Herbal Energy Medicine

So, I promised a post today about dandelion elixir, and I would love to deliver. Only . . . I didn’t take in to account mother nature’s plans.

It’s cloudy and cool today. Not raining yet, although I think it will, but when I went out to survey the dandelion situation, this is what I saw.

They’re perfectly healthy, of course, but closed up due to the weather. If I needed them for a medicinal use right away, I’m sure they would suffice. But the specific preparation I’m planning to make is meant to work on an energetic level, and I’m hoping it will encourage expansiveness and facilitate emotional opening. These dandelions are resting and sheltering themselves, so now just doesn’t seem like the time to use them for my purposes. The energy is just all wrong.

I had intended to start my elixir today because the moon is new, and waxing moon energy is good energy for projects that involve expansion, opening, creating, building. In working with plants, however, the moon is obviously not the only influence that matters. I feel that dandelion is far more responsive to sun energy than to moon energy–the plants seem to be saying that, too. So, if I want to create energy medicine that leads (hopefully) to bright, joyful energy, then obviously I want to gather the dandelions at a moment when they are at their most bright and joyful–in other words, when the sun is shining and the air is sweet, when the bees are out pollinating and the birds are singing and everything is glowing with bright sunny life. When I make a healing elixir on a day like this, not only to I get a better quality herb and therefore a stronger product, but I also get the energy of the day–of the sun, and the bees, and the song of the birds, and my own pleasure as I revel in the sunshine and the delight of picking dandelions on a beautiful day, of yellow pollen staining my fingers and warmth on my hair. When I take the elixir, or share it with others, I remember the day I began the process, and that memory is part of the healing energy.

I need to make a little disclaimer here. I actually think that all herbal healing works on the energetic level as fully as on the physical–indeed, I think the two are inseparable. So while I’m talking here specifically about an herbal preparation that is designed to work vibrationally, much as a flower essence or homeopathic might work, the truth is I try to always be mindful of the energies involved whenever I work with plants. There are many times when I’m not as present as I ought to be, but I’m learning, and I try to improve this interaction all the time. I think all good medicine is made with attention to the energies of the plants and the process.

Now, if I wanted to make a medicine to help someone in their process of turning within to explore their dark places and old hurts, or to soothe a hot tempered soul, today might be a good day. Also, it seems to me, it might be a good day to make cooling medicine–cleavers tincture, for example. I visited with the cleavers patch today, and they’re vibrant and lovely, but not quite ready to be made in to medicine. “Soon”, they seemed to say, “But let us put on some blossoms for you first.”

In the mean time, I’m admiring their beauty. Check out the amazing stripes of color on these stems:

So hopefully the sun will choose to shine some time soon, before the dandelions stop blooming! If not, I think I can at least make another (bigger) batch of pickled dandelion buds. For today I’m staying inside and reading some more of James Green’s Herbal Medicine Maker’s Handbook, with which I’m currently in love. If the cold weather continues long enough, I might end up doing a book review soon. But I’m not going to promise anything . . .