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A new Medicine Plant introduced to me after six seasons of living where I live.
Her name is Mullein, and she is an ally of the lungs. |
Summer has passed. The intensity and the generous gifts of a sun-rich season are visible; the Food Plants have given and given (a dozen quarts of applesauce), fruit and vegetables continue to feed us from our orchard and the community gardens in our neighborhood.
The forest fires that began in mid-July have had their effect, most of the burning has been calmed or stopped thanks to the rains that finally came this month. Many folk, including me, are dealing with smoke inhalation issues(lungs, sinuses,ears and ears) and how to live through it, and from it.
Integrating many sources to create effective remedy seems my best approach. Others find remedy in medication and prescription. Still others are unscathed by the fires, smoke and particulates going about their lives as they would were the forests untouched by fire. An important part of this 'integration' though is to remember to Keep it
simple. Meaning it is a good practice to keep each Plant Herb separate in its use ... try one herb remedy at a time. 'Simples' in Wildcrafting or herbal medicine practices refers to making a tincture, poultice or oil with one herb rather than mixing more than one or buying mixtures.
UPDATE: (READ the bottle
carefully on purchased remedies, what I thought was just mullein and garlic oil was in fact mullein, calendula, St. John's wort and garlic. If I have a sensitivity to the oil I won't know what triggered the sensitivity. I re-learned the lesson of 'simples' this afternoon).
I figured this would be a good time to summarize my experiences (Saturn is in the sky, and visible as my husband watched the planet last night) as the teacher of long-term lessons is now in Sagittarius after 2.5 years in Scorpio. For all of us, the
lessons have been deeply felt. (click on that link for a long list of lessons learned). From that list I am able to affirm what Elsa wrote is true for me, too.
I have learned to conserve my energy and commit deeply.
Conserve energy
Teaching classes
(Ho'omoku) began with a vision for small group face-to-face teaching.
Within a week I realized this ideal would have to change. Educating people about my MCS reality takes a lot of energy, and time.
'Group' was redefined. One student, one husband, one teacher = our group
When the forest fires raged,
where to teach changed from 'in person' to 'phone-to-phone'
Commit deeply
I remained committed to the process of sharing and teaching. It was flexibility that shouted for its place. As I conserved my energy, it was important that I exchange it with a student who could reciprocate. We have that in our student. She teaches us, we teach her. Once a week we had phone classes. The times changed during the process, accommodating our mutual needs. She is in the process of moving off the island, and through it we keep in touch (with short phone and meaningful conversation); the practices, chants, and 'olelo (Hawaiian words) of importance build in meaning as our relationship grows.
Saturn's transit through Scorpio aspected (affected, tweaked, 'lit-up') the 10th and 11th Houses of the astrological sky. That means, my Public Reputation (10th House) and Friendships, Hopes and Dreams (11th House) have undergone a reality check. "Oh really?" Saturn said, making sure my expectations of a style of public (10th House) interaction still worked. Consolidating, reining in my old expectations and living real life I see what I can do; what I can't do; how I relate with my Scorpio Sun; what and how I think (Mercury in the 10th) and got another experience with the 'original wound' of Chiron (also in the 10th House).
These lessons and experiences aren't easy! Physically my body has been taxed to the max, my faith bottomed out, the symptoms of MCS raged, my world become smaller and smaller; and then I found something while I re-read the pages of
Braiding Sweetgrass. Robin Wall Kimmerer is a true medicine woman and story is part of her medicine magic. In the chapter "In the Footsteps of Nanabozho: Becoming Indigenous to Place" Kimmerer draws on her poetic eyes to write bridges between the Long Past and the past that we have just left a footstep ago. Creation story for Indigenous people thread us together, restoring fragmented experiences (personal and historic) and in the hands and heart of a storyteller the restoration is potent, poignant.
The chapter on Becoming Indigenous to Place rings my internal bells. Here's the conversation that is going on ...
"I am AN INDIGENOUS Woman," Bell One declares. And, she is not wrong.
"But," suggests Bell Two, "RWK is suggesting something so much larger. She is suggesting you might want to weigh the longing to be in that other place where you were born and indigenous to, with, becoming Indigenous to the place you are now."
"I know. I read that, and the bells and lights all started to flash." Admitted Bell One.
"How do we reconcile this? Is there a conflict a compromise an issue of loyalty breached?" Both Bells asked simultaneously.
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| I took this photo of Plantain growing in the drought-brittle pea patch where we conducted summer sessions of Ho'omoku. |
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| Here is an Internet snap of the same species, in similar drought condition but the plant is greener. |
Kimmerer anchors her stories woven in the chapter with the life and journey of an immigrant plant, a weed that came along with the immigrants who crossed at least one ocean and came to 'a new land.' Unlike so many other examples of colonial plants like kudzu who sets no limits to its thirst occupation and will take your house with or without permission; another plant followed in the footsteps of the white man. Where ever the white man went so went this potted herb. Its seed and its habits were so different than the colonial kudzu. This plant made itself comfortable in small spaces, "Its strategy," writes Kimmerer "was to be useful, to fit into small places, to coexist with other around the dooryard, to heal wounds. Plantain is so prevalent, so well integrated, that we think of it as native...Plantain is not indigenous but "naturalized." This is the same term we use for the foreign-born when they become citizens in our country."
Plantain grows everywhere in our orchard. The broad leaf and the narrow leaf plants have made themselves at home with Plants here. Back in Hawaii Plantain is called Lokahi. There, I thought of Lokahi as native. How amazed I was to find it here, where I live. But what is more amazing is to find Kimmerer's story and its broad implication as a
real education. As Saturn the Lesson-Giver moves into the next sign of the zodiacal sky, it brings the lesson of real education. I have just started a four-week long workshop with Elsa Panizzon from ElsaElsa focused on what to expect and how to benefit from Saturn's transit through Sagittarius. It's gonna be a doosy of a workshop; all of Elsa's offerings are full and long-lasting value. This one has just begun as a private forum, there's still time to sign on.
One of the things Elsa promises (and she always comes through!) is
How to recognize and reign in your own inflation. So, back to the conversation between the two Bells going on in my head. The question and answer(s) to my beliefs (Sagittarius) about being Indigenous and being Happy (hopes and dreams are Sagittarius' domain) are gonna get a tweak and new definitions. A real education will put me where an old woman can be of true worth. The teacher who remains teachable, and humble, can be of real value. Just look at the Plantain: called many names does the same thing where ever it lives.
Long winded blather, but, hope you got something to chew on. If you want more,
join us in the Saturn through Sagittarius Workshop.
