• About Me
  • One Willow Apothecaries

Woolgathering & Wildcrafting

Woolgathering & Wildcrafting

Tag Archives: intuition

When Violets Speak

19 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by Asia in Earth Medicine, Inspirations, Wild Foods, Wildcrafting & Collecting

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

flower essences, herbalism, intuition, plant medicine, violets, wild foods

Processed with VSCOcam with f2 preset

I first moved to these mountains in spring. Early spring, when things are still raw with beginning. It felt fitting. I had left behind my entire life in New York City— my relationship, my community and career— to start anew in Appalachia. I brought only what would fit into my car, leaving space for the bigness of what I was carrying, the dream of what life could possibly be like moving forward: To live in daily communion with the natural world, to come into the vividness of my being, to open up the doors of self-initiation that had only been hinted at previously.

I knew something important was aching to unfold, and that stepping out into the great unknown, on my own, was important. And so I did. I started those first lonely weeks without a single piece of furniture or any connections in town. It was exhilarating and terrifying, and some days I wondered how I would handle the bigness of it all.

I was still sleeping on a pallet on the floor of my room when the violets arrived. It started with a few small handfuls of violets, scattered here and there, like tiny daubs of lavender amongst the winter-flattened grass. And then one morning I awoke and the entire hillside was alive with grape and hyacinth. Stretching for almost an acre, I was living amongst a sea of Viola. It was spectacular, and often stirred me to tears. When I looked at them I had the distinct feeling that I too was being seen. 

I didn’t know it then, but this was one of my first initiations into Intuitive Plant Medicine.

Processed with VSCOcam with f2 preset

Like most denizens of mainstream culture, I grew up seeing violets but never really seeing them. Suddenly, at this pivotal moment in my life it was as if I was experiencing violets for the very first time— and I was drinking it in. I munched on the flowers and leaves in every salad. I made violet tea (a gorgeous amethyst-hued brew). I candied the flowers and tried my hand at violet syrup. I sat amongst them, drew them, spoke to them. I walked past them and felt them reach out to me.

I had a hard time communicating what I was experiencing but it often brought me to tears. They were healing me. I was in herb school at the time, learning the ins and outs of plant constituents, but there was something lacking from all the violet material medicas I read through. It didn’t capture the sunlit spectrum of what I was experiencing. There was something more, something singing. I could hear it in a place before words.

So I stepped out of the textbook knowing and into my direct experience and I was given something absolutely life changing, a shift in the deepest well of my being. I began working directly with Violet and everything I had been hoping to embody, approach, and initiate through my move to Appalachia came to fruition.

A solidness in my sense of self. A slow removal from the pattern of people pleasing that had defined my life before. An ease in my aloneness, when once there was fear of disappointing others. It turned the tired stereotype of the shy violet on its head, so I could understand (finally) that my long-begrudged inwardness and empathy was a powerful strength indeed. I saw my unique sensitivity for what it is— a gift.

asia-harvesting-sjw

I began to experience myself, and the world, in ways I had never accessed before. And I realized that this was the kind of medicine I came to the mountains to practice. The kind of medicine that brings you to your knees in profundity, the kind of medicine that helps you activate the medicine of your own being. This was Intuitive Plant Medicine, and this was what I was here to learn, teach and share.

Since that time I have had violets come up again and again in my practice, and I am always amazed by how it continues to appear in people’s lives during such similar transitions and big moments of finding one’s medicine.

This kind of direct, multidimensional experience of healing is what Intuitive Plant Medicine truly is. And this is what we (the plants and myself) are so exited to be sharing with you in the new Intuitive Plant Medicine online course.

Packed into this eight week online experience is a deep wealth of such aha moments. Big gateways of inner-growth, self-understanding and truly luminous connections to the plant realm. If you have been waiting for the time to ignite your own inner knowing and profound direct relationship with plants, come join us!

Registration closes on April 28th and we begin as a group shortly thereafter on May 1st. See you in the field of dreams!

<< Come Learn more about the course >>

violet flower essence sans text

>> The Medicine of Violets <<

Viola spp.

As a physical medicine, violets are rich indeed. Both violet leaves and flowers are edible, and are some of my favorite additions to early spring salads. The heart-shaped leaves are highly nutritive, subtly flavored, and a wonderful source of Vitamins A and C. They are also quite mucilaginous. Herbs that have mucilage are deeply soothing for our stomachs and internal mucosa, helping to ease inflamed throats and impaired digestion. Mucilage is also chock full of soluble fiber, so it can be helpful in easing constipation, feeding our beneficial digestive flora, and lowering cholesterol levels. The mucilage of violet leaves can be a lovely addition to thicken soups or a batch of pesto. I like to take a walk-about every spring morning and gather a small handful of wild greens like chickweed (Stellaria media), dandelion (Taraxacum officinalis) and violets to have with my morning eggs.

Violet flowers and leaves are considered to be a blood purifier, or alterative, and are often used as food medicine in spring cleanses. High in both Rutin and Vitamin C, the leaves help to strengthen the blood vessels, lessening varicose veins and the tendency to bruise easily (which can be particularly helpful if you like to ramble in the springtime woods). In clinical trials violets have been shown to be a rich in antioxidants (just look at the color! of course they are!), as well as anti-inflammatory and blood thinning compounds.

The Viola genus has around 550 species, including Johnny jump ups, hearts ease and pansies. Many violet species are used similarly to our familiar lawn-native, Viola sororia, but there are always differences between plants, and some woodland species are endangered so always use your head, guidebook and heart when harvesting. Violet leaves also have some toxic look a-likes so make sure to harvest when the plant is in bloom if you are in any doubt of your ID.

Violets actually have two different flowers. The characteristic purple flower we notice in spring, and a hidden white-blanched bud that flowers just underneath the surface of the soil later in the year. The common above-ground flower is what we use as food and medicine.

 

Wid violets

As a flower essence, Violet opens a space of deep self-acceptance, contentment, and individual wellbeing. Calming, steadying and maternal, the flower helps you to feel comfortable and supportive of yourself as an individual. Letting go of negative attachments and patterns of relating (especially to oneself). Violet helps us to foster good connections that come from a deep recognition of self-importance. It is often helpful during breakups, major heart transitions, or in times of self-exploration. The essence can be indicated for those who tend towards shyness and introversion as well as those who would do well to spend more time in quiet reflection and reverence of their lives.

Violet helps us to appreciate stillness— mindful observation, moments of silence, and the important joy of just being. It can expand your abilities as a listener, both to yourself as well as to others, and open you to a powerful place of acceptance. Violet encourages a commitment to be warm and generous towards oneself, it can help separate the negative feelings of loneliness from the incredible gift of alone-ness. It is sometimes within such still spaces that we recognize just how joyful it is to be ourselves, a being in springtime.

 

Visit our Violet flower essence in the shop
Processed with VSCOcam with f2 preset

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Opening Earth Intuition

29 Wednesday Mar 2017

Posted by Asia in Earth Medicine

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

earth magic, Earth Medicine, faeries, herbalism, intuition

Processed with VSCOcam with f2 preset

At some point growing up I adopted the belief that to be spiritual was to be un-intellectual. That intuition, even though it sounded lovely, wasn’t grounded or practical. And even though I was always a sensitive and dreamy kid, at a young age I was set to prove that I too could be smart, rational, based in physical reality, and above all, “realistic.”

And so it wasn’t until I was in my early twenties that I started to believe in faeries. It wasn’t until I become an adult that I started talking to trees in earnest. It wasn’t until I experienced chronic illness and understood, for the first time, that I existed on many levels (and that healing, true healing, happened on every single one of those levels) that I accessed a layer of magic within the world that is real, tangible. It wasn’t until this point in my life that I realized— the world, this world that I live in, is animated by sentience and consciousness. And so anything is possible.

I learned how to eat flowers in the spring. I unlearned my incredulous Northeastern disbelief, and lost myself in a forest of leaves.

And I found the piece I had always been missing: that to be spiritual is not to be able to connect to some far flung star. It is to become a part of the earth once more. That intuition doesn’t exist in the ethereal heights, but down in soil, at the roots, ankle deep in the ocean at the source of the spring.

When I finally connected to my own earth intuition, the knowing that lives in my connection to the living world, untold doors began to open before me. And I stopped looking for the portal to understanding my life path because, suddenly, it was right before me.

Over my years of teaching and seeing clients I’ve connected with so many folks who have a similar ache, a yearning to re-open the gateways of their own intuition and reconnect to the magic of living right here on earth.

And so I decided to create a free video series to help you open the gate.

Join me for the Opening Earth Intuition mini-course!

OEI free header video series smaller

Learn how to harness the gifts of your own intuitive abilities and become receptive to the vibrant guidance of the natural world. Throughout the course I’ll be offering specific tips, tricks and exercises, with a whole lot of personal stories and inspiration along the way.

I’m excited to connect with you there!

(Back to regularly scheduled content soon!)

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Winter Pearl Diving

02 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by Asia in Earth Medicine, Inspirations

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

ama, appalachia, caspar david fredrich, chaga, florida, hematite, herbal medicine, intuition, meditation, pearl diving, shamanic journeying, southern appalachia, springs, stone medicine, winter, winter weather, wintertime

Screen shot 2015-02-02 at 1.59.41 PMToday is Imbolc and winter has reached its fullest depths in our blue-hued mountains. Here in Southern Appalachia we don’t get the same thick quilts of winter-hewn snow as our neighbors farther to the north. Instead, we are tucked in by the frost that touches the early chickweed and the amber fountains of summer’s lemongrass still left in garden plots. The earth resumes a subtle wheel, one of silver on gold, glimmer on pewter— a frostshine that disappears with the afternoon sun. Here, we normally get only a dusting of snow, subtle gusts that come through like the tiniest song. A sonatina, quick and small, relished and then released in warmer winds. Here, winter is a fawn-colored mixture of dried beech leaves and muddy raccoon prints. Rivers of grey clouds and frost-covered stones. The white pines sigh and reach upwards through the empty forests, bare armed in the white milk of sunny winter skies. The spruce and fir grow imperceptibly. This is a season that belongs to such evergreen, to winter grasses and standing stones.

der-chasseur-im-walde

Processed with VSCOcam with c1 presetScreen shot 2015-02-02 at 2.27.13 PMThere is a mystery to winter days, a fated subtlety. Even in their sameness, each day turns itself over anew, like the dried bones of yarrow stalks, thrown and scryed for imperceptible hexagrams. As the outer world seems to stay stationary, the inner hues change from day to day— from calmness to tumult, interiority and hope. I’ve always cherished the divinatory mystery of winter. It is the only time when the exterior word is allowed to go fallow and the interior worlds, our innermost places, are given permission to take up all of the sky. It is a time for inner wonderings and wanderings, woven blankets and wool gathering, self-study and the smallest sensual delights.

Screen shot 2015-02-02 at 1.59.01 PMI’ve been cultivating these inner depths ever more richly this year. Researching, gathering and mapping for my newest class series (Winter Intuition School) and beginning the journey of writing my very first book. It has been a time of deep self-exploration, of sea depths and unknown spelunking. It has been a time of seeking hidden treasures and swimming in the conscious unconsciousness. This winter I have been practicing the art of pearl diving.

der-wanderer-ueber-dem-nebelmeerA few years ago I traveled to Florida to stay in a house that had been built and then carried, and then built again, along a cold spring fed river. Only a few minutes walk from the spring’s origin source, we would make daily pilgrimages to its depths. Upon my first visit, I had expected to find a sweet bubbling pond, a crystal clear brook that was all invitation and gemstone clarity. Instead, after a couple paces, I found myself on the edge of an actual chasm, an electric blue crater whose sheer depth was fathomable only by the deepening gradients of sapphire, cobalt and navy blue. It took me a little while until I felt comfortable enough to venture beyond the ledge, a kitty pool expanse where one could sit comfortably with both knees on the shallow under-rock. The distance between one edge and another was punctuated by an enormous blue hole, deeper than an iris and wider than a full-grown whale. Finally, gathering my courage, I pushed off the crushed rock edge and let myself sink feet first, knowing I would never touch the bottom. It was a thrill and a fear, a fantasy and a kind of ecstasy of bravery all at once. Over the course of the next week I went everyday, and everyday it took a bit of coaxing, heart in my throat, to re-approach the sharp underwater edge once more and throw myself eagerly overboard.

Screen shot 2015-02-02 at 2.03.09 PMIn many ways, this is how almost every day of my winter has begun. Free diving into one’s own depths requires much courage and bravado. To explore the inner realms often means plunging with naught but your hands and the bellows of your lungs to seek the deepest veins, those that seep warm mineral clouds and hold such surprising life. It requires skill, a practice of patience, and the innate knowing of when to kick and surface. When to return to sunshine and sea waves and rest like a seal on the rise. Such inner explorations is its own kind of pearl dive; what you seek is a rare treasure, one that exists solely within the soft bellied shells of the deep.

Traditional Japanese pearl diving was done by women called the “Ama” – sea women. These women of the ocean often lived independently, many of them diving until their elder years in naught but a single loincloth. You do not need to carry much to find such pearls, and here, age is an asset—for it means wisdom and untold skill. It takes great practice to be a pearl diver. Navigating depths with only quick fingers and seaweed strong lungs.

Pearl_Divers_Girls_insanetwist_1In many traditions, the unconscious (or wider consciousness) of the soul was symbolized by water. Water is an entirely different medium than earth, an entirely different world. In water, our bodies must learn how to move as another type of species. In the waving depths of consciousness expanding meditation, creative work or shamanic journeying, our embodied selves must learn an even deeper fluidity. Exploring one’s deeper self and opening one’s intuition doesn’t happen or unfold all at once. An Ama must sometimes open a thousand mollusks before she finds a pearl. Such exploration is not built as a ship, simply navigated with wheel and star. You must be committed to diving down, over and over, practicing how to keep yourself alive in other worlds. With each dive, frigid and thrilling, we learn how to go deeper and how to sight the glimmer hidden in the centermost folds. Sometimes, it takes pulling open a thousand shells, each one with a kind of learning, to find that absolutely perfect round of pearl. That opalescent build up of years, the gem that results from a single irritation. The desire, first, to know more.

Perfect snowflakeThis winter I have been a sea woman, but I have also been a hearth-tender and earth watcher as well. In the midst of such explorations it is always important, vital really, to return to shore. In water, we can be both weightless and as heavy as an anchor. On earth we must stretch these sea bending bones and reground in our solidity. It can be easy, in wintertime, to float away. Whether to different realms of light-bearing consciousness or even into the dark stagnation of our own personal underworlds. Even in the midst of our deepest mid-winter imaginal navigations, we all must come back to the tangible world— the life-giving practices of fire tending, hearth sweeping, water boiling, bone saving, stock making, tea sipping, drop spinning, nut roasting and reading. Winter exists within the halves of both dark night and dry light. We must keep ourselves balanced and whole.

Processed with VSCOcam with c1 presetThere are many ways to ground in wintertime. Simply getting yourself outside, inspecting ice crystals or the dried heads of winter seeds, can do wonders to re-earth us once more. Often times, on the coldest days, I find that my best grounding happens in the kitchen. Like a sea-farer arriving home to a salt-creaked cottage lit by puffs of woodsmoke, I am often eager to get my fingers in sacks of winter-stored roots or kneaded dough.

In winter, I seek balance within the insides of most things. My home, my heart, the marrow in fresh cooked bones, the sweet blood of oranges that travel hundreds of miles from their Florida homes. I find balance in beginning an evening with a single recipe, working my way from the inside out.Processed with VSCOcam with c1 preset

Shortly before the holidays I fell in love with a new chocolate stove-top concoction, created from the core of such interior magic. It has been my dark winter companion ever since. After a full day of deep diving, long travels through inner places seeking pearls, I return home to rough-hewn cups of this Chaga Hematite hot coca, sip and rest once more in the nurturing opportunity of this dark and mysterious Winter’s embrace.

<<<>>>

Chaga Hematite hot cocoaDark, earthy, and profoundly grounding, this mystical hot cocoa will settle you in to the warm and nourishing delights of wintertime embers and star rich skies. Crafted from the stone that lies at the center of our earth and the mycelium within and underneath every inch of soil, this drink is a hearty root bringing you back to the warm heart of the day-to-day world. Sweetened with maple syrup and lightened with rich sea-foam dollops of coconut milk, to bring in the milky remembrance of diving for the deepest pearls. Warm yourself a cup of Chaga Hematite Hot Cocoa and settle in for a profoundly meditative wintery evening.

Chaga cocoa steaming

Chaga and Hematite rug Chaga cocoa from the top

Chaga Hematite Hot Cocoa

Recipe makes two mugs of hot cocoa

  • (Optional) Vanilla Extract
  • 2 oz maple syrup
  • 2 oz coconut milk
  • ¼ – ½ tsp cinnamon (or to taste)
  • 2 tsp cocoa power
  • 1.5 cups water
  • ½ oz chaga
  • 1 piece of Hematite
  1. Place a piece of hematite in 1.5 cups of water. Let infuse anywhere from one hour to overnight.
  2. Pour the water off your hematite into a separate pot.
  3. Decoct Chaga. Combine chaga with your hematite water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and let churn for at least 20 minutes (or until your tea turns to the shade of dark wood). When your decoction is done, strain the tea into a separate container.
  4. Sir in cocoa + cinnamon powder until all lumps are dissolved
  5. Add Coconut milk and Maple syrup
  6. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and make a toast to all rich and nourishing worlds!

Hematite and Chaga

Hematite is what makes up the core of our earth. It is the stone upon which our entire world is balanced. Iron rich and dense, Hematite is like the open arms of a profoundly grounding mother, welcoming us home after a hard day with a warm apron and bone stock bubbling away on the stove. An intensely sturdy stone, Hematite reminds us that we are here, now, and that to live on the earth fully is to recognize that we are unconditionally loved. Hematite helps us to come back to the bedrock of who we are, connecting to the precious anchors of body, embodiment, and our own inner places of self-love. Protective and solid, hematite can provide us with the sturdy container needed for shamanic journeying, creative visualization and explorations in consciousness. Hematite reminds us that we do not need to try to survive, this skill comes as naturally as the sunrise. This raw stone can help to bolster our deepest hearts so we know that we will be able to make it through even the longest winter. Hematite is a wonderful stone ally for the wintertime scholar and student of consciousness; this solid stone helps to concentrate the mind, bringing deep focus and balance to any wintertime pursuits. (To learn more about an ancient Daoist Hematite stone treatment for ghosts, check out my Samhain blog post from this past fall)

Chaga is a medicinal fungus that shows us the literal roots of the world. Often called a mushroom, Chaga is actually an outgrowth of the mycelium (or root system) of the fungus itself. Found most often on black birches in our Appalachian forests, chaga is a nourishing immune tonic. Antiviral, immune modulating, and adatogenic, chaga is an indispensable wintertime decoction in the far northern climbs of Russia. Simmered for half an hour or more, chaga makes a rich but mild tea high in antioxidants. Traditionally used internally for cancer, chaga has been shown to have an antitumor effect in clinical trials. Also called tinder fungus, chaga is renown as an excellent ally for catching coals of fresh drilled hand-fires and holding the spark for a deep amount of time. A vital companion for travelers and those who need to bring the spark of new life with them whenever they go. Chaga has been used in this way for thousands of year, it was even found in the pouches of Otzi, the Copper age man who lived and died in the Alps around 3,300 BCE, and who slept in the alpine glaciers on the border of Austria for thousands of years. Chaga is an ancient medicine of fire and continuance. Bring this nourishing companion into your world of tea kettle and late night inspiration and ignite a spark this winter whose embers will carry you through untold distances, perhaps, even, until the spring.

** Paintings by Caspar David Fredrich. Photograph by Iwase Yoshiyuki

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

The Woodland Within

28 Monday Jul 2014

Posted by Asia in Earth Medicine, Inspirations

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

fairy tales, folk stories, herbalism, herbfolk, intuition, john waterhouse, joseph campbell, metaphor, myth, mythology

This Fall I am delighted to be offering a fresh workshop at the HerbFolk Gathering. This herbal rendezvous, which takes place in the wilds of Northern Arizona, is one of the most inspired plant gatherings in our country. (Read my review of last year’s enchantment here). This year the gathering is stepping into a brand new incarnation of classes focused on folk tradition, mysticism and lore. In celebration, I debuted a short piece in the Plant Healer newsletter to unveil the themes and dreams, stories and scholarship that has ignited my workshop this year. I invite you to explore, The Woodland Within.

Big creekIn the old stories, whether you be girl or goose, goblin or goddess, the forest was a place of profound encounters. At the edge of town, beyond the thickets of heather and ivy dark vines, stretched a limitless space, a mystery that was asking to be experienced. Once upon a time the boundaries of the mapped world ended at the edge of the woods. After that, stretched the unknown.

Throughout history the space of enchantment created by forest narratives has served to expand the very possibilities of our reality Within the woods you can transform—from man to doe, mortal to faerie. Meet with elders and find guides amongst the trees. In the forest, anything is possible. Gods and goddesses live here, monsters and Kali-like creationists, too.

John waterhouse

John Waterhouse

As a people, we are forever enchanted with spaces of the unknown. Over and over again we reenter the woods for answers, profundity and connection. We are creatures who originate from a kind of woodland within. At the borders of our conscious minds lies a vast and often uncharted land. This is the realm of the unseen— spirit, soul, intuition, and the unconscious. We may live in a comfortable and cottaged physical world, a place of brilliant stories and community. But when night falls, like the twelve dancing princesses, each and every one of us slips the bounds of our physical world to explore places of deeper consciousness, spirit and dreams. Often times we may not even remember such travels, but our well-worn shoes will always tell the tale.

House in fog

To leave the comforts of our homes and venture into the unknown can be exhilarating, confusing and profound. When we enter the woodland within, we give up the security and the trappings of our day-to-day minds. The consciousness of the woods works in modes of twilight. It is a space that is neither here nor there. Traditional shamans knew easily how to travel between such realms, as did the ancient mystics of Daoist meditation, eyes slightly closed. When we travel, we chase experiences, transformation and remembrance. But, above all, it is guidance we seek.

||  Intuition and the Knowing Unknown ||

Intuition, like dark mushrooms on a nurse-log, is a part of our very being. Mysterious and yet familiar – intuition has been creatively defined for centuries as instinct, gut feeling, magic or memory. Intuition comes from a place that can be only be described as the “knowing unknown.” In truth, intuition is a kind of revelation— a word that, by definition, means to glimpse and then be re-veiled. A vital shepherd through even the darkest wood, intuition is a form of guidance that comes directly from such uncharted places of mystery, and it is available to us every time we part the veil and enter our inner woods.

Processed with VSCOcam with c1 preset

In my workshops, I like to bring people into direct encounters with their own places of intuition, guidance and mystery. As earth lovers and flower gatherers, blue jay singers and botanists—medicine makers of all kinds— developing an interaction with your own knowing unknown is as vital as watering the hidden roots of a newly planted willow. As healers, we have a sacred responsibility to venture into such places of forgotten remembrance, and we can begin to bring such inspiration back into our worlds through magnificent power of myth.

||  Mythology and Maps  ||

In our country, herbalists are some of the few that make it their business to enter the woods, not only to dig roots or simmer cups of pine needle tea, but to venture beyond the limitations of what we’ve been given and explore the mysteries inherent to healing. Traditional herbalists knew the magic of a well-told tale; they were often their own mythologists. When asked, each and every herbalist I know will give you the story of how they first arrived and fell-to-their-knees in love with the growing world. The more we share these stories and connect to our inner unseen sources of guidance, the more, as a whole, we can heal.

Astronomy-Map-Bootes-Hevelius

Stories are one of the most powerful forces on earth. In many indigenous religions, the entire world began with a word. As some storytellers recount, there was a time when the distance between our thoughts and our creations was much thinner. The stories we spoke, were the stories we lived.

Whether you lose yourself in Tolkien or find conversation around a cup of tea, stories continue to inform our daily reality. They can help us define who we are, where we are, and why we are. Human beings have lived with mythology as a bedfellow since we first looked to the rising sun and wondered what it might mean. The purpose of mythology, as Joseph Campbell so famously popularized, is the practice of creating maps. Through our stories we can invoke an invisible universe, a vanishing atlas of the treasures just beneath our feet, so that we may more confidently move through this visible world.

Vasilisa

Ivan Bilibin

In traditional folklore the best stories were replete with many creatures and beings of consciousness. Plants, as some of human’s closest allies, are also some of our most powerful story keepers. Often, when we fall for a plant, we are seduced by a kind of storyteller. When you become enchanted by a particular plant, are you not eager to go shouting their praises from every hilltop? In their deepest power, plants can act as traditional psychopomps, or guides of the soul, helping us to re-enter our own stories once more.

 

||  The Story that is Waiting to be Told  ||

Like Scheherazade, stories are what keeps us alive. Every day we tell ourselves tales about our lives. Some of these stories are invoked from the popular mythologies of our time— whether that be the tales of the Buddha or Martin Prechtel, the free-spirited Juliette de Baïracli Levy or our own mama’s yarns. And within, beneath, inherent to all of this, is the story of your lifetime. At the center of your existence, lives a story that is waiting to be told. As the Aborigine’s of Australia say, the biggest stories are hunting us. We can begin to live more richly, more directly from our passions and purpose, by learning the stories that yearn to be brought back from these places of the unknown.

(To read more about the important alchemy of story hunting I highly recommend the dreamy work of Robert Moss)

little red riding hoodThis coming Fall I’ll be teaching a workshop at the HerbFolk conference with the intention of leading a group of such travelers into this woodland within. We’ll explore concepts of intuition and the richness of myth, approach the guiding role of traditional folktales and how they can help counsel us through the perils, possibilities and magic of plant-based intuitive work. As a group we’ll undertake a guided meditation/conscious dream journey to our own woodland within to meet a plant spirit ally who is waiting to help us tell our biggest story. Together, we’ll visit these inner places of fable, mystery and myth, and return to translate our deep encounters into our own personal folktales.

Mountain stream

When you enter your woodland within, what will you find? A frog who has been waiting to become a prince or a white witch in disguise? A welcoming wolf clan or dwarves who can tell you your real name? Perhaps you’ll run into a friend of mine, an elder who has built her thatch cottage in an old deer bed. She is a woman with river lines in her face, and an apron faded to soft threads. Her house is an apothecary, cabinets lined with bottles and medicines of all kinds– not just willow bark or Solomon’s seal, but dragon scales, and discarded chrysalises, stones from the far-off veils of waterfalls. If you encounter her, she will most likely invite you in, share a drink as pink as mimosa flowers, and hand you a mortar and pestle so you can create your own brew. When you explore your inner woodland, what medicine will you find there?

Herbfolk banner

 

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Practicing Relaxing

19 Thursday Jul 2012

Posted by Asia in Inspirations

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

american culture, being, buddha, destiny, doing, in the moment, intuition, metaphysical, peaceful, relaxing, zen

It’s been over a month since I last posted. There are always a million reasons why you let something fall by the wayside. Most of the time, though, it boils down to this: I was too busy. This past month, however, I’ve been trying to rewrite that old tale. I have been busy, of course. I wove a pack basket, blanched buckets of green beans, and read Fifty Shades of Gray in about three days (I admit it!). But really, I have been practicing relaxing.

Rhododendrons excel at "just being"

Rhododendrons excelling at “just being”

I say practicing because it is not easy to relax! For years I have been creating an existence of “doing.” It’s insidious…and addictive. (If you have ever found yourself bemoaning all that you hadn’t done at the end of a long day, you too have fallen into the exquisite and subtle trap of “doing”) Honestly, I have been operating at a pace that has left me feeling malnourished and tired for years… and i’m not alone.

At my core, I am a “be-er.” My idea of bliss is sitting with my hands in a creek and just thinking, listening, existing. Unfortunately, our society doesn’t tolerant a whole lot of being. In America, “doing” reigns supreme. From a young age, I internalized this cultural pressure. I remember the distinct moment that I decided to pour myself from the wide pitcher in which I floated into a tight fitting mold of purpose. It was the beginning of high school. Grades now “counted,” and if I wanted to enter that mythical kingdom called college, I better steel myself to the best, most accomplished, most productive version of myself. It felt like sawing against the grain with a pocket knife. But it was only temporary…right?

Turns out, once you hop the “doing” train you can’t just step off. You have to jump. The more you do, the more there is to do, and the faster your life will just whiz on by. It’s a quick-moving paradox and, if you don’t catch yourself, a coursing river of to-do lists will sweep you swiftly into the rapids.

Thyme in the Garden, Woodfin NC.

So here’s how to reverse the agonizing treadmill: Do what you want to do, when you want to do it. I’m serious. This idea scares people. I’ve had more than one conversation with a devil’s advocate who could not see beyond some doomsday vision of a worldwide lazy-person apocalypse fueled by fast food and reality TV. But I disagree– most of us are pretty motivated people. Given the chance, the majority of us wouldn’t just check out on living. The key is to let our joys, our desires, and our intuitions guide our actions. Besides…isn’t this “doomsday” already so many peoples “todays”?

Our intuition is a powerful tool. Those small-voiced instincts aren’t just random, they are the magic of knowing something before your mind has time to reason it out. Haven’t you ever been called to do something completely random, like heading for a different check out lane or taking the long way home? Was there ever a time that that split second decision led to something life changing? Next time you have a “free” moment– put down the to-do list and just check in with yourself. What are you yearning to do? Lie down in the sun? Do it. Clean our your car? Do it. Make strange noises with your mouth and think about star trek? Do it.

When we feed these profoundly individual desires we learn, ever so slowly, how to be free. We better understand the subtleties of ourselves– who we are and what we dream of. We can begin to accept the whims of life like a kite, catching and sailing through each moment, buoyed by a profound faith in ourselves…even if we know the fair breeze is only temporary. When we really listen to these momentary inspirations, we have a chance to discover something truly brilliant– why are we here?

This whole journey definitely hasn’t been a cakewalk for me but, each day that I practice relaxing, I find that I feel just the slightest bit lighter, more centered, happy.  Relaxing may not be easy but, if there’s anything in this life worth working for, it must be this.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Bach Flower Essences

12 Monday Mar 2012

Posted by Asia in Earth Medicine, Inspirations

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bach flower remedies, chakras, energy medicine, enlightenment, flower essences, herbal medicine, higher self, intuition

Tis the season of flower essences. In honor of all the new blooms I’m reposting an article I wrote about the most well known of all flower essences, Bach Flower Remedies…

The first time I ever read about Bach Flower essences I actually cried. Not out of any particular wound or hurt, but because something about this medicine struck such a deep and familiar chord of truth. Flower essences heal on many levels, helping the emotional and spiritual, as well as physical, body. As it turns out, I am not the only one to have experienced such a powerful introduction to the world of Bach flower essences. If you ever take time to sift though the many testimonials of both patients and practitioners, you will find that miracles simply abound.

Blooming flowers, like the lotus, have long been a symbol for enlightenment. For centuries Tibetan Masters have preached that there is a direct link between our higher selves and the plant world. In the 1930s Dr. Edward Bach became the first modern physician to undertake a full-length study of our unique energetic connection with flowers. Bach, a sensitive, intuitive, and compassionate man who offered free treatment to the poor and devoted his life to the improvement of mankind, is the father of the 38 different flower essences now available worldwide.

Spring Nymphs by Emily Balivet

Physically speaking, flower essences are the energetic imprint of flowers captured in pure spring water at the height of their bloom. Once collected from the wilds, the flowers are either infused, by floating them in water underneath the sun’s rays, or lightly boiled. In this way, the water becomes the carrier of that particular flower’s energy. The infusion is then preserved with grape brandy and diluted into stock bottles to be taken as drops in a glass of water or directly onto the skin.

Bach flower remedies are predicated on the belief that we, as individuals, exist on many levels. We have spiritual selves, as well as physical identities, and communication between all our layers of being is vital to maintaining a happy, healthy, and above all, fulfilled life. Native American Shamans were experts at traveling between these different levels, communicating and healing illness at the source. According to Bach practitioners, our own intuition or sparks of desire are actually bits of guidance from our higher selves. These out-of-nowhere motivations are meant to direct us further along our life path or destiny. If you have ever had a crucial hunch that proved inexplicably correct, you will know the precious importance of trusting your inner knowledge. For one reason or another, however, we often block our own intuition. By ignoring what we might consider the dictates of our own souls, we create unhappiness, discordance, and imbalance within ourselves. Flower essences help to transform the negative thought patterns that hinder communication with our higher selves. By transforming these mental and emotional ruts, flower essences help to cleanse the “psycho-toxins” of negativity out of our spiritual metabolism, reestablishing our resonance with our inner voice.

Illness or disease is the cumulative result of ignoring these kinds of energetic andemotional imbalances. This idea is nothing new; science has known for decades that negative feelings and stress can weaken our body’s systems. According to Bach, however, illness is our body and soul’s way of telling us that we are in a state of disharmony, out of alignment with our life purpose or greater truth. In this way, illness can actually be seen as a gift, a condition to be worked with and learned from in order to prevent even further error or harm.

Bach Flower essences are incredibly individual and their effects will be different for each person. Each flower essence is indicated for a specific personality type and their corresponding negative patterns. For example, those who find they cannot turn off their thoughts and experience a kind of “mental merry-go-round” will be helped to achieve mental quiet and a return to their natural state of incredible concentration and inner organization by taking White Chestnut essence.

Flower essences work in a very subtle manner, so their effects might take some time— although those who are very sensitive can sometimes feel a more immediate shift. In my experience, using this medicine is a very lovely, comforting, and incredibly gentle experience. Over time, taking the right combination of essences, you will undoubtedly notice a marked difference in your mood, energy, and overall health. Much like experiencing a beautiful sunset, flower essences harmonize our spirits on a deep and often imperceptible level. For this reason a “feeling sense” is important to finding the right essence. If one essence in particular seems really appealing to you, then you probably should be taking it. Lastly, one of the most important concepts behind Bach Flower essences is the old adage “Heal thyself.” Everything you need to be healthy and whole already exists within and is available to you at any time. So whether you decide to self-treat or see a licensed Bach Flower practitioner, remember to open up to your own light and listen to the best healer you could ever ask for— yourself.

Originally Published on A Green Beauty

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 767 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 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: