My whole life, I have been an apprentice of the elements. I have spent every day listening and translating what I hear. Until now, that work has manifested, publicly, through the books I write, the ceremonies I curate (of which this is one), and the courses I offer.
Woven into my life as a poet, professor, and ceremonialist is the quiet and collaborative work I make with plants. with/in allows me to share some of these collaborations.
On this new moon in Leo, I launch with/in herbals, a heart project that I’ve been nourishing for over a decade.
. . .
We are within a time of great stress and transformation. And to sustain the momentum, to do the careful work that must be done to heal and unite ourselves, it’s more important than ever to tend to our bodies, lands, and communities with intention.
with/in began inside a poem. It began inside a word. Inside the petal of a wild rose steeping in water. Its pink light traveling my throat, opening my body toward its natural resonance.
It begins again each time we remember we can all be healers with the help of time, plants, words, water, darkness, the very ground beneath our feet, and the sun's light.
Plants teach us how to embody and share this work. They help us remember that the thread of our breath, which touches our blood, weaves us into a living web with every creature on this earth. Plants teach us to lean into and trust the pace and mystery of this planet and our bodies, in relation. Their roots, grounded, individual, but interlaced. Their faces, open to the sky, hold messages of proliferation, pleasure, cycles of sustainability, repair, inheritance, symbiotic interdependence.
And while it might seem counterproductive in these revolutionary times to slow down and look inward to tend to that which sustains and brings us to life, this medicine of presence, of deep and total listening, is the exact medicine we need to sustain and restore our communities. Healing is activism. And this level of total, psychospiritual awareness activates structural transformations, making way for personal, social, and ancestral transmutation.
. . .
My first offering is an elixir for the heart. A glowing infusion of wild rose petals gathered, with intention, at the seashore in the early morning light. And then infused, for one moon cycle, in organic vodka and vegetable glycerin to produce an aromatic, subtly sweet, and potent plant medicine.
Imagine: drinking rose-light by the ocean. Imagine: your own heart protected, but open fully, guiding you. Imagine: an elixir to inspire compassion and love for oneself and others. Imagine: a formula that tones, nourishes, eases, and illuminates the physical, emotional, + spiritual heart at once.
Wild Rose offers these gifts.
Rose petals cool heat in the blood, support and soothe the cardiovascular and digestive systems, ease inflammation, and tone the blood vessels, all while also easing anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, and the nervous system.
While Rose is for all genders, Rose also has an affinity for those with a uterus. This elixir eases menstrual cramps, PMS, and menopausal symptoms that manifest as heat, grief, and agitation.
Rose brings anxiety down from the brain and up from the gut into the heart to be recalibrated into what I like to think of as, Heart Coherence.
To think with the brain that is our hearts.
To see beyond linearity, and, over time, to discern through the heart’s intelligence.
To welcome love + sensuality, entirely, while maintaining secure and healthy boundaries that support us in the work of loving.
This is what I wish for the world: consciousness + relation, attuned by wild roses.
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