Echinacea Flower Developing 4/2/2016

Calendula, Rose and Lavendar Cream brew up 3/19/2016

The arts of nourishing, sustain and support systems, tis the way of things. Herbal teacher Susun Weed retaught me this in allying to the green, rememberance. Ive not long been introduced to the realms of doing so through our largest organ, the skin, and it kinda happened organically (uncertified but certifiable). I was reacting to most store bought moisturisers and sunscreens, living in a hot, humid climate, and copping mild eczema like blistering and stress rashes that had me reaching for steroidal creams for some relief.

Then I met Calendula, her petals more specifically, as an infused oil. Liquid sunshine. Admittedly at first the neat oil was slower to heal my face then the steroidal creams, taking more like a week than ta da overnight, but results came, I became determined, and fascinated. After double infusing my own Calendula (Calendula officinales), Rose (Rosa centifolia) and Lavender (Lavendula angustifolia) oils, the experimentation with Rosemary Gladstar's (thanks lovely) preservative free moisturiser recipe began. Nowadays the rashes clear quickly (I have also found cool Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) infusions really helpfull) and The Nook's face cream has evolved. Not bad for an ungirly girl, so far!

It all began with a face to face weekend workshop with a lovely and generous local herbalist who mentored me in such ways of caretaking. Lotions and potions, a magical lineage. As is women sharing such knowledge...

I add in small amounts of essential oils of Grandfather Sage (Salvia apiana) for assisting to clear stagnant energy or entitys in need of healing, and Australian Sandalwood (Santalum spicatum) for a touch of similar vibe plus the physicality of skin inflammation easing. 

There's also soothing aloe vera gel and rose water. Rose has charmed me with her capacity to gently touch grief, heart break and injury. So there's the infused oil and the floral water included, life requires it at times. Rosehip and Shea butter, I know, fancy eh but noice. When you stop smoking ciggies and drinking booze you need some treats aside from sugar :)

The flash from the camera makes these look like real whiteys, but in actuality these babies are dyed by the infused oils they contain....

Calendula petals straight from the flower

Dried petals

Infusing oils n the billy on to celebrate

Comfrey 19/3/2016

We have two types of Comfrey, growing...
This morning lit, vibrant leaf belongs to Symphytum uplandica x, who has a pink to purplish flower, whilst Symphytum officinales is a white bloomer.
I just love the glow through the veins in these shots, which for me emphasise this plants ability to regenerate and encourage cell growth. The forms in the leaves, echo clusters of cells. She achievs this so potently that its said, best not to apply her to deep wounds, as if there's any infection beneath and she heals the surface, it can become trapped inside the hurt. One can add a little infused or essential lavendar oil to her salve too.

I have used her also for pain relief, particularly 'restless legs', which strike as cramps during the night. I reached for a jar of salve by my bed and rubbing it in experieneced some sweet relief. Also a dear friends sister reports, the nerve pains of MS, have been eased by her salve. These are results I had not heard of prior to experienecing them. So, mayhaps plants gifts may clarify with listening, gentle sense-ible experiements and openess....
 

Dining with Weeds 3/8/2016

Traditionally in some Gaelic speaking cultures, the base of stew in the pot on the hearthfire was added to, day by day, according to what vegetables, and if in luck, meat, was available. That this fine brew gradually grew in  flavour and taste so that it was treasured (infact handed down to newlyweds, experiential tales or correcting welcome!). I do the same with this recipe, adding a little each day, although if you too live in a subtropical climate, you have to put the lot in the fridge during between times, or you will end up with something fermented, and thats not what you want in a stew. More in a sourdough bread starter, beer or mead brewing.

So, when I'm in need of a protein hit, and some of the nourishment that comes from wild greens, I make my version, 'Amaranth Stew', dining with weeds. Several species of Amaranths grow well here, and now they have seed heads upon them. The seeds can be used like a vegetarian mince in recipes, but being an omnivore I mix them up with mince, beans or lentils in this brew. All in a tomato, garlic, onion, thyme n rosemary saucy type base.

Popping up left, right n centre in our garden is Amaranthus viridus 'Green Amaranth' who's seed spikes turn brown when ripe. Her leaves may not be as voluptuous as some species but we get multiple harvests from a single plant, she's generous indeed, and tough. Chooks love her too! 

I simply use a pair of scissors to dice her finely, excluding the tougher bits of stem.

Add her to the mix towards the end of cooking, once Ive thickened the stew some, putting in any spare veg like potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, mayhaps some chilli for added ooompf. Making sure Ive made a shitload, scuse me, to last a few days, cos once your body has some of this, gonna want more! Speaking for myself anyways...

Great with some melted cheese or an egg ontop! I forgot to take a shot of the plated up fancy version cos I simply tucked in! Ooops, but you get the gist of it eh. Hope you get to enjoy sometime!

Reconnection: A Practice to Ground and Rejuvenate 2/3/2016

I've found this practice usefull, particularly in the morning before heading into the foray o life, aka public transport, town. What I like about this is its portable and if its a rough day and you aint up to going into the world you can still connect... 

Begin with the breath. Take a few deep easy breaths. If you are able to, breathe in, 1,2,3,4 hold,1, 2, 3, 4 out 1,2,3,4  hold, and repeat that cycle a few times , till you sense you are slowing. Or in 1, 2, 3, 4 then out slow, and deep. You can say internally or out loud, rreeellaaxxx, chhiiillll, ccaaallmm ddooowwn, or any key words that work for you...or simply breathe...

Visualise a lotus, magnolia (or your favourate type of) flower at the top of your head. Acute / Sensitives often walk through life with this area in full openess, which can be overwhelming or distressing. An overloading from the input of environmental stimulation, ordinary reality interactions, yet also connection to spirits, or otherworldly energies. They can all end up somewhat jumbled together.

So, as we begin to see the petals of the flower at your crown, closing gently, a few at a time, not blocking, simply rejuvenating for a time. Finally, the green sepals fold around them, until just a green bud remains.

You can still see light emanating from it, a rose pink if you like...

Now bring your awareness down into the Earth, to the place where the centre of the front pad of your foot touches her. See the shimmering roots of light that run into this place, connect the two of you. Watch and feel as the light spreads through your toes, one by one, to your heel. A hue that feels right to you, with a luminescence.

The light moves up your ankles, into your calves, knees. Around and up your thighs. Between your legs, up through your fanny, (or willy), your bum. Up the front of your belly, and rising through your spine. In your belly there is a soft edged ball, or perhaps, a flame, or campfire, of light which you can sense the warmth from. A gentle easing spreading heat....allow that to be...

Continue up through your chest, front and back together, like slowly spiralling dna. This Earthlight shifts through your body, through your breasts and up your back. 

Pause here, and shift awareness to your fingers and hands. The tips of your fingers (for the hands hold much magik) exude aerial rootlets. See their light channelled through your wrists, forearm and wrap around your shoulders to your heart centre. 

Visualise a rose coloured light and warmth here, and feel it wrap around your neck up the back of your head, ears, the front of your neck, chin, lips, nose, eyes and forehead...

Here we are back with the closed bud, resting quite content with it. Reconnected to Earth....

This is a good time to reconnect with Spirit Kin. Sensing where they are, what’s happening with them, if they have any guidance for you, are picking up on something to share some insight, or can crack a funny and make you smile. Some days you need that..

Just a note. I believe in life there are both places of light and dark, this is as it is. The womb is a place of darkness, caves, the night sky which allows rest n regeneration, new moon, innards of our bodies, tree stumps, beneath the ground where seeds dwell, so don't get me wrong. Visualising light though, can be a tool to clear debris, blockages n buildup, just as candle light can create sacred space, Hecates torch be a guide for Demeter through her grief in the underworld. If it doesnt feel right for you, don't go there. 
 

Wounded Healers 1/27/2016

Some of the first tales of shamanism that drew me in, spoke to me, were those of an initiatory health crisis transformed. That transformation mayhaps being an awakening, to practices and approachs, that also shift symptoms, or our relationship with them...

A healer like the centaur Chiron, is an example of this in a very humane way. He, an immortal, was pierced by a poison arrow, leaving a hurt which never healed. Yet he was both a medicine man and teacher, also musician and wise one. To this day in modern astrology charts, the presence of the centaur planet shows where in each of our birthcharts, lies the wound which, if transformed in life, may become a blessing, or calling. Yep, we all gotta touch o' da Chironic.

Health, seems to me, rather than a static endpoint we reach and go 'woo hoo!! I is there', a process. Dis-ease can make sense, in direct relationship to circumstances, or come from beyond order / comprehension. Also, someone with a so called chronic health challenge, or dif-ability, may experience wholeness of being, within and through, living with this. That, often after struggle, our personal wounds, and how we learn (or unlearn) to manage them, can later allow us to see into places previously hidden, or guide us. If we can translate this, the experience can be a fine, though at times humbling, or straight up difficult, mentor.

 

The wounding may be not of the self, but someone loved, or yet little known to us. When we are caring for those dear to us, including those who are dying, or indeed dead, portals open (perhaps more obviously in the latter case). We carry ourselves furthur, and more deeply than if it were for self alone. Even when alongside moments of comfort given, intimacy shared, humour, such intentions in the same breath threaten to swallow, are messy, or lead to confronting challenges. Still, the grace of the calling to offer healing may resound, in myriad forms and diverse manifestations. Conciously, or otherwise, simply drawn out from ones innards. I would offer up that plant, animal and spirit allys respond in these ways aswell, as do our creative and soul lives.

Such processes happen to their own rhythms. Who's to say how long a healing journey should take? Its both rare, and consumerist, to expect for it to happen in any one session, regardless of what any advertising, or promise, may say. Infact, especially if they say so. The journey may indeed be re/inspired by a single connection, event or being, but generally a series of adjustments will follow. An integrating, or filtering through, at ones own pace. Wrought over a brief period of time, part of a lifelong voyage or yonder human folk time. A re/gathering. To decipher the message/s ones bringing back from the experiences.

When we are working with plants (or indeed other personal practices) to assist this reweaving, the path is unlikely to be straight and narrow. More likely meandering, seeking, like water, or a root system searching for it. Flowing back a lil, forth a few steps, into that crevice, round that rock to take a peek, stretching out to full extension, withdrawing or retreating, pausing for a still moment. What was that I saw, heard, felt, sensed?

Echoing the many unusual forms green folk themselves may take, plantological learnings vary. Growing seasons and harvests change. Gardens and soils shift. Wild plants appear one year, are absent the next. One form of medicine or modality comes to the fore. A preparation is honed or goes mouldy / ferments. Becomes more itself like that, or otherwise becomes optimised, and beloved by those we share it with. Good reasons to journal our voyages!

Yet, some days, simply hanging with plants is the magic...

No products made, no procuring of anything more, or less, than being, offering, presence...

Plants not only gift us breath, healing, a place where magic touchs, but connect us to, and speak as reminders of the call for stewardship of the places where we are. Voices for Earth who herself is undergoing transformation, a wounded healer...

Mrs Klaws and the Untold Story of the Flying Reindeer 19/12/2015