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Plant Meditation Club
Connecting with plants through meditation and sharing experiences gives us insight into how herbs want to help. Receiving others' meditative experiences is a valuable gift! As a group we can contribute to the body of knowledge about plants. New and/or lost information will be discovered.
Ready to transform smoking? We are here for you whether you want to break up with tobacco, smoke socially with less risk, or just enjoy experimenting with smoking natural herbs.
What are you health, life, and emotional vibrancy goals? Explore our herbal teas, tinctures, oils, and flower & gem essences. Want to work one-on-one with our founder Lily Arati Michaud? With 15+ years of experience in herbalism and medicine, she here to support you on your wellness path.
PMC gem/flower essence code:
This week we will be meditating on an unknown gem or flower essence.
What's a gem or flower essence?
If you have a subscription, match the Thursday reveal date to the date on the post: 6/6. Please meditate and share your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual observations in the comments.
A summary will appear here when I reveal the flower or gem essence :)
If you would like to subscribe, we'd love to have you. Check it out here.
Some areas of observation during your meditation and the day/days thereafter:
-energetic shifts -mood/attitude changes -thoughts that arise that aren’t things you normally would think about (like you might normally be thinking about cooking dinner (so skip sharing that), but after taking the plant, you are also thinking about an old relationship and felt remorse, or forgiveness, or new awareness—share that) -images that come to mind -songs that come to mind -messages and/or phrases and their meaning to you if not the same for everyone-bodily changes (physical)
Spiritually and emotionally the flower has associations with resurrection and purity. Those drawn to this energetic essence may feel torn between the extreme goals of pure living, ie chastity and Godliness that the flower represents, and feeling like any deviation is living like the devil. The archetypal polarity may be referred to as the nun/whore vision of feminine sexuality. The dynamic is too rigid and controlling to work in nature. Easter Lily can help us integrate our sexual expression and enable a more authentic presence in the world, while releasing strict, outdated gender roles. Flower essences are water that has been imbued with the energy of a flower and preserved (typically) in brandy. They work by transforming energy within the body and can be helpful for physical dis-ease. They reliably are emotionally supportive. Start experimenting with flower essences and see how they work for you.
This week we meditated with Dú Huó, 独活, Angelica Pubescens Radix, an herb from Chinese medicine.
Dù Huó, areas for further investigation: Plant Meditation Club comparison with Dong quai, Angelica sinensis, and Angelica archangelica.
Mouth/Taste:
Me: Spicy, the steam smells like incense from a hippy resale shop (nag champa? patchouli?), the taste goes all the way to the back of my tongue.
Pre-meditation: I drink a few sips, and then my sides squeeze in (below my ribs), like they would to vomit. So, I stop drinking and prepare to meditate.
My daughter: Honey-like aftertaste. Stays on my tongue.
Pre-meditation: "This is improving the stomach ache I had. That could be the herb or the hot water. I never want to drink this again"...proceeds to drink the entire cup (lol, why??)
Meditation 1:
Lily (me!): My third eye is very active. It looks like the three prongs of a triden are across my forehead and they are on fire, like a torch. This went on for a while. It is hot energy but not physically hot--I could see it being quite heating over time/multiple interactions. My stomach feels pretty hot, like pushing up energy. The herb pushing my energy up towards my crown. My mouth feels hot and dry. I feel the energy as a deep orange (low ember) color (this color/image reminds me of shaoyin). Energy moves from my mouth through my soft palate, to my nose (interior), and then up to my crown of my head. The herb spirit appears as a very strong female presence. She says, with respect, I like how much writing you do online from these lips (as she is looking at my labia). She has a very feminine and solid feel to her. She likes sex and enjoying the female body, but calls upon a retreat and pulling upwards when needed, for example to balance relationships.
My daughter: Mr Rodger's song "Garden of Your Mind" is going through my head.
The following outline drawing images tell a story.
1. Outline of a planter
2. A "V" appears on it (possibly vaginal)
3. Giant tree is coming out with swirly branches. It is a magical, mystical tree.
4. It reaches out to other smaller plants in pots. These plants are not fully formed yet. The smaller planters have keyholes on them. (More vaginal symbolism?)
5. When the plant is taken, as tea for example, this is the key, and it unlocks memories and/or thoughts and/or little potted plants waiting to join the mother.
6. One of the plants got unlocked & it was the hippie resale shop (the one with the incense smell) by the coast.
7. Also, I saw a female testifying in court using the plant. They had taken the plant beforehand. The plant helped them remember something that helped them.
Meditation 2:
Me: My third eye is strongly activated again. I am slumping. I sit up and there is an even stronger feeling of heat pushing up in my middle jiao (abdomen), as if to make me vomit from heat. I did eat a little before the meditation which may not be helping as the plant strongly pushes energy up. My daughter is laughing the entire 10 minutes of this meditation. I am feeling very light and happy too. I feel happier than I have in a long time. I think she does too. I ask her later, why she was laughing "Oh just because you are funny." I hear "what if you got a crown?" I see a white delicate crown made of light on my head. It looks a little like an ice crown, like a disney princess might wear. Sounds fun!
My daughter: I was in the hippie resale shop. The people at the shop lead me to their loft, and Lizzo opens the door. What followed was her from Vogue's 73 Qs with Lizzo.
(Lizzo's into meditation too! -mom)
Summary/Traditional Use:
The name of this herb means "self-reliant existence". The image of the woman in court being helped by the plant works with this message. At that same time plants are so intelligent that many plants help align you to the correct amount of what they know, such as moderating excessive self-reliance. I feel this plant has such good messages that allow for strength and self-determination while solidly engaging in joy and healthy connection.
Angelica archangelica, which I am more familiar with also has strong feminine female energy as well, and also promotes self-sufficiency and meditation. I typically recommend it when there is a desire to "fill the void with people or substances". It is also very warming to the digestive tract and, when taking in excess can cause vomiting. On the other hand, when my daughter was an infant, she was vomiting frequently. I dreamed of angelica multiple times for her. I thought of as such a strong herb I wouldn't think of as for a child. (ALWAYS work with a very knowlegable and experienced herbalist during pregnancy, lactaction and early childhood!) I started her on a half drop (diluted). The angelica worked wonders stopping the vomiting. If you have a damp (slow, cold) gut, hers was also challenged by dairy received through my milk, angelica can warm & stimulate your gut so that food won't sit and get uncomfortable and come back up. If you have a warm gut you don't need it and it may make you vomit. This herb brought a lot of joy to me and my daughter. It came to mind that part of that could be memory of those early months. If you have too much Angelica (or, reputedly with Angelica archangelica, the fresh rather than dried root) it can cause vomiting.
I loved the images of the "Mothership" plant connect with the small plants, consuming the plants, the garden of your mind, and this plant's playful yet strong personality.
You can see that Dú Huó has a beautiful white crown that looks like a snow flake or ice crystal. How beautiful! Unlike many Chinese herbs, the root of this herb is cut, dried in the sun and used in it's unprocessed form.
In historical Chinese medicine this herb was used for eliminating damp, wind damp, and bolting piglet syndrome, or running piglet qi. Running piglet qi involve palpations moving up from the abdomen to chest, and may be considered a "panic attack". It is the feeling of energy moving in the abdomen and rushing upwards. It happens when the heart fire cannot contain the kidney water and the kidney water ascends. Imbalanced kidneys are associated with fear, and there is the sensation "one is about to die". This herb is for dispelling damp, so it can help dry out the excess kidney water.
**This herb is contraindicated when there is heat in the body or yin deficiency.
Invitation:
Have you worked with Dú Huó personally or in your practice? Please share your experiences below. Curious about plant meditation? We'd love to have you in our club!
The astrology during the month of May 2024 is full on for enjoying your body (Taurus is living in the moment, except for their background financial planning, lol). There will be four to five planets in Taurus this month: Sun (until 5/20), Moon 5/6-7, the new moon is on 5/7, Venus (through 5/23), Mercury (5/15 through 6/3), Jupiter (until 5/23), Uranus (begins its transit through gemini on 7/7/25). That's a lot of Taurus energy which is normally a bit conservative. However with Uranus, planet of new thought and freedom, in the mix and the eccentric energy of Pluto in Aquarius being highlighted as Mars in Aries sextiles it, the energy is there to invite new ways of being sensual into your sexual world. It's the May vibe.
Smoking Herbs to enjoy:
Sexy Smokes herbal smoking blend, with organic damiana, blackberry leaf, rose, hibiscus, and mullein is wonderful for tapping into the sensuality within and releasing negative ideas or experiences that are holding us back. With rose it keeps the heart engaged. Astral in Body herbal smoking blend, with organic yarrow, mugwort, blue vervain, and mullein, helps connect us to non human energies like the moon, fairies, and other worldly energies, all while keeping us in our body. It is a little eccentric! Calea came up in this discussion, it is an herb that is still considered experimental. It is a dream herb traditionally used to uncover the source or path to resolve for an illness or to locate a lost loved one. It can be used for other serious dream quests or to connect with the elements.
Our Clear Mind herbal smoking blend is super light. It is popular as a stage smoke. Brown Bear Herbs' Clear Mind was used in the movie Oppeheimer, among other films. This blend was formulated to help artists and writers who smoke while they work. Since the herbs in it are supportive for focus, this herbal cigarette is a favorite for easing ADHD and anxiety symptoms (per customer reviews). Clear Mind herbal cigarettes, or our Clear Mind roll your own smoking herbal smoking blend, is centering and clarifying for contemplative moments.
We use organic and/or wildcrafted and tested herbs in our products. The spearmint in Clear Mind makes it a lovely alternative for those trying to get off of menthol cigarettes.
Trying to smoke less, quit smoking tobacco, or smoke in a less risky way? Mullein is an herb that was traditionally used for lung herb, it was even smoked! Learn more about mullein in the video.