Feeling Overwhelmed? Nurture Your Nervous System + Your Liver
This post began, as so many things do, with a plant. Yarrow, one of my favorite and oldest friends. Our Yarrow has finally begun blooming, later than usual, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about those cottony blossoms. I had transplanted a few clusters earlier this season and was sure they hadn’t survived. But there she was: alive, vital, luminous. Constantly on my mind. Which, of course, is Yarrow’s medicine.
The timing is more than symbolic. Yarrow is showing up loud because it has a message to share. A message about boundaries and protection. Something that I’ve been reflecting on lately—what this season, the current astrology, this world, these TIMES, is pressing on all of us—is the collective need for boundaries. To heal our wound around serving and being served. The need to find our flow despite countless blocks, boulders, and dams that would divert us elsewhere. And that is exactly what Yarrow offers: how to hold our field, how to say yes to life without getting flooded.
How to build wise, intelligent, heart-centered boundaries.
Boundaries as Shadow Work
Growing up, boundaries were something other people got to impose. I wasn’t allowed to have my own. I learned early on to do what I was told, to prioritize the comfort of others over my feelings, and to not ask why.
Like many of us, I have spent years unraveling that conditioning. Reclaiming the truth that boundaries are not rejection—they are protection. They’re not selfish. They’re medicine.
They are the way we say to the world: I choose what enters my field.
Yarrow, in all its paradox, is the perfect teacher for this. Yarrow is Mars and Venus in one: a fierce protector and a graceful harmonizer. Pointed leaves that are soft and fern-like. Angular stems topped with pillowy blossoms. Yarrow stops bleeding but keeps the blood flowing. Fights infection but soothes inflammation. Yarrow is the wounded warrior and the healer of wounds.
Yarrow is the medicine we need right now.
Cancer Season & The Nervous System Game
Our astro-map is currently pulsing with Cancer and Aries energy. We’ve got the Sun, Mercury, and Jupiter in Cancer—a call to come home to the self, the body, the emotional truth. And at the same time, we have Saturn, Chiron, Ceres, and Neptune all in Aries—a warrior's storm.
It’s no wonder people feel on edge. We’re being bombarded from all directions—being pushed to react, to feel stress, worry, and rage, to lose our connection to ourselves and to each other. To the Earth (our home = Cancer).
I’m not playing that game. In fact, I refuse.
I’m not getting dragged into a manufactured nervous system spiral. Not anymore. Not when I have the hawks soaring overhead, the sunlight on my zinnias, the laughter of my family, and the post-Bali clarity still settling in. (Yes, we went to Bali—and it was incredible. I haven’t shared much about it yet, but I will.) These aren’t reasons to ignore what’s happening—they’re reminders of what’s real. They’re the evidence that peace is still possible, if we choose it.
That is Yarrow medicine.
What Yarrow Teaches Us Now
Yarrow says:
“You can be open-hearted and protected.” “You can care without collapsing.” “You don’t have to hold the whole world in order to help it.”
While the despots and the minions are pushing duress, quite literally feeding off of our nervous system distress, Yarrow is here to remind us - We don’t have to play along. We can unplug. We can come back to the Earth, the body, the breath. We can choose presence over panic.
We can take the medicine of boundaries.
Three Ways to Work with Yarrow
There are three ways I like to work with Yarrow, each one supporting a different layer of protection and clarity:
Yarrow Flower Essence
For energetic strengthening and protection. More than a filter, yarrow essence offers a powerful psychic boundary. It helps when you need support or clarity in setting boundaries, and aids in blocking unwanted energy, thoughts, projections, or multi-dimensional interference. It teaches you to let feelings flow, keep your heart open, and release what isn't yours to hold.
Yarrow Tincture
If you're feeling like you are carrying too much, physically or emotionally, turn to Yarrow tincture.
Yarrow is associated with Achilles—fierce and tender, protector and vulnerable. It helps support immunity, soothe inflammation, and move heat or emotional congestion. It’s also a gentle liver ally, offering support to release what’s been stuck or stored up. A few drops of tincture can boost your physical stamina while the essence builds up your auric and emotional strength. Together, they are battle armor.
Liver Lovin' Tea
The liver is the source of our vitality, and it's also where we store unprocessed emotions like anger, resentment, overstimulation, grief, even collective trauma.
In a culture that rarely slows down, our poor little livers are overworked and under-loved, while doing their best to protect us from emotions we have stored rather than released.
Liver Lovin' Tea helps us move what doesn’t belong. Especially in this Aries-charged sky—where emotions flare fast and hot—our livers need space to breathe while nudging stuck emotions to the surface.
This blend of Nettle Leaf, Milk Thistle Seed, Dandelion Root, Turmeric, Astragalus, Rooibos, Black Pepper, and Chaga Mushrooms was specifically created to support detoxification, vitality, and emotional clarity. This is a plant-powered peace offering to your body, and a healing hug for your liver.
Together, these three create a field of protection, flow, and freedom.
Yarrow Rituals for Boundaries & Release
- Take 2–4 drops of Yarrow essence before heading into a charged conversation or public space.
- Add Liver Lovin' tea to your morning or evening ritual to gently clear heat and old emotions.
- Drop Yarrow tincture into water and drink it if you feel triggered, overwrought, or over-fueled.
- Imagine each sip of tea, or yarrow-infused water, giving your liver a gentle hug, massaging it into action, and your lovely little liver responding by releasing any old regret, anger, confusion—let it all go. Maybe write down a few of these things to help your brain let go as well.
- Place fresh or dried Yarrow on your altar, in a doorway, on your dashboard as a protector plant.
- Ask yourself this Cancer New Moon: What am I letting in that isn’t mine to carry? Where can I retreat from the sadness and anger in the world? How can I create moments of joy or peace in my day?
- Add a visualization practice: Imagine your body surrounded by a soft golden or white glow. This is your energetic boundary. Let it breathe. Let it pulse with clarity as you inhale, and exhale. Nothing enters without your consent.
- Set an intention: “I am safe. I am protected. I am soft and strong. I allow only what nourishes me into my awareness. I owe my peace to no one but me.”
Shop the Yarrow Boundary Trio
Not everyone needs to buy something to receive this plant’s medicine. Yarrow grows wild and wants to help—but please use caution. Yarrow has a few toxic lookalikes, so always positively identify the plant with a field guide or trusted herbal source before harvesting.
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Find it in the wild: Look along trails, roadsides, or open fields. Introduce yourself, ask permission, and if the plant says yes, take a leaf or flower to carry in your pocket as a talisman.
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Make a simple flower infusion: Steep fresh (or dried) Yarrow flowers in hot water and sip with intention—especially when your field feels frayed.
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Place Yarrow under your pillow: Folk tradition says it wards off nightmares and helps clarify your dreams.
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Burn dried Yarrow as a clearing smoke: Excellent for energetic protection when you feel like something isn’t yours.
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Sit beside the plant: That’s it. Just sit. Breathe. Notice what comes up for you.
The plants want to remind you that the real fight is for peace—and it starts with your own. The most powerful action any of us can take right now is to tend to our hearts. To find our own rhythm. To heal the wounded warrior within.
Yarrow offers its love and protection to you.
xo
Leslie
