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. ❤️❤️❤️

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!

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.

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.

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.