Report from the 2026 Hawthorne Plant Medicine Journey
I have been aware of the special role of Hawthorne in faery lore for many years. In a workshop with Jan Kinsey in spring of 2025, Hawthorne came to me and requested that we work together more deeply. The time was not quite right, and it wasn’t until spring of 2026 in another workshop when Hawthorne returned again that i felt ready to start on this path.
I started asking my guides and allies for assistance in showing me the way forward in this endeavor. This is how I usually work – put a question out then be open to any clues that appear.
The first thing that came up was to purchase books by Carole Guyett on Sacred Plant Initiations, and Pam Montgomery on Plant Spirit Healing. From what I understand, Carole brought forward this idea of plant initiations and Pam has deepened it in her own way.
Their initiations are generally three day group affairs with time for journeying, breathwork, mask making and and other forms of ritual.
That did not feel accessible to me on my own so I asked my good friend Amba AlianaHi, also a highly experienced plant healer, for advice. She directed me to the patreon site of Josh Williams called the Green Arte. He had led a Hawthorne journey a few months ago and had relevant postings on his site. His process is much more informal and DIY and provided an appropriate model for me to start from. Thank you Spirit!!
In the meantime, a target date for an initiation had come into my awareness – the August Solar Eclipse on August 11th. I first started my inquiry in April so this felt like a very accessible goal.
Now that I had some basic pieces together, I started seeing articles about how working in groups can be so much more effective than working solo. There are some people that go on zoom and just do their own thing but with the zoom company of others helping them stay focused.
I found this very appealing, so around the end of June I put out a call to the Gaian Fairy Congress community to see if anyone else was interested in a simple Hawthorne journey over the eclipse window. I was thrilled to have five people join me!!
I know from past workings that sometimes it’s nice to actually start the process at the New Moon before the New Moon of the actual ritual. It’s like you’re using that initiatory window to set the scene for the one to follow.
So on the New Moon of July 13th the six of us met to journey on how to prepare for our upcoming plant spirit working. We partnered up, because sometimes it’s much easier to get clear information for someone else. On our journeys we asked How our partner can best prepare for the initiation, how we ourselves can prepare, and any notes for the group.
This was very worthwhile, we received several important directions. One was to create an energetic circle for our journey. We always work in a coning but they suggested something more purposeful. I looked at our locations on a map and determined the order of our circle. To create the circle, I created a ball of energy and passed it on to the next person in a clockwise direction, that person then passed it on to the next. We did this each time we met and it was a powerful way to bring the group together.
Hawthorne also asked that we write up our experience, and here it is!!
We each also received some insight on how Hawthorne might guide us. Hawthorne is known as a threshold plant, for some it is strongly supportive in healing grief, and others for opening up connection and creativity. It was kind of amazing to note the diverse wisdom we all received from the same source!
During that month of preparation time, I asked the Fae in meditation why Hawthorne is so special to them. They listed numerous reasons: one, it is a boundary plant, it is used to create hedgerows so it creates boundaries between one piece of land and another, and can also create a boundary between Worlds. By creating this boundary it also creates the means to cross from one world to another – it creates the threshold and the portal. It can be both a shrub and a tree, bridging different levels of plant life.
It is a plant of abundance – in spring its profuse blossoms are perfect for making crowns, the Fairies appreciate that gift. In fall it has plentiful red fruit, which are more similar to apples than berries. The blossoms are generally white (there are some pink varieties), the fruit are red, so it carries both sides of the Red and White lineages prevalent in Faery lore.
It is actually a member of the Rose family, so it is associated with that deep healing lineage. One member of the group was told to work with Rose in combination with Hawthorne, something Josh Williams also commented on – Rose opens Heart Channels, and Hawthorne re-unites parts that have been lost.
During this time I found several hawthorne trees and bushes in my neighborhood that I had not noticed before, one of them called to my attention quite loudly one day when a dead branch from another tree crashed to the ground right as i was walking by, causing me to look up and notice.
The day of our first session arrived, on Tuesday August 11th. We met and created our circle and Sacred Space, then utilized Josh William’s protocol of ‘following the medicine’. We held tincture of Hawthorne to our hearts, took turns calling on the Spirit of Hawthorne to join us, then took one dropper of the tincture and followed it with our awareness – “the medicine is a vehicle for the Spirit of the plant to enter us” is how Josh puts it, “the tincture allows us to learn about plants from inside ourselves”.
As I swallowed the medicine, I felt a distinct tickle in my left ear, and then a sensation like warm syrup pouring down my left side. My left side is historically blocked, this felt very healing. I was told to keep going with the tincture for at least a month and was given a felt sense of how it might help me to show up differently – with stronger boundaries it will create space for more authentic presence. I had had a strong dream the day before, and i was shown its connection to Hawthorne medicine.
During the second journey that evening, I was given the phrase ‘Opening Doors’ – this is what Hawthorne can do for me; with this stronger presence, new doors of opportunity will open for me. I was also encouraged to journey with Mugwort this fall, something i had been considering.
The message from the third and final journey was ‘joyful abundance’. Hawthorne is a Faery tree, the Fae do love to sing and dance and be joyful. Hawthorne brings abundant blossoms in spring and plentiful fruit in fall. As keeper of the threshold between the Human world and the world of Faery, I was able to call back parts of myself that had separated and were living in the Faery realm. It was a wonderful high note to end on!
Sharing from Caroline:
At the opening I saw a very strong and completely green and thick infinity symbol in my heart. I felt mother Mary, Lady Magdalene, Grandmother Anna, and the Fairy Queen that I had met at the Gaian Congress. AA Michael was missing as the trust of Hawthorne as the protector came forward.
As we started our meditation, all I could see was white light in my heart, and it felt very calm as I was letting stuff go. My heart was purifying and clearing, and my heart was at peace. I very strongly felt the spirit of Hawthorne. Apparently it’s that simple – if your heart and body and spirit is open to receive the healing it will continue the progression of the work that’s done so far.
Heart of Hawthorne is connecting to your heart like an Infinity exchange and so it is!
from Gloria:
Hawthorn held me with both strength and tenderness, creating a space where I could move with remarkable ease through thresholds, transformation, and return. During the dieta, I reconnected with oceanic ancestors, healed ancient wounds of the heart, practiced sovereignty within relationship, and came home to the loving embrace of the land.”
from Linda S:
I knew Hawthorn was a portal to the heart, but this initiation led me deep into the inner chambers of my own heart that were still closed off by decades of grief. As I journeyed with Hawthorn, I was infused with the wisdom and medicine of this ancient, magical being of nature who helped open my heart a little wider. As I met my own grief with deep self-compassion, Hawthorn then asked me to work with collective grief, and as I take my tincture each day, to remember to send comfort to others who are grieving.
Most of us are continuing to work with both tincture and Hawthorne tea to deepen and solidify the relationship. The idea is to sit with a plant for a full moon cycle, so the group plans to meet again at the next New Moon to complete our process.
We look forward to playing with Mugwort over the Halloween season!