mama's day, papa's day, and family day

thank you 

for this 

daily 

celebration 

of 

LIFE!!!

waters

new england

water everywhere 

a landscape 

brimming with green 

and steeped in 

rainwater

{uphill} 

a gorge-ous local swimming hole (roy preserve)

{home} 

7song's pond (where i will swim in daily when it gets warmer)

{downhill} 

the watershed behind pierce's home (for canoeing expeditions to find turtles, muskrats, calamus, and more wild mysterious adventures) 

--

 ~~~~~~~
  Jiling . 林基玲 

  . wild . creative . spirit 

  www.JazArt.blogspot.com 

  626.344.9140 / skype: Lin.JiLing

meadowsweet

(filipendula ulmaria) 

digestive anti-inflammatory

leaves are beautiful and sweet-smelling

we kneel down onto the soft earth, nestled deep into the tall meadowsweet on the side of the road 

we cut close to the base of the plant, as close as possible to the ground, with our pruners 

there's another poisonous plant growing, mixed in with our medicinal meadowsweet 

7song doesn't even look up 

"i just look for the red glaucous stems," he says, plowing through the meadowsweet from patch to patch

i can see his line of travel when i stand up 

glaucous means waxy

the meadowsweet stems are mildly waxy on the surface, hollow, and softly angled into a circular form

i enjoy being surrounded by and within it, the air perfumed with its scent 

we emerge with arms full of meadowsweet rolled up around burlap sacks 

we fluff them out throughout the classroom 

they will make wonderful medicine 

this gathering process is good medicine, already! 

more to come... (the process has just begun) 

(photo of apprentii from 7song )

--

 ~~~~~~~
  Jiling . 林基玲 

  . wild . creative . spirit 

  www.JazArt.blogspot.com 

  626.344.9140 / skype: Lin.JiLing

spirals, shapes, symbols

spiral: universal infinite shape found in everything from seashells to galaxies

circle: open yet unbroken, also infinite, community, cycles

triangle: mind-body-spirit, wild-creative-spirit, power-beauty-skill

cross: five elements, seven directions

circle within circle with spiral: atman-brahman, microcosm-within-macrocosm, interconnected Oneness 

and the fern? (it's called a sensitive fern) 

--

 ~~~~~~~
  Jiling . 林基玲 

  . wild . creative . spirit 

  www.JazArt.blogspot.com 

  626.344.9140 / skype: Lin.JiLing

roses!

gathering roses to make rose sugar, rose glycerite, and ecstatic jiling 

rosa species: relaxing, heart-opening, joy-inducing (for me at least), astringent, cooling

more uses: dried for tea, rose syrup, rose wine, rose elixir, rose honey, and my favorite... rose infused in coconut milk ingested with rose-coconut-icecream-sandwiches on a sunny day after spending all day gathering roses by the beach in connecticut with someone i love, my elder lucy :) 

(photos here from 7song's home) 

(and shoutout to my mama's rose syrup turned into wine, and lucy's rose petal jam, and 7song's special rose sugar treat for students!) 

--

 ~~~~~~~
  Jiling . 林基玲 

  . wild . creative . spirit 

  www.JazArt.blogspot.com 

  626.344.9140 / skype: Lin.JiLing

NEBSM Student Survival Kit

7song gave us each a "student survival kit" for the Rainbow Gathering which is somewhere in Montana, in 3 weeks. We are working the first aid station at this yearly outdoor gathering that attracts roughly 10,000 humans, mostly hippies and fringe folks. The first aid station's name is "CALM," but 7song says a more appropriate name would be "Staph and Diarrhea." Besides staph infections and diarrhea, I look forward to treating a diverse array of health issues with herbal medicine. 7song says that we will learn more at the Rainbow Gathering than in doing anything else during the entire course of our studies here. This is because we are practicing herbal medicine in a chaotic setting, with thousands of humans in an off-the-grid anarchist setting (usually at least a two to four hour's walk from cars). And, many people who come here are open to using herbal medicine.

7song introduced the "One drop test" today. We administer most of our medicines via tinctures, which are plants infused in hard alcohol. (We usually infuse plants in 95% alcohol, and then dilute the alcohol to 50% for medicinal usage.) Sometimes, we also administer teas and powders. But, tinctures are the most convenient to use as medicine, as the alcohol delivers the medicine immediately into the bloodstream. Teas take longer to make, and also take longer for the body to uptake and circulate. The powders can carry more medicine, but it's also more work to add water, and swallow so much of a usually-disgusting powder. More rarely, we also give honeys, glycerites, pills, oils, and liniments. Honeys and glycerites are helpful for people who don't intake alcohol. The pills usually work as long-term supplements. We use oils and liniments for external uses. 

Our student survival kit is a gallon zip-lock bag with the following simple yet invaluable items: 

- 2 pairs of rubber gloves (for sanitation) 

- a 4 oz bag of activated charcoal (an internal/external adsorbent for pulling out "bad stuff") 

- chapparo amargosa tincture of dried stems (1 oz) (GI tract strong antimicrobial and antiparasitical) 

- barberry tincture of root (1 oz) (prevent and treat waterborne illnesses) 

- echinacea tincture of fresh root (1 oz) (immune booster) 

- peppermint spirits (1 oz) (prevent nausea) 

And now, for a brief introduction of how to use these herbs, and why they are in our survival sack! 

- rubber gloves - 

These are for handling all open-flesh wounds, to avoid contaminants for ourselves or others. These will be constantly replenished and changed, as sanitation is key. 

- activated charcoal -

Charcoal is an adsorbent material, which is a solid that picks up liquids. Being "activated" just means that the organic matter went through a long slow burn on high heat without oxygen, which gives the charcoal more pores, and makes it even more adsorbent. We use it both internally and externally to pull out unwanted materials, especially for GI tract bugs (such as food/water poisoning) and for staph infections. For treating staph herbally, you clean out each staph wound, then have the patient take strong antibiotic herbs internally (echinacea, oregon graperoot, or chapparal). To clean out the external wounds, we boil water, soak a clean cloth in the boiling water, then place the cloth onto each staph abcess on the body (this process takes a long time). This helps to remove the scabs to open up the wound, so we can add activated charcoal. We prepare an activated charcoal poultice by mixing enough water with the activated charcoal (a little water at a time) to turn it into a paste. We then carefully stick cover the staph abcess on the body with activated charcoal. The final step is to wrap this all up with vet wrap, and send the patient home with careful instructions to keep away from touching other people (prevent spreading the disease), and take medicines (1/2 tsp of medicine every 2-4 hours). Internally, activated charcoal draws out "bad stuff" (ie. toxins, unwanted bacteria, protozoa, waste products, and bacteria waste.) Our bodies don't uptake the activated charcoal, so we will poop it all out, with the "bad stuff" attached. So, we also will use the activated charcoal for adsorbing and releasing GI tract bugs, for such things as food and water poisoning. Growing up, my parents put whole pieces of activated charcoal into our water to oxygenate the water. They placed it in the refrigerator and around the house, to cleanse the air. They even cooked it with our rice (a Chinese food staple), to help purify the rice. As a gift for college, they gave me some for my bedroom, which I dutifully stuck under my writing desk, and rested my feet on the basket of activated charcoal. Needless to say, I like this stuff. 

- chapparo amargosa tincture - (castella amorii) 

Chapparo amargosa is a desert plant that is often found in the Sonoran desert of Mexico, and difficult to find in the USA. It is the first herb to use to kill protozoa and bacteria in the GI tract. Take it if you feel like you might have parasites. It is an antimicrobial and anti-parasitic herb. Take 1 tsp of tincture for the loading dose (initial large dose), then take 2 mL every four hours until symptoms subside. At the first sign of loose stools, take this tincture, increase vitamin C, wait half an hour, and then take 1 tsp activated charcoal. Repeat in 4 hours. I found it interesting that 7song will take half a dropperful of this tincture twice a day at the Rainbow Gathering, starting two days before the Gathering, as a preventative for stomach bugs. I plan to try this, as well. This herb can be used with chapparal (larrea tridentata), which is one of my favorite desert plants, also a strong antibacterial, antioxidant, and anti-parasitic plant. 

- barberry tincture - (berberis thunbergii) 

Barberry bushes are aptly named, with long sharp barbs and small red berries. They take over whole chunks of forest, as an invasive species. I spent many hours with a trail crew in CT, hacking down the endless thorny bushes. I admired their bright orange roots, which carry most of the medicine through the chemical alkaloid berberine, and acts as an antimicrobial. 7song also takes this as a preventative medicine at the Rainbow Gathering. He thinks that it prevents waterborne pathogens from sticking. 7song usually chews on this root throughout the gathering. If I can stomach the bitter taste, then I will also chew on a root. But, I will most likely just add 1-2 dropperfuls into my 1 L water container. Berberis is helpful to kill a wide range of gut parasites, even viruses. You can use any of the berberis species plants. 

- echinacea tincture - (echinacea purpurea) 

Echinacea increases innate and adaptive immunity. Its massive circus-tent-like pink and purple flowers draws butterflies to the garden, and a smile to my face. Take large doses as needed, such as in any circumstances in which the body's immune system should be strengthened. A good time for echinacea is when you think someone might get an infection, or have compromised immunity. 7song gives a loading dose of 2-3 dropperfuls, then 1/2-2 dropperfuls every 2-4 hours (depending on the patient's needs). An improvement should be noticed within 1-2 days. If echinacea does not help boost immunity then try another herb, as the body develops a tolerance after a period of usage. I gave my mom some echinacea, and she enjoys it as a light tea. 

- peppermint spirits - 

Spirits are internal medicines made with essential oils. These peppermint spirits are an experiment by 7song. He made them by first drying and tincturing the peppermints 1:4 at 50% alcohol. Then, he cold infused peppermint for a day. Finally, he added a 1:10 ratio of essential oil to tincture, and diluted it with the tea at 1:20 (1 EO-tincture-blend : 20 tea). Peppermint decreases nausea, and just a little of these peppermint spirits will help a lot. If someone is vomiting, then you can put 1 drop on the lips, have the person lick their lips, then see if the person continues vomiting after 5 minutes. If vomiting continues, then increase the dosage to 2 drops every 10 minutes, 5 drops every 10 minutes, etc. 5 drops is the maximum dosage at any one time. While traveling in India, we used the pure peppermint essential oil for cleaning hands before eating, a digestive aid, relaxant, and breath freshener. Growing up, my mom would always rub peppermint salve under our noses when we were congested, onto mosquitoes bites to help with itches, and onto the temples and (again) under the nose while traveling (especially in airplanes) to help with stuffiness and nausea. 

Here are some other plant medicines that I will bring with me to the Rainbow Gathering, to increase my personal sense of well-being and quality of life: 

- moxa sticks (dried artemesia vulgaris rolled into sticks to burn) for smudging onto or around aches and pains

- black cohosh (actaea racemosa) and cramp bark (viburnum opulus), to help with menstrual cramping 

- bee propolis, for cleaning out wounds 

- castor oil, for achy limbs

- st johnswort cream (hypericum perforatum) for scar tissue reduction and general skin care

- a variety of sweet-smelling perfumes from my friend ananda wilson, to keep me happy 

- skullcap and valerian, for sleep aid

- dandelion (taraxacum officianalis) and flax seeds, for digestive aid

- a personalized smudge smoke blend of white sage, moonwort, cedar, sage brush, sweetgrass, chapparal, osha, etc for incense 

- relaxing tea: rose, tulsi, passionflower, oats, chamomile, stevia

(photos: 7song bandaging Cali's sprained ankle at Roy Preserve, reishi mushroom (ganoderma spp.) at Roy Preserve, me amidst valerian roots (photo from Nishaan) at 7song's home) 

videos

In the month of May, I made a video everyday. I did this to learn more about making videos, sharing videos online, and getting comfortable in front of the video camera. I shared my daily videos for a week, then switched to sharing videos once a week, due to lack of Internet access, and slow Internet uploading capacities. You can view my videos here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheJazalicious/videos

I hope you enjoy! Please let me know your thoughts. Personally, I like the later videos much better than the first few. The later videos have some nice nature documentary-style footage, and humorous moments. I find my first few videos a bit too serious, and trying too hard to do well. I am delighted to find videography a powerful tool for capturing motion and emotion in different ways than photography. It is very convenient. I especially enjoy videotaping slow moving things, such as flowers in wind, tadpoles in water, newt on land, and then speeding them up and setting them to suitable music. I will continue to periodically post videos to share some beautiful bits of nature that I find around me (I recently videotaped a web full of baby spiders, dancing). 

Thanks for reading and watching! :) 

Pinch-pots: the Macroscopic within the Microscopic Universe

When you are attuned with the whole Universe within and around you, then every moment, every action becomes a meditation. I fell in love with making pinch-pots at NTNU's Pottery Club in Taipei, Taiwan. Making pinch-pots tunes me into the present moment, same as yoga, contact improv dance, and making music. Tamarack Song calls this feeling "Oneness." Yoga calls the Oneness feeling "satchitananda" (eternal-consciousness-bliss), and the state of this being as "Brahman." I love this feeling. 

I pull a handful of clay off the large hunk of clay sitting in a plastic bag. It is moist and damp, cool to the touch. The clay smells like wet Earth, and I can imagine streams dancing with slopes, mixing and mating over years and years, creating clay deposits on the sides of banks above and below rivers, deeper into the Earth, right below where we walk, sit, stand, and live, and mixed into the sand and stone of our usual soil. 

I roll the clay into a ball, massaging it into the right consistency to work with, pushing out air bubbles and feeling into the song of the clay. What do you want to become? What do I want you to become? 

The ball of clay sits, perfectly brown and obtuse, on the palm of my hand. In Taiwan, people seem fascinated with the ordinary, the tiny, the simple and elegant beauty of small cups, round shapes, clean lines, and smooth surfaces. In Taiwan, I made tiny pinch-pot after tiny pinch-pot, trying to perfect the art of elegant simplicity. Here, I sit next to my fire. I don't know the clay culture here. I am American-Taiwanese. I could go in any direction. 

Almost without thought, my thumb moves into the center of my ball of clay and makes the first indentation. Mindful yet mindless meditation, from here on out. I press my thumb gently but with the perfect amount of pressure into the indentation, gradually working my way around the edges of the indentation, each press widening and deepening it into a small bowl. "Take your time," said my pottery teacher in Taiwan, "you are rushing nowhere. If you go too fast, the clay will crack, and break when you fire it. Take your time and make it perfect. Feel deeply into every motion." 

I want to press the walls of my pinch-pot to be as thin as possible, for easy firing and lightweight usage. Every bump and indentation on the pot's surface is visible and palpable. I want it to be smooth, like a river with no ripples. Everything is a metaphor. What does a round shape mean, and how does that feel? How about an angular shape? I want to press a perfectly round shape, and any odd edges to be conscious and purposeful. 

Pressing a pinch-pot into an aesthetic and functional form is like practicing yoga everyday, planting a garden, cultivating a relationship, or anything else in life: it's an act of love and patience, like stringing delicate pearls together carefully and lovingly until one day, they form a shining necklace.

The microscopic Universe reflects the macroscopic Universe. The degree to which I can focus on patiently pressing a pinch-pot with no cracks, smooth lines, and an elegant form reflects how much I can remain focused, be patient, and attentive to details in other aspects of my life, such as my studies, or in my interpersonal relationships. 

I finish rounding and smoothing my pinch-pot, and step back to admire it, reflecting on and giving thanks for all the combined experiences thus far in my life that have combined together into this present moment "me," and this small pinch-pot borne of me and my storybook of life experiences. I reflect back on my Taiwanese pottery teacher, then start remembering and giving thanks for all the teachers that have come and gone through my life. The further I reflect and give thanks, the more I feel grateful for, until I can almost see my little pinch-pot brimming over with joyous gratitude and love. 

This clay pot is made of all the elements. In the photo, it's not fired yet. I let it slowly heat and dry atop my woodstove. One day, the wind blew my window in, and my window landed onto and broke my little pot. So I made two more pots. And, I will continue to make more. 

Clay pieces contain all the elements. The physical form is composed of earth and water. Then it is fired, where one must find the perfect balance of fire and air for a successful firing. Today, I experimented with firing two pots in and on my woodstove. My thinner smaller pot came through the fire successfully (beautiful color, no cracking, and lightweight durability), whereas my larger thicker pot (made by six hands together) cracked, and will break with time and usage. It cracked because I put it into my stove before it was dry enough to go in, and because the walls were too thick, with some air bubbles inside. Next time, I know what to do. 

(This story of clay was inspired by a recent bag of clay given to me by Bill Fischer and Joy Brown, two Earthen friends who inspire my life in diverse ways. Bill creates monthly community contradance gatherings at his home, where local musicians come to experiment and share, people of all ages and walks of life come to celebrate and dance together, and food, songs, dances, and merriment are delightfully woven throughout Bill's old farmhouse and the lives of the hundreds who come every month. Joy is a sculptor who embodies the love, artistry, and precision that I strive for in my life and pinch-pots. She makes life-size sculptures of meditative and expressive humans in elegant forms, traveling between USA and Asia to share her art with many.) 

--

 ~~~~~~~
  Jiling . 林基玲 

  . wild . creative . spirit 

  www.JazArt.blogspot.com 

  626.344.9140 / skype: Lin.JiLing