A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds.

A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship,

and he who plants kindness gathers love. ”
                                              Saint Basil

Plant Medicine

Have fun learning all about the powers of the plants by performing this exercise. 

Tools needed for this exercise: 

Pencil/Pen

Paper

Small pair of scissors or tool for cutting plants

Bag to hold your plant

Blanket/towel

 

To complete this exercise you need to go to a place where you will find plants growing naturally and be able to spend at least a half hour there.  Begin taking a walk and placing the intention to the plants that you under stand how important they are to you and our universe.  As you continue walking ask the plants to reveal to you something of its spiritual nature.  You may have to repeat this a couple times and if you find that you may not remember this phrase, then write it down and take the message with you to reference. 

 

As you walk continue to repeat this message as many times as needed until you find the answer.  Giving your self time, there is no rush with this exercise.  It’s important that you to try to keep an open mind ~ in a sense like a blank screen.  The answer will come to you telepathically either as an image or as a thought. When you begin to receive the message, take a seat and write down the impressions that come to you.  You may be receiving a scene, feel free to draw the images being shown.  Try not to attempt at this time to analyze or interpret the message; that will come later in a meditation session when your home.  Just write/draw what impressions come.

 

In your thoughts, explain to the plant that you need help and it requires you to take a small cutting.  In your mind it will come as an impression of where you’re to make this cutting.  Take your time and make the cutting and then smear a little spit from your mouth over the wound on the plant.  This acts as an offering of healing to the plant.

 

If it’s possible and you have some additional time, spread your blanket or towel and lie down on the ground.  It doesn’t have to be the exact location but somewhere as close as possible to the area where you made the cutting.  Focus you’re breathing and relax, holding the cutting to your navel.  Close your eyes and ask the plant cutting to reveal its medicine to you.  Once you have received the message, sit up and note any of the impressions or images that come to you. You may also have experienced a vision from the cutting, this is important to write as much detail as you can so you’re not to forget later.  When you are finished take the cutting and place it in your bag and take it home with you.  We will perform another meditation with it another day.

 

When time permits let’s share how the plant communicated with you and describe what was calling to you.

~Learning From Your Plant ~

 

To go into a deeper understanding of the lesson from your plant, go to a place where you can meditate and  take your plant cutting and hold it to your navel and ask the plant to what it wants to teach you. Followed by asking how it can help to transform your weakness into strengths; then ask what other plants can become your allies.

Once finished it’s important to document all the details that come to you.

 

Love to hear about your experience…..I also want to Thank my friend Chris who took this beautiful picture while celebrating her anniversary with her husband.  He has a fabulous eye for photography, www.jimemeryphotography.com

“The Amazing Moon”

Why are we so fascinated with the moon ?

I know I just love being outside during an evening with the full moon.  In fact, I’ve even howled at the moon.  It’s amazing how much light it can provide.  While working in the mental health field many moons ago, practitioners  use to say our clients would show us when the full moon has arrived and the crisis center would be busier than normal.  Could it actually have been true that there is this “affect” that takes place on the human body when there is a full moon ?

 Wikipedia  state s that Full Moons are traditionally associated with temporal insomnia, insanity (hence the terms lunacy and lunatic) and various “magical phenomena” such as lycanthropy.  Depending on where you do your research there are psychologists that found that there is no strong evidence for effects on human behavior around the time of a Full Moon. They find that studies are generally not consistent, with some showing a positive effect and others showing a negative effect.  However, The British Medical Journal in December 23, 2000,  published two studies on dog bite admissions to hospitals in England and Australia. The study of the Bradford Royal Infirmary found that dog bites were twice as common during a Full Moon, whereas the study conducted by the public hospitals in Australia found that they were less likely.  However, Dr. Timo Partonen of the Finnish National Public Health Institute carried out a study of 1,400 suicides and found that people were more likely to make an attempt on their life when there was a New Moon.  Maybe I need to continue studying the affects on people during the New Moon.  If your visiting  www.hippymom.com  the New Moon you will see members wanting to know when to write their Abundance Checks.  There are strong believers on this site that swear it’s this little step during the New Moon that when you align yourself with the Universe during the New Moon that you will bring abundance into your life.  I have to admit I am one of those individuals.

If you want to learn more about abundance checks try this website: http://www.rolandberard.com/Production/EN/abundance_2006.htm

Many neopagans hold a monthly ritual called an Esbat at each Full Moon, while some people practicing traditional Chinese religions prepare their ritual offerings to their ancestors and deities on every full and New Moon. Then there is the Blue Moon.  The term “Blue Moon” traditionally referred to an extra moon in a season~ if a season had four Full Moons (rather than the more common three), then the third of the four moons was known as a Blue Moon. A season in this sense begins not with the months, but with the solstices and equinoxes, as described on Blue Moon. The next “Blue Moon” will be in December, 2009 with full moons on December 2 and December 31.

My favorite moon is the Harvest Moon.  Wikipedia has this for part of it’s explanation:

The harvest moon is the moon at and about the period of fullness that is nearest to the autumnal equinox. The Harvest moon is often mistaken for the modern day Hunter’s moon. In the legend of the Harvest moon, it is said that all full moons have their own special characteristics based primarily on the whereabouts of the ecliptic in the sky at the time of year that these moons are visible. The Full Moons of September, October and November as seen from the northern hemisphere – which correspond to the full Moons of March, April and May as seen from the southern hemisphere – are well known in the folkloreof the sky. All Full Moons rise around the time of sunset.  However, although in general the moon rises about 50 minutes later each day, as it moves in orbit around Earth, the Harvest Moon and Hunter’s Moon are special, because around the time of these Full Moons, the time difference between moonrise on successive evenings is shorter than usual. In other words, the moon rises approximately 30 minutes later, from one night to the next, as seen from about 40 degrees N. or S. latitude, for several evenings around the full Hunter’s or Harvest Moons. In times past this feature of these autumn moons was said to help farmers working to bring in their crops (or, in the case of the Hunter’s Moon, hunters tracking their prey). They could continue being productive by moonlight even after the sun had set. Hence the name Harvest Moon.  I personally love the Harvest Moon because it’s warm and you it’s very bright and I feel totally energized.

The Moon is just amazing in my eyes.  It takes about 1.25 seconds for moonlight to reach the Earth yet we all take it for granted that it’s always going to be there for us. 

What would our nights be like without a moon ?

Online Workshop: Tuning Your Senses