Calamus + Rose: our 2025 herbal theme

Well, it’s January, and everywhere you turn, people are talking about “resolutions”.

Or in other words, it’s time to make that annual mental list of everything we don’t like about ourselves, and to promise that we’ll be better in the new year.

I’m not into it.

First of all, you’re already awesome! You don’t need to be BETTER. You’re great!

And second: the practice of New Year’s Resolutions is very often steeped in self-harm. And i don’t want to do that to myself, and i don’t that for you either.

YOU ARE GOOD ALREADY!

But you’re right that this is the time of year when we do get that urge, because it’s what’s going on for everyone. And a refresh, or a reframe, can be a really good thing!

So instead of a resolution, you could set a theme for the coming year.

That theme could be anything – but i recommend something really nourishing. Honestly, go ahead, be self-indulgent! We’ve all been through some really rough years: go ahead and make your theme be something that really thrills you, or something that heals you, or something that makes you feel warm and fuzzy, or something that rebuilds you.

And since you’re here reading this, i know you like herbs – so why not make your theme herby?

Here’s our theme for 2025: Calamus + Rose.

​Calamus and Rose are herbs that represent what i want for myself and for our school community in the coming year (i’ll explain that in more detail below!). I’m letting the herb names be a sort of shorthand for the things i want to nurture this year – and these specific herbs also will help me to do this work, because they support physical and emotional health in the ways that i want to emphasize in this year.

Over the course of the year, my hope is not only that every one of our students feels nurtured and held in community, but also that everyone comes to know these two herbs more deeply, and to learn to lean on plants as both a representation and a driver of what we want to bring into our lives.

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So what can Calamus and Rose do to help you in 2025?

Calamus is a water-loving plant: it grows in the muck at the edge of ponds and drainage ditches. It’s warming and motivating – it gets blood circulating and gets digestion moving too: which makes sense, given that it lives in cool, wet habitat! It knows how to get things going, and how to stay flexible.

Most people think of Calamus in terms of digestive health, but there’s another aspect here that i think is even more important, and that’s the parasympathetic nervous system.

Calamus helps us to shift out of the “fight or flight” stress response aspect of nerve function, and into the “rest and digest” space. You may have heard something about the vagus nerve and how important the health of that huge nerve (it’s a pair actually, right & left) is for not only emotional health, but also for the functioning of all of our organs – the vagus nerve needs lots of parasympathetic engagement, or in other words, it loves Calamus!

I find that when i am really stressed, i tense up – and not just in my muscles! Our organs are all connected too, and when we’re stressed, they can’t do the work they need to do to get us through the day. This is where Calamus comes in for every function in our bodies!

But Calamus isn’t just for times of stress! I find Calamus to be super helpful in meditation – whether that’s actual sit-down-and-clear-my-mind kind of meditation, or a more informal meditation, maybe walking or preparing a meal. Calamus helps us to get into that place of relaxed focus, grounded in the present, and able to BE present for ourselves and for our loved ones.

But getting into that relaxed place can be really challenging if you don’t feel safe and supported. That’s where Rose comes in!

Have you ever seen Rose grow wild? It’s like an umbrella – the vines reach up and arch over back to the ground. Beneath the brambles, you’ll see little trails where the bunnies and squirrels and such shelter beneath the thorns – the brambles form a barrier that the small furry creatures can move through, but the larger predator animals can’t enter. It provides a safe place for little furry beings to find respite.

Sometimes my to-do list feels like a predator! There are lots of situations that can happen through the day to give us that feeling of being prey, and each one of them kicks off a stress response – so along with the Calamus to help us shut down the extra stress, Rose gives us the feeling that it’s actually safe to do that.

Rose is also an exhilarant – in other words, it makes your heart sing 🙂
You don’t have to be stressed or under pressure or feeling uncertainty to turn to Rose – you can enjoy Rose just because of the beauty around you and the fact that you’re a part of that beauty!

When we put them together,

Calamus is rooted and grounding and presence and stability,

and Rose is nurturing and protective and uplifting and filled with beauty and wonder.

That’s what i want for all of us in this year.

You might have noticed, by the way, that neither of these plants was chosen because they’ll make us thinner, or smarter, or more focused, or any of that stuff. I actually think you do all that stuff better than you think already!

They’re here to help us get to calm. They’re here to help us see beauty, to help us feel peace. To me, that’s what’s really important. It’s what frees us up to be who we really want to be, instead of the versions of ourselves that are shaped by stress and struggle. ❤️️

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I even made an elixir for the theme – it’s Calamus tincture and Rose-infused honey, and although it took a couple tries to get the balance of the sweet and the bitter right, i’m really happy with how it came out!

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You can come up with an herbal theme for your year too – i hope you’ll share our Calamus + Rose theme, but you can have a personal one as well! If you do, definitely consider making an elixir or some other blend so that you’re working with your theme herbs throughout the year!

And we’d LOVE to hear about it, too! You can pop into the Student Community and share your herbal theme of the year – i made a post titled Herbal Themes for 2025: you can put your comments right there if you like!

If you need help creating your 2025 herbal blends, pop on into the Herbal Medicine Making course – it’s got over 52 ways to make herbal medicines, products, treats, goodies – lots without alcohol too, so if you’re avoiding alcohol, don’t worry: you have SO many options!

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