Category Archives: Nature

The World we live in.

Y6 – Day 4 – Foraging LA – part 2

Posted on by
Reply

Here’s the list of other plants: Poison Oak (no sampling but did you know it’s there to protect other plants from predators?),

Sticky Monkey (yellow flowers edible and it opens you up energetically making you vulnerable so it’s great for connecting to your higher self and intimacy with others),

Wild Cucumber (not edible but mature seed pods can be cracked open and inside are loofah type sponges used for cleansing long ago by indigenous people),

California Mugwort used as a spirit ally for lucid dreamwork and vision quests, CA poppy which has edible leaves and flowers that help with anxiety, showy penstemon, scrub oak which is not a real oak, Ca sage brush is great for smudging,

Mule fat used to drill willow bark back in the day to create fire, CA buckwheat which is not really wheatgrass at all and its tea leaves helps with headaches and its dried flowers makes reddish pancakes,

CA sage, CA gooseberry, Black Sage with its light blue flowers, Hemlock which as Socrates knows is deadly,

wild mustard which is bitter greens, golden chia that doesn’t look anything like a chia pet from the black seeded variety and finally, thistle which is a lilac colored spiny ball of a flower and grows profusely here in CA.

Golden Chia
Nettle used for a myriad of medicinal purposes but always harvest with gloves – it is very spiny
hahamonga watershed park right across the street from La Canada/Flintridge high school(not shown), background is a view of the San Gabriel mountains I believe. gorgeous day

Year 6 – day three – foraging LA

Posted on by
Reply

Yesterday I went to Hahamonga Watershed Park in Pasadena with V, J, J’s mom and I met I and K whom I have heard about since before Covid. What a pleasant late morning to early afternoon spent on a beautiful California Sunday – Oscar night no less.

This was a small group and a planned educational walk with a certified guide named Andrea who took us through several areas of concentrated native and non-native plants that liberally sowed themselves in plain sight. Her mission was to help us identify and give us background on its scientifically based medicinal benefits, what indigenous folks in the area used it for and even its metaphysical energy properties that have been bestowed on these seemingly weedy plants through the ages and common lore.

If anyone who knows me can testify, I am a devout plant lover. Just search herb in the search box. I am sure I have written on them and my HERB book was the very first book I bought alongside Thomas Maps and the Sunset’s Gardener Guide to plants when I landed in CA. This is back in the day when you actually went to a bookstore and actually lugged the books back to your car to take them home, circa July of 1986. Not like today wherein I just have them delivered on my doorstep so I have since accumulated way to many books (but I love them all) and have read at least 90% of them. But I digress….. Don’t get me started….

Anyways, we gathered some leaves and placed them in our small notebooks and after the third specimen my curiosity was peaked and my adrenaline flowed. I started writing their names down as if I had a report due. It’s contagious and we were all ok with being the studious types geeking out on taking notes and pictures like eager school kiddoes on a field trip.

Plants we were introduced to or familiar with (I don’t believe any of us were first time plant lovers): Oaks, Nettle, Elderberry – Ok this is when I knew I could not stop from taking out my pen and empty journal and start documenting this experience.

Tune in for Part 2 tomorrow

Y5 – Day 201 – Amethyst

Posted on by
Reply

Have you ever been attracted to boulders, river rocks, geology or gemstones?

Have you considered why you like certain types of jewelry over another? Research your favorite gems and their spiritual properties.

Do you currently or have you ever carried a stone for luck or worry before? Take any clean, small, smooth stone you find particularly interesting and dedicate its meaning to you by writing one word on it with a permanent marker.

For example, hope, love, self-nurture, compassion, forgiveness, kindness or a short phrase; Let Go, Be on Time, Slow Down. Then, keep the stone close to you and remind yourself throughout the day.

Taken At Bower’s January 2019

Y5 – Day 181 – Carving out Your own Space

Posted on by
Reply

Ideally, you create a sacred space within and without. An actual physical place can form a bond with your inner, unseen being. Perhaps, more than one location or theme is realized and may be sustained. This means many things to people. It can be an altar, a corner shelf or a whole room. A special place where you cleanse, pray, just pause or meditate by is an ancient rite found in women’s circles since mothers first gathered together for warmth and friendship with their children.

Instinctually, we light candles, scent our spaces and offer it small statuettes, natural finds, and visuals that stimulate and comfort us. At the treehouse, I gravitate towards placing crystals, grids, incense, wind chimes and things I love on a baker’s rack. Down the hill, I condition and bathe our yoga space with sage, candles, rose water, music and various stones. The yoga goddess circle is enhanced with singing bowls, tea service, inspirational cards, conscious breathing, meditations, props and deliberate movement.

In your own home, collect two to ten items that awaken love and authenticity in you and find a teeny or grand area. You may want to lay fabric or a tray down on your stable, display surface. Spend a moment to dedicate each treasure with your intentions and add them. Sit with your vignette daily.

Ideas for your sacred space range from the aforementioned to anything you find heartening. You may have inherited jewelry, silver or a photograph that arouses the soul or memory. Otherwise, choose pebbles, shells or twigs that impart earth vibrations. There is no wrong or right way to set up your spot no matter what you read on the internet because it’s what energy and time you infuse into it that matters. Also, remember, it is not set in stone and all environments benefit from a change, rearrangement, newness and letting go.

Y5 – Day 173 – VOTE

Posted on by
Reply

One of the most important voting moments in history is upon us. Why? Because after the discouraging outcome wherein once again the popular vote was ousted in favor of discriminatory practices (see 2000 judicial decision and 2016 gerrymandering lines), a message must be sent to ugly, angry, fear-mongering Americans.

Instead of hateful, separation of children as if they were less than your drycleaning and couldn’t be bothered to have a receipt in order to re-unite them with their parents, I vote for not repeating evil practices that harken back to genocidal eras.

I voted already, actually and I voted with my heart, not my pocketbook.

Allowing violence, hypocrisy and sexual assault to normalize our cultural speak is abhorrent to the spiritual side of ourselves.

We have already permitted way too much to go on untethered to what we know to be of value. Our environment, our climate and other sentient beings need us.

Are we to abandon all of our common and survival senses? No world will survive without saving it in unison. Dollars for billionaires don’t bring back habitats destroyed, waters polluted or unbreathable air.

Vote for your life!

Vote for decency!

Vote to still have a vote in 2020, not a tyrannical lunatic.

Vote November 6th!

Y5 – Day 168 – Ocean vs. Mountain

Posted on by
Reply

Both the crashing, splashing of waves or waterfalls and forests (especially pine trees) emit negative ions. Negative ions deter depression or the blues. Therefore, negative ions actually uplift your mood. That’s why even if you are grieving, sitting on a beach or hiking in the woods soothes your soul.

Personally, I need the stillness I find by a mountain lake surrounded by trees. The beach is alive with noisy commotion and sometimes stirs me up, albeit positively. But a forest full of conifers alive with birds, squirrels and chipmunks dining on nuts and seeds, instills an innocent serenity I treasure.