Since the dawn of human history, people have turned to the plant kingdom for healing. In the earliest days of our history, shamans and wise women learned the many virtues of plants in order to maintain the health of their tribes and villages. As the centuries passed, this knowledge was handed down through the generations.
Nearly every major culture developed an extensive system of herbal medicine. From India to Egypt, from China to the frozen lands of Northern Europe, as well as across the sea among the Natives of the Americas, herbal healing was the main form of medicine for thousands of years. Names such as Dioscorides, Galen and Culpeper, reverberate down through history, and their works are consulted to this day by modern herbalists. In addition, thousands, perhaps millions, of village wise women and men—whose names we will never know—carried on this noble tradition of healing, often in the face of persecution. In the Americas, Native people taught European settlers how to use medicinal plants of the New World. With the advent of modern bio-medicine, herbalism was temporarily relegated to the shadows. Now herbs are experiencing a renaissance in the West. It is the job of herbalists to make sure they are used wisely, sustainably, and with the respect due to them.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Dreams of Angelica
“One of the grand traditional remedies of northern Europe.”– Matthew Wood
“I work on all the tubes.”– Angelica
There was never a doubt in my mind as to which herb I would write about first here. I had previously had an experience with Angelica archangelica , but that was years ago. Now at this time of my life, I feel Angelica calling me again. I feel that she has chosen me.
Many authors speak of Angelica’s use shamanically, back into ancient times, e.g., among the Saami (Wood). It is a Bear medicine to many Native American tribes (Wood). The Flower Essence Repertory tells us that it is very protective of humans going through “threshold experiences,” such as death and birth– which is the archetypal pattern of Bear’s life: retreating into the earth womb of the cave, into dream-time, later to be “reborn” into the sunlit spring of consciousness. As a warming plant, according to Rudolph Steiner, it would enhance this rise to consciousness.
Many herbalists also tell us that certain plants were “used” by shamans in similar ways around the world. I believe that this is expressing it backwards: I believe that the plants themselves are shamans and they “call” certain humans to aid them in their work. Anyone who has worked with herbs to any extent becomes aware that the plants are conscious, sentient beings. They have intelligence. It is different than human intelligence, but no less real. In their own green kingdom perhaps they have their roles and callings, just as we do in our world.
In my aging, I am becoming more aware of this special class of plants. As I enter my “cronehood”– the shamanic stage of life– I am increasingly drawn to these shamanic plants. I believe Angelica is an important member of this class of herbs. In getting to know this herb, some of the sources I used also expressed this awareness of Angelica as a highly conscious plant. In his wonderful book, “Sacred Plant Medicine,” Stephen Harrod Buhner describes his first meeting with her: “Angelica possesses a supreme dignity and sense of wholeness. In some manner it balances the polarities...Its nature is completely and totally female
in the deepest sense of the word.”
If I may use myself as an example: As I enter menopause and face the second return of Saturn in my chart, at the same time having become a grandmother for the first ( and soon second!) time, I find myself being called again by this great plant shaman. This is a major threshold time in my life.
Angelica’s role of shaman is evident in her very structure: Her root is a like furry brown bear burrowed deep into the earth –– the Lower World. Her tubular stalk is the tunnel through which the shamana travels between the worlds. Her flowers are like sun-bursts, embodying the enlightenment we gain when we journey to the Upper World, as well as illustrating her rulership by the sun, as Culpeper tells us. Her medicine is here with us in the Middle World –– called Midgard in her northern home.
Buhner also tells the story of a young woman near the time of her first Saturn Return, around the age of 28-29. (Astrological note on the Saturn Return: Saturn takes 29.46 Earth years to complete an orbit around the Sun. A “return” is when it has completed one complete passage around the zodiac, and has returned to the same place it occupied at a person’s birth, as determined by casting a natal chart. It is generally a time of profound coming to grips with one’s true nature and mortality. Many old lessons need to be re-learned.) And although Nicholas Culpeper tells us that Angelica is an “herb of the Sun in Leo,” he also says that it is for use in all “epidemical diseases caused by Saturn.” While it would be a stretch to class the Saturn Return as an “epidemical disease,” still the link is established. This is reinforced by Buhner, who says that Angelica is good for young women around the age of 28-29, the time of the first Saturn Return, when it may help them break out of the sexual stereotypes put on them by patriarchal society. As a man, he can be forgiven for thinking that this is a brief, one-time effort on the part of a woman. In reality it is a lifelong struggle for most women in our culture to find and develop their own inner strength. Many of us were taught that it is a bad thing for a woman to be strong. We therefore hide our strength away in our “Shadow self,” where Carl Jung tells us that we suppress all of our “unacceptable” traits. Our orphaned strength dwells inside our Shadow self alongside Eve, the Witch, the Devouring Mother, Medusa, the Whore, and all the other “terrible” female archetypes that we are taught to disown. This can be a frightening place to a woman. Many never find the courage to open that door. Indeed it can be a dangerous and revolutionary act to face the Shadow. It may lead to victory, or it may lead to madness, self-destruction and death. The Shadow self lives deep within our Underworld. To journey there safely one needs a powerful shamanic guide, a Guardian Angel if you will, who can lead us safely in to find the treasures hidden in the darkness, and then lead us safely back into the healing light of the Sun. I believe Angelica to be such a guide.
As a Native American Bear medicine, the cave where Bear hibernates can be seen variously as the hidden womb of the Earth Mother, or as the secret hiding place of the Shadow, into which Angelica guides us into the depths where our treasures are hidden. As a plant ruled by the Sun, Angelica is able to bring us safely back to the Light, bearing our prize – our true Self.
Native Americans also used Angelica in the sweat lodge, (another “cave/womb”) (Wood). It relaxes the sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system. This leads to a relaxed state which is conducive to the experience of visions. To me, this confirms my belief that some plants are visionary guides, and that Angelica is one of these. According to the old legend, it is able to come to people in the dream state.
If I have been focusing more on Angelica’s use for women, it is because, like Buhner, I find this plant to have a powerful feminine presence. In its Chinese form it is actively estrogenic, making it a woman’s herb. Also, in my studies of shamanism, I find the writings to be so frequently “male-dominated” – male shamans are often seen as wise healers, while female shamans are called witches, and have been widely hated and reviled throughout human history, especially in the European and early American cultures. And yet women are, by nature, shamanic creatures. We hold the gateway to other worlds within our very bodies. This is a mighty power and a terrible responsibility. The amniotic waters that flow from our wombs join the eternal river of life, out of which we all creep forth into consciousness. Perhaps this is why Angelica prefers to grow near running streams and rivers, often in ravines – all quintessentially “female” terrain.
Early one morning, while I was working with a tincture of Angelica that I was making, she spoke clearly to me – “I work on all the tubes.” It was the clearest plant voice I have ever heard. Then I remembered that in the Jewish prayer book, the Siddur, one of the prayers praises HaShem for the workings of the “wondrous tubes” in our bodies. (I was beginning to understand). All of these tubes – in our human bodies, in Angelica’s plant body, in the paths to other worlds – all of these are passageways through which Angelica can lead us. I have found her to be a trustworthy guide so far.
“One of the grand traditional remedies of northern Europe.”– Matthew Wood
“I work on all the tubes.”– Angelica
There was never a doubt in my mind as to which herb I would write about first here. I had previously had an experience with Angelica archangelica , but that was years ago. Now at this time of my life, I feel Angelica calling me again. I feel that she has chosen me.
Many authors speak of Angelica’s use shamanically, back into ancient times, e.g., among the Saami (Wood). It is a Bear medicine to many Native American tribes (Wood). The Flower Essence Repertory tells us that it is very protective of humans going through “threshold experiences,” such as death and birth– which is the archetypal pattern of Bear’s life: retreating into the earth womb of the cave, into dream-time, later to be “reborn” into the sunlit spring of consciousness. As a warming plant, according to Rudolph Steiner, it would enhance this rise to consciousness.
Many herbalists also tell us that certain plants were “used” by shamans in similar ways around the world. I believe that this is expressing it backwards: I believe that the plants themselves are shamans and they “call” certain humans to aid them in their work. Anyone who has worked with herbs to any extent becomes aware that the plants are conscious, sentient beings. They have intelligence. It is different than human intelligence, but no less real. In their own green kingdom perhaps they have their roles and callings, just as we do in our world.
In my aging, I am becoming more aware of this special class of plants. As I enter my “cronehood”– the shamanic stage of life– I am increasingly drawn to these shamanic plants. I believe Angelica is an important member of this class of herbs. In getting to know this herb, some of the sources I used also expressed this awareness of Angelica as a highly conscious plant. In his wonderful book, “Sacred Plant Medicine,” Stephen Harrod Buhner describes his first meeting with her: “Angelica possesses a supreme dignity and sense of wholeness. In some manner it balances the polarities...Its nature is completely and totally female
in the deepest sense of the word.”
If I may use myself as an example: As I enter menopause and face the second return of Saturn in my chart, at the same time having become a grandmother for the first ( and soon second!) time, I find myself being called again by this great plant shaman. This is a major threshold time in my life.
Angelica’s role of shaman is evident in her very structure: Her root is a like furry brown bear burrowed deep into the earth –– the Lower World. Her tubular stalk is the tunnel through which the shamana travels between the worlds. Her flowers are like sun-bursts, embodying the enlightenment we gain when we journey to the Upper World, as well as illustrating her rulership by the sun, as Culpeper tells us. Her medicine is here with us in the Middle World –– called Midgard in her northern home.
Buhner also tells the story of a young woman near the time of her first Saturn Return, around the age of 28-29. (Astrological note on the Saturn Return: Saturn takes 29.46 Earth years to complete an orbit around the Sun. A “return” is when it has completed one complete passage around the zodiac, and has returned to the same place it occupied at a person’s birth, as determined by casting a natal chart. It is generally a time of profound coming to grips with one’s true nature and mortality. Many old lessons need to be re-learned.) And although Nicholas Culpeper tells us that Angelica is an “herb of the Sun in Leo,” he also says that it is for use in all “epidemical diseases caused by Saturn.” While it would be a stretch to class the Saturn Return as an “epidemical disease,” still the link is established. This is reinforced by Buhner, who says that Angelica is good for young women around the age of 28-29, the time of the first Saturn Return, when it may help them break out of the sexual stereotypes put on them by patriarchal society. As a man, he can be forgiven for thinking that this is a brief, one-time effort on the part of a woman. In reality it is a lifelong struggle for most women in our culture to find and develop their own inner strength. Many of us were taught that it is a bad thing for a woman to be strong. We therefore hide our strength away in our “Shadow self,” where Carl Jung tells us that we suppress all of our “unacceptable” traits. Our orphaned strength dwells inside our Shadow self alongside Eve, the Witch, the Devouring Mother, Medusa, the Whore, and all the other “terrible” female archetypes that we are taught to disown. This can be a frightening place to a woman. Many never find the courage to open that door. Indeed it can be a dangerous and revolutionary act to face the Shadow. It may lead to victory, or it may lead to madness, self-destruction and death. The Shadow self lives deep within our Underworld. To journey there safely one needs a powerful shamanic guide, a Guardian Angel if you will, who can lead us safely in to find the treasures hidden in the darkness, and then lead us safely back into the healing light of the Sun. I believe Angelica to be such a guide.
As a Native American Bear medicine, the cave where Bear hibernates can be seen variously as the hidden womb of the Earth Mother, or as the secret hiding place of the Shadow, into which Angelica guides us into the depths where our treasures are hidden. As a plant ruled by the Sun, Angelica is able to bring us safely back to the Light, bearing our prize – our true Self.
Native Americans also used Angelica in the sweat lodge, (another “cave/womb”) (Wood). It relaxes the sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system. This leads to a relaxed state which is conducive to the experience of visions. To me, this confirms my belief that some plants are visionary guides, and that Angelica is one of these. According to the old legend, it is able to come to people in the dream state.
If I have been focusing more on Angelica’s use for women, it is because, like Buhner, I find this plant to have a powerful feminine presence. In its Chinese form it is actively estrogenic, making it a woman’s herb. Also, in my studies of shamanism, I find the writings to be so frequently “male-dominated” – male shamans are often seen as wise healers, while female shamans are called witches, and have been widely hated and reviled throughout human history, especially in the European and early American cultures. And yet women are, by nature, shamanic creatures. We hold the gateway to other worlds within our very bodies. This is a mighty power and a terrible responsibility. The amniotic waters that flow from our wombs join the eternal river of life, out of which we all creep forth into consciousness. Perhaps this is why Angelica prefers to grow near running streams and rivers, often in ravines – all quintessentially “female” terrain.
Early one morning, while I was working with a tincture of Angelica that I was making, she spoke clearly to me – “I work on all the tubes.” It was the clearest plant voice I have ever heard. Then I remembered that in the Jewish prayer book, the Siddur, one of the prayers praises HaShem for the workings of the “wondrous tubes” in our bodies. (I was beginning to understand). All of these tubes – in our human bodies, in Angelica’s plant body, in the paths to other worlds – all of these are passageways through which Angelica can lead us. I have found her to be a trustworthy guide so far.
Temple of the Green
Happy Springtime! I saw my first robin of the year today. I saw a man feeding a pigeon out of his hand today. I saw the sacred Hebrew letter "shin" in the clouds today. Tell me what you saw today. Show me how you see the world. If you are at home surfing the web, right now (and if you are reading this, you probably are) here's a word of advice-- go outside and play. All winter long we are waiting for these days. I always think it's funny how we wait and wait for the greenness to return. We watch the progress of the tiny buds each day. And then one morning we wake up and all the plants and trees are in full foliage, acting as if they were never bare at all. I don't want to embarrass them so I pretend I didn't really notice their nakedness all winter long.
I am blessed to live on the bluffs of the Mississippi. I live just a short walk from the River, which I think of as the Kundalini of North America. My friend calls her Ms. To me it is a sacred area, even here in the city. Everyday when I cross the bridge to go to my daytime life, I kiss my hand twice to the magical Lady River, with her secret groves and pathways. Now that it is spring again, the minute I get home I go down to my special meditation spot, where three small waterfalls feed the backwaters of the River. The stone bluff they flow down is already brilliant green with life. This is my sacred temple, guarded by the staghorn sumach, and hidden from profane eyes by the wild grape vines.(These are representatives of the Lord and Lady as they appear in the plant kingdom). Most of the plants are still in the baby stage of early spring, and I go each day to feed them with love and ancient ceremony. Ceremony feeds the Earth. I am a guerilla priestess of the Green.
Tonight the Moon is full, and its reflection on the ancient, endlessly reborn River always puts me in mind of other times and other lives--the Native people who lived here in the Before Times, who were on intimate terms with all the Plants and the Guardian Spirit of the Green. I can see them canoeing on the moonlit waters. ("Ancient waters, I hear you calling, Ancient Waters, I hear your song"). Do the Ancient People hear my voice travelling back to them on the river of time, as I hear theirs? I invoke them now and ask for a Teaching.
I have to go now. The Plants are calling. "We are of one flesh, you and I," (from the Jungle Book).
I am blessed to live on the bluffs of the Mississippi. I live just a short walk from the River, which I think of as the Kundalini of North America. My friend calls her Ms. To me it is a sacred area, even here in the city. Everyday when I cross the bridge to go to my daytime life, I kiss my hand twice to the magical Lady River, with her secret groves and pathways. Now that it is spring again, the minute I get home I go down to my special meditation spot, where three small waterfalls feed the backwaters of the River. The stone bluff they flow down is already brilliant green with life. This is my sacred temple, guarded by the staghorn sumach, and hidden from profane eyes by the wild grape vines.(These are representatives of the Lord and Lady as they appear in the plant kingdom). Most of the plants are still in the baby stage of early spring, and I go each day to feed them with love and ancient ceremony. Ceremony feeds the Earth. I am a guerilla priestess of the Green.
Tonight the Moon is full, and its reflection on the ancient, endlessly reborn River always puts me in mind of other times and other lives--the Native people who lived here in the Before Times, who were on intimate terms with all the Plants and the Guardian Spirit of the Green. I can see them canoeing on the moonlit waters. ("Ancient waters, I hear you calling, Ancient Waters, I hear your song"). Do the Ancient People hear my voice travelling back to them on the river of time, as I hear theirs? I invoke them now and ask for a Teaching.
I have to go now. The Plants are calling. "We are of one flesh, you and I," (from the Jungle Book).
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