Digesting Collapse | Herbs for Processing
How can we sit with the discomfort of this time? To move through breakdowns and breakthroughs.
How do we metabolize the range of emotional states associated with breakdown? When the systems we were told to trust: political, legal, economic, reveal their rot, how do we not just break down with them? The plants remind us; we are not meant to digest this alone. We can turn to them for wisdom in sifting through.
“Maybe working on the little things as dutifully and honestly as we can is how we stay sane when the world is falling apart.” - Haruki Murakami
This is for the ones who feel sick with grief. For the ones whose nervous systems are stretched thin, who scroll until their stomach clenches, whose bodies and hearts carry the weight of what words fail to hold. This is not normal.
There are herbs to hold us. There is lineage, memory, and rooted support for this kind of reckoning. Herbs to center us in the maelstrom so we can let love lead.
HERBS TO HELP US GRIEVE, DIGEST, & REMAIN WHOLE
These are not cures. They are companions. Plant allies that remind us we are of the Earth, not the empire. Plants can bring us back into rhythm, aiding us in digesting what overwhelms and ground what feels chaotic.
Calendula (Calendula officinalis) | The Mover
Calendula is sun-warmed grief. Calendula doesn’t force healing; she coaxes it. Stirring what has gone still, moving stagnation, clearing the lymph, and helping emotions flow rather than fester.
Energetics: Warming, moving, bright. Calendula is sunlight in a flower form.
Biochemical properties: Lymphatic, anti-inflammatory, vulnerary. Calendula helps move what is stuck—physically in the body and metaphorically in the heart. It supports immune health and skin healing, and aids the liver in processing toxins (emotional and otherwise). Supports the body in detoxing emotional and physical toxins.
Spirit medicine: Calendula teaches us to listen, let go with grace. She shines light on the shadows, helping us grieve what’s dying without clinging to false hope.
Invitation | Use calendula as a tea, tincture, or rub calendula-infused oil over the heart or solar plexus with presence. Invite it to help you move what’s stuck, not to force healing, but to begin it.
Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) | The Softening
Chamomile is the grandmother who draws you in for a long exhale. She holds space without pushing, softens the edges of anxiety, and calms the heat of overwhelm. Chamomile is the one who gently whispers, "It's okay to rest." For the sleepless, the spun out, the ones who’ve been holding tension in the belly for too long.
Energetics: Cooling, relaxing, nurturing
Spirit medicine: Soothes anger that masks grief. Softens resistance to rest. Brings the nervous system back from the edge. Chamomile brings back an experience of softness when the world is harsh. It helps us meet fear with tenderness and hold complexity without rigidity.
Biochemical properties Anti-inflammatory, carminative, nervine. Chamomile supports digestion (especially when it’s impacted by stress), relaxes the gut-brain axis, and helps with sleep and nervous tension. Inducing relaxation, especially in stress-induced digestion issues.
Invitation | Drink as a strong infusion at the end of a heavy day. Add a touch of honey if you need sweetness to return. Sip slowly. Let it settle in the gut before trying to "understand" anything. Let your nervous system lead the way.
Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) | The Comforter
Lemon balm wraps around the heart like a balm for invisible wounds. For soothing heartbreak and anxiety, especially the kind that comes from seeing too clearly, feeling too much. Holding space for rays of joy to shine through you.
Energetics: cool, light, calming
Spirit medicine: Gathers scattered energy back into the body. Invites light in without bypassing the dark. Brings joy back to grief-heavy hearts.
Biochemical properties: Nervine, antiviral, cognitive support. Eases anxiety, supports the nervous system and emotional digestion.
Invitation | Steep fresh or dried lemon balm and drink with intention: like sunlight returning to a broken place.
Dandelion Root (Taraxacum officinale) | The Digester
for supporting liver detox and emotional digestion. Dandelion root is tough love, the kind that brings clarity. She helps you break down the bitterness. She supports deep processing when you're overloaded by truth and seeking a way through.
Energetics: drying, slightly bitter, cooling
Spirit medicine: Teaches discernment. Helps you face reality without collapse. Anchors you in personal sovereignty.
Biochemical properties: Bitter tonic, liver support, diuretic. Enhances digestion, helps metabolize fats, clears the liver; emotionally and physically.
Invitation | Roast the root for a grounding tea or tincture. Ask what bitterness you’re holding. Let her help you let go.
Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum (Holy Basil) ) The Sacred Witness
Tulsi (holy basil): for spiritual resilience and clarity of mind. A sacred plant of resilience. A grounding force to stand with you when you don’t know what to do. When you're oscillating between despair and determination, Tulsi is the still point in the storm.
Energetics: warming, uplifting, slightly drying
Spirit medicine: Connects you to the divine within. Strengthens your capacity to witness pain without becoming it. A plant for sacred activism.
Biochemical properties: Adaptogen, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant. Supports the stress response, cognitive clarity, and emotional equilibrium.
Invitation | Sip slowly, especially in ritual. Burn a few leaves as incense. Let her bring you back to what is holy.
A NOTE ON COLLAPSE
The political system as we know it isn’t broken, it’s doing what it was designed to do. But as it crumbles, we are left to hold the consequences. Grief is a sane response. Rage is a sacred one.
This isn’t about numbing ourselves to the pain of the world. It’s about resourcing ourselves so we can face it without losing our center. Herbs cannot solve systemic problems, but can help us face them with clarity. We connect with the plants not to forget, but to remember who we are, whole, interwoven, and capable of transmuting grief into action.
Death comes before rebirth, precedes awakening…
A RITUAL FOR DIGESTING
Choose the herb your body draws toward.
Prepare a tea, infusion, or tincture mindfully. There is no need to rush, set down the urgency.
Place one hand on your belly, one on your heart.
Ask:
What truths am I trying to swallow alone?
What truths am I avoiding because it’s too heavy?
What does my body need in this moment?
Sip. Breathe. Allow.
This is a long unfolding. We are not meant to process it all at once. But we can stay rooted as the world changes, tending our grief, strengthening our digestion, and remembering we are not machines for output or comprehension. We are soft animals with deep instincts and ancient supports.
Let the plants help you return to yourself.
Again and again.
For those seeking deeper connection and context for this grief,
my book Our Kindred Home is a companion for the long remembering.
a love letter to the earth, a reckoning with collective loss,
and a guide for re-rooting in relationship, ritual, and resilience.
If this herbal offering speaks to you, Our Kindred Home holds more:
grief as sacred, home as resistance, and healing as something we do together.
You can find it wherever books are sold or visit alysonmorgan.com.
*I’d love to know what plants, words, community you are turning to, to sit with the discomfort of these times?
In gratitude and connection, Alyson
I think I'll be turning to chamomile and calendula tonight. I have a chamomile blend and a calendula infused honey that I made last summer. Thank you for this. It's beautiful