Floral Portal
One of the ideas that I live by was once summarized by Einstein this way:
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Creativity and resilience all arise from our ability to get fresh perspective. Finding ways to tap into greater wisdom and guidance is humanity’s holy grail.
Plants can help us.
While that could include psychedelic experiences, that’s not what I’m thinking about here.
Ordinary plants, familiar plants, also have significance and power.
“There are 77 and a half plants believed to straddle realms.” Writes Kapka Kassabova in Elixir, a tale of her living and learning among Bulgarian herbalists. “They are used against seventy-seven ‘windy ones’ – or pathogens. I don’t know all of them but there is also gentian, lovage, smoke tree, restharrow, oregano, bryony, and primrose.”
“Women had gathered these seventy-seven and a half plants at summer solstice, naked and in silence. That’s a lot of plants to find in one night. They wove giant wreaths with them. The wreaths were used for the rest of the year to smudge people for all manner of afflictions.”
This tradition is the inspiration for the giant hoop of flowers and herbs we create every Mid-Summer Celebration. Due to our Northern climate, we need to wait until early July for everything to come into full bloom. So far, I believe everyone has worn clothes while gathering flowers from their garden in preparation.
The beauty and fragrance of the hoop is a wonderful thing to experience.
I’m grateful for Kassabova for naming that these plants are straddling realms, helping us tap into a greater reality for healing and awakening. That turns our hoop into a sort of portal.
You’ve got to experience this hoop!
It is always a highlight of my summer.
If this herbal wisdom has piqued your curiosity, I also invite you to the June session of Grandmothers’ Garden. You will learn:
General approaches to using teas, ritual baths, elixirs and more for healing your spirit
How to tap into the healing power of the water and familiar plants like roses, apples, and basil
How timing, process, and intention add potency to these remedies
Break out your white shoes, it’s full-on summer now. May it be full of revelation and healing.
Love,
emily
Folk tradition can offer you some new ideas for cultivating a healing relationship with plants. Sign up today to learn more during the June 15 session of Grandmothers’ Garden.
Got July 9 Mid-Summer Celebration on your calendar yet? Free, registration appreciated.