WILDWISDOM

Sending down our Roots and remembering the Soul

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WildWisdom – Nature speaks

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WildWisdom – Nature Speaks  

To friends old and new and those never met. I’ve just spent 5 glorious sunny days doing a stall at All about love festival in Cambridgeshire, UK. It’s a festival inspired by ‘’conscious’’ rave culture (the drugs have changed and people are aware of spirit and take plant medicine). It took me some umming and arrring to decide whether or not to go as ‘teacher’ plant medicine isn’t my thing and too much time in intense environments can overload my sensitive batteries, plus prolonged subjection to spiritual waftyness can permanently damage the aura.  Despite my judgmental opening statement, I don’t mean any offence by it, did you see the comedian Rach Cox at the festival? She was great! She expressed everything I feel about the scenes in a funny, offensive and get over yourself kind of way, whilst also hinting at her own flaws. Come on we’re all wankers aren’t we? but some are more wanky than others, just recognise it in yourself and you can start being real too. 
Something that has become clear to me recently is how utterly unique we all are, what works for some may not be for others and how some people perceive, others do not, and the way in which we all function is different, even so I am going to lay down my thoughts and feelings on ‘teacher’ plant medicine and the popular faddy spiritual culture that is here, ultimately a good thing I guess, better than it not being here at all.Ele’mentalUnderstanding that we all see things differently, for a myriad of reasons thus having different opinions and views on things.  One way in which we can begin to navigate our differences of opinion and become more aware is through understanding our own and others primary elements. When we clash in conflict of others beliefs we are not excepting another’s view point. We can learn to hold our views a little less tightly allowing others to see the way in which they see, after all they’ve walked a journey we have not and each individual is free to view things as they see it. Thats not an invitation for oppressive or abusive behaviour, action may be required when someone is simply being a dick. Working with the Elements for better communication and compassion is in the last section.

Aya, Aho, Pedro, Potato.
First off maybe I’ll offend you with my views on teacher plants and the wift and waft of spiritual ego. Too much Shanti Devi not enough Sea Shanti. 

In terms of what some call ‘’teacher’’ plant medicines,  I do think they have a role in opening people who have come from a party scene or from a view of life that perhaps needed a break through to a deeper reality. I’m sure people have found great healing benefits in the taking of these medicines. I’ve never personally felt called but have felt a strong calling to this land and its medicine. What strikes me about the scene is (in general and this can be said for a lot of spiritual scenes within the Western Hemisphere) is that it often isn’t grounded in sense of location or real connection to this land. I see a lot of lip service paid to the spirits of the land but no real listening and connection. The land where we stand and our inner core is where we experience connection to nature, it speaks in subtle and not so subtle ways, the unfolding of life is miraculous and mysterious yet we often miss it for rushing or not being open to its depths. The ‘practice’ then is of being with what is in front of us in a calm, relaxed yet focussed way, a tentative listening state. Our attention and intention plays a role in the actual unfoldment of the natural world around us, synchronicity speaks to us in various ways through the plants, trees, animals, through the outer aspects of the environment. I would bet that the level of awareness that we exhibit is then reflected back through the beings, spirits and matter around us. Our bodies,(including higher non physical aspects of self) are the instrument with which we perceive and transmit and so it is to have a simultaneous awareness of both our inner and outer environments. It truly is inside of us and becoming efficient in our everyday living is the path to a grounded, balanced and powerful way of living in spirit. Another aspect I perceive about the taking of ‘teacher’ plants is in safety of where we are travelling, I’ve come to the belief through personal astral experiences via lucid dreaming, intuition and hearing from peoples experiences that we are seeing a large manipulation of our consciousness on the astral plane and I believe a lot of it is coming via plant ceremonies, as well as at festival sites where large concentrations of people in altered states are congregating. Tapping in to individuals energy fields and syphoning off peoples life force, entity possession and manipulation is a reality that I think we are going to be coming to grips with over the coming years, it seems to be on the increase or perhaps we are becoming more aware of it as we move through this time where the inter dimensionality of reality comes clearer into our focus. 
Cracking open the gates of our awareness via plant medicine and other psychoactives may give us a glimpse behind the veil and we may be able to work some shit out and may be have a break through and healing but there are gentler ways that build incrementally and don’t run the risk of psychosis. We can grow in awareness and allow the teachings to come, grounded in this moment with this land we stand upon with the teachers that are present all around us, the medicine of this land is strong, you have to quieten down to hear it. 
As I’ve said I recognise we all have our own unique situations and reasons for choices and I’m simply sharing mine here. I’m no angel, I’m sure people would be quick to shoot me down for drinking ale and smoking a rolly when I feel like it, and in fact on occasions taking illicit substances when the whim has said so, my hedonistic twin does still rise occasionally but this isn’t in the context of a spiritual connection it’s in the context of enjoyment and in moderation I don’t do these things to connect, connecting is everyday. Its simple, its sacred and it doesn’t have to look like its sacred. There’s a very fine line between what’s being genuinely sacred and what comes across as ego fakery, pomp and ceremony.
 Simply everyday awareness. For those who have followed my waffle previously I’m going to bang on about peripheral vision/ hunter gatherer states of awareness yet again so feel free to skip on to the next paragraph if you’ve heard it all before. This state has its origins in our ancestral past and present.. when humans do what humans were designed to do originally; to hunt and gather food and tend the land. We don’t need to hunt and gather to learn this state but the act of hunting and gathering produces a highly focused yet relaxed state of presence, our peripheral vision expands our awareness beyond the bodies physical senses and switches the nervous system in to a relaxed state, we tune in to our outer landscape whilst simultaneously holding presence within our inner landscape, connection and communication is then experienced in the visceral moment. The plants, trees, animals, land, spirit speaks. We need to quieten down enough to truly listen to the whispers, then from this space we can learn to sing the song of our own souls calling and begin listening to the spirits of our own bioregions. We are surrounded by a multitude of non physical beings and dimensions which from a grounded state can help with our evolution.

Medicine in our own backyard

There are many ways to journey with the healing plants of this land, to familiarise ourselves with the medicine within our own back yards is truly a journey to sovereignty and wisdom and helps inform our health and wellbeing but also our connection, sense of place and our evolution. I truly believe that entraining i.e. synchronising ones energy with a plant, tree or aspect of nature, simply by sitting and allowing our biorhythms and energetic body to resonate with said beings informs our health, awareness and even changes our DNA. An important thing at a time when technological and pharmaceutical agencies are creating things that appear to be synthetically altering the human genome. 
Consciousness is the key to it all, Nature is everything, we are that nature and to realise ourselves is a process of increasing awareness. Listening to the land we live on reflects what we need. We have evolved in a biological symbiotic relationship with the medicinal plants, they gift us healing and growth, we offer them love, life, breath and tending. They also offer us shelter, clothing and food and much more. Be in love with a plant and watch it show you its bloom. They’re deep high beings of earth, some connect us to cosmic aspects some to earthly elements, we are often attracted to plants which show us something that is inside of us, as well as plants that don’t feel so easy. This is the same with ur human kin, plants are just far easier and more enjoyable to behold for some of us.    

Working with the elements for better communication and compassion.


We are all a unique complex mixture of bio Chemistry, learnt patterns and behaviours, upbringings and environments as well as the different compositions of the elements. All of these aspects inform the way in which we present to the world and within our relationships. It’s not always easy to relate with other humans, we are complex creatures. The elements are a simple way of understanding ourselves and others, the way in which we move, the way in which we express, the ways in which we love. Using the elements as a guide we can bring it back in to context of our true elemental nature. Though as is with nature none of this is fixed, it can be fluid and evolving. We each contain the elements in varying degrees and these degrees can change under circumstances and situations. As a way to navigate our constitutions we can look at our main element or elements and understand how we interact with people and how we show up in the world.  Have a look at what you think is your main element below? It can be more than one and we also may have elements that are more dominant in different areas of our body and psyche. A water element in the heart for example could show up as someone who expresses through their emotions when they communicate.

The Elements – The following are some guides to the elements, its not an exhaustive list but gives some characteristics and the opposing qualities and nature of the element. 

Air –Qualities. The air element relates to thinking, to the intellect, it’s invisible, light, allowing, let’s go. See’s the big picture, connects dots, knows.
Shadow. Over thinking, obsessing, ungrounded, wafty, no direction.

Fire –  Qualities. Relates to passion and drive. Heart, focus, intent, Burns brightly with direct power.
Shadow. Abrupt, insensitive, burns too hot, anger, rage. Doesn’t stop to give space.

Water – Qualities. Relates to the Emotions. Deep feeling perspectives, emotional intelligence, compassion. To flow, creativity.
Shadow. Over emotional, taking things too personally, stagnant/ sloth. 

Earth -Qualities. Grounded, clear, focused, logical, knows the steps to take, solid.
Shadow. Stuck, unmoving, rigid, unwilling to open the mind to other possibilities.

It’s not that we need to change the shadow or transmute it, we can do this by simply becoming more aware, by observing our tendencies we become less reactionary and habitual. This contemplation helps us to see things from another persons perspective as well as our own and we can begin to hold our own opinions and others more lightly. The wild herbs of this land are great for working with the elements, we can work with a herb that has the predominant element that we require to learn about and begin entraining with that herb, embodying that element. Ingesting the herb and journeying with the herb in various ways to go deeply within its medicine as well as working directly with the element or other aspects within nature which show themselves to us for teaching.  

Check out the website for more waffle on working with the subtle energies, nature connection adventures, working with native medicinal plants, labyrinths and more.  Much love, Be real, be honest, be true. Mark
http://www.wildwisdom.org.

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Self Heal, Prunella Vulgaris

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I decided to make a sun infused oil from Self Heal today… Bare with this post as we’ll be easing in to Self Heal later on, we’ll get there don’t worry! just need to meander our way in to it – We need to talk about John, St John of course. I have been waiting to make an oil with St Johns Wort, Hypericum perforatum and now is the perfect time but it just doesn’t grow that well here! annoyingly its brothers and sisters from the Hypericum family genus seem to love growing here but they reputedly don’t have a medicinal effect. At least apparently not on the pharmacological level.

I’ve used St Johns Wort oil for quite a few years now, its brilliant bright red colour is a beauty to behold and says something of its medicinal value for treating sun burn, burns, rashes and skin related issues. I would use it in a sort of male grooming fashion for dry skin on the old boat (face) but have wondered whether basting my precious face in this oil and then spending the day in the sun was wise..? I have heard of cases in cattle that have eaten quantities of St johns Wort getting badly sun burnt. It is known to increase people’s photo sensitivity to UV sun light, it really is a plant of the Sun! The light bearer! Though in saying this, St Johns Wort is a great oil to use on the skin at the end of the day and particularly if you have had sun exposure, it was using it in the morning and then spending all day long in the sun that had me questioning my use of it. To be honest any oil on the skin and prolonged exposure to the sun is probably not such a good idea, best practice is to cover up, limit your exposure, get a hat and put a medicinal oil on your skin in the evening.

Self Heal, Prunella Vulgaris

Here we go..

With this in mind I had started to wonder what other plants might work well as an oil. I’d considered Self Heal as it grows abundantly on the lawns here, looking rather magnificent, (as you can see from above). Then I had a cue from a visitor, as she walked the labyrinth she stopped to pick some Self Heal growing out from under the stones on her way round, she mentioned it made a lovely oil. Self Heal is an interesting plant as it has fallen out of favour in our modern day herbal use. Traditionally Self Heal, also known as; All-heal, touch and heal, wound wort, Hercules’ Woundwort, pay testament to how high a regard this plant was seen in times gone by. It has a long history as a wound healer in Europe and as a general tonic. In china it is used for fevers and ‘firey’ liver conditions. Flu’s and hot flushes. There’s more but I’ll leave it for you to look up if you are interested in its medicinal uses, as an oil it has been shown to protect the skin from UV damage! Bingo!

Soon to be Sun infused Self heal oil.

To say a word or two on working with the spirit of this plant..It feels to hold a strong grounding element yet its ultra violet colours of Blue and Purple hold a key to higher vibrations. Its name is indeed apt to working with a plant at the level of spirit as we self heal. When working with plant spirit we are tuning in to the bodies ability to heal itself. When we sit with a plant, our body has the opportunity to match its resonance. Our bodies have the ability for self healing and sitting with plants or in nature there is a DNA coding which happens, our bodies speak and get spoken to by the electromagnetic etheric cords that undulate throughout our landscape. We have contorted our selves, restricting life’s flow and intelligence and as we free ourselves up and connect again with something that is whole (plants in this case) we then begin to re-cognise, the cogs turn and we re-align. It is almost as if Self Heal does not want to be put in to categorisation, He/she, like all plants are much more than the sum of their constituent parts.

I don’t know to what message these two were giving me but they weren’t there the first time I looked. Amor’e

dav

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Evening Primrose Medicine

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Last year someone had suggested they would like a workshop on Evening Primrose. This sounded like a grand idea as there were many Evening Primroses at Emerson College, so after watching them open in the evening we could walk a candle lit labyrinth. Perfect timing I thought.

From initial conversations with Evening Primrose I felt a soothing coolness, a white soft enveloping light. Relaxing, nourishing, revitalising. It spoke to its connection to the moon and the feminine yet at the same time seemed connected to the solar plexus, suggesting sun and warmth, its stems and seed pods have a red tinge of fire to them. Some see this plants element as being most associated with Earth, yet I felt a strong connection with the solar plexus suggesting fire? However the strongest feeling was of a soft, velvety, cooling, soothing, ‘moon’ness’. Perhaps the element of Yin Earth . Plants, like ourselves, contain all the elements to varying degrees and Evening Primrose seemed to be voicing a balancing of both the yin and yang. Male and female aspects.

The uncommon activity of the flowers opening during the evening and in to the night suggested of its ability to shine its light in to the darkness, expressing itself in fullness and in its relation with the moon. I felt a plant for working on the subconscious aspects of ourselves, shining the light of our conscious awareness on to the shadow parts of ourselves and in doing so releasing bound up energy, unlocking creative life force, opening to our individual power through the solar plexus helping us to express more of our true essential nature.

My journey with Evening Primrose didn’t stop there. Looking back now, I can see the deep work that I was just stepping into was in the processing of unconscious patterns that were formed within my childhood and even ancestral wounding. Evening Primrose was helping me in this process of uncovering those wounded parts of myself. I now know she does this through encouraging us to relax. In feeling relaxed, at ease and safe we are able to feel in to the parts of us that have not felt heard, the wounded parts that are afraid. These parts can influence our relationships, our decisions, every aspect of our lives. We carry them as unconscious thought patterns, story lines, underlying fears, feelings and emotions that got stuck frozen in time. It is not that we need to fix them, change them, even ‘heal’ them as such, but simply bringing them in to awareness and letting them know they are now heard and acknowledged.

Ways to work with these aspects.

We might say, ”I see you”, or, I prefer ”I hear you”, when we feel these parts or stories coming up in the moment. Each time, simply returning to our breath and conscious moment awareness. If doing deeper work, we can sit and feel in to these parts, acknowledging them, telling them that it’s ok to be here and that you hear them now.

You could visualise a child in the corner of a room, head bowed down, crying. How would you react to this child? What would you say to this child? The way in which you interact with this child may be the way in which you engage with these parts of yourself. There is no need to fix them but as they feel more heard they may completely transform, they may shrink or they may remain but as life goes on we grow in peace. We grow in awareness of ourselves as we fully flower into the light of our true essential nature, bringing all aspects of ourselves together, the darkness included.

We all have childhood wounds, this does not mean we had a rough childhood or were abused. The act of simply being born is traumatic. We may even be carrying wounds from the womb, prior to birth, as we soaked up the emotions or situations that were presenting in our environment. I believe the very essence of life is to experience it in its full gory, sorry glory. The pain and the pleasure, the bliss and the heartbreak, the joy and the sorrow. As we navigate life through living in self awareness.

The following link below is a good description of evening primrose essence. It amazed me how support was already informing my life prior to me even being aware of the deeper work I was about to engage with. Plants, indeed life, is supporting and informing our growth in ways we have no idea of. https://www.spiritoftransformation.com/Essencedescriptions/eveningprimrose.pdf

Evening Primrose


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Re-wilding with the Labyrinth book

For the last two years I’ve been writing, on and off, a short book on my journey with the Labyrinth and the unfolding of its message about its ability to facilitate states of awareness that are conducive to communicating with the plant world. This way of being is rooted in an awareness of our bodies, in particular our Heart and Gut. Our ancestors, indigenous peoples and people living closely to the land tend to live in this state of awareness, simply moving through the natural landscape tends to ‘activate’ this more natural state within us.

This year I’ve had the pleasure of getting to the stage of handwriting and illustrating the book. Its been such a fun and enjoyable process. I’ve loved getting back in to drawing again… Cup of tea, some lush music and the zoning in or out of worlds that bring deep peace, tranquility or excitement. It’s a form of meditation and a way for the soul to say what its ‘feeling’. Another creative outlet in more recent years has been singing! which has come as a bit of surprise! Its helped me in expressing my self vocally but also it appears to be a natural response in the human when connecting with nature. I found it would come in involuntary vocal tones at first. I’d sometimes connect with a plant and a tone would arise from my chest. Looking at other cultures such as the Australian Aborigines and Amazonian tribes they sing directly from the plants and the land. I think there is a natural synthesis that happens when people work closely to the spirit of the land that evokes within us the response to sing or make harmonic noises. Its very primal, it feels amazing and creates an energy as the elements around you dance and celebrate. Watching a recent documentary on the Aborigines I loved the way they creatively expressed their connection to the land and spirit. Everything they seemed to do was an expression and an honouring of that through their art, dance, ritual, song, ceremony. It seems to me that is our true place within the web – As hunter gatherer, expressing our gratitude and celebration with the creation through our own creations, what a beautiful way to live!

Here’s a taster page from the book…23131927_10155820858807640_7602955459804799100_n

If you wish you can connect here on FB – https://www.facebook.com/Wild-Wisdom-172830619533379/

and a new Instagram page – https://www.instagram.com/_wildwisdom_/

 


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Working with the Labyrinth

The Labyrinth as a tool for Re-Wilding.

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My journey with the Labyrinth has been an unexpected and synchronous one. It started one Summer whist looking after a Permaculture Farm in County Wicklow, Ireland. Myself and a friend had been given the job of replenishing the ‘Herb Spiral’ at Carraig Dulra Permaculture farm. We instinctively used the spiral path as a walking meditation, setting intentions and in sacred ceremony. It wasn’t until two years later that I came across the work of Eve Hogan that I then realised the ‘Herb Spiral’ was also a 3 circuit classical Labyrinth. So two years on I followed the signs and ended up in Scotland doing a Labyrinth Facilitators course with veriditas www.veriditas.org, it deepened my knowledge and understanding for what this ancient archetypal symbol was about. Energy flows in Spirals. From the Spiralling of the Galaxies and planetary bodies to water down the plug hole, in a seed head or the shell on a snails back we see this spiral design throughout nature and it is within us as the spiralling DNA strands and of spinning energetic chackras.

Connecting the dots…Walking the path… At a recent event, ‘Plant Consciousness’, I met Dr David Bruce Leonard, an amazing guy who has studied extensively with Hawaiian Plant teachers. His was the first stall I wandered over to and picked up his book by the name of ‘WildWisdom’! In the middle of the book he has a Labyrinth!! Dumbfounded I asked what the connection was and he tells me its the best thing he’s ever found that connects an individual to the state of consciousness that is required when out collecting medicinal plants!!! The Labyrinth is a great tool for bringing our awareness from the exterior in to the inner realms of feeling, emotion and awareness, also bringing our sight to the peripheral vision that the Hawaiian Healers use in their meditation technique of Hakalau that David Bruce Leonard was taught by his Teachers.

You can practice Hakalau by staring at a fixed point just above your line of sight, as you focus all of your attention on this point after a while you will notice the peripheral field coming in to your awareness, now concentrate more on your peripheral vision than the centre point. The Hawaiian Plant medicine practitioners would use this practice, along with bodily awareness whilst out collecting plants for healing an individual. They would hold the vision of the person they were collecting plants for and in their altered states were able to ‘hear’ which plants were needed and in what way to use them.

Dr David Bruce Leonard found that the Labyrinth bought about this state of consciousness  instantaneously. He has some thoughts on why this was, he says, ”We enter a Labyrinth with reverence, thereby creating sacred space. We quiet our minds and pay attention. This is exactly the same meditative state we create as we prepare to enter the forest to gather plants. In a Labyrinth we spend most of our time moving our bodies in a relaxed way and with compete awareness. This also has a lot of similarities to the way we move in a forest. And lastly when we are in a Labyrinth their are often people around us. We generally do not look at them when passing, but we are very conscious of their movements and we tend to track them out of the corners of our eyes. Tracking what passes by us as we use peripheral vision is exactly what is entailed within the practice of Hakalau and Hakahele=(Hakalau practiced whilst walking)

Below is a picture from ”The Art of building a Healing Labyrinth” course I attended with Geomancer and Master Builder Dominique Susani in Co.Cork. Ireland 2015. The Labyrinth was built using exact measurements and equations worked out by the locations latitude in relation to the Sun and the Moon at Summer Soltice. This gives an equation that can be formulated to give you a harmonised space, Summer Soltice being the highest energetic point in the year. So when you create an object, building or space using those measurements you are creating an energetically harmonious space. The tradition of the European Master builders went back to the Druids who built sacred sites, many sacred sites around the Globe, e.g. certain Pyramids, many European Gothic Cathedrals would have been built using this knowledge but like many things today its something we have lost, our connection to nature, but that is what we are reclaiming!

Links :- 

David Bruce Leonard’s website – http://earthmedicineinstitute.com – David’s School in Hawai’i.

Dominique Susani – http://www.sacredgeometryarts.com – Sacred Geometry Products.

Plant Consciousness. Davyd and Emma Farrell – http://www.plantconsciousness.com

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