• About Me
  • One Willow Apothecaries

Woolgathering & Wildcrafting

Woolgathering & Wildcrafting

Monthly Archives: May 2016

What’s in my Medicine Bag?

31 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by Asia in Earth Medicine

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

herbal medicine, journeying, perspective, stone medicine, travel

Medicine Pouch

Whenever I travel I always pack a medicine pouch. Over time this has evolved. From bandaids and salves to flower essences, stones and talismans. As the years flow by my very definition of medicine changes, grows, and transforms. From the sturdy resiliency of the western medical breastplate, to the more ineffable healing of the natural world— quiet and effective as the swoop of silent downy owls. Whenever I travel I like to carry medicine with me that helps me connect into the deeper, less tended sides of myself. The underground streams that are only healed when I untether and take myself away from it all. When I travel my medicine pouch is more than just a stockpile of first aid herbs, it is a reminder of the transformation that is possible.

Traveling itself is a deep kind of medicine for me. It is a time when I am allowed a kind of shaman’s-view of my life. I slip out of the confines of my day-to-day and journey, meeting strange and wonderful allies, encountering obstacles, seeing life from an expanded perspective. Every time I travel I come closer to home. I am able, with distance, to see more clearly – what is feeding me, and what isn’t? What newness would I like to call into my life? And what can I let go?

{ Photo by Juliet Blankespoor }

For the next few weeks I’ll be traveling to California and back again to share earth medicine. This week I’m headed to the Spirit Weavers gathering, nestled in the heart of the Redwoods, to teach about plants and stones. And when I return I’ll be heading straight for the Firefly Gathering here in western Appalachia with several classes in intuitive plant medicine and dreamskills!Every single time I travel my medicine pouch looks a bit different. In preparation for this journey I’ve spent several dreamy weeks slowly feeling my way into what medicine should be brought along for these particular travels. Herbs, talismans, tinctures and stones. Sometimes the medicine that decides to come into my pouch is a mystery to me. Just like ocean waves, and the contents of my own dreams— I may not grasp the fuller picture, but the meaning stirs me . Each medicine, subtle, ineffable, irreplaceable, brings me closer to embracing the medicine of the journey itself.

 

So dear friends, come with me and take a peek into my Traveling Medicine Bag. Read on to discover the elements, herbs and medicine I always carry with me when I travel, and find inspiration to create your own medicine bag as you journey into the season.

 

 

<< What’s in my Traveling Medicine Bag? >>

 

Flower Essence Bowl

 

A Flower Essence

 

Every time I travel I choose one core vibrational elixir to imbibe every day.

Traveling is a unique time of stepping out of your day-to-day life and embracing a more potent experience of being alive. As Rick Steves says, Traveling is living intensified. And so when we travel, the deeper emotional and spiritual healing in our lives is intensified as well.

In the days or weeks before my trip I like to sit down in my apothecary of flower essences and intuitively select a blend of one to four flowers based on my intention for the travels. I let my hands and my heart choose, allowing my brain to be quiet for once. When each element has been selected I combine them into a dosage bottle and give the mixture a name. For this journey I called my formula, “The Heartwood.” The name helps me to remember and reconnect into my original intention for this time of inner work and outer travel. I find that taking a step out of my normal life can help me tune in even more sharply to the workings of subtle and vibrational plant medicine. And when you take such medicine every day of your trip, the journey itself becomes a true passport to a new era.

Try making a blend for yourself before your next trip. One Willow’s Flower essences (like most essences you purchase in the store) are all stock bottles, so you can begin to collect your own stock apothecary of flower essences and create literally hundreds of dosage bottles (for you, your mom, your dog… no joke, the use of flower essences in veterinary practice is booming).

(Not sure what stock + dosage bottles are? Or how to make them? Take a gander at our handy Flower essence FAQ )

Processed with VSCOcam with c1 preset

A Stone

For every trip I choose one stone to be my talisman. Journeying out of your normal, everyday routine provides you with an incredibly rich opportunity to enter into a time-out-of-time space and tap into a meditative state of receptivity. This is often my favorite time to go deep with a particular stone, letting it potentize my journey.

I let the stone choose me. I visit my stone drawers or the crystal shop or the creek beside my house and see which stone waves or sparkles at me. I particularly love when I know very little about the stone, and so I can start with a blank slate in which to learn through my experiences. Either way, my relationship with a stone deepens dramatically when we travel together. I will often sleep with the stone under my pillow. Hold it in my hands during stressful moments and bring it out to bathe in wild waters or under the moonlight with me.

 

Two stones I often love to travel with are:
Lepidolite

Deeply calming, soothing and lithium-filled this stone is my go-to for airport anxiety and travel insomnia. I particularly love finding tumbled pieces and holding them in my left hand while I practice deep belly breathing or EFT tapping to refind my peace.

 

Black Tourmaline

Like many black stones, Black tourmaline creates healthy psychic boundaries as well as protects against negative energies. As someone who identifies as unavoidably empathic (sometimes detrimentally so!) I value the companionship of this stone deeply. Known to help those who hold a lot of energy to “decharge”, it is a vital stone for anyone who facilitates healing work. Tourmalines in general help us to understand that it is okay to go within, to bring your energy down into your personal self and refill the well, a sacred reminder that cannot be repeated enough when we are in the midst of travels.
(Want to learn how to select the right stone for you? Check out my new online course, How Stones Communicate! )

 

Passionflower essence square

My Top Three Tinctures for Travel


Spilanthes (Acemlla oleraca) – I always bring an immune stimulating herb with me whenever I travel. When we journey out of our comfort zones it’s common to be a bit more susceptible to passing colds. Having an immune stimulant in my pouch has often meant the difference between a day of feeling gunky and the full-blown flu. This zesty flower is one of my all time favorite immune herbs. Stimulating and antimicrobial, I take a couple dropperfulls of the tincture whenever I feel the icy approach of a cold or illness. It is particularly helpful when you are wanting to avoid airplane plagues. Spilanthes is easily adaptable to a wide variety of garden soils and such a curiously fun plant to grow.

 

Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum)- Traveling is wonderful and exciting … and it can also be downright stressful! To help downgrade the overwhelm, I always travel with at least one adaptogen (an herb that helps your body, heart and mind deal with stress gracefully), and Tulsi is my absolute go-to. A student once asked me if I could bring only one herb to a desert island, what would it be? My answer was Tulsi. In the realm of the multitudinous, the complex and the mysterious manifold, Tulsi (or Holy Basil) reigns queen. A sacred herb of the Ayurvedic traditions, Tulsi has one of the longest lists of herbal actions I’ve ever seen. Along with being an adaptogen, it is also considered an anxiolytic (anxiety reducing herb), anti-depressant, nervine (an herb that relaxes our nervous system) antimicrobial and immunomodulator. It is calming and focusing for the mind and can even lower blood pressure. Tulsi embodies so many different medicinal properties, it is considered a virtual panacea in some traditions. And as such, Tulsi is a brilliant ally for helping us to integrate complexity within our own journey, expanding out into the possibility of all those open horizons.

 

Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) – Traveling to strange and foreign lands often means eating strange and foreign foods, am I right? I’m normally pretty on point with my diet but when I travel, well, sometimes the best laid plans get thrown out the window! Whenever I journey I never leave home without a digestive bitter. Largely eliminated from our modern diet, bitters are a cornerstone of traditional eating. Bitters, which often accompany food that is difficult to digest or even potentially toxic, send an important signal to our digestive system to stoke the digestive fires. Taken in small doses before a meal, bitters can greatly increase our digestive powers, aiding absorption of essential vitamins and minerals and eliminating bloating, gas and indigestion. Bitters also help bolster the liver, thus increasing the elimination of toxins. Recent studies have found an inextricable link between our brains and our guts. When we improve digestion we can actually improve our mental health and mindset.

 

Bitters are often chosen by constitution. Do you tend to run hot or cold? Would you be better benefited by a cooling, simple bitter (like dandelion)? Or by a warming, aromatic bitter (like cardamom or sassafras)? I run on the cold side so I always gravitate towards aromatic bitters. And Sassafras is simply my all time favorite. This important Native American medicine is an aromatic and delicious medicinal. The root (or more specifically the root bark) is one of the most traditional spring tonics, due to its blood cleansing and stimulating nature. It is also strongly anti-inflammatory, carminative (gas relieving), and diaphoretic (warming, sweat-inducing and helpful in breaking fevers). I take 5 drops 20 minutes before a meal to stimulate and warm my digestion.

 

Smudge sticks

Medicine to Give Back

It is important to me to bring offerings whenever I travel. Hand-harvested sage, tobacco from my garden, stones I found and greatly love. I like to leave offerings wherever I lay my head– at the roots of trees, on the banks of rivers, and with friends who graciously offer to host me. Medicine is a moment of exchange, so give back to the people, places and friends who have gifted you such essential experiences.

 

Blessed travels everyone!

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Clear Quartz Initiation

25 Wednesday May 2016

Posted by Asia in Earth Medicine

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

clear quartz, crystal healing, daoist medicine, initation, meditation, stone medicine, vibrational medicine

Processed with VSCOcam with g3 preset

True medicine is wild, abundant and free.

This truth, plucked from the stone medicine soliloquy I released several weeks ago, pretty much sums up the bedrock of everything I believe. It explains why I make medicine, why I write, why I teach. Because I’m passionate about helping people to remember that medicine isn’t something we need to earn. It isn’t something that is given to us by any guru, or something only understood by the elite. Medicine, true medicine, is wild abundant and free.

If you asked indigenous people around the world what they considered to be medicine, you would get many different answers. Plants, stones, stars, words, chants, water. But you would see one commonality – many things are medicine, and everything is medicine. Medicine, by definition, is something that helps us heal. Fresh picked strawberries, first kisses, kitten purrs and a thick night of stars. All of this affects us deeply, our inner hearts, our sense of well-being. Opening new layers of meaning, comfort, security, belonging, profundity, inspiration and expression. All of this is medicine.

Since I posted to my video, Stone Medicine Grounded, to Facebook a few weeks ago it has gotten more views than anything I’ve ever released. Over six thousand, to be exact. Since that time I’ve had a serious outpouring of support, camaraderie and questions.

And of all the good questions I get asked, the most prevalent is: Where do I start? This is one reason why I created my new online course How Stones Communicate, because the best way to begin is to learn how to listen. But we all need initiations in our life. Bright moments of new openings that are supported by the very teachers we are eager to learn from.

Quartz crystals

So if you are looking to begin your journey into the stone realm, then look no further than Clear Quartz. Clear Quartz is a master initiator. It is often the first stone people are drawn to, and for good reason. This clearing stone is a vast vault of energy, and can direct Qi (or Chi) accordingly. Known to “take on” the energy of your emotions and intentions, Quartz helps to increase the power and clarity of any given affirmation or thought. It amplifies and opens our intuitive understanding, and holds space for our prayers. Quartz is what lies at the center of all our technology, including this computer upon which I type (and you read).

Clear Quartz is also one of the most prevalent minerals on earth.

Talk about wild, abundant and free.

If you’ve been looking to open a new era in your medicine practice and journey of personal healing, let Clear Quartz open the gates. Read on to learn more about the medicine of this bright stone and how to undertake a self-designed Clear Quartz Initiation.

{Photo by Luminosity Crystals}

Processed with VSCOcam with a6 preset

C L E A R    Q U A R T Z

I N I T I A T I O N

 

Are you ready to cross the threshold and begin working with stones?
Let clear Quartz initiate you into the realm of mineral medicine + magic.

<>

Known as the “master harmonizer” in Chinese medicine, Clear Quartz is a powerful cleanser and amplifier. On the physical level Clear Quartz (Ying Shi, The Brilliant Stone) is thought to increase and regulate the Qi (our life force), bringing vitality to all areas of the body. It can help tame rebellious Qi, which includes nausea, vomiting and coughing, and was traditionally used to clear heat in the blood.

Clear Quartz is highly “programmable,” it can carry and amplify the energy of our intentions. The highly structured composition of this powerful stone enables it to store and record vast amounts of information— it is no coincidence that quartz technology is what enabled the creation of all our computers and cell phones!

In traditional Daoist medicine, Clear Quartz was often used to draw and store energy from other stones, animals, elements or lands. By pointing quartz at a certain celestial body, for example, the stone inherently absorbs some of the energy of that entity and can become an emissary of that medicine wherever it goes.

Clear Quartz brings invigoration and clarity. Quartz can help us to become aware of the thoughts that create “stuckness” and help us recognize the seed of truth in any situation.  Clear quartz can also help enhance psychic communication, meditation and visioning. It aids us in establishing a clear connection to our higher guidance.

Processed with VSCOcam with f2 preset

How to begin?

  A Self-Designed Clear Quartz Initiation

Start your journey into the stone realm by finding a piece of Quartz you resonate with. As one of the most abundant minerals on earth, you can find Quartz in any stone store. There are also ample deposits of many different kinds of Quartz around the world! Check out your backyard and you might be surprised to find some some Quartz varieties right outside your door.

 

In cultural anthology and religious studies all initiations are seen as rites of passages with three distinct stages: Separation – a marked moment of leaving the world or experience of reality you previously knew. Liminality – an inbetween state or threshold where you have left behind the old but haven’t yet stepped into the new. And Incorporation – where you return from the journey, integrating what you’ve learned about the world and your deeper self, entering in a new reality or worldview.

The following are three stages of a self-designed initiation rite to help open you up to the incredible magic of the stone world.

1. Meditation + Intention

You will begin to “separate” yourself from the world you previously knew (with its more rigid definitions of medicine) using an age old technique of shifting consciousness: meditation. Choose a day to begin this self-designed initiation and setting aside 30 minutes to sit in meditation with your stone. If you’d like to cleanse your Quartz beforehand simply place it in running water for half an hour. When you are ready to begin, put on soothing music, relax with the stone in your palm and notice any sensation, images or memories that arise. Clear Quartz is a record keeper, so you might pick up on impressions or information that is already stored in the stone. When you feel you have made a connection with your Quartz, ask it to become an initiator for you, a gatekeeper for the opening of this new world of seeing and experiencing a diversity of medicine. Program the Quartz with your intention, whether that be a desire to widen your consciousness or simply to receive deeper healing from the stone realm. The Quartz will hold and amplify this intention for you and open the doors to begin down this new path.

2. One Week Quartz Elixir

Venture into the liminal zone, this transitional state of awakening to the mineral realm, with seven days of Quartz elixir. Begin the night before you wish to start by placing your programmed Quartz in a glass or cup. Any size will do but I tend to select smaller glasses or teacups as I’ll be drinking all of the elixir water at once. Cover the stone with water and fill within a ½ in of the top of your glass or jar. Cover the mouth of your jar with a paper towel or lid and let sit overnight. Drink your elixir first thing in the morning, before breakfast or coffee. Imbibing your elixir on an empty stomach will help you to notice and feel the effects more potently. Remove the stone from the cup if you are worried about swallowing. Otherwise you can just drain the elixir from the cup and then put your stone aside on a cloth to dry. Repeat for seven days.

 

Keep a journal to notice any shifts during this “in-between time.” As we self-initiate into new levels of awareness stuff will come up to be released. Outdated ways of thinking, old patterns of interacting or limiting thoughts. If you re-experience any old fears or worn out doubts, just know that they are coming up because they are moving through your consciousness and asking to be released. You didn’t want to take that self doubt with you into this new era, did you? This can be a challenging, yet wonderous, time. Stay with it and give gratitude for the entire experience. You are moving into a new era of seeing.

 

Note: Clear quartz is one of the safest stones to drink in water, but some stones should not be used in elixirs at all. Please do your research if you decide to try this with any other stone.


3. Dream with your Quartz

Close this week of initiation by spending the night in the dreamtime with your Quartz. Place your Clear Quartz under your pillow before you sleep; this will be your ceremony of incorporation.  When we go to sleep we tap back into the vast reservoir of our deeper consciousness; we rejoin our wider selves.  Every morning we wake up with a more complete memory of who we truly are. And every morning is an opportunity to enter a brand new era. So allow this last sleep to be a ritual of integrating all you’ve learned, on the deepest levels. Before you put the stone under your pillow thank it for all the beautiful work you’ve done together, and feel free to ask the stone to show you what comes next. Put a pad of paper beside your bed and take note of any dreams, feelings or sensations upon awakening. Initiations can be subtle, but they are always profound. Give yourself time to reintegrate and notice this new world.

Honor the stone you worked with by burying it in the ground for an evening to rest. And know that, on the deepest level of your being, everything is crystallizing exactly as it should.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Stone Medicine, Grounded

04 Wednesday May 2016

Posted by Asia in Crafting

≈ 9 Comments

Processed with VSCOcam with c1 presetFor me, it began with the plants. By which I mean that it was the plants who first helped me to see that the world is alive with medicine. It started slowly, with noticing how blackberry blossoms can dust a hillside like snow. With seeing the dandelions sprout between the pavement, the plantain flourish in the driveway. With hearing the way two maples will rustle together in full leaf, like grandmothers in conversation. A sound that wasn’t just a sound, but a whispered realization of the aliveness happening all around me. The Anishinaabe people have a whole word, just for this kind of conversation. “Si-si-gaw-d,” the sound trees make when they talk amongst one another.*

It began with the plants. They were the ones that first taught me to recognize this world for what it is— a living tapestry of consciousness and connection. But once I opened to this reality I was able to remember what all our ancestors knew intimately. That this entire world is animated by energy. That there is no “it,” no “things”— only beings. And that every being has its own medicine.

And so it was that I opened to our earth’s most ancient medicine— The Stones.

* For a beautiful and storied reflection on si-si-gaw-d and the richly languaged world of the Anishinaabe (Objibwe) people check out Ignatia Broker’s book Night Flying Woman

Stones have been considered emissaries of healing, power, and creativity for millennia. From the Egyptians to the Celts, the Central American empires to indigenous societies throughout Australia and North America — stones are foundational to a diversity of medicinal practices and spiritual beliefs. Stones and crystals are mentioned in many ancient religious texts, including the Bible, the Hindu Vedas and the Koran. The oldest written reference to stone medicine comes from a hieroglyphic papyrus dated in 2000 B.C — but the recognition of stones as medicine can be traced much farther back in human imagination. Stones are an intimate part of humanity’s relationship with the more-than-human world. They are gatekeepers for our interaction with divinity, and with mystery. Stones are part of the fabric of human history. Like the blue stones of England’s Stonehenge, transported over 150 miles to their final resting place, or the quartz crystals found in burials throughout the world, including a California grave dating from as far back as 6,000 BC.

In Chinese medicine, stones have been a part of medicinal prescriptions for thousands of years. In fact, they were used as the original acupuncture needles and are still an integral part of Chinese materia medica today. We hear the term “crystal healing” and we have a tendency to write it off as new age. But stone healing isn’t new at all (unless you count the crystal technology that fuels all our cell phones and computers). Calling upon stones for healing is as ancient as humanity itself. Whether we were marking our handprints with ocher on cave walls, or burying our dead with serpentine. For millennia human beings have recognized stones as medicine

It isn’t that stone healing is new. It’s just that we’ve forgotten.

 

Cueva de las Manos (The Cave of Hands) in Argentina, 13,000 to 9,000 years old

 

Learning to engage with stones as medicine is a way of expanding our consciousness beyond the bounds of what we’ve been handed, opening our hearts to perceive a deeper, more complex reality.

How many of us grew up thinking of rocks as the very definition of an inanimate object? When we can see stones as alive — elements of our world that have been most rigorously denied their behinghood — we can truly transform our perspective of life. We can begin to engage with a reality of the world that is much more life giving, life recognizing. If stones are alive, then absolutely everything on earth is venerable, powerful, and worth honoring.

If stones are alive, how could we deny beinghood to any other life form? If stones are alive, how could we condone strip mining a mountain or building a wall between us and our neighbors? When stones come alive, all the divisions that have created so much strife in our world begin to dissolve. When stones come alive, a true revolution in thinking can take place.

 

Over the past several months I’ve developed a class to help open the gateway to this kind of transformational thinking and medicine making.

How Stones Communicate is a course about beginning to work with stones, and opening up to a more luminious world. Grounded, de-mystified, practical, and story-rich, this class will help you open a dialogue with the stones. To hear the si-si-gwa-d of the stone realm, and find a new language for understanding the medicine inherent to this world.

The class is yours to keep forever and is available to you whenever you are ready. In the meantime, check out my impassioned video about this stone medicine revolution below. Hear about the history of “Woo” and why embracing stone medicine is an integral part of the healing on this earth.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Defined

[wool-gath-er-ing] v.
daydreaming, the gathering of thoughts and dreams as one might collect fallen tufts of wool

[wild-craft-ing] v.
the harvesting of herb, root, flower or inspiration from the wilds

Herbal Greetings

Sign up for our Newsletter

follow us

Instagram

Recent Posts

  • This Blog has moved…
  • A Guide to Keeping your Head up
  • My Top Three Herbal Books
  • Pilgrimage Project: Japan
  • Empty Rooms Fill with Light

Categories

  • Appalachian Beauty
  • Crafting
  • Domestic Bliss
  • Earth Medicine
  • Inspirations
  • Wild Foods
  • Wildcrafting & Collecting

Archives

  • July 2019
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • October 2015
  • August 2015
  • June 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • April 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • September 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 773 other followers

Blogs I love

  • Analog Beauty
  • Blog Castanea
  • Blood and Spicebush
  • Glorious Forest Farms
  • Green Man Ramblings
  • Moss Dreams
  • The Crystal Chick
  • The Indigo Vat
  • The Medicine Woman's Roots
  • Way of the Wild Heart
  • Wisdom of the Plant Devas
  • Woodworking & Quiltmaking

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
    %d bloggers like this: