Simmer Down, Sweets
A few days ago I found myself on the phone with a good friend who calmly told me it sounded like I had a lot of fire inside of me and that perhaps I needed some cooling foods to help me get back to equilibrium.
I was detectably out of balance…
A few days ago I found myself on the phone with a good friend who calmly told me it sounded like I had a lot of fire inside of me and that perhaps I needed some cooling foods to help me get back to equilibrium.
I was detectably out of balance and emotionally worked up, and she knows me well enough to comment in a way that didn’t fan the fire scorching my insides, but instead touched me like a soothing balm so that I become of a mind to take heed.
We all find ourselves this way from time to time, mentally charged and physically ready for battle over something that really would be best handled with a cool temperament and quick step outside of the Self so you can see that forest instead of only burning bushes…some of us get heated more than others (strong Mars in your chart, anyone?) but we can all relate on occasion, can’t we?
Having good friends you trust to point out your bullshit is one of life’s greatest gifts, so if you have that person who will call you out when you’re being insane, don’t let them go. That conversation helped me channel my emotional fire into a creative one, one of my favorite things about being an herbalist. I now had a tangible problem I could set to work solving instead of just burning the blaze inside me brighter til it eventually would burn me out. And for no good reason.
Getting to it, I knew I needed some herbs to cool down the emotional intensity, balance my hormones a little bit (I was in the midst of moon time and RAGING), and reconnect me to the cycles of living that I’d gotten a little bit detached from. It was also really f***ing hot at that time, which surely contributed to my turmoil. What I came up with is one of my FAVORITE herbal teas ever generated from this here herbal witch, and I now present to you, Simmer Down - A Tea for Calming the F Down! It helped so much that I coulnd’t even tell you what the hell had me so tied up in fiery knots! During the blending and prayer process, a medicine song came to me, and I’d like to share it with you too.
It’s a delicious cooling, modulating, and soothing blend of herbs that immediately took me down a notch, to a more manageable state of affairs. It tastes so good cold I’ve been having a cup or two every day when the summer sun is hottest. It can help alleviate menstrual cramps, promotes relaxation, and helps us restore a balanced connection with the many emotion bearing fluids of the body. It would also be useful in mild fevers, overheating, overexertion, and irritable, agitated, and bad moods that are quite possibly covering up some other emotion we’re not ready to process. In the soothing of the agitation, it will help you ground down into the Earth and flow like a river through a forest, giving you access to your psyche, and whatever is really going on down there.
Check it out in out in our shop, and be sure to let me know what you think and how it helps you. If you know someone who would benefit from it, it would make a great gift!
I hope you love it as much as I do!
The Desert in Summer
One of my personal goals this year is to more intimately understand the medicinal plants growing in my local environment. I want to develop such a familiarity with Arizona flora that I come to know them in all their life stages…
One of my personal goals this year is to more intimately understand the medicinal plants growing in my local environment. I want to develop such a familiarity with Arizona flora that I come to know them in all their life stages, and can more aptly expect what might be growing where, and when, more specifically. If for instance I find myself thinking, “Oh I’m on the South face of this mountain at 2,000 feet” I want such a thought to follow as, “It’s likely that I’ll find X,Y, or Z growing here.” This kind of stuff is devotedly described in medicine plant guides under Habitat and Range sections, but I want to acquire MORE of this wisdom through my own exploration.
Thorns
Compass Barrel Cactus
I’ve discovered that spending a few hours with a community of medicinal plants offers limitless revelations into the plants’ most private natures. Watching them open to receive sun at just the right moment, observing the temperature and wind speeds at which the amount of nectar is most enticing to hummingbirds, and even becoming aware of precisely which flowers are ready for harvest - and why.
I swear these plants talk. I hear them. Almost in words, but not quite. They tell me things but only if I’m really present and focused only on being with them. Just like in any meaningful relationship.
We’ve had some rain the last two nights here in my neck of the Sonoran Desert, so this morning felt like a great opportunity to get some cooler than usual hiking in and fill my soul with the scent of Chaparral heavy on a humid air. I wanted to see what the desert looks like immediately after a rain that follows months of hot and very, very dry.
I set out for 4 miles in the McDowell Mountains, pretty much my go-to.
The desert is very much alive. The plants have mostly withdrawn their energies, dropping leaves and hunkering down to prevent dehydration. But there were tons of cicadas, chipmunks, bunnies, lizard babies, and roadrunners. And the entire landscape took on a different hue…Even though there was a lot of brown, it was still beautiful, with browns, reds, and greens all on display in different modes at this unique time.
I don’t know if it was the cloud cover or the humidity or what, but it' was REALLY challenging to get clear photos. Maybe my photosynthesizing friends were shy of their awkward appearances, but I love them no less. Some of these are enlarged and blurry and edited for the effect, but the colors are pretty accurate. Enjoy a quick peak into the desert’s summer magick, and go find yourself some plants to hang out with!
