Energetic/ Ritualistic Plant Medicine
Jiling Lin - www.LinJiling.blogspot.com - 2015
Different types of Incense
- Loose leaf -
Smudge bundles
- Powder -
Kyphi/ incense cakes
- Incense cones/ sticks - Smoking blends
Making Kyphi
Proportions
- Berries 1 (powder) - Resin 1 (powder)
- Leaves/ flowers 3 (chopped fine)
- Roots/ bark 1/2 (chopped fine)
- Beeswax 1/2 -
Honey/ wine
Directions
- Mix dry ingredients (first powdered, then chopped)
- Slowly add honey/ wine until it binds, (but isn’t wet)
- Coat parchment paper with 1-2 inches of mix
- Warm until it all coagulates
- Press flat to dry for up to a week
- Cut into small pieces to store
- Burn on charcoal
Making Flower Essences
It’s best to make flower essences when the flower is at the peak of its blossoming, or right before the peak. Go out in the morning with pruners, undistilled spring water,
and a glass bowl or jar. Approach the flower or plant that you wish to make an essence of. Ask for permission to extract its essence, in whatever way feels the best to you. I like to make a prayer of gratitude, and sit with
the plant for a while, before doing anything. Maybe I’ll observe the plant, draw it, photograph it, or just meditate with it. Do whatever feels the best for you, but it’s integral to establish a healthy relationship with
the plant, before you try and make medicine with it. And, do not physically touch the plant that you are planning to make medicine with.
Once you are both ready for the next step, you can fill your glass bowl with water. Once again, make sure that you do not touch the plant with your hands, through this entire
process. If you do touch the plant, your own energy may affect the flower essence. You can either clip the flower directly into the water, or you can just place the flower head into the water. I like to move around the flowers
with tweezers. The traditional method is to clip the flowers directly into water, and cover the surface of the water with the flowers. Do what feels the best for you, in the moment. You can even experiment with both methods,
and see how the different medicines feel.
Let the flowers sit in the water, in the sunlight, uncovered in a safe and lovely spot, for 4-6 hours. This amount of time depends upon your personal preferences, belief system,
and the plant itself. Herbalist Mimi Kamp suggests leaving the flower in the water until the energetic feeling of the flower essence is stronger than the energetic feeling of the plant itself. She tests this by placing her
hand over the plant and feeling its energy, then placing her hand over the essence and feeling that energy. Sometimes, people can be energetically sensitive and feel these subtle differences. Sometimes, this is difficult to
experience. Do what feels best for you. The one rule with making flower essences is that there is no real rule. It’s an energetic medicine, and an intuitive art.
Once your essence is ready, carefully remove the flowers from the essence. Return them back to the Earth, giving thanks for their gifts. Dilute the water essence 1:1 with
brandy, or 40% alcohol. (This can be substituted with vinegar too, but alcohol lasts longer.) Now, you have your mother essence!
Bottle and label your mother essence. Preserved in alcohol, she should last for a long time, if not indefinitely. Make sure you share! We tend to make too much flower essences,
for a little goes a long way.
When you are ready to use your flower essence, fill a 1 ounce tincture bottle with 1:1 spring water to brandy. Add 10-30 drops of the mother essence to your bottle. Now, you
have your stock essence. This is what is usually sold in the store.
Do the same thing again to make your dosage bottle. Fill a 1 ounce tincture bottle with 1:1 spring water to brandy. This time, just add 1 drop of the stock essence into this
bottle. This is the final product. This is what you will carry around in your pocket, and take 4 drops 4 times a day, or as needed.
To effect long-lasting subtle change, take 4 drops of your dosage bottle flower essence, 4 times a day. It is like a constant subtle reminder to your self, to effect long-lasting
change. Flower essences can also just be taken one drop at a time, for an experience, or to help relieve acute symptoms.
Some local CT “Dreaming Herbs”
- Mugwort - Mullein -
Monarda
- Motherwort - Mints -
Horehound
- Coltsfoot - Catnip -
Nettles
- Raspberry lf - Juniper -
Pine
Plant Connection exercises
- Plant meditation - Draw
- Botanize -
Breath exercise
- Sense exploration
- Plant spirit journeying (see Eliot Cowan)
- Inner child work (see Julie McIntyre)
- Oneness exercise (see Tamarack Song)
- Experiment: sleep/ dream with, ingest in all forms...
~
Resources
The amazing Kiva Rose, on kyphi:
A previous post, on dreamwork:
A previous post, on different forms of meditation:
Howie Brounstein, on herbal smokes:
