Pareidolia

Welp, it has been forever since I posted; can you tell I am building a house?  Lots of the things I used to do, and plan to get back to, have fallen to the wayside in order to focus on this massive project.  It's an interesting phase in life, a all-encompassing hiatus, sorta like getting a degree or having a newborn.

Nonetheless, I just had a much-needed vacation and went to Georgia for the American Herbalist Guild Symposium and also got to explore some of the surrounding mountains of the Chattahochee National Forest.  It's gorgeous down there!  The vibrant, yet gentle, light and color of the changing leaves soothed my soul.  I want to share a few of the highlights here; may they soothe you too.

First, a minute-long video for you to pause and take a deep breath and center yourself.
This was taken near a large waterfall which you will hear.  Just breathe as you watch; that is all you need to do.  Let the water wash away your tensions, your cares fall away with the leaves.

"Tension is who you think you should be.  

Relaxation is who you are." 

- Chinese Proverb

“You drown not by falling into a river, 

but by staying submerged in it.”

- Paulo Coelho

"I planted my self in the middle of a great many Glasses full of Dew, tied fast about me, upon which the Sun so violently darted his Rays, that the Heat, which attracted them, as it does the thickest Clouds, carried me up so high, that at length I found my self above the middle Region of the Air."
 - Cyrano de Bergerac

Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding 

that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. 

The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.” 

- Terry Tempest Williams

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, 

but in having new eyes."

 - Marcel Proust  

“A Woman in harmony with her spirit

is like a river flowing.

She goes where she will without pretense 

and arrives at her destination

prepared to be herself

and only herself ” - Maya Angelou

“The most common form of despair is not being who you are.” 

― Søren Kierkegaard

“Omnia mutantur, nihil interit”
(Everything changes, nothing perishes)
― Ovid, Metamorphoses  

“Trees are sanctuaries. 

Whoever knows how to speak to them, 

whoever knows how to listen to them, 

can learn the truth. 

They do not preach learning and precepts, 

they preach, 

undeterred by particulars, 

the ancient law of life.”
-Hermann Hesse, 'Wandering'

“Poetry is what happens when nothing else can.” 
― Charles Bukowski

“Whether you try too hard to fit in 

or you try too hard to stand out, 

it is of equal consequence: 

you exhaust your significance.” 

― Criss Jami

“your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.” 

― Charles Bukowski, "The Laughing Heart."  from 'Betting on the Muse'

Breathe, the path awaits your presence...

Hope for Morning

We hold fast
     to tenuous threads
as though to let loose
     would be to fall,
                    to fail,
                    to lose
     when in actuality
     the emptiness and lack
                   are all and everything needed
     in its nothingness
     there is nothing missing.

liminal, numinous, sentient
               it, us, I

all is      becoming
all is      complete
if only yet

I cloak myself 
     in this delirious madness
     and hope for morning.

 

Ah, Springtime: Edible Wild Foods, Flowers, and Honeybees... a Photo Journal and Videos

Well, Hello There!  Little Guy!  Jumping Spider on Peony - a Rapture unto itself.

Ah, the Green has come and done its overnight coloring of the world around me.  Spring is such a glorious, lush time with everyone, two-legged and otherwise, coming to life (even if it seems we do go from winter right into summer now in Virginia).  We get more daylight and our blood flows in our veins the way the sap rises in the trees.  We are more active as the days grow longer, waking from our slumber...


Here are some pictures from my past two weeks of basking in the green I toil for...

Home-made Prayer Flag made with fabric scraps,
blowing prayers for creativity, community, and joy on the wind to you.

Lots of plants are showing up each day as their season comes (and goes).  Wild edibles are available every day now and I try to incorporate them into my diet often.  I feel freshly picked food is the most nutritious you can get (whether from your organic garden, the farmer's market or the wild).  Wild food especially gives you nutrients often not found, or not found in similar quantities, to cultivated food, particularly grocery store food since it's usually not that fresh.  Grow your own!

Ramp and Japanese Knotweed tops saute.

Washing Plantain to add to a salad.

Learn to identify the common wild edibles and glory in the fact that they grow in your yard, woodland, or borderland without any effort on your part.

You don't even have to make a fancy meal or recipe with them.  Here I have topped some store bought, "healthy version" frozen pizzas with some wild edibles:  Sarsaparilla tip in top photo and Dandelion greens on the pizza at bottom.






For an added delight, learn which flowers are abundant and edible and harvest them if there are plenty enough that you can harvest and still leave lots for the bees.

In spring there are many such as Redbud, Locust, Wisteria, Violets, ...

Wisteria flowers scenting the air and delighting the pathwalker.
New hive, Balsamic, on the left, and Monkey on the right, ready for a split, swarming, and honey removal.

Salad of Wisteria flowers, Violet leaves and flowers, and Wild Onion leaves.

Chomsky says "Meowhello!"

Whoa.  To be a bee...  Iris at the peak of the wave, its Yang time.

Iris closed, riding the wave into the trough, its Yin time.

Time for seeding...Echinacea and Black Eyed Susans - for the Butterflies - seed bombs!

L'Atelier, the art studio, nestled at the woodland's edge
flanked by a Butterfly/Hummingbird garden beginning its season of bloom.

Erg.  What ones hands look like after manually disposing of Mealybugs on the Apple Espalier in the above picture.

Mathieu napping in the back yard after a day of landscaping.  Something this Wood Element gal needs to learn to do...

"Our calling is where the world's hunger and our deepest gladness meet." - Fredrick Buechner

Lorax, quiet for the evening in its surround of Maple-leaved Viburnum.

"Do not try to save the whole world or do anything grandiose. 

Instead, create a clearing in the dense forest of your life and wait there patiently, 

until the song that is your life falls into your own cupped hands and you recognize and greet it. 

Only then will you know how to give yourself to this world so worth of rescue" - Martha Postlewaite

On the winds to you!

Wild Herbs in Winter

An important aspect of wild-harvesting is to follow the plant throughout the year.  This way you can get to know it not just in its full glory during peak bloom or initial spring flush, but also in seed, in winter, and eventually at seedling stage.  This helps in locating plants for harvest - if no matter when you are out and about exploring you can identify them, and know where to return later.*

Goldenrod - Solidago spp.

Goldenrod - Solidago spp.  (Hubbie in red ;) )

It's also important to know what part of the plant to harvest and when to harvest for optimum strength.    Spending regular time in outdoor locations throughout the year will enable you to be there when the time is right.  Every season has it's beauties.

Heal All - Prunella

These photos were taken mid-February in the mountains of Virginia.  My apprentices couldn't make it out because of the weather, so I did an herb walk and photo essay for them and am sharing it here.

Mullein - Verbascum

Mullein - Verbascum

All of these plants were photographed on one walk beginning on higher ground and leading to a stream.
A plant's location can also help you with identification.  Do you know which of these were found near the stream?  and which would not want their feet wet?

Wild Basil - Satureja, Clinopodium, Calamintha

Wild Basil - Satureja, Clinopodium, Calamintha

Winter is a nice time to get to know a plant because you can see its bare bones, its skeleton, it's basic structure, and often its seed pods.  Pay attention to how it grows on the whole - its habit - and get down close with it and inspect the details.  Fascination awaits!

Alder - Alnus

Alder - Alnus

What new plants will you learn this year?  What plant allies are you working with this winter?

Shiso - Perilla

Shiso - Perilla

*Please get to know your plants well enough to know which ones should be harvested and use ethical harvesting practices if you do, never taking more than 10% unless it is a known common, plentiful, invasive and never harvesting at all if rare or endangered.  Also, know how to harvest so that you allow the plants to continue.  Spread their seed, refrain from using the roots if possible, and prune for good regrowth.

There will be more of these posts to come to help you with identification....

Light from Darkness - A New Moon Solstice

It's that time of year again.  :)

"To yield is to be preserved whole.

To be bent is to become straight.

To be empty is to be full.

To be worn out is to be renewed.

To have little is to possess."

 - Lao Tzu

...and when you go into the Darkness, you can find Light.  Today, the Winter Solstice, is the shortest day of the year lightwise, and the longest night.  Take this opportunity to go within, to be quiet, to be present with what is, even in the dark corners.  To rest.

Our ancestors who didn't have electricity would have spent this time being less active out of necessity - spending more time around the fire, more time sleeping, more time in quiet and stillness.  But they knew the wheel of the year turned and that this severe Yin Darkness marked the Yang Birth of the Sun.  Because when you go to an extreme of Yin, you get Yang, and an extreme of Yang, you get Yin.  That is the paradox of living within dichotomy.  For however dark it is, the light is always within that darkness, waiting...

And this is a special Solstice, for it is also the New Moon.  So we have the increasing energies of the Moon waxing, becoming Full.  Even the Yin Moon is moving toward being Yang, Full.  Use this time and potential energies wisely, what will you birth?

Speaking of birth, today is also my Birthday; I'm going into my forties which is a trip in itself, but a whole other blog post.  :)  I was born at high noon on the day of the longest night.  When I think about this and how it influences me... I see it as my being able to be with the Dark, residing there, but also being able to shine out with what is Light within that Darkness.  I can see how my life has followed this path.  I've never shied away from difficulty or unpleasantries, wanting to see what they too had to offer.  And in so doing, I have found that Darkness holds the brightest Light.

In this vein, my collagework has reflected this regard for both the Light and the Dark; the fullness of experience.  Collage has helped me through dark times and I have been doing workshops sharing this ability of collage to facilitate transition, presence, transformation...
If you are local, I will be offering more workshops at Mountain Mystic in Front Royal, VA.
See this group on Facebook for more details and updates:

Renew and Release:  Collage as part of the Healing Process

Here is my latest collage work, finished this morning:

Eternal AutoPsychoNautica

Under morning light coming in the window:

Yin

 Outdoors under daylight:

Yang

This collage showcasing the merging of the macrocosm with the mircocosm, with its scenes of the Universe, electron microscope pictures of plants, seemingly alien underwater creatures, the meandering waterway, the reptilian eye, the spider weaving, and other various compatriots, including the man stirring his way down the river with a boat full of cut flowers for sale,...   serves to represent the exploration within and the brightness to be found there; a brightness the world so needs right now.

Consciousness is Life knowing itself, ALL interconnected, 

ALL integral aspects the the whole gloriousness that is HERE NOW.

Eternal AutoPsychoNautica

~~~