The Portal of the Senses

The Portal of the Senses

Romancing the Plants

~~~~~

I can’t seem to keep my nose out of anything. I smell my friends, my kitchen mugs, my mail, my cat ….. I may as well have born with whiskers. My sense of smell is on equal footing with the rest of my senses. Even though it doesn't drive my car or find my keys when they’re lost, they are without a doubt navigating me through life.

As I kneel by the cold rushing river with the newly warmed rays of sun beating down on my winter skin, I let the world enter my body. I deeply Inhale the effervescence of the humid air, I feel the resins lured from the bark by the warmth and reach wide from the tree trunks as if to court the fairies with their perfume, the earthly expressions of the moment speak to me in a wordless language. I am touched by the elements; the air in my eyelashes, the moss warming in my hand, the humming of stone, the secrets of the soil. Animated in my nerves is the life force of the land.

My pulse, perhaps synchronizing with the memories of drums or churning of magma. My iron blood hears stories in the rocks. Medicine drips, milky and bitter, from collected stems, sticking unapologetically to my fingers. Cleavers tags along on my hem, while thorns give warning to slow down. Soggy leaves hide waking pupa. It still might snow. It would be a cruel thing for the fruit trees, but humbling yet again for us two-leggeds with the curse of hubris. In the meantime, my mouth gives health orders:  green, yellow, sharp, salty, sour and bitter! I listen. I eat.

In the same way my eyes feast on flowers and my skin drinks in rivers, my skin dessert is touch and my emotions ride the waves of ecstasy through plant oils. Delicate honeyed Elder flowers, sexy Jasmine absolute, the enlightenment of Rose attar, and the seduction of a good, dark patchouli. I’m servant to the muse and the nuance of emotional evocation. Goddesses call to me, stories write themselves, images dance in my mind. My heart pumps and moves closer to the little bottles of heaven, asking for more. More linden, more fir, more amber. Yes.

Rapture of the senses lets me sink. Beyond the forces of duty, of chore, of old wounds. Sinking like a shaman’s journey down a wet root into a sacred spring where the wise woman waits. She touches my throat with her herbal wand, invites me to rest my burdens in the salty pool. Gems and singing minerals glisten as I breathe. I breathe in the memories of Juniper. The touch of tulsi on my arms and legs. The splash of the water ceremony and lingering smoke of palo santo. Memories of Artemisia bundles and blue glass bowls and women shivering and hugging and laughing. Sandalwood oil soft on my feet helps me stand. I’m wrapped in a warm flax blanket and handed a blank book, with a wooden pencil. In my portal, through my senses, I am taught, healed, loved, touched, safe, connected, and ripe with possibility. Experience becomes play, skill flirts with luck, and joy sneaks up on me often.

 ~~~

xo

Ananda

~~~~~~~~~

For pleasure medicine or a sensory journey of your own, see my new botanical perfumes at my Aromatic Apothecary:

Cocoa ~ Rose ~ Ambrette

Elderflower ~ Rose ~ Silver Fir 

Grit, Glamour, and Staying Grounded Through the Evolution of Personal Dharma.

I always smell roses when my mom is thinking of me.

~~~

I had the pleasure of a two hour tea date alone with my Mama yesterday. This is a rare delicacy of time.

We seated ourselves at a rustic table inside a posh little Noho cafe and displayed African Elixir tea, ginger beer, carrot cake, and feta laden Greek salad in front of us.

My mom and I can't spend much time on small talk. It's boring. We go right to the gritty stuff in life. I love that about her - us.

Most of you know already that my Mama is my first herbal mentor. You can skip this paragraph if you've heard my story before. She began training me when I was very young - encapsulating chaparral powder and hoarding stevia before they were banned from the shelves. I have real-time vivid memories of these experiences which are very much based in my olfactory sense. She taught me how to use bitters for clearing up acne, how to do abhyanga. How to do Maya abdominal self massage and herbs for womb care. She helped midwife my children into the world and counseled me through marital and parental bumps. She taught me transcendental meditation, how to make nourishing soup, kombucha, creams, salves, how to talk with plant spirits, and most of what I know at my bone-deep levels about herbal medicine, potion crafting, and self-care. We continue to teach and inspire each other.

So here we sit, me at 37 and her: ageless. Her unruly red curls light up her emerald green eyes and mischievous yet honest smile. I spill my current thoughts as she listens, nods, laughs. I kvetch about not knowing the next step in my work, and about the uncertainties of life. She reminds me that our Dharma isn't always a one-terrain path ... that we can have three or four or more. That often they even seem 'different' but are actually evolutions of itself, blossoming through time. What was once my Dharma may or may not still look the same as it did, but it is not discarded or useless or disconnected. It was the previous terrain on my very own path - not separate.


Wikipedia says this about Dharma  "As well as referring to Law in the universal or abstract sense dharma designates those behaviours considered necessary for the maintenance of the natural order of things.[2] Therefore dharma may encompass ideas such as duty,[3] vocation, religion and everything that is considered correct, proper or decent behaviour."

While Wiki's description seems to infer some degree of martyrdom, my take on it is that Dharma is about us aligning with our most whole sense of purpose and love in life, and are in alignment with our truth, values, and daily actions and spiritual practices. It is not a destination but a flow and a practice of decisions.

Perhaps the "mid-life crisis" time is an opportunity to see where your longing is leading you. Where you have left off and want to pick up. Where you are going and whether you re-commit, or change course, or integrate.

What castles have I built? Are they strong? Beautiful? Functional?

Have I considered my happiness enough?

Am I joyful and satisfied with the results of difficult sacrifices I have made - for my family, my children.... ?

Do I experience love in my life every day?

Do I see myself embracing a future deserving of my energy?

~~
At first, when my Mama asked me (of my work evolution questionings) what in my heart spoke of my truth, my Dharma? .... I answered that I do not know, because I am living a life of choice that is not my first Dharma. That I must be deliberate because of this, and often times this is not a heart-intuitive process at all, but a heart-logical one.

Yet that is absurdity. All my accidents and my choices - even the most heart wrenchingly devastatingly difficult ones - have been rooted in Dharma. And my life is steeped in it even when I have not noticed. When I remember the hours/days I spent as a child contemplating the scent value of every product in one store, and staying up till 2am handcrafting magical herbal medicine pouches for every single girl in my class, it wasn't much less time than I spent dancing or journaling. These are the threads that make up me. And they weave ... different colors, different times, different textures.

Women are shapeshifters. Our titles are fluid, grounded, gritty, and glamorous. One day mother, vomit cleaner, poop changer - another day inspirer, herbalist, soup maker. Another ... artist, lover, dancer, community leader.

These are our fibers .... you are woven of silk and nettle and polyester and wool. I am too. I cannot expect every day to feel like the silk I wove when I was 12, or the nettle I wove clumsily at 22. And I cannot be scared to try the new fibers I see in my life.

Some have resisted seeing me move (away from more simple or common herbal products - which often times *should* cost as much as aromatic items or are one in the same as I often make) into my erogenous zone as an aromatic herbalist (do I *dare* call myself a perfumer?)

Yes I dare.

This doesn't make me less of an herbalist or more of a bitch. It makes me happy. It wakes me up in the morning.

Will I get some flack from the perfumery community? Possibly. But will I give myself less flack? Definitely.

Some may wonder why I don't teach plants and ID and more practical kinds of stuff. (I have. And I'm complete with that at the moment. And I'd prefer to assist you in making your own yarrow & comfrey simples because that's home herbalism - I don't need to sell you that, frankly. My blog continues to offer plentiful ways to make things at home.)

I'm interested in expressive and personal and sensory art. That's always been my lens and my medium. I like the abstract, mysterious, and metaphorical. I like expressing in words but much more than that, expressing what is beyond the capacity of words. I also like dirt and moss and what is feelably real.

Mostly my circumference of community totally gets it, and to be honest most of my fears are me talking to myself. I've had constructive feedback, but pretty close to nothing I would consider threatening or negative. (knock on wood), and primarily the responses I receive are beamingly gorgeous! I am grateful.

So, to dialogue with my own conscience ....  I'm not leaving my gritty, dirt worshiping, weedy ways behind for the glamour of elitist perfumery..... I am doing what I fucking love more that anything in life - in this moment - and yet something that I've always done all along in one way or another as I look back through my life and creations, my aromatherapy work, my potions & plant obsessions. I'm simply daring to step into it more deliberately, more transparently, with more devotion. And it weaves beautifully in complimentary contrast to the other things I've done, been, do, and may become again someday. For now, I'm choreographing stories through my senses, stirring magic up with cordials and unguents, taking good care of the women in my memberships, and considering my goals in a much broader capacity for the near and distant future. And I'm still picking weeds on my walks and doing push ups and plies by moonlight.

While we as plant healers need not be formally hitched to letters on our names or whatever you consider to be oppressive licensure .... what we do need is to take ourselves seriously. Consider ourselves as really, legitimately, women with the capacity to be autonomous - creatively and financially.

I am following the muse, evolving, we are evolving.

It is edgy, it is beautiful, and it need not be tame or status quo.

May your path always be guided by your heart compass, fierce commitment, and sensory wisdom.

And thanks, Mama, for your indelible love, inquiring ways, and generous teaching. You inspire me to be the best me I can be, and admire the best in others.

--Ananda

~~~~~~~

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For luscious aromatic herbal treasures, come visit my online Lair: Amrita Apothecary

Conifer Tree Potions (Solstice Medicine - or How to use your Christmas Tree)

Solstice Medicine

~ Conifer Tree Potions ~

Solstice / Christmas trees can be timely medicine, and a way to bring the magic of your tree to further purpose and honor. If your tree isn't sprayed or somehow compromised, you can easily make a cabinet full of wonderful healing treasures from it, to give as gifts (ask your tree provider for clipping scraps!) or as winter medicines.

Elixir 

Elixirs are simple and a medicine easy to savor and enjoy over time. I spend the most part of elixir creating being with the plant; carefully gathering the plant and preparing if for medicine; which might be taking leaves from stems, plucking tiny flowers, clipping needles, or carving bark from twigs. This, to me, is where the culmination of magic and intention is created. By the time I place the charmed plant material in the jar and soak it with spirits and honey, everything is potent with goodness. Then it’s just a matter of letting the osmosis do its part over the next 4-6 weeks before decanting.

Conifer needles are rewarding to craft with in the winter; bringing crisp warmth and circulatory support for the lungs and body as a whole. Conifers make exceptional expectorants and additions to cough syrups.

To make an elixir, fill a quart size jar full with fresh pine, spruce, or fir needles and a few twigs. Feel free to add some resin drops if you have collected those too. They are common to find on white pine cones – you can pluck off the shingles with spots of resin and add them. Next, fill your jar ¾ of the way up with your preferred alcohol, (drinkable – do not use rubbing alcohol!). Fill the remainder of the jar with a good quality raw/local honey. Add a tight fitting lid, and shake every so often. Be sure to label and date it!!

To decant, simply pour through a muslin or cheesecloth lined strainer into a clean glass bowl or pyrex, and pour into your favorite apothecary bottles.

This will keep indefinitely if stored out of light and heat.

If you have also made a ginger or mint preparation, they make a very fine pair.

Spice Mix/Rub

Juniper, fir needles, pine needles, and various flavorful shrubs that are less popular (like spice bush) make very lovely nuances to cooking and pay homage to the local landscape.

First, you’ll want to let your needles dry. Place the whole twigs in a paper bag or cardboard box for about a week. When the needles are dry, they will effortlessly fall from the twigs.

Collect the needles, leaving behind ones that have yellowed.

Combine in a bowl:

2 parts:

Conifer needles
Rosemary leaves
Juniper berries
Salt Crystals
Peppercorns, cracked if you like

1 part:

Lavender flowers
Sage leaves, crumbled
Orange peel bits

Options for further refinement of purpose might be

 – chili, garlic, and paprika for a meat rub
 – allspice, coriander, and clove for a corned beef or pickling mix
 – dried onion, dried mushrooms, astragalus, and seaweed for a soup stock/ bone broth making blend.
--play!

Mix it all together, and place in little baggies or spice jars, with a label an idea for how to use it.

You can use a suribachi to refine the blend if you like, or you can offer a gift of the spice blend with  a suribachi, and inspire the chef in someone you love.

This spice blend is delicious as an infused vinegar – start some now and it will be ready for your holiday feasting!  It also makes a wonderful gravy or stuffing flavor. Any way you might use herbs de provence, you can use your conifer spice blend.

Infused oil 

If you know me, I don’t have to tell you how much I love making tree oils and tree balms. White fir being among my ultimate favorites, Yule time is a good excuse to make a batch.

First, I let the twigs wilt for a day or so. Then, I pack a jar with needles and twigs (same as I would with the above elixir instructions). Then, cover the plant material with a good quality oil; olive, jojoba, or coconut (warm to melt coconut oil).  Add a lid, place inside a paper or canvas bag, and put in a warm spot – near a radiator, wood stove, boiler, or heating vent. Be sure to not create a fire hazard. Let infuse for 1-4 weeks, strain and enjoy as an elegant culinary oil or a medicinal skin care oil. Whit fir needles (Abies concolor) are my favorite so far, for their strong orangey aroma and utter deliciousness.

You can then use your oils to create salves, by melting in just enough beeswax to thicken it. You can also find my Tree Medicine Salve set in the shop right now (but there are only a few):

Wild Forest Incense 

Loose incense is simple, beautiful, and rewarding. Blend your conifer needles (and some small broken up twig pieces) with your favorite fragrant coal herbs. Roses, White Sage, Sweetgrass, Pine resin tears, Cinnamon, Lavender, Rosemary, Frankincense, Copal, Myrrh, and Artemisia are all beautiful choices.

Mix together your blend, emphasizing the notes you wish to be stronger by using more of that herb. I generally try my blend a few times on a smoldering coal and adjust of needed before I decide if it is to my standards.

Package however you like, with a little instruction note and a roll of self-lighting charcoals and a ceramic incense dish.  Wrap some matches and a smudge feather as gifts to make it extra special, or make this for your own circle time.

If you're feeling adventurous, you can go for a more complex, Kyphi style incense. Kiva Rose offers a helpful article on the process here. 

And of course, you can always make a smudge wand:

Bundle up your twigs and wrap with natural string, hang and let dry in a ventilated area for about two weeks, out of direct sun or heat. 

Infused Butter/Ghee  

Conifer  needles make a delicious ghee. Simply warm the ghee over low heat, and stir in your fresh (1/2 day wilted) needles. Cover, leaving just a crack open at the side of the lid. Let infuse warm for about 8 hours. Strain and jar, letting cool to solid before capping.  

You can do the same thing to flavor your local pig lard, beef tallow, bear fat, or bacon fat for extra special cooking adventures. This makes an awesome gift for the hunter, primitive skills folk, or outdoorsman in your life.

If you have good clean deer tallow, it makes an incredibly beautiful natural salve when herbally infused.

For butter, chop fresh needles and sage leaves, stir into warmed butter, and when cool, roll into logs using parchment paper. You can also make decorative butter pats using candy molds. Refrigerate these herbal butters, and be sure your needles are not too bitter and not too hard to chew. 

Healing Needle Honey

To make a tree needle honey, simply fill your quart sized jar half way full with fresh needles. *taste* your needles to get a feel for the strength and bitterness! Fill your jar with good honey, and each day invert the jar so the honey completely saturates the needles. If this step is missed, your honey could either mold or ferment. If done properly, your infused honey will last you all year long (or longer) whether you choose to strain it or not. Personally I rarely strain my honeys. I like the crystalline herb leaves and petals, and add them to my tea as well. When I've gotten all the honey I can, I use the rest to brew a nice strong pot of tea or syrup, or I freeze it to use over time.

Tree needle honey is beautiful for everyday use, but especially helpful for the lungs when expectoration and loosening of congestion is needed. It is mildly stimulating to the mucosa and would be less desirable for an extremely dry condition. In that case, I would first use demulcents, and then a small amount of the tree needle honey.

Conifer Shrub

A shrub or oxymel is a mixture of vinegar and honey that is infused with herbs. It’s a traditional preparation (common in the Appalachia region). It makes a great gift and a very nice remedy for coughs, colds, and the flu. It’s awesome in salad dressing and sparkly beverages! Shrubs are a world of herbal fun and extremely easy to make.

Fill your quart or half gallon sized jar 1/3 of the way with plant material, dried or fresh.

For example:
1 part Tree needles
1 Part Orange peel
1 Part Elderberries

Cover the herbs well with good honey. You want to stay around the 1/3 amount of your total … unless you like your oxymel really sweet. 

Fill the rest of the way with apple cider vinegar, or other favorite naturally fermented vinegar (avoid distilled vinegars like white vinegar.) Cover and infuse for 5-20 days. Strain if you wish. We like to make individual bottlesfor gifts. 

If you have homemade vinegar, or home harvested honey, that’s really special!

Nourishing Needle Vinegar

Vinegar is a deeply nutritious preparation used for food and medicine. Vinegar withdraws all of the minerals from our plant friends and is excellent for our bone health, digestive health, and circulation. Tree needle vinegar is unique and wildly flavorful!

First, make sure you have tasted your needles. Add less if they are very bitter, more if they are less bitter.
Fill your jar 1/8 to 1/4 way full with needles, fresh. Fill to the top with good vinegar, and let infuse 3-6 weeks. Use a plastic lid, or on with a rubber gasket, as metal will rust.

Conifer needle vinegar can also be packed with items you wish to brine …. Hard boiled eggs, Olives, Carrots, Burdock roots, Turnips, or Beets – just add them to the jar before you pour the vinegar.

Juniper & Pine Needle Gin

Juniper – Pine gin, with a pinch of mugwort and lavender. Mmmmm a very classy gift indeed. How about an herbal smoking blend and a corn cob pipe with that? How about a fancy flask or a witchy spirits glass?

To Make:

Fill your jar (yep, your 1 quart jar again ;)
- 2/3 cup Juniper berries
- 2/3 cup fresh conifer needles
- 1 tablespoon allspice berries
- pinch of grated nutmeg, pepper, or cardamom if desired.
- pinch of mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris, or Artemisia absinthium)
-Cover with your favorite Gin or Scotch
-Lid and label
-Keep out of reach of children and away from fire hazard areas!

Let extract for at least a week. If you’re in a time crunch, make in individual bottles so you can leave the herbs in, simply label it with a “ready by” date for the recipient. Chances are it will be potent even after a few days.

Potpourri without Chemicals

Mix in a bowl:
Conifer needles (the majority quantity)
Rose petals
Sage leaves
Lavender flowers
Bay leaves, Sweet gale, or Eaucalyptus leaves.
Bark pieces, small … oak, paper birch, or shagbark hickory, if you like to gather these.
Acorn caps, dry.
Moss – Spanish moss is often available at craft stores, or you can use locally gathered beard moss or common stringy mosses (please be careful not to harvest anything at risk)

Drip into your mix, essential oils:
20 - 40 drops pine needle and/or Juniper berry
20 - 40 drops Cedar wood
10 - 20 drops Oakmoss absolute (highly viscous, be aware)
20 – 40 Orange essential oil if desired. 

Mix with a metal or glass spoon, and place in decorate bowls, glasses, or sachets wherever you like. Play with the amount of essential oils  - this is a forgiving recipe and you have all the room in the world to use less or more, and other oils you might wish to try. 

If you have extra essential oils you want to use, consider saturating some of the moss with it, and placing it in a tight container with a stack of stationery to create beautiful scented paper, and keep until Valentine ’s Day or the moment you’re moved to write a love letter. J

Bath Bags

Fill a muslin bag with equal parts conifer needles, roses, and peppermint. Add to your bath as it fills for a gentle healing tub for kids and adults alike. For a bedtime blend, use lavender, chamomile, hops, or jasmine in place of the mint. Oatmeal is a very nice addition as well.

Tea Blends - Try my Black Forest Chai Recipe From my recent archives: 

BLACK FOREST CHAI

An intense herbal brew for your days hiding in the Cave.

Into a pot on the stove or wood stove, add 2 to 3 quarts filtered or well water. 

Add: 

~ 1, One inch sized root of Osha, dried.

~ One tablespoon Smoked black tea, such as Lapsang Souchong, or a roasted Mate

~ 1 tablespoon  Licorice root

~ 1 tablespoon Cardamom seeds

~ 1-2 tablespoons Ginger, fresh minced

~ 1-2 Springs freshly gathered conifer twigs with needles (spruce, fir, or pine)

~ 1 handful fresh Black Birch twigs cut into 1 inch bits

~ 5-10 Juniper berries

~ One inch piece dried mushroom (chaga, reishi, or shitake) if desired

~ grated Nutmeg to taste

~ Black Peppercorns as desired

~ 1 Handful of your favorite nuts; walnuts, almonds, or hazelnuts work well)

Directions: Gently simmer all ingredients for 30-45 minutes (longer will make it stronger). When ready, ladle out cupfuls as you desire, into your favorite mug. Add cream and honey and herbal elixirs as desired. Enjoy.

Ornaments

Using candy molds, sprinkle bits of needles and petals into each one, and pour over with melted beeswax. When partially cooled but still soft, use a toothpick to poke holes for string.

Syrup

If you're in the mood to make a pine syrup, you can reference my previous article on the process HERE.

Share with us *your* favorite way to make goodies from your Yule tree! Leave a comment below, or come play on Facebook

And remember to check out the Apothecary before it's too late to order - right now it's stocked with limited edition botanical perfumes, aromatherapy/elixir support, dreaming goddess night cream, and tree medicine balms.....

~ Nymphaea ~ Honey Lotus Botanical Perfume Solid ~ Lt'd Ed. 2012 ~

Blessings to you on this paradox holiday.....

Love,
Ananda

Samhain Altar: Offering to our Ancestors.

The moon is waxing
The air is hanging in a Samhain suspense.
The wind is quickening
all energies condensing invisibly,
palpably,
electric.

An eerie glow twinkles from the last golden leaves,
decending like a flock of lifeless butterflies.
The trees brace themselves,
sinking down into gravity,
Humming with flexible resin.

There is a hurricane headed.

A real one in the air, from the ocean,
and one inside many of our souls.

The days of the dead,
with a full moon,
seems perfect.
Our ancestors are pissed. We have ravaged the land
and each other
Without much care.
We have ignored ancient laws and common decency.

And when the veil thins, they can speak to us again.
Throwing branches, flooding our plains,
thrashing with bolts of lightning.

If I were an ancestor I'd be ready
to yell too. I'd call down to Earth daughters
and sons
and all hearts:

"LISTEN"

Our storms are the same.
We cry in tears of grief and loss
We sob - flooded and drenched
with longing
for wholeness and reclamation
dying to bring back our limbs, our roots,
our loved ones.
Our lovers and our bees,
our waters and our wombs,
our milk and our breasts wrought with poisons

We are dying to be one again, or separately together.

What are our ancestors asking of us?
What, by their massive tantrum,
are we asked to mother.

Have we let ourselves be the storm, enough?
Grief is a turbulent, cold river
winding and leading to forever
but different in temperature as it flows.

Tears, our human tears,
are filled with hormones and pain relief
Just as the sea is filled with kelp and stingers and teeth
and magnificent depth.

My ancestors are asking me to be both gentle and fierce
To ask the plants for help at the same time I give seeds and tears to the soil.
They are asking me to share my gifts of healing and sensuality and connection,
and to ask others the hard questions, too.
To be a role model for a new/old way.
They ask me to be a devoted mother,
and to prepare bone broths and root brews and oil medicines.
And pray to the trees.

What would your ancestors ask of you today,
sweet one,
if he or she,
were sipping mugwort and sweet fern tea
over candlelight,
with you.
?

Offering gratitude for my beloveds today, in honor of the coming storm, the coming sacred day of the dead. To my teachers, mentors, changemakers, mothers, cross dressers, beauty-dancers. 
I offer sage, osha, copal, cedar, lavender to you. 

Grandfather, you made sweet wine and a family of hearts.
Grandmother, your fingers danced with music and you asked nothing less than excellence
Grandfather, you were trapped in a bad time to be such a feeling man, when you could have better served as a Shakespeare actor.
Grandmother, you raised powerful women from your caring. You passed down your golden heart. 
Grandmother, you danced a wild edge of wellness and crazy, and with your flagrant beauty, you taught us, too.
Ancestors before my Grandparents, I hear your pulse in my blood, I see your glory in the land. 

Blessed be your wisdom and gifts, newly understood, newly ignited, newly creative in this precarious, auspicious world. 

A-ho.

Offerings for honoring our lineage....

herbs;
Mugwort
Bloodroot
Balm of Gilead
Osha
Copal
Palo Santo
Juniper
Acorns
Roses
Ferns
Redwood
Ginkgo
Amber
Seeds

feathers;
Owl
Raven
Vulture
Chicken
Turkey
Pheasant

bones;
Cow
Salmon
Turkey
Whale
Antlers
Snake skin
Frog skin
Deer skin

mineral;
Salt
Crystals
Seaweed
Shells
Family Jewelry
Diamonds
Amber
Prehnite
Rose Quartz
Hematite

liquid;
tears
ocean or river water
wine
mead
herbal brew
cider
herbal beer
cream
honey
herbal elixir
herbal tincture
herbal oil

herbs for grief/heart:
Rose
Lavender
Tulsi
Valerian
Kava
Poppy
Hawthorn
Rose of Sharon
Motherwort
Mugwort

essential oils for grief/heart
Vetiver
Sandalwood
Rose
Cinnamon
Basil
Lavender
Ylang Ylang
Clary Sage
Cedar
Palo Santo
Violet
Oakmoss

~~~~~
May you know peace in your heart, may you know wholeness underneath grief, may you know love as the center. 
~~~~~

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Enrollment for Lady's Slipper Ring Ends October 31. 

Come home to yourself on a journey of sacred self care and pleasure medicine.

Enroll HERE 

~Blessed Be~

What Nourishes You Most Deeply? Are You Listening? (Four keys and four herbs for October transitions)

I Know The Way You Can Get 

I know the way you can get 

When you have not had a drink of Love: 

 Your face hardens, Your sweet muscles cramp. 

Children become concerned 

About a strange look that appears in your eyes 

Which even begins to worry your own mirror 

And nose. 

Squirrels and birds sense your sadness

And call an important conference in a tall tree. 

They decide which secret code to chant 

To help your mind and soul. 

 --Hafiz, excerpt

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did your heat come on this morning? Did you feed the wood stove?

Mine came on for the first time of the season. I smelled the metallic air when I woke, and I knew to grab socks and a sweater.

There was a misty haze of cold dew along the fields, and a quietness of busy people slightly more withdrawn.

The poetry of the horizon speaks of geese pushing time and of leaves blushing red and setting sail.

There is much work of medicine and magic to be done, still.
I feel the stirring of our ancestors asking more of us, and the longing of the Earth for more response-ability.

I watch the squirrel heed these laws every time he digs to bury a nut.

Nature calls us to heed rhythms.

Are you listening? What do you hear?

Four Keys and Four Herbs for October Transitions:

~~~~~
Temperature:
==========

How is the temperature in your body? Do you wake feeling cold, hot, or uncomfortably mixed? What do you do support your comfort?


Ginger
Ginger root helps to warm our circulation and regulate our 'triple heater', making temperature adaptation easier for our bodies. Instead of hot cocoa, try a cup of gently simmered fresh ginger root, with a little bit of honey. Or, make ginger root hot cocoa :)


Daylight and Moonlight:
==========

How is your rest & activity feeling? Are you sleepier or more energized than you were in the summer?

Seaweed
Seaweed is mineral rich giving our bodies the ability to be fully awake, and fully asleep, at the appropriate times. Seaweed is also brimming with both lunar and solar energies .... as it is fed by the sun and nourished by the moon and her watery tides. As perhaps the fastest growing vegetation in the world, seaweed feeds our wholeness and ability to be strong during periods of growth and change.


Your muse:
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How is your creative self? Engaged, disowned, tired, longing or restless? Your sense of divine connectedness to your life and your daily expressions of self? Your time for self care and reflection, meditation, or nourishing touch?

Cardamom
Cardamom is just sensual. It's sweet and spicy, gentle and strong, loving and clear. Cardamom in my warm milk, on my warm apple compote, or in a spicy soup, cardamom just makes me feel inspired. I often combine it with my other favorite muse herbs like Damiana and Kava Kava, but on her own she can re-awaken the imagination and playful self. When our senses and our mind are both playing, we can experience intense creative satiation.


Your footing:
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Do you feel steady, sure footed, and solid? Or frail and precarious? Are you the river, or are you the glass bottle floating down the river, headed for rapids? What is the message in your glass bottle, waiting to be freed, so that you may flow?

Burdock
Burdock to me is a water root. Dug from the wet earth and cooked in soups we are centered deeply in our water-bone humanness. We become grounded, centered, yet not stagnant. Burdock root nourishes our ability to be stable in our bodies, in our truth-speaking, and in our hearts.

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Perhaps you open my newsletter or blog expecting to be more formally taught about herbs.

By now you've probably realized that isn't entirely how I roll.

I could teach you about just herbs, but if you don't have the willingness to listen to your body, herbs aren't going to do much.


I don't teach answers, I teach questions.

I give possibility and options and resources and catalysts .... the answers belong to you. Answers can change over time.

And our bodies are part of nature. In listening to nature, we hear our bodies. In listening to our bodies, we hear nature.

In being honest about our senses, intuitions, impulses, and callings, we access a deep and perhaps ancestral strength that can empower our lives in profound and meaningful ways.

My wish for you is to continually have access to, and connection with, your true source.

May you have a blessed day, dear one.

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Ready to embark on an intentional journey of self discovery and pleasure medicine?

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Healing wounds and transforming habits does not have to be painful. There are better ways to claim our wholeness and connect to our inner knowing. 

Join us - a small, select group of magical women - on a year long spiral journey of enchanted, sensual, intuitive joy! 

You deserve it.

To learn more, go HERE  

Not sure what it might feel like? Find out what graduating members are saying:

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Testimonials:

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~ The Unburdened Basket ~

"The Lady’s Slipper Ring entered my life during a time of loss and much change.  As an older woman, I was confident in my beliefs and values though occasionally struggled with aligning them in all aspects of my life.  I have always been a frugal person and seldom indulged in things that I considered unnecessary.  And I am a craft-woman’s nightmare: I am the consumer who appreciates the product but then goes home and makes it myself.

I seemed an unlikely candidate for the LSR but with so much change in my life, I felt a bit untethered and felt that I needed to nourish, to care for myself during this difficult time. So I signed up and almost immediately started regretting my indulgence (where do we learn such thinking?)

Until I received the first month’s materials and herbal goodies… The content is thoughtful and challenging; each month I was asked to consider just how empowered I am on the inside.  Are my beliefs and actions aligned? What do I truly know to be true about myself? How do I perceive my place in this complex world?    How much do I trust myself, my values, my intuition?  In addition, multiple resources are offered for future pondering.  Working through each month’s topic was just that – work. Some topics were easier than others; all of them contributed to a deeper appreciation of my gifts and me.

My reward each month came in a small box that fit perfectly into my mailbox. Even in my best DIY attempts, I doubt that I could replicate the unique creams, balms, oils, elixirs and perfumes. Ananda’s unique approach to scents and taste delighted me each month.  She truly offers an artisan approach to her creations, and I quickly developed a ritual of sitting, sniffing, tasting, and massaging the products immediately upon their arrival.

Ananda’s wisdom and love are expressed throughout the LSR program.  I am moving forward with renewed energy and know that I will continue to return to the content on those days when defeat seems to be looming.  During this past year of incredible change in my life, the LSR proved to be a very wise investment in myself.  A luxury for so many women…self-care is seldom on our To-Do list.  

The Lady's Slipper Ring is a wonderful reminder of why it needs to be at the top of our lists.

Thanks,

Sue"

The Withered Herb 

Enroll in the Lady's Slipper Ring HERE!

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The Power of Choice, the Power of Decision

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"I am not the type to "splurge" on self-care but somehow I just knew from the second I heard about it that Ananda's Lady's Slipper Ring would be a powerful investment for me. 

By taking this year long course I have transformed a lot of my self-care habits and shifted my priorities to taking better care of myself. I love the new relationship I have formed with nourishment and self-care and I love the end result of being less stressed and finding more joy in my every day life. 

Plus, just getting that incredible package of treasures each month was a beautiful experience within itself. Ananda makes some of the best herbal products I've ever experienced! Self-care and nourishment are some of our most powerful tools for health and longevity, I am really grateful that I prioritized these qualities in my life through the Lady's Slipper Ring."

~Rosalee de la Forȇt

Methow Valley Herbs 

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Beauty Blessings,

Ananda

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Plant Journeys

Amrita Apothecary

Shop On PoppySwap 

Cottonwood Tree Medicine ~ an Aromatic Panacea

Cottonwood Tree Medicine: an Aromatic Panacea

Some tips from my harvesting adventure on identification, harvesting, and preparation.

Also the launch of my Goddess Devotional Plant Perfume membership

Enjoy! 

Love,

Ananda