July 9, 2025 • 32 mins
This season, we’re exploring the fascinating connections between Tarot and Plant Allies.
In today’s episode, I’m introducing you to evening primrose — a luminous, moonlit flower that blooms at twilight and reminds us to honor cycles, transitions, and deep intuition. I’ll share how this tender, resilient plant helps us reconnect with our inner creativity and embrace change with grace. You’ll also hear about the tarot archetypes evening primrose aligns with and learn practical, magical ways to work with this gentle ally in your daily life.
What we explore in this episode:
What evening primrose is and its enchanting twilight bloom
Which tarot cards and astrological energies evening primrose resonates with
Practical ways to work with evening primrose in ritual, gardening, and daily life
💐 Meet the Plant Ally: Evening Primrose
Evening primrose is a tall, moon-loving biennial with soft yellow, four-petaled blossoms that open at dusk and perfume the night air. It’s known for its soothing, balancing energy and its ability to thrive in tough, sandy soils, teaching us resilience and the beauty of unfolding in our own time.
🔮 Evening Primrose & Tarot
Evening primrose resonates with tarot archetypes that honor cycles, intuition, and creative rebirth:
The High Priestess — embodying moon magic, deep inner knowing, and the mysteries of the subconscious.
The Moon — guiding us through shadow work, transitions, and trusting the unseen.
The Magician — inspiring creativity and the unlocking of inner potential, especially under moonlit clarity.
Death — supporting transformation, release, and the courage to enter new chapters.
Astrologically, evening primrose is deeply tied to the Moon and lunar goddesses like Diana, inviting us to honor slow unfolding and intuitive guidance.
🌿 Plant Magic & Energetics
Edible & Herbal Uses: The plant’s oil is known for its skin-loving and hormone-balancing qualities, often used in beauty products or taken as a supplement (always consult a professional before ingesting!). Roots and leaves can be prepared like veggies, though caution and local expertise are encouraged.
Ritual Use:
Work with evening primrose during moon rituals to support emotional healing and creative intentions.
Add the flowers or oil to beauty or self-love rituals to connect with your inner radiance.
Use it on your altar to honor lunar cycles and embrace new phases in life.
Gardening & Offerings:
Evening primrose is self-seeding and hardy, symbolizing resilience and gentle expansion.
Plant it to stabilize soil and attract moths and nocturnal pollinators, inviting moonlit magic to your garden.
Offer thanks when harvesting flowers or seeds, recognizing the plant’s spirit as a living teacher.
Energetic Properties:
Supports emotional balance and calm during transitions.
Enhances intuition and encourages trusting your inner wisdom.
Helps move stagnant energy, inviting in new creative flow and transformation.
💭 Today's Tarot Pull:
From The Goddess of Love Tarot Deck, I pulled the Six of Swords (upright).
This card represents moving away from pai
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello and welcome to Everyday Tarot, your daily dive into the
divine wisdom of the tarot. I'm your host Camille, a
Saunders healer, tarot enthusiast, and your local witch
next door. And today I'm talking about
tarot and Evening Primrose. Whether you're a seasoned tarot
reader or just starting to explore, this podcast offers
daily insights, intuitive messages, and practical advice
(00:21):
drawn from the cards. Each episode is designed to help
you connect with your inner wisdom, find clarity in your
decisions, and tap into the energy of the universe.
TuneIn every day, Monday throughFriday, for fresh perspectives
and empowering guidance from theTarot as interpreted by me.
Thanks so much for those of you who are able to attend my
virtual tarot card creation event recently.
(00:41):
If you signed up but were unableto make it to the live event,
you should have the replay of the event recording the PDF I
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should make sure to look for that.
If you weren't able to attend live or didn't register in time,
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(01:03):
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So you the link will be in the show notes to purchase that.
I'm going to be offering a 12 week Tara for Transformation
Live course this summer, so if you're interested, sign up in
(01:26):
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(01:47):
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(02:10):
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the latest postings. My next event will be trying to
think as I record this will be tomorrow on the full moon.
(02:34):
I'm hosting a women's circle local event on July 10th, like I
said, at 7:00 PM. That will be at Thresholds
Collective in South Tacoma. I have the link in the show
notes to sign up for that. We are doing cost to sliding
scale. But yeah, I would love to see
you if you're local to me. I'm hoping I'm hosting this Full
(02:57):
Moon Women's Circle with my friend and colleague Izzy.
And we're really excited to do a90 minute yeah Circle event
where we'll be honoring the fullmoon, doing some journaling and
pulling some cards, all sorts offun things.
So if you want to sign up for that, look for the Eventbrite
link in the show notes. And if you're interested in my
(03:18):
free PDF with the 2025 five cardterrorist bed I created just for
you at the beginning of this year, you can get that by
joining my newsletter list. My weekly newsletter always has
the most up to So come say hi over there if you
(03:50):
want a sticker. And I will also have tables set
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bit myself, and just there to talk to folks.
I'm super excited for that. So check that out if you're
(04:13):
local to me and if you're going to be at Tacoma Pride, All
right, so you can find the linksfor any of these offers in the
show notes or on my website, camilleasaunders.com/everyday
Tarot, in addition to the imagesof the cards I pull on each
episode. All right, so we are into Season
11. In Season 11, I'm talking all
(04:33):
about Tarot and Plant Allies. If you haven't listened to any
of my other seasons yet, you should check those out.
I did a season all about tarot basics.
I've gone through all the cards in a tarot deck.
So seasons two and three were the Major Arcana and an overview
of the four suits. Season 678 and 9 were the suit
of Wands, Pentacles, Swords, andCups.
(04:54):
Season 4 was all about tarot andpop culture.
Season 5, I went through 13 common tarot spreads and season
10, which I just wrapped up, wasall about tarot and witchcraft.
So like I said, we are into season 11 here where I'm talking
about tarot and plant allies. And today I'm talking about
tarot and evening primrose. So I'll go through.
(05:14):
So an overview of today's episode.
I'll go through the plant description.
We'll talk some plant magic, therelation to tarot, and then some
uses for the plant. So last episode I talked about
this lovely coloring book that Ihave that is called the
Medicinal Herb Coloring Book by Amani O Mayor and Nicole Rose.
(05:36):
I got this, I think, early on inthe COVID-19 pandemic, and it
was created to for folks to learn more about herbalism
through coloring, which I love. So last episode I talked about
borage, which is in this book, and today I'm talking about
evening primrose. The Latin name for it is
(05:58):
Onythera bionis, and I'll show apicture of my lovely coloring
image here, which shows the different parts of the plant.
And I'll have some pictures of evening primrose that's in my
yard as well. So evening primrose is a
biennial herb that thrives on waste ground and sandy soil,
(06:18):
which I definitely have. I have like a sort of steep
backyard and parts of it, and that is definitely where it
likes to hang out. The seed oil is a source of
gamma lineolic acid or GLA, a type of fatty acid that is
helpful in the treatment of allergic and autoimmune problems
through reducing inflammation. The plant can also assist with
(06:39):
the range of hormone related health challenges such as
premenstrual tension, menstrual irregularities, endometriosis
and acne. The oil can also help lower
blood pressure and it in addition, evening primrose can
have a mildly sedative action onthe nervous system.
So again, these are sort of the herbalist aspects of the plant.
(07:02):
The plant itself, at least in mybackyard, grows up to like 6
feet tall. If you know the plant, Mullen or
foxglove, it kind of grows similarly and that it has a very
sort of thick stalk. It has a taproot that goes down
deep in the soil, which is probably part of why it thrives
(07:24):
in sandy soil or in sort of unhealthy soil perhaps, or when
there's not a lot going on in the soil.
You might see it along edges of roads or things like that.
So yeah, it has this thick stalk, green sort of soft leaves
(07:46):
that are fairly large with the spine down the middle.
And then it grows pretty tall, like I said, and it will keep
kind of producing flowers as it goes up.
So again, sort of like foxglove,if you're familiar with that
plant, the purple that sort of changes color the flowers as
they grow taller. This plant has yellow flowers.
(08:07):
It's called evening primrose because the flowers open up in
the evenings, so they actually generally are more closed during
the day and they open in the evening, which also means that
they are often pollinated by moths which are obviously more
active in the evening and not always as much during the day.
(08:28):
So when I got in my yard, which I just did, to put my chickens
away in the evening and make sure they're all safe and locked
up and all in their enclosure, all of the evening primrose
smells really sweet as I'm walking up the hill to put the
chickens away and they're all open, which is just beautiful at
(08:49):
night. It's quite lovely.
So yeah, for me right now, they're blooming.
They'll probably bloom kind of all summer.
They have these 4 petaled flowers with a sort of a bunch
of stamens in the middle. They have some leaves that come
(09:10):
off of the flower underneath. This one has to sort of two
leaves on either side. And then the stem is thin up
where the flowers are, but it gets thicker as it goes down.
And again, it does actually havea root that you can cook and eat
if you would like. People have done that before.
(09:31):
So again, I talked about the herbalist qualities of the
plant. Again, forewarning or I'll put a
cautionary right, just don't go around eating plants if you
don't know how it's going to affect your body or what it's
going to do. Contact a local herbalist or a
(09:51):
naturopath to talk about plants and how you might want to
incorporate them as medicine if you would like to do that, if
you like some of what the what the plant might be able to
assist you with. There is this idea in herbalism
that if you live on land for a certain amount of time, the
(10:13):
plants that you need will come to you and grow.
So this plant has been in my yard.
I mean, I feel like since I arrived, I never planted it.
It is just here and I have a lotof them, probably 100, probably
more of them. I'm on 1/4 acre currently in
(10:37):
town and sort of an urban property and it does have quite
a steep hill in the back. It's flat going out my back door
and then there's quite a steep hill and then it's flat again
towards the back. And they love to climb or to be
on the hilly areas. So it's great for me because it
helps for my soil from eroding so my soil doesn't get even
(10:59):
sandier and drier out. And like I said, I love how it
looks in the evenings. I have never harvested plum,
this plant. Well, I picked a flower today so
I could have it in the image formy altar here.
But other than that, sometimes Ispread the seeds so when the
(11:20):
flowers dry up, they sort of close up and then you end up
with these seed heads. The seeds for them are quite
tiny, like the size of, I don't even know, not salt grains, but
like quite small, very, very small.
I like a lot of perennial plants, and this plant is going
(11:44):
to be harder to start from seed than it is to find out in
driveways or ditches on the sideof the road, at least where I
live. Which is the irony of some of
these plants is that when you try to cultivate them, it feels
very challenging. But when they cultivate
themselves, they will find the sandiest, graveliest, the
(12:08):
hottest places to thrive, which again, is why sometimes we can
see them as weeds. So these, like I said, they get
very tall in my backyard. I end up with like probably
hundreds of them. And it's very hard to pull them
out of the ground because they have that long taproot.
So sometimes when I'm trying to make a pathway or like they love
(12:32):
to hang out, like in places I don't necessarily want them,
like there's one that's always by my hose, my garden hose that
I'm like pulling in and out all the time.
So I'm like knocking it over andhitting the plant.
I will just sort of like press my foot on it to like squish the
stalk down towards the ground. But this flower I harvested was
actually from one of those. So I like knocked the entire
(12:54):
plant over towards the ground. And remember again, it's like 6
feet tall and it's still going, still going strong, still
producing flowers. So it is a Hardy plant also.
Yeah, let's get into some of theplant magic of it.
So I don't have a book necessarily that talks about
(13:18):
some of the magical correspondences for plants, but
when I did the Borage episode, Ifound this blog, Parting the
Mists. I'll link it in the show notes
that has where they reference a deck, the Druid Plant Oracle by
authors Phillip and Stephanie Carr, Gomm and artist Will
Worthington. And there also is a card for
(13:39):
Primrose. So there are different kinds of
primroses. It seems like it's more of like
a family. And then I at least I'm talking
about the variety that is the evening Primrose because that's
what I'm familiar with. This card sort of speaks more
broadly though, because like when I look at the flowers in
this image, they don't quite look like the ones I have.
(14:00):
So the ones I have are 4 petaledagain.
They have sort of the like pollinator parts in the middle
of them that's getting all over my hands as I touched it and
it's like getting yellow pollen everywhere.
And then they have green stalks and they sort of have thin green
(14:22):
leaves that are, like I said, sort of soft but also a little
like kind of prickly. Not as much as the borage
though. But the flowers are all yellow
and they have these 4 petals. And this image, they talk about
primrose and it looks like it has bigger leaves.
We see 5 petaled primrose. It's white with like a yellow
(14:44):
middle. So anyway, they talk about
primrose as being associated with love, creativity and
rebirth. It says primrose is because
they're small and beautiful. They often appear after winter.
So again, slightly different than like what I'm talking about
here, but again, associated withlike relationships, dreams,
(15:06):
seasonal things, new cycles, which I'll get into a bit when
it gets to the tarot card associations.
And then let's see if there's anything else here that's
interesting. Let's see.
Yeah. It says it's a fresh wave of
(15:26):
tenderness that will appear in an existing relationship or be
about a new love and entering your life.
Umm, rising of creativity in you.
It says the primrose is the flower of the Bard.
And each of us has a Bard withinus who longs to sing the song of
their soul and tell the story oftheir heart.
So I do love that aspect of it. Let's see here.
(15:51):
I was going to see if there's anything else.
It looks like the common eveningprimrose, which again is the one
I'm talking about. It's native to eastern and
central North America from Newfoundland, W to Alberta, SE
to Florida and southwest to Texas.
So in quite a lot or a large part of North America, evening
(16:16):
primrose oils produced from the plant and usually that happens
from compressing these seed heads I believe before they dry
out. Other names for the plant are
Evening Star, sun Drop, Let's see Fever plant King's cure all.
(16:37):
I've never heard of some of these.
Yeah, it is a biennial, which you'll notice that was in the
name of the Latin name Onythera Biennis.
And so it has a lifespan of two years, which is again is similar
to I believe both Mullen and Foxglove, which are somewhat
similar looking plants in that it takes them two years to go
(17:00):
through their whole process. So in the first year they're
like working on producing and getting very tall and working on
that. Like I said, the flower, the
leaves are smaller. It says they produce in a tight
rosette and spirally on a stem the second year.
And then, yeah. And then in that second year,
(17:22):
they're producing a ton of flowers.
And then eventually they do sortof dry out.
The whole stalk will dry out, All of the seed heads will dry
and open up, and all those little seeds will get dispersed.
If anyone or any bird kind of like, knocks against it or eats
the seeds, they'll get dispersedaround.
(17:43):
Like I said, the seeds are very,very small.
It says, yeah, that this blooming lasts from late spring
to late summer. Again, that's in the Northern
Hemisphere, in the area where they are native to.
(18:03):
Let's see. It says the flowers open very
quickly in the evenings. It says that that's what
produces this interesting spectacle, hence the name
evening primrose. And they are pollinated with
different pollinators. Like I said, I know there's some
specific moths that pollinate them.
(18:29):
Yeah, there's a primrose moth and there's one other one.
So again, because it opens at night, moths are going to be the
main pollinators then versus birds necessarily, or other
insects. Evening primrose oil is sold as
like a dietary supplement. So you may have seen that
(18:51):
before, which again, usually oils, seed oils are made because
they take the seed heads before they're dried out, I believe,
and then like compress them in avery large industrial process.
And that's how we get oils in general from seeds.
(19:13):
It says the Anashabe tribes would make tea from the leaves.
You can eat some parts of the plant.
I've never eaten any parts of it.
The roots can be eaten raw, are cooked like potatoes, So says
Wikipedia. So you know, take it with a
grain of salt. It says the leaves can be eaten
(19:35):
in salads or raw or cooked like spinach and soups.
Yeah. Personally, I don't know if I'd
be eating these leaves raw. They're a little at least The
ones in my yard are like, prettylarge.
I mean, I guess I can try them tomorrow, maybe see if I can
have some like spinach. I would, yeah.
I can imagine them being cooked down.
(19:56):
And I have, like I said, if I have tried to pull them or out
of the ground and I'm able to, they do have like quite a large
taproot like a carrot or a parsnip or other root.
Veggies that we're familiar with.
So that is also interesting to know.
OK, so let's get into the, you know, relation to tarot.
(20:20):
So I did some research on like Isaid, like folklore around the
primrose and different properties that's associated
with. And so I saw a different like
there's the love and affection side, or maybe you could use
like the Lovers or two of Cups. They talk about the youthful
(20:43):
beginnings as a flower that blooms in the evening.
It symbolizes youthful energy. So they talk about the Fool or
maybe some Cups cards like Ace of Cups or Page of Cups.
They talk about this healing andsoothing presence.
So perhaps the star indicating hope and healing or inner peace
(21:03):
with temperance. But the ones I thought were the
most resonant with me were more about creativity and wisdom,
like unlocking inner potential. So I pulled the magician cards
from the Desert Illuminations deck and also the Ofidia Rosa
(21:25):
deck and I really liked those images that I found in there.
Those seem to resonate. In the Ofidia Rosa you have a
snake eating its tail, the OR Boros, and then in the Desert
Illuminations deck, we have an aura around an alien as the
(21:47):
magician. They also talk about the high
Priestess, so I did pull that one from the Federosa as well,
which I love. In this image, it has a Crescent
moon and we have some flowers that actually kind of looks
similar to evening primrose. Not quite.
They have some red on them and they have slightly different
petals or of leaves I would say.But I like that this duck has
(22:09):
different plants on it. And then death was the other
card that kind of stood out to me or came up because there is
this aspect of like transformation or rebirth.
Again, like being a flower that opens in the evening.
It's fairly rare. And so we get the sort of
representing transformation, releasing old patterns, new
(22:30):
beginnings. I did see lots of associations
of the the plant with fairies orgateways to a realm of fairies.
So I also again read about maybethe moon tarot card being sort
of similar to that. And then again with the high
(22:51):
priestess there. So and my high priestess card
here has a moon on it. And actually the magician one in
the desert illuminations one does as well.
So we get a lot of moon transformation, right?
We get this like cyclical aspectwith the magician card and the
Afida Rosa deck and that all feels resonant to me.
(23:13):
I did pull some crystals as well.
I'm trying to think if I know all the names of them.
I have like a garnet one smoky quartz.
I have a heart like rock that's painted like a rainbow that sort
of it matches the aura in the Magician card in the Desert
(23:34):
Illuminations tarot deck. I pulled my Crescent moon like
amethyst because I did read something as well where they
talked about that it has an association with with Diana, the
goddess. And that really the moon makes
me think of that or the, yeah, the Crescent moon.
And then I just sort of pulled some crystals that had Reds and
(23:58):
greens in them that felt right to me.
So I will have a picture of sortof my little altar set up here.
I have a yellow candle. I also have this like glass
candle holder. I don't quite know.
It's almost like stained glass where you put a pillar candle
inside of it and you can close it up.
(24:19):
And that that was really, it actually has pressed flowers
also like within the glass that are also yellow.
So we're going yellow themed today for the flowers here.
Let's see. And then yeah, let's get into
some ways to use the plant or interact with it.
(24:42):
So I'll be referencing the Hearth Witch's Compendium
Magical and Natural Living for Every Day by Anna Franklin, and
anything I reference will be in the show notes.
So and here they talk about Evening Primrose.
Let me find the magical herbalism with the plant.
(25:13):
So this is like a part referenceguide, part cookbook, part skin
care, part just like magical. So this is in the magical
herbalism section and it says for evening Primrose, we it's
associated with beauty, success and friendship, ruled by the
moon and sacred to Diana. All right.
(25:37):
And then we have two different sort of other associations with
it. So it is often used in maybe
natural beauty products or like I said, I think sometimes the
oil, the like the evening primrose oil gets used as a
supplement. So put in usually, you know,
(26:00):
perhaps like capsules and use that way taken, you know,
orally. So evening primrose is very
moisturizing, high in gamma leonolic acid, the GLA and helps
prevent the premature aging of skin.
And then they do have a recipe in here 4 Where's the one with?
(26:24):
Yeah, it's a Violet moisturizer for dry skin.
So it has boiling water, a handful of fresh violets,
flowers and leaves, five eveningprimrose capsules.
So again, these would be like oils that are put inside a
capsule, a teaspoon of apricot oil, a teaspoon of villanolin
(26:45):
and 1/4 of an ounce of emulsifying wax and two drops of
rose essential oil or essential oil of your choice.
So that was another sort of association.
Was this like love roses energy as well?
And so you basically like infuseyour water with the violets and
then you open up the evening primrose capsules and put the
(27:07):
oil with the other oils and the wax in a double boiler.
You strain it out and then discard the pulp and you put
that drop by drop into this. You mix the warm Violet infusion
with the oil mixture. You whisk it and then you pour
it into glass jars and stop her tightly and it will keep in the
fridge for two months. So it would be like a
(27:29):
moisturizer. So again, this is mostly the
usage of the oil from the seed heads from this plant.
Like I said, it does seem like there is historical precedent by
folks native to the Americas formaking tea with the leaves or
(27:52):
eating the leaves and then eating the roots as well.
So we love that, right? Lots of parts of the plants
apparently can be consumed in that way.
But again, you know, look up recipes or you know, be careful
when eating plants. If you know right there in your
soil, in your backyard, that's one thing.
(28:14):
If you're harvesting plants froma ditch, from a driveway, from a
parking lot, just be mindful that they may have been sprayed.
They might have things on them like you don't totally know,
especially if you're harvesting it to eat, especially without
cooking it. Just be very mindful about where
(28:34):
you're harvesting from with that.
Like again, I have like hundredsin my yard.
Probably would be OK to like tryout a couple.
Maybe I'll cook some of the leaves up this week and keep you
updated as to what I think aboutthem.
But yeah, I really just love theflowers.
And I love that it's a plant that I don't have to plant.
(28:56):
I love things that just show up in my yard and that are
beautiful and that we can eat. All right.
Yeah. So those are kind of what I have
on evening Primrose. I'm going to pull a card to see
if there's anything that EveningPrimrose wants to share with us
today, anything that I didn't talk about or that thinks that
(29:17):
we need to know. So I'm going to grab a deck and
pull a card for that. All right, let's go with the
Goddess of Love Tarot Deck by Gabriella Herstick and
illustrated by Julia Popescu. Since we're on the love theme
(29:42):
today with this lovely plant. Going to get back quick shuffle.
So is there anything to know that we need to know?
Any messages for us that you mean Primrose wants?
(30:03):
OK, cards keep falling out, so I'm just going to pull it.
I pulled the Six of Swords upright, which I think I've seen
recently. Let's see here.
The astrological correspondence is Mercury, and Aquarius says
this is one of the gentler Swords.
(30:23):
It's an omen of moving away fromthe pain and heartache, and it
shows that you've passed the halfway point in the journey of
the suit, although it not may not be a straight ascent.
As always, the Swords have surprises in store.
This card represents A reprieve,a moment of stillness and calm
amid the turbulence. Listen to your heart and then
make logical decisions that are balanced in both aspects of self
(30:46):
and soul. This isn't about rejection or
ignoring the truth in favor of blissful ignorance.
It's taking the matter at hand and moving on with compassion
for yourself and the other. When the Six of Swords comes up,
it can be an indication of something coming to a close.
And although this could be literal, like ending a hookup or
a relationship, more than likelyit's about your perspective.
(31:08):
It's OK to rest and feel whatever you're feeling.
Working with your mind and not against it is imperative.
The affirmation with this card is I'm aligned in mind and heart
and move toward love and wholeness with ease.
And the journal question is, what am I being asked to let go
of, to move toward, and to surrender to the new?
(31:28):
All right, well, links for the tarot decks I talk about will
always be in the show notes and on my website if you'd like to
look at them or purchase them. And remember, if you'd like to
join me on the journey of using the tarot for transformation,
you love the podcast and you just want more tarot in your
life, or you want to work with me more personally in a group
(31:50):
setting where we talk about tarot, I'll have the link in the
show notes to indicate your interest in receiving more info.
You're not committed to anything.
This just allows you to start getting information about it.
We're probably going to be starting at the end of August,
so you don't worry. You solve time to make your
plans to think about if this sort of container or group work
(32:13):
is appealing to you. We'll work together for 12 weeks
of calls and journaling to discover what happens when we
want to transform our lives through the tarot.
All right, and thanks for joining me today on Everyday
Tarot. Just as a reminder, the podcast
comes out daily, Monday through Friday for all of 2025.
You can e-mail me me at camilleasaunders.com with your
(32:35):
thoughts, questions and more. All right, see you soon.
Bye bye.
Hello and welcome to Everyday Tarot, your daily dive into the
divine wisdom of the tarot. I'm your host Camille, a
Saunders healer, tarot enthusiast, and your local witch
next door. And today I'm talking about
tarot and Evening Primrose. Whether you're a seasoned tarot
reader or just starting to explore, this podcast offers
daily insights, intuitive messages, and practical advice
(00:21):
drawn from the cards. Each episode is designed to help
you connect with your inner wisdom, find clarity in your
decisions, and tap into the energy of the universe.
TuneIn every day, Monday throughFriday, for fresh perspectives
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Thanks so much for those of you who are able to attend my
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(00:41):
If you signed up but were unableto make it to the live event,
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should make sure to look for that.
If you weren't able to attend live or didn't register in time,
you can go ahead and get the full hour long recording with my
(01:03):
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(01:26):
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(01:47):
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(02:10):
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the latest postings. My next event will be trying to
think as I record this will be tomorrow on the full moon.
(02:34):
I'm hosting a women's circle local event on July 10th, like I
said, at 7:00 PM. That will be at Thresholds
Collective in South Tacoma. I have the link in the show
notes to sign up for that. We are doing cost to sliding
scale. But yeah, I would love to see
you if you're local to me. I'm hoping I'm hosting this Full
(02:57):
Moon Women's Circle with my friend and colleague Izzy.
And we're really excited to do a90 minute yeah Circle event
where we'll be honoring the fullmoon, doing some journaling and
pulling some cards, all sorts offun things.
So if you want to sign up for that, look for the Eventbrite
link in the show notes. And if you're interested in my
(03:18):
free PDF with the 2025 five cardterrorist bed I created just for
you at the beginning of this year, you can get that by
joining my newsletter list. My weekly newsletter always has
the most up to So come say hi over there if you
(03:50):
want a sticker. And I will also have tables set
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I'm super excited for that. So check that out if you're
(04:13):
local to me and if you're going to be at Tacoma Pride, All
right, so you can find the linksfor any of these offers in the
show notes or on my website, camilleasaunders.com/everyday
Tarot, in addition to the imagesof the cards I pull on each
episode. All right, so we are into Season
11. In Season 11, I'm talking all
(04:33):
about Tarot and Plant Allies. If you haven't listened to any
of my other seasons yet, you should check those out.
I did a season all about tarot basics.
I've gone through all the cards in a tarot deck.
So seasons two and three were the Major Arcana and an overview
of the four suits. Season 678 and 9 were the suit
of Wands, Pentacles, Swords, andCups.
(04:54):
Season 4 was all about tarot andpop culture.
Season 5, I went through 13 common tarot spreads and season
10, which I just wrapped up, wasall about tarot and witchcraft.
So like I said, we are into season 11 here where I'm talking
about tarot and plant allies. And today I'm talking about
tarot and evening primrose. So I'll go through.
(05:14):
So an overview of today's episode.
I'll go through the plant description.
We'll talk some plant magic, therelation to tarot, and then some
uses for the plant. So last episode I talked about
this lovely coloring book that Ihave that is called the
Medicinal Herb Coloring Book by Amani O Mayor and Nicole Rose.
(05:36):
I got this, I think, early on inthe COVID-19 pandemic, and it
was created to for folks to learn more about herbalism
through coloring, which I love. So last episode I talked about
borage, which is in this book, and today I'm talking about
evening primrose. The Latin name for it is
(05:58):
Onythera bionis, and I'll show apicture of my lovely coloring
image here, which shows the different parts of the plant.
And I'll have some pictures of evening primrose that's in my
yard as well. So evening primrose is a
biennial herb that thrives on waste ground and sandy soil,
(06:18):
which I definitely have. I have like a sort of steep
backyard and parts of it, and that is definitely where it
likes to hang out. The seed oil is a source of
gamma lineolic acid or GLA, a type of fatty acid that is
helpful in the treatment of allergic and autoimmune problems
through reducing inflammation. The plant can also assist with
(06:39):
the range of hormone related health challenges such as
premenstrual tension, menstrual irregularities, endometriosis
and acne. The oil can also help lower
blood pressure and it in addition, evening primrose can
have a mildly sedative action onthe nervous system.
So again, these are sort of the herbalist aspects of the plant.
(07:02):
The plant itself, at least in mybackyard, grows up to like 6
feet tall. If you know the plant, Mullen or
foxglove, it kind of grows similarly and that it has a very
sort of thick stalk. It has a taproot that goes down
deep in the soil, which is probably part of why it thrives
(07:24):
in sandy soil or in sort of unhealthy soil perhaps, or when
there's not a lot going on in the soil.
You might see it along edges of roads or things like that.
So yeah, it has this thick stalk, green sort of soft leaves
(07:46):
that are fairly large with the spine down the middle.
And then it grows pretty tall, like I said, and it will keep
kind of producing flowers as it goes up.
So again, sort of like foxglove,if you're familiar with that
plant, the purple that sort of changes color the flowers as
they grow taller. This plant has yellow flowers.
(08:07):
It's called evening primrose because the flowers open up in
the evenings, so they actually generally are more closed during
the day and they open in the evening, which also means that
they are often pollinated by moths which are obviously more
active in the evening and not always as much during the day.
(08:28):
So when I got in my yard, which I just did, to put my chickens
away in the evening and make sure they're all safe and locked
up and all in their enclosure, all of the evening primrose
smells really sweet as I'm walking up the hill to put the
chickens away and they're all open, which is just beautiful at
(08:49):
night. It's quite lovely.
So yeah, for me right now, they're blooming.
They'll probably bloom kind of all summer.
They have these 4 petaled flowers with a sort of a bunch
of stamens in the middle. They have some leaves that come
(09:10):
off of the flower underneath. This one has to sort of two
leaves on either side. And then the stem is thin up
where the flowers are, but it gets thicker as it goes down.
And again, it does actually havea root that you can cook and eat
if you would like. People have done that before.
(09:31):
So again, I talked about the herbalist qualities of the
plant. Again, forewarning or I'll put a
cautionary right, just don't go around eating plants if you
don't know how it's going to affect your body or what it's
going to do. Contact a local herbalist or a
(09:51):
naturopath to talk about plants and how you might want to
incorporate them as medicine if you would like to do that, if
you like some of what the what the plant might be able to
assist you with. There is this idea in herbalism
that if you live on land for a certain amount of time, the
(10:13):
plants that you need will come to you and grow.
So this plant has been in my yard.
I mean, I feel like since I arrived, I never planted it.
It is just here and I have a lotof them, probably 100, probably
more of them. I'm on 1/4 acre currently in
(10:37):
town and sort of an urban property and it does have quite
a steep hill in the back. It's flat going out my back door
and then there's quite a steep hill and then it's flat again
towards the back. And they love to climb or to be
on the hilly areas. So it's great for me because it
helps for my soil from eroding so my soil doesn't get even
(10:59):
sandier and drier out. And like I said, I love how it
looks in the evenings. I have never harvested plum,
this plant. Well, I picked a flower today so
I could have it in the image formy altar here.
But other than that, sometimes Ispread the seeds so when the
(11:20):
flowers dry up, they sort of close up and then you end up
with these seed heads. The seeds for them are quite
tiny, like the size of, I don't even know, not salt grains, but
like quite small, very, very small.
I like a lot of perennial plants, and this plant is going
(11:44):
to be harder to start from seed than it is to find out in
driveways or ditches on the sideof the road, at least where I
live. Which is the irony of some of
these plants is that when you try to cultivate them, it feels
very challenging. But when they cultivate
themselves, they will find the sandiest, graveliest, the
(12:08):
hottest places to thrive, which again, is why sometimes we can
see them as weeds. So these, like I said, they get
very tall in my backyard. I end up with like probably
hundreds of them. And it's very hard to pull them
out of the ground because they have that long taproot.
So sometimes when I'm trying to make a pathway or like they love
(12:32):
to hang out, like in places I don't necessarily want them,
like there's one that's always by my hose, my garden hose that
I'm like pulling in and out all the time.
So I'm like knocking it over andhitting the plant.
I will just sort of like press my foot on it to like squish the
stalk down towards the ground. But this flower I harvested was
actually from one of those. So I like knocked the entire
(12:54):
plant over towards the ground. And remember again, it's like 6
feet tall and it's still going, still going strong, still
producing flowers. So it is a Hardy plant also.
Yeah, let's get into some of theplant magic of it.
So I don't have a book necessarily that talks about
(13:18):
some of the magical correspondences for plants, but
when I did the Borage episode, Ifound this blog, Parting the
Mists. I'll link it in the show notes
that has where they reference a deck, the Druid Plant Oracle by
authors Phillip and Stephanie Carr, Gomm and artist Will
Worthington. And there also is a card for
(13:39):
Primrose. So there are different kinds of
primroses. It seems like it's more of like
a family. And then I at least I'm talking
about the variety that is the evening Primrose because that's
what I'm familiar with. This card sort of speaks more
broadly though, because like when I look at the flowers in
this image, they don't quite look like the ones I have.
(14:00):
So the ones I have are 4 petaledagain.
They have sort of the like pollinator parts in the middle
of them that's getting all over my hands as I touched it and
it's like getting yellow pollen everywhere.
And then they have green stalks and they sort of have thin green
(14:22):
leaves that are, like I said, sort of soft but also a little
like kind of prickly. Not as much as the borage
though. But the flowers are all yellow
and they have these 4 petals. And this image, they talk about
primrose and it looks like it has bigger leaves.
We see 5 petaled primrose. It's white with like a yellow
(14:44):
middle. So anyway, they talk about
primrose as being associated with love, creativity and
rebirth. It says primrose is because
they're small and beautiful. They often appear after winter.
So again, slightly different than like what I'm talking about
here, but again, associated withlike relationships, dreams,
(15:06):
seasonal things, new cycles, which I'll get into a bit when
it gets to the tarot card associations.
And then let's see if there's anything else here that's
interesting. Let's see.
Yeah. It says it's a fresh wave of
(15:26):
tenderness that will appear in an existing relationship or be
about a new love and entering your life.
Umm, rising of creativity in you.
It says the primrose is the flower of the Bard.
And each of us has a Bard withinus who longs to sing the song of
their soul and tell the story oftheir heart.
So I do love that aspect of it. Let's see here.
(15:51):
I was going to see if there's anything else.
It looks like the common eveningprimrose, which again is the one
I'm talking about. It's native to eastern and
central North America from Newfoundland, W to Alberta, SE
to Florida and southwest to Texas.
So in quite a lot or a large part of North America, evening
(16:16):
primrose oils produced from the plant and usually that happens
from compressing these seed heads I believe before they dry
out. Other names for the plant are
Evening Star, sun Drop, Let's see Fever plant King's cure all.
(16:37):
I've never heard of some of these.
Yeah, it is a biennial, which you'll notice that was in the
name of the Latin name Onythera Biennis.
And so it has a lifespan of two years, which is again is similar
to I believe both Mullen and Foxglove, which are somewhat
similar looking plants in that it takes them two years to go
(17:00):
through their whole process. So in the first year they're
like working on producing and getting very tall and working on
that. Like I said, the flower, the
leaves are smaller. It says they produce in a tight
rosette and spirally on a stem the second year.
And then, yeah. And then in that second year,
(17:22):
they're producing a ton of flowers.
And then eventually they do sortof dry out.
The whole stalk will dry out, All of the seed heads will dry
and open up, and all those little seeds will get dispersed.
If anyone or any bird kind of like, knocks against it or eats
the seeds, they'll get dispersedaround.
(17:43):
Like I said, the seeds are very,very small.
It says, yeah, that this blooming lasts from late spring
to late summer. Again, that's in the Northern
Hemisphere, in the area where they are native to.
(18:03):
Let's see. It says the flowers open very
quickly in the evenings. It says that that's what
produces this interesting spectacle, hence the name
evening primrose. And they are pollinated with
different pollinators. Like I said, I know there's some
specific moths that pollinate them.
(18:29):
Yeah, there's a primrose moth and there's one other one.
So again, because it opens at night, moths are going to be the
main pollinators then versus birds necessarily, or other
insects. Evening primrose oil is sold as
like a dietary supplement. So you may have seen that
(18:51):
before, which again, usually oils, seed oils are made because
they take the seed heads before they're dried out, I believe,
and then like compress them in avery large industrial process.
And that's how we get oils in general from seeds.
(19:13):
It says the Anashabe tribes would make tea from the leaves.
You can eat some parts of the plant.
I've never eaten any parts of it.
The roots can be eaten raw, are cooked like potatoes, So says
Wikipedia. So you know, take it with a
grain of salt. It says the leaves can be eaten
(19:35):
in salads or raw or cooked like spinach and soups.
Yeah. Personally, I don't know if I'd
be eating these leaves raw. They're a little at least The
ones in my yard are like, prettylarge.
I mean, I guess I can try them tomorrow, maybe see if I can
have some like spinach. I would, yeah.
I can imagine them being cooked down.
(19:56):
And I have, like I said, if I have tried to pull them or out
of the ground and I'm able to, they do have like quite a large
taproot like a carrot or a parsnip or other root.
Veggies that we're familiar with.
So that is also interesting to know.
OK, so let's get into the, you know, relation to tarot.
(20:20):
So I did some research on like Isaid, like folklore around the
primrose and different properties that's associated
with. And so I saw a different like
there's the love and affection side, or maybe you could use
like the Lovers or two of Cups. They talk about the youthful
(20:43):
beginnings as a flower that blooms in the evening.
It symbolizes youthful energy. So they talk about the Fool or
maybe some Cups cards like Ace of Cups or Page of Cups.
They talk about this healing andsoothing presence.
So perhaps the star indicating hope and healing or inner peace
(21:03):
with temperance. But the ones I thought were the
most resonant with me were more about creativity and wisdom,
like unlocking inner potential. So I pulled the magician cards
from the Desert Illuminations deck and also the Ofidia Rosa
(21:25):
deck and I really liked those images that I found in there.
Those seem to resonate. In the Ofidia Rosa you have a
snake eating its tail, the OR Boros, and then in the Desert
Illuminations deck, we have an aura around an alien as the
(21:47):
magician. They also talk about the high
Priestess, so I did pull that one from the Federosa as well,
which I love. In this image, it has a Crescent
moon and we have some flowers that actually kind of looks
similar to evening primrose. Not quite.
They have some red on them and they have slightly different
petals or of leaves I would say.But I like that this duck has
(22:09):
different plants on it. And then death was the other
card that kind of stood out to me or came up because there is
this aspect of like transformation or rebirth.
Again, like being a flower that opens in the evening.
It's fairly rare. And so we get the sort of
representing transformation, releasing old patterns, new
(22:30):
beginnings. I did see lots of associations
of the the plant with fairies orgateways to a realm of fairies.
So I also again read about maybethe moon tarot card being sort
of similar to that. And then again with the high
(22:51):
priestess there. So and my high priestess card
here has a moon on it. And actually the magician one in
the desert illuminations one does as well.
So we get a lot of moon transformation, right?
We get this like cyclical aspectwith the magician card and the
Afida Rosa deck and that all feels resonant to me.
(23:13):
I did pull some crystals as well.
I'm trying to think if I know all the names of them.
I have like a garnet one smoky quartz.
I have a heart like rock that's painted like a rainbow that sort
of it matches the aura in the Magician card in the Desert
(23:34):
Illuminations tarot deck. I pulled my Crescent moon like
amethyst because I did read something as well where they
talked about that it has an association with with Diana, the
goddess. And that really the moon makes
me think of that or the, yeah, the Crescent moon.
And then I just sort of pulled some crystals that had Reds and
(23:58):
greens in them that felt right to me.
So I will have a picture of sortof my little altar set up here.
I have a yellow candle. I also have this like glass
candle holder. I don't quite know.
It's almost like stained glass where you put a pillar candle
inside of it and you can close it up.
(24:19):
And that that was really, it actually has pressed flowers
also like within the glass that are also yellow.
So we're going yellow themed today for the flowers here.
Let's see. And then yeah, let's get into
some ways to use the plant or interact with it.
(24:42):
So I'll be referencing the Hearth Witch's Compendium
Magical and Natural Living for Every Day by Anna Franklin, and
anything I reference will be in the show notes.
So and here they talk about Evening Primrose.
Let me find the magical herbalism with the plant.
(25:13):
So this is like a part referenceguide, part cookbook, part skin
care, part just like magical. So this is in the magical
herbalism section and it says for evening Primrose, we it's
associated with beauty, success and friendship, ruled by the
moon and sacred to Diana. All right.
(25:37):
And then we have two different sort of other associations with
it. So it is often used in maybe
natural beauty products or like I said, I think sometimes the
oil, the like the evening primrose oil gets used as a
supplement. So put in usually, you know,
(26:00):
perhaps like capsules and use that way taken, you know,
orally. So evening primrose is very
moisturizing, high in gamma leonolic acid, the GLA and helps
prevent the premature aging of skin.
And then they do have a recipe in here 4 Where's the one with?
(26:24):
Yeah, it's a Violet moisturizer for dry skin.
So it has boiling water, a handful of fresh violets,
flowers and leaves, five eveningprimrose capsules.
So again, these would be like oils that are put inside a
capsule, a teaspoon of apricot oil, a teaspoon of villanolin
(26:45):
and 1/4 of an ounce of emulsifying wax and two drops of
rose essential oil or essential oil of your choice.
So that was another sort of association.
Was this like love roses energy as well?
And so you basically like infuseyour water with the violets and
then you open up the evening primrose capsules and put the
(27:07):
oil with the other oils and the wax in a double boiler.
You strain it out and then discard the pulp and you put
that drop by drop into this. You mix the warm Violet infusion
with the oil mixture. You whisk it and then you pour
it into glass jars and stop her tightly and it will keep in the
fridge for two months. So it would be like a
(27:29):
moisturizer. So again, this is mostly the
usage of the oil from the seed heads from this plant.
Like I said, it does seem like there is historical precedent by
folks native to the Americas formaking tea with the leaves or
(27:52):
eating the leaves and then eating the roots as well.
So we love that, right? Lots of parts of the plants
apparently can be consumed in that way.
But again, you know, look up recipes or you know, be careful
when eating plants. If you know right there in your
soil, in your backyard, that's one thing.
(28:14):
If you're harvesting plants froma ditch, from a driveway, from a
parking lot, just be mindful that they may have been sprayed.
They might have things on them like you don't totally know,
especially if you're harvesting it to eat, especially without
cooking it. Just be very mindful about where
(28:34):
you're harvesting from with that.
Like again, I have like hundredsin my yard.
Probably would be OK to like tryout a couple.
Maybe I'll cook some of the leaves up this week and keep you
updated as to what I think aboutthem.
But yeah, I really just love theflowers.
And I love that it's a plant that I don't have to plant.
(28:56):
I love things that just show up in my yard and that are
beautiful and that we can eat. All right.
Yeah. So those are kind of what I have
on evening Primrose. I'm going to pull a card to see
if there's anything that EveningPrimrose wants to share with us
today, anything that I didn't talk about or that thinks that
(29:17):
we need to know. So I'm going to grab a deck and
pull a card for that. All right, let's go with the
Goddess of Love Tarot Deck by Gabriella Herstick and
illustrated by Julia Popescu. Since we're on the love theme
(29:42):
today with this lovely plant. Going to get back quick shuffle.
So is there anything to know that we need to know?
Any messages for us that you mean Primrose wants?
(30:03):
OK, cards keep falling out, so I'm just going to pull it.
I pulled the Six of Swords upright, which I think I've seen
recently. Let's see here.
The astrological correspondence is Mercury, and Aquarius says
this is one of the gentler Swords.
(30:23):
It's an omen of moving away fromthe pain and heartache, and it
shows that you've passed the halfway point in the journey of
the suit, although it not may not be a straight ascent.
As always, the Swords have surprises in store.
This card represents A reprieve,a moment of stillness and calm
amid the turbulence. Listen to your heart and then
make logical decisions that are balanced in both aspects of self
(30:46):
and soul. This isn't about rejection or
ignoring the truth in favor of blissful ignorance.
It's taking the matter at hand and moving on with compassion
for yourself and the other. When the Six of Swords comes up,
it can be an indication of something coming to a close.
And although this could be literal, like ending a hookup or
a relationship, more than likelyit's about your perspective.
(31:08):
It's OK to rest and feel whatever you're feeling.
Working with your mind and not against it is imperative.
The affirmation with this card is I'm aligned in mind and heart
and move toward love and wholeness with ease.
And the journal question is, what am I being asked to let go
of, to move toward, and to surrender to the new?
(31:28):
All right, well, links for the tarot decks I talk about will
always be in the show notes and on my website if you'd like to
look at them or purchase them. And remember, if you'd like to
join me on the journey of using the tarot for transformation,
you love the podcast and you just want more tarot in your
life, or you want to work with me more personally in a group
(31:50):
setting where we talk about tarot, I'll have the link in the
show notes to indicate your interest in receiving more info.
You're not committed to anything.
This just allows you to start getting information about it.
We're probably going to be starting at the end of August,
so you don't worry. You solve time to make your
plans to think about if this sort of container or group work
(32:13):
is appealing to you. We'll work together for 12 weeks
of calls and journaling to discover what happens when we
want to transform our lives through the tarot.
All right, and thanks for joining me today on Everyday
Tarot. Just as a reminder, the podcast
comes out daily, Monday through Friday for all of 2025.
You can e-mail me me at camilleasaunders.com with your
(32:35):
thoughts, questions and more. All right, see you soon.
Bye bye.
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