So much has transpired for me this last month and with that little things have tended to fall through the cracks. The place where this occurs most for me is social media. And I guess it's better that I fall off the wagon so to speak on here than in other more seemingly real areas of life. I was reminded of one of those forgotten things this morning - my experience with flower essences and last month's Shamanic Journey.

I lead a journey every first Friday of the month at @hawkhummingbird_ri and before our journey starts I like to share an herbal medicine of some sort with the participants to help facilitate their experience. Last month we used @corpusritual‘s foxglove flower essence. I didn't tell anyone what the essence was until after the journey was over so as not to influence their perceptions. When it came time to share about our experiences at the end everyone seemed to have dropped into a darker, deeper, richer, heart space - even more so than usual. Exactly the type of experience I would expect from foxglove.

My first exposure to flower essences was years ago when I was living with 2 cats that my little dog was afraid of. He wouldn't even come into the room if he knew the cats were in there. My friend created a flower essence blend for him to give him confidence. I put a few drops of it in his water and within one day he wasn't scared anymore and actually started to chase the cats out of the room. I didn't even have to keep giving the essence to him! The medicine always stayed with him. It's really hard for people to believe that essences are real because there's no *physical* plant parts involved. It's still hard for me to believe it at times. But again and again I am reminded of their subtle and surprising magic.

Essences are one of my favorite ways to work with poisonous plants because they're completely safe and you don’t get the same side effects as with ingestion or topical applications.

I have updated my shop today to include essences of yew, hellebore, elder, holly, poke, and aztekium ritteri. And P.S. this months Shamanic Journey is happening on Friday 💗✨