scorpion, but also the laser-focused eagle and the phoenix that rises out of the ashes. Like the sign, many of us are focused this time of year on transmutation, death, and rebirth, with Halloween and Dia de Muertos reminding us that the veil is thin between the living and the ancestral, the material world and the world of spirit. Scorpio must journey across one form to another, or through one form to another.
The pine cone shape and name resemble the pineal gland, located between the eyes, about two inches back, in the region known as the third eye. It is a fitting plant totem for Scorpio season, as many spiritual traditions believe it serves as a connection between the physical and spiritual worlds.
Once the blooms and blossoms of summer fade away, what plant allies help you find strength and resilience in the transition between seasons?
P.S. Stay tuned for Sagittarius season’s reading on November 26. For more astrological reflections and seasonal insights, tune into Alison’s Cycles of Time podcast for insightful guidance through every phase.
