The Traveller’s Quiet

 

There are nights when the road refuses to sleep.
Caravan wheels echo inside the mind long after the journey has stopped.

Thoughts fidget like restless birds. The body lies still, but the spirit keeps pacing.

This tincture was made for those hours - the ones between night lamps and morning fires,

when the mind needs softness more than silence, and the heart needs cooling more than darkness.

A companion for rest, deep exhale, and drifting without struggle.

 

The Caravan Dream Tincture

Rest • Cooling of Thought • Gentle Release

 

Old-World Origin

In roadside inns from Andalusia to Marrakesh - places thick with storytellers,

spice smoke, and musicians - travellers often struggled to find sleep.

Women healers prepared small glass vials of sedative florals and desert fruits.
They infused bitter apricot kernels, poppy petals (where allowed),

and cooling blossoms like blue lotus, linden, and orange flower.

Perfumed, not heavy. Soothing, not dulling.

This recipe bows to those inn-door herbalists,

who soothed restless heads without extinguishing their dreams.

 

Ingredients (120 ml)

Herbs
✶ 1 tbsp dried linden blossom
✶ 1 tsp dried passionflower
✶ ½ tsp dried orange blossom
✶ 3-4 dried fig pieces (softening sweetness)
✶ ¼ vanilla bean (split)

Alcohol Base
✶ 150 ml Moroccan Amlou-infused Aguardente
(if unavailable: a soft French cognac works beautifully)

Non-Alcoholic Base
✶ Raw apple cider vinegar (with the mother)
✶ 1 tsp fig-soaked honey (optional, strained from the figs)

 

The Preparation

Cut figs into tiny pieces and place into a clean glass jar.
Add linden, passionflower, orange blossom, and a single split vanilla piece.

Pour over your chosen alcohol (or vinegar mixture) until fully covered.
Seal the jar and wrap it in linen or cotton - inn healers believed sleep tinctures must “breathe” in fabric that touches the body.

Steep in a dark place for 26 days, shaking very gently once a week.

Strain through muslin, bottle in amber glass, label with a symbol of quiet (a crescent, a closed eye, a line turning downward).

 

How to Use

✶ 3-4 drops on the tongue before bed
✶ 5 drops stirred into warm milk, oat milk, or chamomile tea
✶ 1 drop rubbed into palms before sleep (inhale deeply)
✶ 2 drops above heart for emotional rest

 

Symbolism

✶ Linden Blossom - serene breath, child-like calm
✶ Passionflower - untangling thoughts, surrender
✶ Orange Blossom - emotional peace, dream clarity
✶ Fig – nourishment, gentle grounding, sweetness without force
✶ Vanilla - warmth of safety, comfort of home
✶ Cognac/Aguardente - the slow fire that eases into softness

 

Intention

"May my rest be earned, unforced, and kind to my spirit."

 

Author’s Note

I created this tincture on nights when silence itself wasn’t enough.
It has become the quiet doorway into sleep during my longer journeys.

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CaravanSerai Gypsy

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