Favorite Creative Collaborations with Plants – Spring Edition

Love is all around and at every moment we have the opportunity to act from a place of Love. Valentine’s Day is simply one 24-hour period in time where we are reminded to amplify our Love frequency within and without. Self-love, love of family/friends/community, love of the land, love of Life. Everywhere you turn there is someone and something to love, including our own inner landscape. Love every atom and inch of your being and you will know infinity.

Today I’m sharing my love with you — my love for the plants, my love for creativity, my love of discovery and curiosity. In love we slow down to experience a deeper awareness of our connections to one another. In love we see the reflection of our divinity in all around us.

So with love I put together this playlist of my favorite moments from the springtime lessons of INFUSE, a collaborative co-creation with the plants.

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Crafting Birch Staves

Kick off the springtime with the fresh-start feeling of Birch. I’ll show you how to craft a stave to use for magical purposes or to wear as an amulet.

Dandelion Blossom Tempura

Feed your spirit and body with this delicious spring delicacy that reminds us of the enduring nature of the Sun and the fleeting nature of life.

Chickweed Flower Essence

Open to presence, open to community, open to your connection to the Cosmos — these are some of the applications of Chickweed Flower Essence. Learn how to make your own in this video.

Cleavers Binding Ritual

What or whom are you attaching yourself to? What or whom are you releasing? Learn how to make a sigil to either commit to or release attachments, with the help of Cleavers.

Filé Gumbo Sassafras

Some say the way to another’s heart is through their stomach… And with heart-warming Sassafras, you’ll have even more success. Here’s one delicious way to nourish yourself and those you love. Learn more about the history of Gumbo.

Hawthorn Heal the Heart Salve

Massage and sensual touch is a pleasurable way to experience the love of someone, including your self! Craft a heart-healing herbal oil, salve, and infusion to open your heart to love.

Strength Through Challenge Meditation

Call on the spirit of Hawthorn to help you face challenging moments with love, grace, and compassion.

I’d love to hear from you! Whether you create with these plant allies or intend to, or whether you have a different way of working with and loving the plants, share in the comments below. ❤️❤️❤️

Beltane Blessing

Through misty grateful eyes

The most magnificent thing I did spy

While touching your bark, dear Cottonwood

Beneath deltoid leaves on descending limbs

I catch her form, ripening

At just the right moment

Through parting cumulus

In the early evening sky

Still light on this Beltane eve

As the Sun continues his ripening, too

Turning back again to see

She has vanished

A dream revealed only to me?

A reminder–

Above the swooping swallows

Gathering their supper

Above nodding Plantago

Crowned with creamy white fairy filaments–

Of the prayer to come

And my place in it

How to prepare this vessel

With nourishment of spirit

Of rest

Of vibrant sustenance

Tears come, dear Cottonwood

With the reminder,

Of your softness

And how it is mine, too

Dear Moon,

With the reminder

Of your reflection

And how in the light of the Sun

It is mine, too.

Narrow-leaf Plantain (Plantago lanceolata)

Downtown Manhattan through Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides)

One of my neighbors, Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)

Saving a leaf in my journal, from Populus deltoides

This is a place I have not written in nearly a year. It is my intention to revive this space as a way of slow record keeping in the face of the fast-paced world of social media. This is a time for slowing down, of perspective shifting, of touching into the depth of life. We are at a tipping point and getting ever closer to the edge. How do we navigate this world as everything falls away? One way: connecting with our kin, the plants and plant people. Sacred medicine plants are everywhere. There are some who are potent teachers and other more subtle. This does not make them less impactful.

I’m living for a short time on a sailboat with a view of the capitalist capitol of the world. Living with intention and thumbing my nose at those towers of commerce and commodification of life. Living in opposition to the extractive. Though hypocritically still living in it. What choices do we have? We can do our best to sort through the daily decisions of what to eat and how. Sort through the difficult decisions of how to provision ourselves against the elements.

For now, I choose to live as simply as I ever have. Burning alcohol for cooking on a two burner stove and small oven where I bake nutrient dense bread with sweet potato, hemp seeds, cranberries, and other vitamin & mineral-rich plants. Reusing water collected in the dehumidifier to wash the dishes. There’s running water but it’s on the dock. I fill my filtering water bottle three times per day. There’s a toilet and showers on land, and the head on board if needed.

For a few more weeks I’ll be here and then, paring down even more for the month of June. I’ll leave you in suspense for that one, as I’m feeling into how to share, if I do, the experience that is coming to meet me. I alluded to it above. It is a prayer. A personal prayer and a collective one. A prayer for the life regenerating change we need to experience on this unique and precious planet.

Delicious sweet potato bread, baked aboard

Before the Sun rises

Our Sun (via Destination Cosmos at Hall des Lumières)

Our Solar System (via Destination Cosmos at Hall des Lumières)

You are my reflection, I am your reflection

More reflections on this time of transition to come…

Of Will & Wishes - Working with Dandelion Medicine

Everyone knows this weedy wonder.

Many are beginning to wake up to their healing benefits, despite the lawn cultivating culture that deems this plant public enemy #1 and a primary target of poisonous endocrine-disrupting herbicides.

I say, stop the war and let the weeds win.

There’s a big reward in that kind of surrender.

A reward of health, not just because we aren’t poisoning the soil and water (and ourselves) with chemicals, but because of the nutrient density and medicinal properties of many of the weeds.

It’s interesting that on a spiritual and energetic level, Dandelion affects the solar plexus center, the place of identity, will, and action. I say this because, we have the will to shift our relationship with plants we may not see the value of. We have the will to find the beauty and gifts in these plants.

Dandelion is also a plant of wishes. It is a rare individual who has not blown on a fluff of Dandelion seeds to make a wish. My wish is that we all understand the value and wisdom of the wild and weedy ones. Especially those who make decisions about using weed killer or not!

(You might be very happy to learn that NYC Parks Department stopped spraying herbicides, thanks to a group of elementary school kids’ dedication, wishes, and will!)

I’ve written about Dandelion a few times before.

This is one of the plants that I mark the seasons by, that I feel the turning of the wheel of the year with, that I incorporate into my life on a regular basis.

In the following video I’ll share a bit more about this plant’s magical attributes and we’ll go on a journey with them to our inner sun.

Enjoy the video! Please like, share, comment, and all that good stuff.

Drink the Ambrosial Nectar of the Bee Tree

Linden blossom season is coming!

Linden, aka Basswood, aka Tilia, aka Bee Tree…

As I write this her tiny pre-blooms are developing.

In the Northeast, she’ll bloom from June to July, depending on where you are latitudinally.

In the South and West, maybe you’ll see her blooms a bit earlier.

In either case, Linden blossoms are beautifully soothing!

The fragrance hangs heavy in the summer air, creating an intoxicating scent path straight to her.

The Bees know just where to go, and Linden honey is oh so fine!

In the following video I’ll show you how easy it is to harvest Linden blossoms, and then how easy it is to make an infusion (tea) with these blooms.

The blooms are anti-inflammatory, soothing to the nervous & digestive systems, and have a mucilaginous quality that is coating in cases of dryness of the mucous membranes (so, great for sore throat, dry cough, constipation).

Enjoy the video! And please let me know what you think by leaving a comment here or on YouTube, subscribing to my channel, or signing up for my newsletter. Thank you!

Want to go even deeper with the healing plants? You might want to join INFUSE for a season or the year!

Healing Plant Connections - Birch

Birch is such a magical tree - revered throughout the boreal forest that circumnavigates the globe.

The Human-Birch relationship is deep and deeply spiritual.

I’ve written about Birch before, so I won’t give away too much. (Plus in my last post I showed you how to make Birch beer.)

Especially because in the following video I’ll take you outside to meet the Birch tree at the edge of spring.

I’ll share some clues for identification, as well as a whole bunch of the rich symbolic and spiritual aspects of this graceful tree.

And I’ll take you on a journey to Birch to call in a new beginning for yourself or the world.

Enjoy the video, and please share and comment to let me know what you think!

Want to get to know Birch a little better? Check out INFUSE a la carte Birch month – a whole month’s worth of lessons on Birch, including meditations, identification, wildcrafting, medicine making, crafts, lore, and more.

And if you want to go even deeper with the healing plants, you might want to join INFUSE for a season or the year!

Make Your Own Birch Beer!

Satisfying!

Delicious!

Medicinal!

And something you can make yourself…

That’s homemade Birch beer!

I love the taste of real Birch beer - have you ever had it?

The tree bark and roots, particularly from Sweet, Black, or Cherry Birch (Betula lenta) or Yellow Birch (B. allegheniensis), have a distinctive wintergreen scent and taste that gives Birch beer it’s signature flavor. These trees are native to Turtle Island (North America) - Sweet Birch tends toward the northeast and Yellow Birch skews a bit further west and south.

In the following video, I’ll share all the ingredients and steps you’ll need to make your own Birch syrup to add to seltzer for homemade Birch beer. You could also drizzle this syrup on pancakes, yogurt, or ice cream (if you wanna!).

Want to get to know Birch a little better? Check out INFUSE a la carte Birch month – a whole month’s worth of lessons on Birch, including meditations, identification, wildcrafting, medicine making, crafts, lore, and more.

And if you want to go even deeper with the healing plants, you might want to join INFUSE for a season or the year!

Healing Plant Connections - Pine

Imagine you are in a Pine forest.

Take a deep breath in, and out.

Aahhh!

How do you feel?

Maybe your heart feels lighter, your lungs clearer.

Maybe your perception has shifted.

If you are able to get out and spend time with a Pine tree in person, you may experience these effects and more.

Pine helps us connect in with our hearts, and deepen our inner peace. And Pine helps us to understand how – no matter what is happening personally or in the world – that everything is okay and unfolding just as it is meant to. This isn’t to say that we should bypass or ignore the difficult realities of the world. And it doesn’t mean we should not take action or initiate change. It is, rather, an infusion of deep acceptance, as a means to restore peace within, so that one has the power to step up and lead in the ways they are called to do in this lifetime.

In this video, I’ll share a bit about the medicine of Pine and then we will journey to restore peace within. Enjoy, and if you’d like to share your experience you can do so in the comments below or on YouTube.

Sign up for my weekly newsletter to learn about more ways to engage with the healing plants, including my monthly herbal immersion program, INFUSE.

Breath of Peace Meditation With Pine

When times are tough, I turn to the plants.

They’ve taught me so much over the years.

They are always there to nurture and guide me.

Maybe you’ve found this, too.

Pine has been a great teacher for me.

These wise old beings have been on the planet for at least 150 million years, much longer than us.

They have a presence like no other.

They instill in us a deep sense of acceptance, a profound sense of peace.

In the following meditation, I guide you through a connection journey with Pine, the Tree of Peace.

May you feel and carry the peace of Pine.

Burdock Rune Ritual

It’s another warm day here in Brooklyn and the feeling of spring is definitely in the air.

The temps may drop again for a spell, but it’s inevitable that the seasonal shift is coming.

With the arrival of this time of renewal, I feel a bit like a Bear coming out of her cave to greet the new season.

It doesn’t matter that I’ve spent plenty of time outdoors this winter, this transition stirs a new awareness and a different way of existing.

It’s inspiring me to clear out the old – clear out the closets and the cabinets, and clear out old habits that no longer serve me.

On both a physical and spiritual level, I am spring cleaning.

I call on plant allies to help me do this, too.

Cleansing herbs like Pine, Cleavers, and Burdock become a part of my rituals.

And once I clear or release what I no longer serves, I call in what I’d like to manifest and embody in this next coming cycle.

Here’s one fun ritual to include in your spring repertoire.

It involves Burdock root – late winter/early spring is the time to gather the second year roots before they send up tall stalks (or in the fall, gather first year roots). If you don’t have a place to dig up roots, you can try a specialty grocer or health food store.

Enjoy, and feel free to share your ideas in the comments below!

If you enjoyed this video, you’ll love INFUSE. Each month we walk with one plant, developing our own unique relationship with them through meditation, creative collaboration, ethical wildcrafting, medicine making, and more. Join for the season or for the year.

Healing Plant Connections - Oak

Each month, I walk with one healing plant.

What does that mean? To walk with a plant?

It means connecting with the spirit of the plant, and getting to know this plant from many angles. It’s becoming familiar with the medicine of the plant through direct experience, spending time with the plant, meditating with them, ingesting them, and doing research on them.

Whether I already know this plant or not, it is always the same. In putting my attention on this one plant I deepen my awareness of them and strengthen my connection with them.

Like developing intimacy with a very good friend.

I share what I discover in all of the courses that I lead, from the Dream Circle to INFUSE.

I also share the wisdom of these plants in the MINKA Self-care Portal, which I highly recommend!

By joining you’ll get exclusive access to workshops and first looks at content that MINKA practitioners share – and there are a lot of great offerings on there, including Breathwork, Yoga, Reiki, Meditation, and more from amazing practitioners.

Last month on the platform, I shared about Oak medicine.

In the following video, you’ll learn about Oak’s connection with:

• doorways and portals

• thunder gods

• druids

• healing wounds

• and much more

You’ll also get to journey with the spirit of Oak, the warrior tree of the primeval forest.

I’d love to know how it lands for you. Please share your experience in the comments below or on YouTube.

If you enjoyed this video, you’ll love INFUSE. Each month we walk with one plant, developing our own unique relationship with them through meditation, creative collaboration, ethical wildcrafting, medicine making, and more. Join for the season or for the year.

The golden glow of Dandelion blossom dye (video)

The temps are in the 50s here in Brooklyn and it’s feeling very spring-like.

Are you ready?

I think we all are!

But are you ready…

for Dandelion blossom season?

Every year in March or April (it varies) I seek out the big flushes of golden blossoms in fields and meadows so that I can:

• make dandy blossom fritters

• make Dandelion-infused oil & salve

and last year, I added this one on to the list:

• make Dandelion blossom dye!

Dandelion blossoms impart a lovely yellow color to fabric. In this video I show you how simple it is to make dye from these sunny beauties.

Be sure to mordant your fabric beforehand to keep that color!

Dive deeper into the Magic & Medicine of Dandelion in INFUSE, a la carte, a month long immersion with this wonderful plant ally!

Birch Besom Spring Cleaning

Spring is a time of renewal, rebirth, and new beginnings.

And there’s no tree more connected to this energy than Birch.

Birch is the tree of new beginnings.

The word Birch comes from Proto-Indo-European root bhereg which translates as “shining.” (Fun fact: Björk’s name has the same meaning!)

Beith is the Celtic Ogham that embodies the Birch and these associations.

Berkana/Berkano is the rune in the Elder Futhark.

But in order for the new beginnings to come, we need to let go of the old energies. It’s time to sweep away the dust of the winter, let go of the past and emerge on the other side of death as a newly hatched seedling, shiny and new!

I love how the Death card from the Motherpeace deck by Karen Vogel and Vicki Noble takes on this theme (notice the Birch trees growing out from the fertile dark Earth).

Here’s a fun way to craft a ritual for release the old, unwanted energies of the last season… make a besom! A besom is a kind of broom that you can use like a regular broom or for energetic cleansing. Watch the following video to see how I make a very rustic besom using River Birch (Betula nigra) twigs that I found on the ground.

If you enjoyed this video, you’ll love INFUSE, a monthly immersion to deepen your relationship with healing plants. We work with one plant each month, connecting through meditation, wildcrafting, medicine making, ritual, and other creative collaborations with the Wise Green Ones.

Mystical Mullein Smoking Blend

Wow, did I have some wild dreams last night.

While I don’t recall them all, I’m left with a certain feeling that I tapped into an unusual state of consciousness. I had several moments of active hypnagogia and hypnopompia - those states between being awake and falling sleep, and being asleep and waking (respectively). At one point I was speaking to someone in the dream as I was waking up, recounting a dream within a dream to them. I caught myself with eyes open yet still half asleep, speaking aloud to that person who was still in the dream.

I’m not totally certain that I can attribute the phenomena to a particular herb or combination of herbs, but being as I have been a bit rundown I’ve been increasing my intake of certain herbs that might stimulate my body to produce GABA – gamma-aminobutyric acid – a neurotransmitter that can affect our brain waves. Specifically, GABA has been shown to increase alpha waves – which are active when we are relaxed and not thinking too much. Our brains produce these waves as we are beginning to fall asleep or just starting to wake up.

I’ve increased my intake of both Oregano (Oregano vulgare) and Bee Balm (Monarda species) - the former in the form of oil and the latter as an infusion. These are both mint family (Lamiaceae) plants. Many of the plants in this family contain rosmarinic acid and other compounds that have an effect on GABA production. They’re great herbs to take before meditation or to enhance dream recall and as oneirogens, or dream-stimulating herbs.

Although not typically thought of as an oneirogen, and not a member of the mint family but the figwort or Scrophulariaceae, Mullein (Verbascum species) does have an effect on dreams. Some say that Mullein helps to ward off nightmares. I find that it has a gently supportive quality, that brings grounding and relaxation with its mildly soporific effects. Like a light in the dark, Mullein can be an anchor or beacon to guide someone through dreams.

As with all herbs, individual results will vary.

Mullein leaves, roots, and flowers can be drunk as an infusion or taken as a tincture. Another way that some folks like to enjoy Mullein is to smoke the leaves. There are a couple of ways to do this, which I’ll show you in the following video. In it, I mix up an herbal smoking blend for occasional or ceremonial use. Enjoy the video and I look forward to your comments, either in this post or on YouTube.

If you enjoyed this video, you’ll love INFUSE, a monthly immersion to deepen your relationship with healing plants. We work with one plant each month, connecting through meditation, wildcrafting, medicine making, ritual, and other creative collaborations with the Wise Green Ones. Learn more and join a community of fellow plant lovers.

Rosemary Bath for Loving Clarity

Water is a conduit for healing. And water has memory. The waters of our body hold deeply stored emotions, and when we let them flow, we can have a healthy relationship to these emotions.

One way to get in tune with this flow is to spend time with water. Study a waterfall. Listen to the dripping of a melting icicle. Imagine being a piece of driftwood or a fallen leaf floating down a river. Get in the water!

Baths are one of my favorite restorative rituals. I start with an herbal infusion. Rosemary is a favorite! This herb is fantastic for the skin and hair, but what’s more – Rosemary is restorative. Rosemary stimulates circulation, bringing mental clarity and awakening our hearts. Like water, Rosemary helps us remember.

After I make an infusion (steep the herbs for about 20 minutes or more), I like to draw a bath as hot as I can stand. Strain said infusion into the water. Turn off all the lights. Get in the tub. Completely submerge myself in the water. And then I tone - loudly - allowing the vibration of my voice to course through the water and penetrate my cells. It is an herbal-water-sound bath. It is one of the most powerful practices I know.

Out of the darkness I allow images, messages, and sensations to arise. It’s another way of dreaming. And btw, Rosemary is also a great dream herb.

I haven’t been practicing this bath ritual much since the pandemic has kept everyone at home and I’ve had little privacy.

So instead I’ve been spending time with the ocean, swimming in the icy cold salt water. And even though Rosemary isn’t in the sea, her name means “dew of the sea.” Rosemary originally hails from the Mediterranean and is linked to Aphrodite, love goddess born from the sea. And I would say Rosemary would be connected to other ocean goddesses, too, as all oceans are one.

Mama Ocean, Goddesses of the sea, and Rosemary - they all stimulate feelings of love and of clarity - reminding us that We Are Love.

In the following short video, I share how to make a Rosemary infusion for the bath. I highly recommend it!

If you liked this video and would like to experience a deeper connection to the plant realm, you’ll love INFUSE. Doors are open for the spring season. We begin March 3 with Cleavers (Galium aparine)! Learn more and register.

Inner Sun Meditation With Dandelion

We are within the darkest months of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Although our shared modern culture does not always honor it, this is a time of going within and rest. It is a time to reflect, to dream, to create inner landscapes and plant inner seeds to be birthed with the return of the light.

And though the daylight hours are less, the intensity of light seems concentrated as the Sun dips down closer to the horizon. Hat brims seem useless. It’s almost as if the Sun is lowering down to look us straight in the eye, to remind us that that giant star is always there for us, even in the midst of the approaching winter.

If you can get outside to greet the Sun at this time of year, I recommend it. Go on a walk to your favorite park, get to a hiking trail, find yourself at the edge of a river, or just open a window and let the sunlight stream in unfiltered. (I also lead plant walks in Prospect Park every month on the third Friday via MINKA Brooklyn. Come on out if you are in the area!)

Whether you can get outside or not, we all have a Sun within us to connect with. In this following meditation, we meet with the Dandelion flower, a rooted embodiment of the Sun. Journey to your innermost dreams and desires and let the seeds be carried on the wind to manifest your vision.

Dive deeper into the Magic & Medicine of Dandelion in INFUSE, a la carte, a month long immersion with this wonderful plant ally!

Rosemary Elixir for Memory and Dream Enhancement, and More

Ah, Rosemary!

Passing by a Rosemary shrub, her leaves beg to be rubbed, her fragrant resinous oils transferred to fingers which are then immediately brought to the nose for a deep inhale. And then one might run those fingers over temples or the heart to place the scent there, to help us remember.

Rosemary is the herb of remembrance – humans have known this for millennia, at least as early as Ancient Egyptian times and likely before. Modern science, as it often does, has confirmed the ancient knowings – Rosemary is rich in compounds that stimulate circulation to the brain, that enhance memory and cognition, that help us remember.

One such compound, rosmarinic acid, encourages production of the neurotransmitter GABA (gamma-Aminobutyric acid) which brings about a host of functions, including mental focus and bodily relaxation. This encouragement can bring us into a meditative flow state, and if stimulated before sleep, can enhance dream recall and even lucid dreaming.

Yet there is more to Rosemary than these plant chemicals, and many benefits to partnering with her beyond the ones I’ve stated here. And as with other plants, there is the essence and spirit itself who we relate to, who we interact with - the whole being co-mingling with our own to affect transformation, to encourage healing and wholing.

There are several ways to work with Rosemary - infusing sprigs in oil, making an herbal infusion (tea), in cooking. One of my favorite ways to prepare this plant into medicine is as an elixir, as in the following video.

Check it out, give it a try, and let us know how it goes!

This elixir makes a delicious holiday gift, New Year’s aperitif, or anytime enjoyable remedy. Cheers!

Dive deeper into the world of healing plants. Learn from one plant at a time, slowly steeping yourself in their wisdom. Doors for INFUSE are open. We begin December 2 with the medicine of Elder. Learn more and join.

Shine Your Light With Mullein Torches

Here in the Northeast we are immersed in the darker months, patiently awaiting the gradual return of the light on the Solstice. As I wrote about in the recent Goldenrod post, darkness is a welcome environment for creativity, dreaming, and rebirth. It’s a beautiful time to go inward, to reset, and imagine new ways of being.

While we live in a time where electric light prevails when the sun goes down, there’s something deeply healing about surrendering to the dark and allowing oneself to rest. And instead of flipping the switch when we need to shine a little light in the darkness, why not try using a natural source of light as our ancestors did?

Enter Mullein torches.

Mullein blooms golden yellow, a spike reminiscent of a large candle wick. The blooms also remind me of popcorn (which require flame to pop).

Mullein has many common names. At least two of the names refer to the use of Mullein as something that can light the way through the dark:

torches and hag's taper

The leaves and flower spikes are traditionally burned – they are soft and downy, a natural wick-like material.

Energetically and spiritually, Mullein serves as a candle in the dark to guide us through darkness and shadows. Mullein also lights up our inner world to help us illuminate and process grief and sadness, emotions that are often held in the lungs.

In the following video I show you how to work with Mullein to craft your very own torches (plus a little bonus craft, you’ll see…). I recommend burning the torches outside for safety’s sake.

Note: I made these torches in the summertime. As of the writing of this post, it’s November and a great time to go out and find a dried up Mullein stalk to collect. If you want the Mullein plants to prevail, give the seed head a little shake on the earth before bringing indoors. And leave an offering in thanks for your harvest (honey, your hair, a song, fragrant herbs, tobacco, etc.).

If you enjoyed this video, feel free to like it and comment!

And sign up to learn more ways to connect and collaborate with the healing plants – for pleasure, transformation, and healing.

Dream With Rose to Enhance Inner Vision

The earth has disappeared beneath my feet,
It fled from all my ecstasy.
Now like a singing air creature
I feel the rose keep opening.

— from What Do White Birds Say by Hafiz

Rose is a mystical creature. She is the embodiment of pure love bliss. Rose inspires states of ecstasy and devotion. She’s an unattainable beauty that gives us something to strive for. She teaches us surrender to All That Is, to the undeniable truth of the Universe – that all is born, lives, and dies only to be born again. And upon that she is decked in thorn-like prickles – a reminder of the ache of love, the care with which we must handle our hearts, the preciousness of our fleeting lives.

It is in this way and in others beyond words that Rose enhances our ability to see. Unlike the naïve optimism evoked by the phrase “seeing through Rose-colored glasses” – to see with the help of Rose is to see the Truth. Rose blinds our human eyes of our self-invented perceptions to see the truth at the heart of the mater – the Mother, the matrix, the dark & fertile womb from which we are all born and to which we all return. And that this Mother of all of us is Love.

Dreaming is another way of seeing the truth and Rose makes a wonderful dream ally.

In this video, I show you how to partner with Rose to make a dream “pillow” or sachet.

I’d love to know if you choose to partake in this simple ritual and what your dreams speak to you after you’ve done so! Feel free to leave that in the comments below or on YouTube.

And if you enjoyed this video and would like to experience more healing plant collaborations, check out INFUSE, a monthly immersion to deepen your relationship with healing plants. Registration closes Wednesday, December 1 at 11:59pm. Sign up by 11/17 to receive special bonuses: a copy of my book and discounts on future installments of the course.

If I say your voice is an amber waterfall in which I yearn to burn each day, if you eat my mouth like a mystical rose with powers of healing and damnation, If I confess that your body is the only civilization I long to experience… would it mean that we are close to knowing something about love?
― Aberjhani, Visions of a Skylark Dressed in Black

Bringing Goldenrod’s Light Into the Darkness (Video)

First let me say that, I love the dark as much as I love the sunlight. I do not associate darkness with negativity. Darkness is necessary. We get the best sleep and dream in darkness. Stars shine in the darkness - the darker, the better. Dark earth is fertile – it’s where the seeds sprout and grow, where trees are rooted, where networks of mycelia share information with the life in the soil.* The Void where all comes into being is total darkness. One of my favorite practices is to take a bath in complete darkness - it’s a bit like recreating the darkness of the womb. Dark is beautiful!

Like all good things, there is a critical balance. We need both darkness and light, and everything in between, in the right doses. When I talk about darkness in this sense, I’m talking about the dramatic shift that we experience as a result of the angle of the Earth in relation to the Sun, the arc of light that lowers so that we have less daylight.

And that tipping toward the darkness can be difficult for many folks. With the reduced sunlight hours, it’s easier to get blue.

If you are someone whose mood dips down with the lack of sunlight, it can be helpful to bring the sun-embodied plants into your life.**

Dandelion, Sunflower, Mullein, Saint John’s Wort - all lovely allies for this purpose! And Goldenrod!

I think of Goldenrod as this beautiful glowing candelabra of blooms shining when the light starts to dwindle. And it got me thinking, candelabra, candles… hey, we can burn this! (Maybe there’s a hint of pyromaniac in me, I dunno – but who doesn’t like a good fire? Except maybe that misunderstood monster o’ Frankenstein.)

Burning a dried herb bundle of Goldenrod – the cleansing smoke, the sweet aroma – can call in helpful energy when we are feeling low.

In this video, I show you how I make an herb bundle including Goldenrod and some other yummy scented herbs that also like to be burned. Enjoy, and do let me know if you try it - there’s still some Goldenrod blooming out there, in the northeast at least.

This is just a taste of the kind of work we do in I N F U S E, a monthly immersion to deepen your relationship with healing plants. Learn. more here.

*Which reminds me of Black Earth Wisdom – if you don’t know them, check them out!

**Keep in mind that individual results will vary when working with herbs. This suggestion is not intended to replace medical advice, and if you are experiencing extreme mood shifts, it may be wise to consult with a trusted clinically trained medical professional or therapist.

Strength Through Challenge Meditation (Video)

We call on the plants as our allies, for energetic, physical, and emotional healing. Hawthorn is a deeply protective plant that I’ve shared about before, as a great healer of the heart. She has such potent energy stored in her sturdy twisted and often gnarled branches, covered with woody thorns.

In this meditation, we call on Hawthorn to help us see a challenge from a new perspective, to strengthen our position and approach it from a place of personal power.

I hope it serves you well! I gratefully welcome your comments if you’d like to share your experience.

Go deeper with the Magic & Medicine of this amazing plant ally in INFUSE a la carte, a monthly immersion of intimate connection with healing plant allies.