When The Trees Spoke

Impressions I Received After Inquiring with The Trees

Margaretille, NY

October 1st, 2020

Prior to one of my Cultivating Cognitive Agility Introductory classes on Tree Communication for Foreverwild Catskills in Margaretville, New York, I was called to inquire with the Trees, what might they like people to know about them that I could relay for them for this class, which was on the following day.

Now, before I continue I’d like to first make note about my so-called self human grandeur of being inspired to inquire with them. I have come to realize that this inspiration was not coming from me but rather I was being called by them, the Trees, to feel to inquire with them for the next day. Again, it was not me being called to reach out to them. They were calling out to me to inquire with them.

Anyway, so I am on my way home and I was ‘feeling into’ the in-between spaces as I drove up Margaretville Mountain and felt them (the Trees) reach out to me for this class. As I drove past them driving home, I asked them what they might like the next days participants to know. I sincerely wanted to share their view as to why many of us don’t “hear” them speak to us so easily or so clearly. Below are the impressions that came through, so much so that I had to stop driving, pull over and write down their detailed voices.

They said …….

"If you don't ask me a question, why would I talk to you, especially if I don't know you, right.

But if I wanted something from you then I would talk to you but what if you don't understand me or what if I talk too low or what if I wait too long and you’re gone because I don't move as fast as you.

And what if for centuries I've been around and I've watched your people be around me ignore me… for centuries … why would I talk to you… right.

Because for centuries we've been completely ignored… by you (people)… completely, even when I tried talking to you and made noises, and groans, and creeks, or grew closer to you.... I was still ignored so there's no real reason for me to even try today to communicate with you, because you don't listen, you just do what you want and cut me and my families down at your whim without giving an inkling of thought to my life… at all.

So, we're slow to talk to you."

I promised them I’d share this at every cultivating class, and that I was terribly sorry for our inadequacy and that I’m committed to speaking for them in this or any other way till I’m done with this life.

And so till this day I speak their words at the every Cultivating lecture, workshop and training and beyond…

Plant and Tree Observations 2007 to 2023

The following are my observations, paying attention and listening to Plants while connected to Music of the Plants (MOP’s) synthesizer and their response to what is happening in a given environment [1].

There are also some real life stories where Plants are not hooked up to the MOP’s device.

Please take note of few important points:

1. the word Plant is generally applied to the whole of the green world, being Plants, Trees, Grass, Shrubs, etc. When a particular green being is referenced they will be referenced by name.

2. also referring to Plants as an ‘it’ is refrained from, out of respect for them being alive, aware, intelligent creatures and having self-hood.

3. some liberties were taken in assigning human qualitative values on what I and others have personally witnessed with and in the Plant realm. There are definitely Plant qualities that interfaced human qualities. This I believe helps us better understand and comprehend their senses.

Okay so maybe what I did and continue to do is not very conventional - applying human qualities to broadly explain what I thought we might be seeing as inter-relational with us. But I did it anyway. One, I’m not the very conventional type. Two, we’ve got to start somewhere. Three, why not. Who’s the official authoritative who knows Plants are not like humans? From my interactions with them all my life, they may be green and woody and rooted, but they have feelings, senses and desires.

For the record, the last 9 years experience with them and MOP’s device - different Plants communicate differently. That makes sense. Plants from the same family communicate differently. Okay, that makes sense too. And ever every Dandelion has their own frequency too. Their own persona so to speak, as every human does, as every blade of grass does. All resonate in frequencies of their own capacity, patterns and personalities. Just because a human is Latinx does not mean every Latinx sounds alike. My mom and dad both vibrated at different resonances as well as my brother and I. And we all had white skin.

4) The purpose of this ‘manifesto’ is not to try to convince anyone on whether or not Plants are communicating with humans. Rather it’s about how we can pay attention to the varied nuances in how Plants have been making contact with humans and maybe learn from these stories so you can start making your own inter-Kin-nections with the green world.

- Heal our relationships with them - EVERYDAY. Not just now and then. EVERYDAY.

Because don’t forget, everything in our world of living is because of them. Starting right from the

cloths we wear, the air we breath to the coffee we drink.

- Become better listeners, treat them rightly, learn from them…EVERYDAY, not just now and then.

- Be better humans to them, Land and Earth, EVERYDAY, not just now and then.

- Be better humans to each other, not just now and then, EVERYDAY.

This is my commitment to expanding our human-Plant potential. For their future. For our future. For Nature. For Earth. And for the humanity that we are and can be to each other. Re-learning how to be good humans and whatever it means to be a good steward, now. Through their eyes. The eyes of Plants.

There are numerous ways for humans to interact, listen to and communicate with Plants. MOP’s electronics is just one way. It’s a doorway opener.

There are numerous other ways mostly through the tools we have in our body. They’re actually skills that lay dormant and can be re-ignited. Must be re-ignited. Resurrected.

If you are interested in learning more on how you can do this at home, work or play, go to my workshop page and read more about EarthSchool – Cultivating Cognitive Agility with Our Plant, Tree and Nature Allies.

We would love for you to join our trainings to relearn and re-Kin-nect with our Plant and Nature allies.

Sign up to attend our free monthly Zoom Cultivating Circles. This work is for everyone because everyone takes from the Plant world. We see this as learning to give back to them everyday. And this is difficult because we weren’t brought up this way. So our Cultivating Circles support us to be there for Plants, Nature, Earth - EVERYDAY. You can register here: 3moonsisters@gmail.com

So, the following pages are for the most part about my encounters using MOP’s device attached to Plants. Most stories are mine. If you have any, I would love to add yours. Please share with me. I’d need your name or initials, date, time, location. Send to: 3moonsisters@gmail.com

The below is what I’ve learned from working closely with MOP’s in 2015. And before that, since childhood in the back yard in Manahatta, Greenwich Village. In 2017 I added Cymatics thanks to a student of mine, Nisha Bansil. And now since February 2023 Crystallography which is still very new and exciting to see Water express and imprint Plant consciousness in Hydroglyph formations.

One personal endeavor is to introduce and demonstrate - to as many people as possible - that Plants and Trees are always making contact with humans! Communicating with us! All the time. If we’d only stop, pause and listen. But how would most Western society persons know how to do this? They did not grow up this way. Their family, friends, school, media, books, structural and traditional has always left Plants out of the equation. Like they didn’t even exist. The Western mind culture has underplayed, undervalued and disrupted Plants and Nature on such a massive scale that their science can be seen as condoning and or the cause of climate change and the genocide of indigenous peoples the world over. They’ve never valued Nature as the Indigenous peoples of the world have and still do. Nor does the Western mind way of being even know how to start. To date, they have never given Plants the time of day or even considered that they are really alive, … not just, alive, but really alive. You know like living, breathing, thinking, feeling, tasting, smelling and being self-aware alive and having self-hood. Western mind is so on the human blind time scale that is so fast paced, moving, making sounds so loud how that how could they hear anything or anyone else for that matter. Plants are on their time, Plant time. Meticulously slow. Exceptionally deliberate. And making subtle resonances that are not audible to our ears but can be registered in other ways by the human body. Refer to my Cultivating Cognitive Agility workshops.

Western mind does not take the time to slow down and pay attention to the fact that Plants may just be relating to us. [See my blog “When the Trees Spoke”] Even if Western mind did give Plants an inkling of attention and the time of day, do they even know the language of Plants or how to interpret felt impressions? Would they know what they are noticing? Many have suppressed their primitive (?) listening and sensory skills. That is, what is known as Traditional Ecological Knowledge; our innate wildness (?), instincts, intuition, imagination, sixth sense, perceptual fields. All credible qualities that are not recognized as pertinent living skills by Western mind but that strongly enable us to be able to comprehend and listen to Plants and Nature regarding their needs, desires and wants.

Oh wait, do Western minds ever consider Plants have needs or wants beyond water, soil, nutrients, light or lack thereof?

I differentiate between “us” and “Western Mind” because I believe it is that mindset, that world view, that belief system that we have all been indoctrinated in but must rise to the task to undo. It does not define us, as long as we know this. The undoing and unschooling of Western thinking in this area or any other area in our life is a daily task that is an hour to hour, minute to minute, second to second self reflective rewiring of our brain undertaking. It is mindfulness to the max. It is tiring, endless, and ceaseless undertaking.

At EarthSchool we believe that MOP’s makes a great bridge to help Western minds understand just how alive and aware Plants really are. We also believe that we can fine tune our deep listening skills to hear and understand them with our own sensory systems. And we also believe that this will then change the way humans approach not only Plants and the environment but as importantly, maintain clean, healthy and regenerative ecosystem that no longer for human benefit. Its for the benefit of all.

The realization becomes … we’re doing this for them! Its no longer about being an environmental activist. Its about being a conscientious, dedicated and generous Earth steward. Living to care for the Earth.

About the Observations and Grouping of Plant Qualities.

We stand by our compartmentalizing and humanizing of Plant observations. Plants are way beyond the scope of our understanding with senses, qualities and aspects that science has yet to understand. So since we feel we deeply understand them and more so every year, as you read my and others transmission, you can trust what you read and start there for yourselves.

We hope these pages bring you to a place where you feel you are beginning to understand your role in their lives. Where you might feel you’d like to join our free monthly Cultivating Circle to have discussions, updates and shared real life applications or you may want to take the training that can thrust you further from our combined work.

You will soon see that they do have human-like personalities and emotions and that’s why the stories are grouped under these qualities for your ease of comprehension. As you read through these pages, some points will overlap. I point this out by referring to the number and letter I think they relate to.

A Little Bit About Music of the Plants Device

MOP’s is one of our entry level programs where we demonstrate how Plants are alive, thinking, feeling and communicate through an electronic medium - Music of the Plants, developed by Oberto Airaudi of The Federation of Damanhur, Italy. Though this is one approach, we have found this entry level one to two hour program to be highly effective, meaningful and essential approach to opening hearts and minds to this possibilty.

How Does Music of the Plants Device Work?

Wires that extend from the pre-programmed musical synthesizer is clipped to either a Tree or Plants leaf. This wire receives Plant or Tree impulses which are then sent to the device. The device then assigns each impulse a note which we hear with our ears, the Plant’s impressions as musical notes. Basically, the Plant is playing the musical instrument within the device with their metabolic electrical frequencies. Once a Plant learns what is going on, the pace and sonic variations become more elaborate and synchronized with controlled musical sounds. We may even get lucky and experience them responding to persons in the room.

Plant Qualities:

1. Entrainment Qualities

2. Telepathic Qualities

3. Community Awareness Qualities

4. Responding to Negative or Positive Energies (Bioelectrical and Biomagnetic Fields) Qualities

5. Human - Animal Relational Qualities

6. Self-Awareness Qualities

[1] Ethology…the objective study of animal behavior, usually on the behavior under natural conditions and viewing behaviors as an evolutionary adaptive trait. [2] Deep Ecology an environmental movement and philosophy that regards human life as just one of many equal components of a global ecosystem. In 1973, Norwegian philosopher and mountaineer Arne Naess introduced the phrase “deep ecology” to environmental literature. http://www.deepecology.org/deepecology.htm

1. Entrainment Qualities

Over all definition: Plants pick up frequency patterns from sounds in a given vicinity / environment. After a Plant has played some time with MOP’s hooked up to them, after we remove the MOP’s wires from this Plant and hook it to a nearby Plant, they first produce their own sound patterns for a minute or two and then coordinate their sound patterns with the first Plant’s rhythmic sound patterns that had played first. Sometimes the Plant will return to their own pattern, then go back to playing the patterns of their neighboring Plant.

There has been occasions where the sounds a Plant mimics will be from an inanimate sound, such as church bells near that Plant, as you shall read next.

a. Observation: May, 2016:

Maple tree that lives outside an Oneonta church for over 100 years picked up the church bell sounds and cadence when playing MOP’s. The Maple tree was hooked up to MOP’s and everyone listened. Then, while they were playing, the church bells started to chime. After some seconds, the Tree started to mimic the sounds of the church.

[Presentation for the Mind, Body Spirit Collective]. 


b. Observation: August, 2016:

Oak Tree (only 1 foot tall) and Moss picked up Club Moss sound patterns and cadence who was the first Plant to play MOP’s device. [at Judi Millar's woodland home]. 


c. Observation: September, 2016:

Hosta & Dandelion picked up Yellow Dock sound patterns & cadence out back from my home. Yellow Dock was the first to play.

2. Telepathic Qualities.

Plants send our messages. And we can “hear” them. But we rarely if ever notice this. For me, Plant messages come through my heart or my gut.

a. Observation:

Yellow dock sent a message to me to ‘stop harvesting’ when I had harvested enough, but, I did not listen and this is what happened. It was summer, 2016:
each morning all summer long, I’d sit with a group of Yellowdock Plants outside my back door for a couple of hours, to have my coffee and this one Yellowdock I’d always hook up to play MOP’s every so often. This amazing Plant knew its cadence and each time and would always play the same way.

Here’s what transpired: On the morning of September 1, 2016, this one Yellowdock I hooked up to MOP’s and was playing for 10 minutes while I sent my thoughts towards the Plant, asking and discussing with the plant as well as all the other Yellowdock family Plants that I’d like to harvest a few leaves. I “heard” the message that all felt well received and that it was ok. I asked the Plant that was connected to MOP’s to let me know when I should not harvest any more (as they usually do in my heart).. So I slowly proceeded to trim one to two leaves from each Plant, including two leaves from the Plant that was attached to MOP’s. Each time I trimmed a leaf, I’d wait, listen or feel in my heart if Yellowdock was connecting with me. I’d continued to clip, keeping in receptive flow with the remaining group of Yellowdocks too.

At one point I heard / felt in my heart, “no more”, I was about to stop but I saw one leaf that was just so green and so plump and looked so delicious. I just had to have that one more leaf. Besides, there were sooooooo many more leaves. How could one more make a difference. Disregarding what I had heard / felt in my heart, I cut ‘just one more leaf’ and immediately, the Yellowdock that was hooked up completely stopped playing and remained silent for the rest of the time until I have to unhook MOP’s — it was over five minutes before I removed the machine.

Important point: Remember, Yellowdock had been playing nonstop for 10 minutes. The whole experience lasted 20 minutes, and I have this recorded. I sensed Yellowdock ‘speak to me’, in my heart. This is a place Plants connect with many of us, and that we connect with them, as we connect with each other. This is the place we can “hear”. What happened? I did not abide by what Yellowdock wanted from me, no matter how many leaves were on their family, even though there were large amounts of leaves, no more meant no more. This day was a big learning lesson for me. And I’ll always remember to stop now even if there’s lots of plants.

2. Telepathic Qualities (cont’d)

b. Observation: November, 2015:


Night-blooming Cereus that lives in my home while I was meditating with Cereus, I asked her if she would please play healing sounds for my cat, Sweet Pea, as we had just found out she had liver cancer. Cereus had not had much practice of playing MOP’s synthesizer, yet what she played was an incredibly beautiful melody (and I’m assuming for me too because I was so sad about my kitty girls diagnosis) she played these notes for over 10 minutes. I was so overwhelmed with the sound patterns that she chose this day and she has not played in that same way since.

Important point: This is a similar experience of those at Damanhur, and others who own and work with this type of synthesizer and their Plants. Over time Plants learn to influence the synthesizer in greater melodic ways through regular practice sessions with the synthesizer. It turns out that there are some plants who learn much more quickly than others. And in this case, it seems Cereus was already deeply connected to Sweet Pea and myself and wanted to serve our need.

c. Observation: November, 2015:

On one of the very first days Night Blooming Cereus was playing her beautiful sounds, Sweet Pea (my kitty girl) walked in and lay down facing Cereus … to listen to the sound patterns Cereus was playing. Sweet Pea had never done this before with any type of music, ever. She layed down and faced not the speaker where the sounds were coming from, but faced Cereus Plant. Sweet Pea knew the plant was playing !

Important point: Before this moment, Sweet Pea had never come into the living room to listen to music. After this time and for quite a few months, Sweet Pea continued to return to the living room area each time she heard the Night Blooming Cereus playing MOP’s in the living room.

Additionally: After Sweet Pea heard Plant music the above first time (Nov. 24, 2015), over the next weeks Sweet Pea would actually “ask” me to play MOP by coming into the living room area where Cereus sits by our window, walk over to Cereus, face the Plant, lay down on the floor and wait. I’d either hook Cereus up quickly or just play a recording I had made of the original play (2b). Sweet Pea would just sit there, listening closely to the entire recording. When done playing, she would walk away!

3. Community Awareness Qualities.

a. Observation:

Yellowdock stopped playing when being over-harvested (see 2a).

b. Observation: September, 2016

At a friend’s home in Bovina Center, New York, she had a young Norfolk pine, a small cactus and a succulent (?) in her home. All would not play individually in their far away locations in my friends home. However when we brought them all next to one another, slowly, one by one they started to play.

c. Observation: February, 2016

At 7 Sisters Center in Oneonta, NY: Plants that lived at this location and were alone quite a lot (no humans around on a daily basis), these Plants played either sparsely or not at all!

d. Observation:

In the spring of 2016, Night Blooming Cereus had not been hooked up to the synthesizer for over a month as I had wanted to give my other plants a chance to play MOP’s synthesizer and hear themselves. When I returned the MOP’s synthesizer to the other side of the room and reconnected Cereus to play, no sound came no matter how I positioned the synthesizer, clips, ground, more sun, less sun, water, in a few days less water… nope, there was no playing going on. This lasted for two weeks and then one day, Cereus decided she was going to play. What was wrong? Was this plant upset because there was no play-time and the others got to? Just questioning.

e. Observation:

When traveling to give MOP’s demonstrations, over time, I found that I’d have 100% success in Plants feeling safe enough to play for the public by bringing 3 plants with me instead of just one. Now, I do this all the time.

f. Observation:

In addition to 3e, even if all plants are together, if we’re giving a presentation to a large audience, we set up a shelter for the Plants from where the audience will be as this prevents plants from getting stage fright. Then, slowly we reveal the audience to the Plants as they’re playing and they’re much happier about this and continue to play.

3. Community Awareness Qualities (cont’d)

g. Observation: May 18th, 2017

When recording 10 different plants on one sunny, there was a gentle breeze, dry and very comfortably warm spring air, I found myself on two occasions, as I listened to my garden weeds, wanting to give ‘more room’ to the particular Plants that were playing.

I had noticed Grass had seemed to encroach way too close upon two Plants. And so while Dead Nettle was playing joyfully [and then later on Blue Vervain], on both these occasions, I started to gently lay down the grass around them with the palm of my hands so that Grass wouldn’t be in the way. But as you would know it, Grass wouldn’t lay flat from either plant so I decided to do a little trimming with my scissors. I did consider that I’d trim a very small portion of Grass.

When I did this, this is what happened with both Plants. They both became erratic in their musical cadence. Stopping and starting and then completely stopping and then starting again. They both consistently did this until I completely put away the scissors. What I found was that I couldn’t just stop using the scissors and keep the scissors out of the bag or on the ground. I had to take the scissors and put them completely back into the bag before both plants would return to playing like they were initially.

Since I wanted to make sure that what I was experiencing was so, I repeated these actions several times, of removing and replacing the scissors in the bag. It was clear to me without a doubt, as long as I kept the scissors out of the bag in line of sight with these Plants, both Plants played erratically until I put the scissors away.

h. Observation: Sept. 19th, 2021 by Carolyn Clark Pierson

While Cliff Eaglefeathers was speaking at Bushel this one Sunday, I was home on my deck and a Vine nearby was playing on the MoP. When he (Cliff) spoke in his native language, this Vine became very quiet, slow and barely audible. When he returned to English, the Vine returned to playing loudly and rapidly. Since then I've been asking the Vine their name. So far I'm not getting anything. Question from Carolyn’s experience: Can a Plant forget their own name in this consumer culture we've created?

Marguerite’s follow up question to this experience was: are we (colonial mind transplants) as sick as we are because Plants and Trees have forgotten their real name or … don’t see themselves for who they are?

4. Responding to Negative or Positive Energies (Bioelectrical and Biomagnetic Fields) Qualities.

a. Observation: April, 2016

I went to a spiritual arts fair that took place at an old, unused elementary school in Cherry Valley, New York. Two students and myself was to give a MOP’s demonstration to a small group of people. Our demonstration became a short lecture because the Rose Scented Geranium that I had brought from home with me would not play at all, even though before leaving home, I dowsed to find out if Rose Scented Geranium would like to perform. At home, the dowsing responded with a yes so this is why I brought this Plant along. As a matter of fact, Geranium played for me at the house before leaving that morning. Yet Geranium would not play at the school no matter what I did. When I returned home that day, I hooked up Geranium again and . . . she played! Right away!

Bad vibes?

Important point#1: After describing this experience to my husband, he surmised that there may have still been some poor energies in this area related to the site being the Cherry Valley French-Indian Massacre.

b. Observation: July, 2016:

During a Plant walk at a friend’s home, we dowsed to see which Trees and Plants wanted to play. Some seemed to express they were interested yet, they were still very weak at playing or played and then stopped completely and would not return to playing. This happened to many of this womans Plants or Trees including those in the vicinity of her home. We wondered if this was because this was the home and land were where Turkey’s and Goats were regularly slaughtered?

c. Observation: September, 2016

Rose Scented Geranium was next to me one morning, playing away, nonstop as I saw two clients at a clinic I work at. Both clients did not give a thought to what was going on. The music they heard in my office hadn’t peaked their interest. And, they didn’t give the Plant any type of attention or even ask what type of music that was. Geranium continued on playing. Around noon, a former herbal student of mine, Kaela van Breevoort Reed came to visit for a little bit. Its important to note here that Kaela had just completed a four-month long intensive course in plant communication where sitting quietly to feel subtle Plant vibrations to better understand them was what she did day in and day out. Kaela was looking forward to hearing Geranium play. So I brought her into the room where Geranium was still playing.

4. Responding to Negative or Positive Energies (Bioelectrical and Biomagnetic Fields) Qualities. (cont’d)

(4c cont’d)

As I opened the door and walked in, Kaela followed, entering the room slowly, she walked slowly up to Geranium and keeping a respectful distance as the Plant played ... I loved the interplay between Kaela and Geranium….Kaela was so very generous with her space and presence in this plants space as Kaela gave the Plant much space and moved in a time-like slowness for the Plant. She waited at the door and looked at Geranium playing MOP’s. Suddenly, Geranium completely stopped playing. There, before my eyes, I swear it was like both Kaela and Geranium were entranced by each other’s direct attention. I watched the two of them in silence, ‘looking at each other’. Yes, looking at each other. Such a quiet and direct space. Keala didn’t say a word. Neither did Geranium. There was this long music-less pause. Perhaps a minute or so, before Geranium started to play again.

No words could describe my awe and appreciation in this passage of quietude between a dearly beloved student and Geranium that I tended to from a leaf clipping years before.

e. Observation: June 11th, 2017

I gave a Plant walk for a group of 6 children ages 8 to 12 yrs. old at the International Herb Symposium with their 20 something year old sitter. They were learning about Plant intelligence and so the children became so excited and asked to hear a particular tree play (MOP’s). So we all went over and connected Sugar Maple to the synthesizer. Almost immediately, Maple began to play... and a lot.

The children became intensely animated so we asked them to sit down on the ground around Maple and listen. As they did this, I noticed one boy seemed a bit impatient as he was bouncy and played with the wood chips around the tree. I didn’t think this unusual. And right out of the blue, he picked up a chip and threw it at the tree. Not aggressively. Just threw it. As it hit Maple, immediately Maple just stopped playing. All the children and teacher were amazed at what happened. They all got to experience first-hand, Tree awareness. About 1⁄2 minute or so later Maple started playing again and continued until we disconnected the synthesizer.

4. Responding to Negative or Positive Energies (Bioelectrical and Biomagnetic Fields) Qualities (cont’d)

f. Observation: June 25th, 2017

In Caledon, Canada at one of my Human-Plant Dialogues weekend retreats, I was giving an evening workshop to a group of 25 adults and one 3 y/o boy with both his parents, were also present. This young boy sat quietly the whole time with his parents and listened intently as I spoke regarding my one on one experiences with MOP’s. Lacy Johnson was also present (a student, Herbalists, helper and Plant Pioneer partner). She and I had hooked up African Violet to MOP’s device whom was playing very well the whole time we were talking so we kept it hooked up throughout class.

The entire presentation African Violet, a small and dainty plant played deep low notes the whole time. The deep notes were quite remarkable for such a light appearing plant. And here is what changed the sounds. After a while, the boy became antsy while class was well into 20 minutes and so his father took him out of the room for a bit to calm him. When they returned, the boy was calmed again. As we continued to have group discussions the young boy began to really fuss. This time, both parents took him out of the room.

As both parents carried him away through the back door, the young boy started to cry. They closed the door behind them and we could all hear the little boy in the distance crying …. and so did African Violet, who immediately went from deep low notes to an erratic cadence, stopping and then starting up again, but now played high pitched notes, the whole time, until the boy stopped crying and returned to low deep pitched notes. This was witnessed by everyone in the room. This was remarkable. When the boy stopped crying, African Violet stopped playing and then, returned to playing their low notes again.

g. Observation: July 31st, 2017

Two Wild Ginger plants were separated (not on purpose) by David Kenny ... he thought they needed more sun and had to separate them to put them into the sun (they had been in the shade, together, in one end of his office). What we're directing your attention to is when we re-united the two Wild Ginger Plants, side by side, touching each other, they apparently liked being re-united because the one that was hooked up to MOP’s sounded like it became animated with double the sounds.

5. Human – Plant Inter-Relational Qualities

a.Observation:

(see 2b and 2c above)

b. Observation: December 28th, 2016:

Friend Renee’ Barchita, pianist Sonny and vocalist Perley and myself were together in Sonny and Perley’s home in Albany, New York. MOP’s was still very new to me at that time, only a few weeks in my work. Sonny and Perley had heard of MOP’s and wanted to play music with one of their house-plants. As I hooked up their Norfolk Pine tree to MOP’s Norfolk Pine almost immediately played. We all listened for a while and then Sonny decided to try playing the piano along with Pine.

And this is what happened:

When Sonny started playing his Piano, Norfolk Pine immediately stopped playing the synthesizer. Sonny continued to play for a couple more minutes and then stopped because Norfolk Pine did not pick up playing again. So, Sonny stopped.

As soon as Sonny stopped playing the piano, Norfolk Pine started playing the synthesizer again. Soooo, Sonny went back to the piano and started playing again. Norfolk Pine immediately stopped playing again. So Sonny played a while longer thinking there may be some play time happening and then he stopped because nothing happened. Then, Norfolk Pine started playing again.

I must tell you that this happened about 5 or 6 more times. Each time Sonny stopped playing, Norfolk Pine would play. Each time Sonny played, Norfolk Pine would stop. We all just listened in amazement. I did not have this recorded. I wished I did. Later, we all talked about this experience and what was going on, and Norfolk Pine was continuing to play. Sonny never did get to play with Norfolk Pine that day.

c.Observation:

Mz Imani practiced with Jack in the Pulpit singing and playing her hand-pan with Jack who responded almost immediately to the inter-play. Jack in the Pulpit was in a potted planter in a chapel that had great acoustics. [we have a video recording.]

5. Human – Plant Inter-Relational Qualities (cont’d)

d.Observation:

Joshia Johnson, guitarist who plays the blues played with the same Jack in the Pulpit, but this time, Jack was in the garden soil out back. Joshia practiced and played slowly for over 20 minutes trying different cues. I asked him to use rhythmic cues … and then, after about 30 minutes, I tried changing the synthesizer over to a guitar so that the plant could sound the same as Joshia. Within 2 minutes Jack in the Pulpit started following Joshias cue. [we have a video recording of this.]

e.Observation:

The Blues Maneuvers, after seeing the above two video’s were willing to try to do the same. What they did was take one of my Plants bringing them to all of their gigs. On the day of their West Kortright Center gig, most were chickening out except two musicians. It’s a little hard to hear because the crowd is so loud. [we have a video of this.]

f. Observation:

Heart-leaf Philodendron played in three high school freshmen science classes in a Bronx school.
March 2016:

Ms. Gifty’s class:

Plants did not play in this particular class at all. Half the class was interested and hovered intensely over the plant. Poor Philodendron was probably frightened, as students had never paid attention to these plants ever before and were touching and prodding the Plant. But this was good. Opened up their idea of what this could mean. The other half of the class were noisy and angry (not at us).

Ms. Alston’s class:

About two-thirds of the students were interested. The others were mostly giggly. They were all asking questions though and seemed interested, but in an unfocused way. There was so much frenetic energy, Philodendron wouldn’t sing. We tried another plant, still no music. However, ... when the recess bell rang, as the kids stood up and became unfocused on Philodendron that’s when Philodendron began playing up a storm sounding so joyful.☺

Mr. Castro’s class:

This whole class was interested. Quite. And patient. They asked questions and answered questions. At some point, Philodendron started playing. The students applauded. Philodendron never stopped playing that at the end of class, we had to end up unhooking Philodendron. As these students were leaving, most all of them came up to Philodendron, touched and thanked the plant— and said goodbye!

5. Human – Plant Inter-Relational Qualities (cont’d)

g. Observation: October, 2017

A meeting of two minds. At my home office, a snazzy talking ad developer came to talk to me about advertising in their Journal, Chronogram. Nice lady. I enjoyed her high powered-ness but felt some caution. Not sure why. When it came time for me to introduce her to MOP’s I had my top player, Angel Winged Begonia, play. The poor lady never did get to hear my Begonia play. Just wouldn’t. I took that que to mean, don’t buy. So this ad person left empty handed. That was a sign for me that, something was just not kosher and that I should not go with this ad agency.

h. Observation: November, 2017

Music of the Plants Experience

Sharing a Memory...Creating a Memorial

Judith Millar

Recently a friend and colleague purchased a Music of the Plants device. Since she and I will be presenting Music of the Plants to the public at Georgian Court University in November, becoming familiar with the device and engaging in a variety of plant interactions and experiences was paramount. I was beyond excited when she dropped the MOP device off at my house for several weeks as she traveled for another training.

After reading the "Quick Start" directions, I needed to choose which plant to try first. I gazed at all the plants on my windowsill, asking "Who'd like to be first?"

A quick response came from an orchid...an orchid with a special history. It was sort of jumping up and down, waving a long floppy leaf at me. "That's so like you," I thought, grinning at the orchid in its fancy Zentangle™ pot. This particular orchid (Phalaenopsis--exact cultivar unknown) had been part of a larger plant. My good friend Jan grew and cared for a number of orchids in her Colorado home. Her husband Peter had gotten her interested in them, being quite the fan himself (His license plate reads "ORCHIS") Whenever I'd visited Jan, I'd seen her lovingly give the orchids their weekly soak, heard her coo in admiration at those who were in bloom.

In 2016, Jan was rapidly declining due to metastasized breast cancer. I'd spent considerable time as one of her caregivers, and one of our shared small joys was caring for the orchids. When she passed in August, I carried a small piece of a large overgrown orchid back home to NJ with me. Several months prior, Jan made me a beautiful hand-painted flower pot using Zentangle™ designs---an art form she'd taught me in those many quiet hours we spent together. So you can see why this orchid was eager to be first!

I checked the settings---all on standard mode, synthesizer as the "instrument", slid the root probe into the bark, moistened a vital looking leaf and attached the leaf connection...and waited.

5. Human – Plant Inter-Relational Qualities (cont’d)

h. Observation: November, 2017

I didn't have to wait long. Within a few seconds, the room filled with sweet and melancholy notes. My dog leapt up and ran over to the table where I'd set up, head tilting and ears pricked up---furrowing her forehead in wonder. The plant played continuously for about a minute, and in that magical moment I was flooded with memories of Jan and I caring for the orchids together, tears streaming as I held that vision. The orchid stopped playing. Was it picking up my strong emotion? Could it have felt the shared memory? Did it "recognize" its former caretaker? At the moment it stopped, I was holding a clear mental picture of Jan and her plants. I felt a powerful heart-connection with the orchid.

After a couple minutes I pulled myself together, thanked the plant for sharing the moment with me, and "told" it I'd be happy to continue caring for it. Took several deep breaths and sent love to it and to my dear friend. The music suddenly began again--this time, more lively, with higher notes, a decidedly lighter feel to the melody. It continued for more than an hour. I recorded a portion.

I later shared the recording and the experience with Jan's closest loved ones. Soon after, her husband Peter called, and we shared thoughts on love, loss, grief, and the beauty and wonder of the natural world. Other conversations ensued- equally touching and full of wonder.

The experience was much more than I expected. I try to approach working with the plants with an open mind, without preconceptions or expectations, so as to limit skewing the experience. I can't explain nor prove what the plant might have perceived. My inner scientist can only postulate theories. My heart only knows what it felt. Someplace between lay the truth. Note: I've cared for this plant for over a year, watching it grow many healthy emerald leaves. On this day, I saw its first flower spike!

i. Observation: July 30th, 2023

I wanted to share that I did the 3-2-1 meditation this morning for the first time since I did it a few weeks ago and got all dizzy/lightheaded. I felt grounded the whole time and was able to come out of it well. I received this message that I thought also might be relevant to all of you as well:

"Use the tools and resources that you have (including/especially communicating with Plants). You have been given a gift that many people are unaware of. If you don't use what you've been given, it's worse than if you had never received it at all."

I'm feeling like I'm "waking up" with the help of these Plants and you all after a challenging year where it feels like I've lost some of my sense of self. Partly pregnancy related but partly other stuff, too. I'm so grateful to you, Carolyn & Marguerite, for creating such a powerful space for all of us to learn together within, and for giving us more tools to listen and communicate and support and feel supported by our friends and relations, Plants, an extension of the Earth, just like we are. – Chelsea Frisbee Johnson

j. Observation: July something, 2023 [no MOP’s Device]

One pine tree is growing so well, I wanted to give it a loving hug.

I felt a nice pleasant energy.

A second tree called me and it wanted to GIVE ME a hug.

It feel like I was receiving love and very very surprisingly I gave out a BIG yawn that I only feel when I am practicing Qi Gong which is an indication that a blockage has just been released. Wow!

I went to hug the 3rd tree and it was a very different energy. Subdued, like a watchful mother teaching her children and watching over them

IT was then I realized each tree had it's own personality. Just the same as several human children from the same parent each have a distinct personality and role. Something new for me to learn and know now. Wow!

25 of my koi fish have names and I know their individual personalities very well. I an thinking to start paying closer attention the each tree's individual personality. Hmmmmmm.:) – Ken L., Lives in the Catskills of New York

3. 4. and 5.

Observation, October 27th, 2016 [No use of MOP’s Device]

My home office houses many beloved Plants. One of whom at the time was White Orchid that had been with me in my office for about 3 years. Along with them was my dearest feline familiar and soul-mate, Sweet Pea, who would sit with me there, through clients or my computer work or phone sessions. When Sweet Pea passed away, it was a most profound time for me and an experience that is still deeply felt. The love we had for each other on this plane was equal to any of my human relationships. And in some way it was the same for White Orchid. The day after Sweet Pea passed, all of White Orchid’s flowers went from perky to dried up. And by the next day, they were all starting to fall off.

If you don’t know about these types of Orchids, the falling off of their flowers might seem coincidental. But it is not. You see when these type of Orchids lose their flowers, the process is a slow and methodical one. One flower at a time, every few days to a week will dry up then fall off. Then the next flower over the next few days to a week. And then the next and the next. So you see, this was not a coincidence. It was more than evident for us that Orchid:

1.missed Sweet Pea.

2.recognized Sweet Pea’s absence.

3.felt emotional pain from Sweet Pea’s death themselves.

4.felt my emotional pain from Sweet Pea’s death.

5.all of the above?

6. Self-Awareness Qualities.

a. Observation: August 4th, 2017 around 6:00 p.m.

Foresters Ryan Tripani and John MacNaught of the Catskill Forest Association along with Michael Kudish, a Catskill Forest Historian and environmental scientist were all together at this one Apple Tree with me. Ryan Tripani had grafted this Apple tree maybe 7 years before. This Apple tree had been growing nicely ever since, but never bore any fruit.

We hooked MOP’s synthesizer to the original tree, the leaves played quite a lot of music. However, when we connected MOP’s to the grafted leaves - nothing happened. No music that is. We attempted attaching the synthesizer to numerous leaf locations and leaves, on the grafted tree, none would play. We kept this up for 10 to 15 minutes. Nothing at all was heard.

Additionally, any and all previous qualities I sense include Plants and Trees being Self-Aware too.

Below is one experience I have had with Dandelion.

[The information given to me by Dandelion was gained prior to any detailed readings about Dandelion plant.]

One early, sunny morning, I sat with Dandelion in deep inquiry. Some questions came up for me in how Dandelion presented patterns to the landscape that I noticed over the months that summer. In particular, was how they grew differently in different spaces.

I’d notice, stop, and observe. So this one time, I sat down and felt deeply into Dandelion’s life. I felt deeply infused with their blend of alchemical language and their patterns of innate intelligence [today this is being coined as embodied cognition]. At some point, I became very clear of the following. But I believe it was only after I became centered to our oneness.

First, I asked out loud, “Dandelion, why do you grow where you grow, from places in the sun to places in the shade?”

Here’s the blissful ode to Dandelion ...

Ode to Dandelion

Early one sunny summer morning — I sat with Dandelion,

As I looked at her, a spark of musings arose from deep within my belly.

Oh how Dandelion presents her patterns to the world.

How Dandelion grows differently in different spaces.

I noticed, stopped, sat and felt into Dandelion,

who lured me close to her,

infusing me with her alchemical messages of

beauty, …ages of innate intelligence.

Asking out loud to the spaces to all of her

I said, “Dandelion,

why do you grow

the way you grow

from places in the sun

to places in the shade?”

I noticed our heart of hearts, centered.

Transpirations and exchanges welled up in me,

and I was suddenly aware of her lessons.

My simple inquiry opened the door

to our exchange, because I cared enough to ask.

And the answers came flooding in.

When I asked, … Dandelion, in direct sunlight I find that your …

• your basal leaves are spread wide and far, and close to the earth.

• your leaf edges to their very tips are directing themselves back toward

your body’s center with a sense of rigidity.

• your leaves are so deeply dissected, right up to your center vein.

• and your leaf color, they are a deeper and darker richer green than usual.

I continued, …and Dandelion, in the shade I find that your …

• your basal leaves grow closer together in a more-full cluster that reach up, seemingly fluidly to the sky.

• your leaf edges to tips of leaf, point outward more and maybe even in a more

relaxed and curved way, slightly downward to the ground.

• and wow, your leaves are much less dissected than they are when in direct sun, much more full, very tall and quite large – your leaves appear a richer, yet a bit lighter color of green.

And Dandelion responded as quick as the questions came to me.

In the sun …

• my leaves stay close to the earth to absorb and retain water; since earth holds a cool moistness for me, and the air above me is hotter and drier.

• my leaf edges direct themselves to the sun energy back towards my body in this way since the angle of my leaves help direct moisture back onto myself.

• my leaf center vein is a cooling system for me; that’s why my leaves grow with deep dissections— so that I may cool myself efficiently; plus, I don’t need much leaf mass in this area in direct sun for chlorophyll production because all the sun touches me here.

• and, my deeper, darker leaves are drier and have higher concentrations of green energy.

In the shade…

• my leaves can capture moisture in this reaching-up direction as well as capturing more light to produce food for me.

• my leaves don’t need to compete or compensate for moisture here as there is plenty of reserves in this shady area, so I’m in a more relaxed flow than when in the sun.

• and my leaves are free to grow and may not lose a lot of moisture here; but there is a lot less sunlight here in this shade, I need more surface to develop my green energy.

• and, my leaves are a lighter rich green hue related to slightly less green energy; and my leaves don’t need to be as deeply dissected here in the shade since its cooler here and there’s plenty of moisture.

Today, each time I see Dandelion,

I remember the above transpirations.

They are sealed in my memory.

Our relationship.

That goes beyond words.

That just is.

Marguerite Uhlmann-Bower

June 2007

Creating Crystal Light Stations aka Crystal Grids

I love Creating Crystal Light Stations here and there, around the land I care give or in our home. Or spontaneously in a wild landscape or someone’s home. :-)
For me, it is the ultimate of altars, that connect my multi-dimensionality with that of the unified field (the 5-D portal).
Connecting us to synchronicities, miracles and grace (the Sacred). Crystal Grids is also like an honor station of sorts that gives focus, mindfulness and immediately reminds us that everything is of the Sacred.

To get fully present in this place, drop into ones Heart Consciousness and there you’ll find the key to access this 5-D portal.

Ways To Make Contact With This Unified Field
This unified field is from higher dimensions, that is governed by higher laws also known as Natural Law or the Law of the Cosmos.

The three ways we make contact with these higher dimensions is through:

• synchronicities

• miracles

• grace
  

So pay attention, for when you see / sense them show up in your life, its a way to stay connected. So stay awake. Be open to when you might be sleep walking and, keep waking yourself up. Best ways to do this is by being curious, open-minded and introspective.

Miracles and synchronicities are happening all the time and this is how we know we are governed, guided and supported by this field that embodies our higher power, our Star Families, ancestors and spirit Devas, through miracles, synchronicities and grace making contact with us throughout our day.

So, How Does Grace Show Up?
Grace shows up as unconditionality. Which, does not even have to be earned! Because in this unified consciousness, we leave behind polarity, good-vs-bad, cause and effect, black vs white, light vs dark and judgement. It is here were we move from the brain into the heart. Everything gets unified inside the heart circle, the circle of unconditionality, the circle of love. This heals all things.

What are the Practical Purposes for Inviting the 5-D Field Into Our Lives?
a) Healing. All trauma integrates in the unified field. Presence heals trauma. There’s this limitless potential of the heart.

b) Opening of the Heart is the opening of the consciousness for humanity – because then, all the problems on the world will disappear, automatically when the consciousness of humanity rises.

c) Multi-dimensional self / soul retrieval – accessing the knowledge that we have had, have now and will have. We have access of all that that lies in you. Including meeting your future self. This is the ultimate soul retrieval. Encoded inside ourselves.

d) The keys of creation are here on Earth, she is the greatest teacher. She knows how to take the formless into matter. The ultimate key of creation. She created us in her image. When we see the Earth as unified in the New Earth, we are emancipated and free. That’s the ability that we have to create. She is in essence, in her highest multidimensional self. We need to accept and see her as this.

e) We’re helped to better bond with our Mother.

f) Helps us access the unified soup of possibility because even though it is always all around us and it is who we are, Crystal Light Stations is a place where we can stop and pause, reflect, listen, give thanks, open our hearts, make contact and give thanks.

g) We become more flexible because each time we make contact, we also need to surrender every ounce of us to this consciousness, to this unified space. If the key to opening the portal to the grid is Heart Consciousness, then surrendering and letting-go allows us to enter through portal.

h) We’re immediately assisted into our shadow side of our self by entering through and into the void, into nothingness, the blackness, the ultimate Yin and the Sacred Feminine. Which then pulls light to us showing us the way and our next steps. And we walk courageously with our shadow, side by side.

i) Lastly, this ultimately is the realm of magickal relationships. Of merging in the elements which brings in unity and oneness, family and ancestry, transcending binary, giving rise to sacred geometry and alchemy, shifting and upgrading to Frequency Language. What is Frequency Language? It is the language of our benevolent Star Brothers and Sisters language who only value love and nothing else.

STARTING THE CRYSTAL LIGHT STATION

1) Decide What is The Purpose of The Station:
Before you find a place for your light station, take some time to consider and ask yourself why you desire to build a light station, why are you called to do this? So start by thinking about this. Is this light station for a Nature ally? If it is, then, you can’t do this alone. You must include them in your decision making as to what the purpose is, where it is to be located, etc. Is this light station for you or another human or animal? Does this other being have a physical issue on the body? If so, a photo can be taken of that being so that one can build the light station over that photo to the particular problem area to heal. Or is this for a special space in your home or on the land you live on? Does it have a community purpose? Is it to re-instate ritual in your life? To honor a tree or space? Remember a loved one? For the betterment of inter-species regenerative forces? Or … is it for a faraway place? To learn a new task such as farming with carbon sequesters or biodynamics? Again, you can use a photo of that faraway place to build the the light station over the photo.

2) Location:
Once you know what your light station is for, in meditation or in self reflection, on a quiet morning at dawn or evening at dusk, light an unscented white candle and invite your higher self, higher power, ancestors, Star Brothers and Sisters, home and land Devas and over-lighting Deva of Place. Ask where this station wants to be. Inside your home or outside your home. Abide by your first visual. Give thanks to all present.
Holographic Portal - This initial part of the station you’re building is the life force of your station. It’s like the central sun. A holographic pathway for possibility and manifestation. A central portal. So think of this as you’re creating an opening into the unified field. A power station. A vortex either on the land or in your home. This is really powerful. It will change things up.
In your home?
Clear a space (with herbs or smudging), then designate it as an altar with a pretty cloth so nothing else goes on the space.
Outdoors?
You’ll need to do the same, by clearing a space with herbs or smudging and then you’ll need to remove a circular portion of grass from the area you’ll be creating the station in. Give offerings and prayers before cutting out the sod. Place the sod in another location or compost or … you decide, it may have a hand in your grid. But for now, remove the sod in a circle big enough to hold the black stones and light emitting stones. Nothing goes into this circle. No grass, no leaves. And you’ll need to keep this up (grass and leaf removal) during the whole time the Crystal Station is up.

While creating the location, be present and in a ceremonial way. Don’t do chit chat. Think about the purpose of the station. Connect and ask your ancestors or other to assist you and listen in. Feel into with your body sense to grow and create this altar.

3) Write Down the Purpose Then Create An Invocation for the Light Station:
Here is an example of one of my stations purpose and below that, an invocation that I say each time I visit:
The purpose of this crystal grid is to function as a Sacred Cosmic Threshold between this land and heavens, from Mother to the heavens. This is for land, elemental’s and Devas highest good, where they effortlessly withstand micro to macro climate changes and human challenges and regenerate efficiently and in balance. Use Dreaming Future White Pine Ink. [see info at end of this blog.

Invocation:
”I invoke this station - a Sacred Cosmic Threshold - between Earth and Sky to efficiently and effortlessly assist or deflect any and all negative and incongruent onslaughts, with equal measure, imparting them with the ability to smooth out, heal, regenerate and uplift to their bio-diverse-self with the highest of awakened frequencies.”

4) Building the Crystal Station Using Black Stones and Mica:
There are two parts to this. The first part is known. You need black stones. They need to be in increments of eight. They need to be as black as you can find them and especially, those that come from the land you live on if possible and especially those by creeks, rivers or waterways. Ask the stones for permission. Ask the stones to be in your heart. Leave gifts at the water’s edge. Using from waterways are the ultimate feminine (yin). And the number sequence of eight can be just eight or 16, 24, 32, up to 64 black stones. And then lastly, you’ll also need a bunch of stones that act as amplifiers of this grid which can be pieces of Mica, Quartz or white stones that will encircle the black stones.

Place the black stones inside the circle. Then put the Mica, Quartz, or White stones around the periphery of the black stones these amplify the stations portal Qi energy; the black stones can touch, or not. As your building this central portal / crystal grid, have in your mind and heart in what this portal is for. There’s no other talk. There’s only mindfulness around this purpose. When we put forth our attention in ritual, this develops out our attention into intention and cradles the Mother you are working with. Earth. If that is who you are working with. NOTE: by exposing the Earth, its scent has a ‘coming home to Mother’ sense and actually does stimulate Oxytocin in our brain, a mother-child bonding neurochemical!!! And since our hands are the antennae’s of our soul, we are fully bonding with our Mother Earth through our hands.

About Black:
Black rocks are significant of the ultimate Mother; about our commitment and dedication to restore our spiritual practice and, they deeply ground the grid and its sense of commitment.

About the Sequence of 8:
It is the infinity, limitless.

Symbolism:
Symbolism produces impact, attaching additional meaning to an action, object, idea or name. Symbolism takes something that might be associated to something else and gives its more significant meaning. Its part of our communication system and plays a role in religion, politics, art, and literature as well as in kinship, commerce, and science.

Sacred Geometry:
Sacred geometry holds balance, structure, empowerment, amplification. It’s the structure to everything in Nature, from plants, atoms, the Universe to the human form. The human form is a pentagram or the number five; arms outstretched is equal to ones height. One could even think of sacred geometry empowering building’s efficient structure (pyramid). It’s the sunflower seed head formation. The conch shell equal concentric growth. The labyrinths balance and harmony. A fish’s scales.

The power of a circle – completion, continuity, strength, protection. The decision in choosing the formation of your grid will be intuitional. You’ll rely on your inner sense. Your inner guide. Ask yourself. Don’t forget that. Ask yourself, what shape will my formation hold? Will the circle hold a 3 sided shape? 4 sided? 6 sided? Etc. Feel into this.

5) This is The Intuitive Unknown Step, Yet Its The Known of Your Inner Guide -> Subconscious Mind:
No one could really answer this part for you but you and your helpers. So, sit at the portal, take one of the black rocks … the rest of the crystal station building is going to be spoken to you by the land, the black rock, land devas, plants, trees in the area, spirit guides, elementals, home and hearth, gnomes, silphs, or for my purpose here our benevolent star brothers and sisters. Now it’s time to listen. Ask questions. Wait and listen. Let it come from the unified field. Let it come from the heart. Below are the 3 questions you’ll be asking holding the black rock.


6) Questions To Ask Your Already Partial Built Grid:
NOTE: DREAMING THE FUTURE [gift package is to be used here; see at the end on the how-to’s]
Qtn-1 HOW DO I BUILD THE REST OF THIS GRID, TO BUILD THIS PORTAL BETWEEN HEAVEN
    AND EARTH AND INVITE IN THE UNIFIED FIELD AND STAR BEINGS, ASKING HOW DO I BUILD
    THIS GRID? BLOW THAT QUESTION INTO THE STONE AND SEE ALL THE LETTERS AND WORDS
GO INTO THE STONE.
You will be given the answer back and it will come from the heart area.
Ask with humility.
Ask with childlike curiosity.
Make this effortless.

Qtn-2 SHALL I BUILD A 3 POINTED GRID OR 4 POINTED GRID? OR WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE
        THE GEOMETRY TO BE.
BLOW THE QUESTION INTO THE STONE.
You will be given the answer back and it will come from the heart area.
Ask with humility.
Ask with childlike curiosity.
Make this effortless.

Qtn-3 WHAT ELSE DO I NEED TO KNOW?
      BLOW THE QUESTION INTO THE STONE.
You will be given the answer back and it will come from the heart area.
Ask with humility.
Ask with childlike curiosity.
Make this effortless.

If something comes up and you get stuck, or if you get confused, or if you get distracted. If you always blow into the stone what is right there and true, you will always get an answer. So you would blow into the stone that question, I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO, I’M CONFUSED, CAN YOU HELP ME and then, blow that into the stone. You will be given the next step. As you get feedback start building your pointed grid with crystals, stones, plants, items that you are called to.

7)  Tend To The Station Daily or Regularly Until It Needs To Be Taken Down:
It can be for just a few hours to as long as months or years. If you make a grid permanent, do make sure that it is the right thing to do. Ask ask ask if its for the highest good to do this, if there’s pressures or unintended consequences if this is done. Insure that this is the right thing to do. Gift your grid with flowers, Gem Waters, spiritual objects or just yourself and give thanks.

8) After You Build Your Station:
1-focus on miracles – use all 5 senses to hear, feel, smell, taste, touch, see it.           
2-Focus on synchronicities
3-Receive Receive Receive - Remember: Universal Law / Love is Unconditional.
4-Feed your light station when you visit (flowers, corn meal, tinctures, flower essences, gem waters)
5-Leave offerings daily
6-This portal will be a unified field of a double tube-torus flow. Energy moves freely and fluidly in a tube-torus (look up on line what it looks like.)   Free energy / scalar energy / energy that only has magnitude, not direction; ether energy that moves freely from the 5th dimensional field.
7-This is Vortex Math that holds the key to all creation. It is limitless potential. All geometry is birthed from its center (yin). Yin births yang.
8-When you’re in the present moment, everything you need will appear to you.

As you go around and build your light stations, you’ll feel empowered because you’re connected. This empowerment affirms your light stations purpose. The of the qualities of the Wu [ancient Chinese medicine women] is that they can never turn around and explain to you what they did. They can’t say why. They are just in it. That’s the energy you are coming from. Ride that wave. Work with black rocks around the area. Other points on the grid you can work with are either Quartz, stones from the land, Selenite, Apophyllite. Celestite.

9) A Note About M-State (Monotomic) Elements:
These stones are the Language (frequency) of Star Beings; and are used to help connect us to celestial (benevolent) realms and are other worldly bridgers. They exist in the 3D and the 5D realms at the same time and assist us to enter a quantum field. These stones are Selenite, Quartz, Mica, Silver, Gold, Copper, Platinum, Amethyst, Euphorolite, Kyanite.
In particular to the Kyanite stone, this stone will connect us to all other light stations of similar purpose. So try to find and use Kyanite and intend to connect with all other grids around the world like the one you are building.

”DREAMING THE FUTURE” [gift package contains the following and is to be used with no. 6 above]:
8 Black Stones (Obsidian) to start your indoor or outdoor Light Grid.
Mica encircles the 8 stones, to the outside of the stones.
One Kyanite Stone, also place outside the 8 black stones, connects your grid to all other light stations.

How to use the 3 bottles:
These are to be used when you’re working with questions at the Light Station.
After smudging and meditation … apply …
Third Eye Oil, one drop on finger tip, between the eyebrows. This helps us receive audible, visual, sensory answers.
Lady’s Mantle Dew, one drop on finger, placed just under the eye skin, helps us see into and beyond the veil to enhance answers.
White Pine Ink (I made) is used to scribe words or visuals onto paper you received from your crystal stations. You can use either
a toothpick or an ink pen to do this.

Don’t forget to visit your Light Station regularly. Leave gifts of sage, cornmeal or other there. Clear out any debris on a regular basis too.
And, if outdoors, you will from time to time need to replace black stones as the Light Station does invite other creatures and visitors.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me at 3moonsisters@gmail.com or text me at 607-437-1218.

Why Cultivate a Cognitive Agility with Land and Plant Kin?

We Work to Re-Learn to Speak a Nature Oriented Tongue !

This is a note for those who may be questioning real world applications of cultivating relationships with plants, trees and surrounding-land-systems. In its most basic simplicity, we are moving towards collective dialogues that shift from the entangled hierarchy, power-over, consumeristic trance we are in, to a more shared, awake and unified living life. Please know that what we are doing isn’t as difficult a concept as it may seem. What we are doing here is moving into awake inter-relating action. Away from the spellbound slumber we’ve been in, to a harmonious, inter-connected, and conscious way of living and listening.

First, thank you for taking the time to read about this three-day training. Besides it being designed to amplify ones existing field of understanding, we’re basically waking-up a sleepy unused pathway that our ancestors have relied on for their everyday knowing. This training quickly fast forwards our human centered thinking, [anthropocene centered] and helps us usher in a partnering with all living systems with symbiocene thinking. [Symbiocene thinking - the symbiocene is a term coined in 2011 by Glen Albrecht. He uses this term to argue that human history should enter a new era that is characterized by harmonious interactions between humans and all other living beings]. We are in a transitory time. Between now 2020 and 2030, traditional cultures to scientists the world over speak of our ability … right now … to do the best we can, for Earth.

The training is committed to distilling out our innate skills that lay dormant and share in the tools we each bring to the group. Together re-discover relating to the natural world through the practice of sensing of the collective field, that is, resonating with the invisible that impact our lives every day. Our job as facilitators help unlock talents, skills and abilities. However since this is a shared process, we each play a role of waking up to our innate participatory grid and liberate those less used sensory pathways. And we practice willfully calling upon and applying these internal and external senses for everyday living exchanges, rather than just leaving things up to chance or missing the call.  

Participatory exchanges like, Second Sight, extra-sensory perception (ESP), Psychometry, Remote Viewing, feeling-into also known as systems sensing and thinking, to developing ones coherence or Sixth Sense. Another way to think of this is having good intuition or a gut sense and apply the above to the tangible construct of the day in adaptive, restorative and co-creative ways.

Progressive scientific thought has labeled this type of sensing, Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). It is well known that TEK societies around the world still live and use this type of relating everyday of their life. Where our bodies are instruments of perception and there is so much more available to our human-Nature relationship than meets the eye. Where the intersections of science and spirituality says that this type of thinking is beyond cause and effect.

Its holistic, co-creative, and interrelative with the context of a larger system. This approach to living is cultivated throughout the 3 days and 3 evenings of this retreat. Develop out our New Earth Living Skills, as it is now that we are entering into a participatory evolutionary event the world over. Its momentum is exponential as we move away from the dominant, institutionalized framework, looping-savior-victim-persecutor model to an inter-connective, wholeness thinking paradigm. Yes, our intuition can be subject to emotional flaws and programmed biases, we play with these ideas through remedial empathy exercises, grouping discussions and post break-out groups to help simplify and ease out the conditioning so we may more fully ‘hear’ the sacred invisible…the collective field…what patterns that mountain may be host to.

Starting here in this circle, intuition and imagination is significant and as necessary as is the tangible and concrete living. We say, maybe even more important now than ever; more necessary and meaningful than we’ve ever known before. We believe if we continue to leave TEK out of the context of our every daily lives, this will only continue our disconnect from having full and responsible relationships with the-Nature-that-surrounds-us and continue the harmful way we are currently living with Nature.

HOW ARE PAST RECIPIENTS APPLYING THIS IN THEIR LIFE:
CAVEAT ONE: liberating our intuitive process helps us make better decisions when it comes to doing the right thing for the environment to everyday living, such as righting around the socio-economic-racial-gender and political, education, agriculture, recognizing propaganda, reducing carbon emissions on a personal level and scaling consumption choices for instance. And here are how past recipients of this training are applying to their life:
- one woman transformed their garden consulting business guidelines to apply listening to the
landscape before making any landscape changes. Clients are informed, educated and if not
on board in the process, no landscaping takes place. Please note - this is that persons primary
livelilhood.
- another adapted their spiritual coach work to include Nature thinking and
Earth centered feminine spirituality..
- another is a farmer, scientist and activist who shifted their mechanistic training to holism, with
Nature on equal ground and now speaks with a Nature oriented tongue in all their activism work.
  And this very same person once thought she was not able to hear the voice of Nature…
- others make relationship decisions through consulting a tree or Nature space for right steps.
- as for us, we ask permission with plants, trees or Nature scape’s before making decisions if we are
to prepare herbal medicine, cut a branch, dig a hole, clear a space, or other; we work to
rethink (everything), reduce (consumption), repurpose (co-creatively), reuse (everything),
repair (before replacing), refurbish (the old but goodie), refuse (SINGLE USE), … recycle (as
a last option).
- be leaders in speaking for the rights of plants, trees and landscape in every crevice of our life.

CAVEAT TWO: Yet, too, liberating our intuitive processes seems so darn simple that most people believe its irrational, get bored or disinterested. It’s so simple that it’s often deemed not real, unnecessary and can’t stand up to our tangible capitalistic driven wants. That is true. And, it shouldn’t be either.

By the way the senses we liberate? They may not have been used for a while, or enough, or at all for most our life so this does often feel difficult to summon into use, or be a trustworthy method of living. Some of us say things like, “lady, we are just too busy anyway with our everyday lives” – I say, this IS about our everyday lives. Others add, “besides, what’s in it for me anyway?” – I say, everything. We all need to know this. We all need to remember this.

Believe us, we are all cohorts with our vast living landscape. We all have an impact on Mother Earth right now, whether we consider to take this training or not. So we ask, reach into your sensory gates and find out how enter-related we are with our living back yard. We are that landscape. That landscape is us. Listening to the voice of Nature, cultivating relationships with plants, trees and land is for all our future.

Trainer Facilitators
Marguerite Uhlmann-Bower
Carolyn Pierson

Out of the Mouth of Babes

…a community mom friend brought her son with her, to pick up some plant medicine for him this past Sunday. I'm so glad she did.

They came to my Root Cellar which is where I do my work and as they enter my little kitty girl, Sassy, greeted them when they came in. Mom went to immediately pet Sassy girl, which is normal for most adults and even kids to do but....this 9 year old young man instead offered first his partially opened hand for Sassy to smell and then, he petted her, only after she gave him a nudge (permission). I thanked him for that.

Then he turns and stands and immediately gives attention to one of the plants I have there in the basement and he gently offers his hand to this plant, also first, before then 'petting'/touching them. I pointed that out and thanked him for noticing them and that that was very observant of him to do because most people don't notice plants.

Now mind you this is our first time ever meeting so he's a little shy but clearly very open....

Then he says to me, (and I almost jump thru the ceiling with joy...quietly) and he says ...'do you think they have eyes'?

Of course, this began a whole different course of conversation than was expected. But then again, I always follow the lead of young minds like this.

Plant I.D. Book Resource List

• A Primitive Skills Guide To Important Edible, Medicinal, and Useful Plants of the Northeast Vol. 1, Written by Arthur Haines

• Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants by Steven Foster and James A. Duke

• Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide by Lawrence Newcomb

• Nature’s Garden Edible Wild Plants by Samual Thayery

• Edible Wild Plants by Elias & Dykeman

• Weeds of the Northeast by Richard H. Uva, Joseph C. Neal and Joseph M. DiTomaso

• Weeds of the North Central States by University of Illinois

• Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast by Peter Del Tredici

• A Naturalisst’s Guide to Wetland Plants by Donald D. Cox

• Edible Wild Plants by John Kallas, PhD

• Edible Wild Plants by Lee Allen Peterson

• Wildflowers & Grasses by The John Clayton Chapter

• Field Guide to the Grasses, Sedges and Russhes of the United States by Edward Knobel

• Know Your Trees by J.A. Cope and Fred E. Winch, Jr.

• Lichens of the North Woods by Joe Walewski

• Ferns by Pertson Field Guides

• Insects of North America by National Geographic

• Forest Forensics by Tom Wessel’s

Pass Up The Ramp Bulbs - 2020

Ramps, also known as Wild Leeks, the more the years pass, the fewer Ramps I want to harvest and that's not because I'm getting old. Its because of my deep concern over how they may soon be endangered. Don’t get me wrong, I love their flavor and general over all health giving benefits. And I believe we all have the right to wild harvest in our own fields and woods. However, I’m not sure any more if it’s about the over-harvesting their bulbs, as much as it’s about – the large number of humans harvesting their … bulbs. 
The latter I believe is the big deal. 



Over the last 15 to 20 years, my plant walks and talks have always tried to illuminate the need for us to be custodians of our plant world. And now, more than ever. Clearly, the writing is on the wall and in our face - climate changes, species extinction, COVID breaking and entering our existence.

And so when it comes to Ramp harvesting, I don’t believe they will withstand our constant consumption of them much longer, unless we change the way we harvest them.

No longer can we harvest them in the same way grandpa did, where their bulbs were freely harvested. We can no longer do this. And on this note, I’ve seen only one local business in our county begin to sell Ramps without bulbs. Yeah, go – Catskill Regional Harvest !!! Owned and operated by Nicole E. Day Gray. Thank you Nicole. https://www.facebook.com/nicoleeday


A little bit about Ramps:
Geographically speaking, Ramps have been a choice spring pot-herb not only because of its flavor but also for its nutritional and detoxing effects. The green leaves have 3 to 4 times more Selenium and flavanoids, both powerful anti-oxidants over the bulbs and are no less potent in flavor than its bulbs. 



One traditional use was to juice the leaves and use as ear-drops for earaches. This mirrors a similar use my mom did for us when I was a child for the same problem but instead, she’d crush a Garlic bulb, simmer for a ½ hour in a little Olive Oil and put one or two cooled drops in both my ears. This did help. And only about 10 years ago, a study reported in the Herbal Gram journal, a Mark Blumenthal publication on everything to do with herbal research revealed that a blend of herbs, one which included crushed Garlic and in addition, St. John’s Wort flowers, Calendula flowers and Mullein flowers was as and in some cases, more affective for childhood ear infections then was the typical anti-biotic used for the same. 



Another traditional Ramp use was as an emetic, which means, help’s one vomit. This is also true for Garlic. Really. I had read over the years about how Garlic was a good emetic but I never experienced it myself. Though through a story shared with me where a friend of a friend, who juiced Garlic and Ginger to take internally as a winter cold preventive remedy. The recipe called for ¼ teaspoon of this juice, to be taken 2 to 3 time’s a day. Well, this friend of a friend thought if a little is good for you, then a lot more is better. He soon found out that more is not better and so after taking … one tablespoon of this remedy proceeded to vomit his stomach contents. Not what he really wanted to happen but fortunate for him, not a serious lesson. 

This story brings me to an important point about wild foods. As a matter of fact, its about all wild foods in general. And it’s around the concept that “if it’s good for you, then more is better”. Wild foods and most especially spring wild foods are incredibly potent generators of dense nutrition. Nutrition that most folks are not used to consuming.

What happens if one eats too much at once? One may feel horribly nauseated, may vomit, have diarrhea, and feel dizzy. We think oh my goodness, we’ve poisoned ourselves. Not that we can’t be allergic to a wild food or choose the wrong plant (more on this next), but more likely we ate a wee bit too much on our first few meals. Less is more when it comes to wild spring greens and this is especially true all year long of wild foods if you’ve never eaten a wild food before. 



One last thing that is a big matter around wild harvesting and it is this: wild harvesting does come with some risks. We can avoid these risks by identifying Ramps or any other wild plant with 100% accuracy. There are sometimes poisonous look-a-likes and in this case, Ramps do have a poisonous look-a-like that grows right next to them and for a short time these poison look-a-likes look close to what a store bought Leek might look like if wild, in its early stages. And the name of the plant is False Hellebore, scientific name Veratrum viride. If mistaken and eaten, this is a highly poisonous plant cooked or raw. To the untrained eye, it looks like a store bought Leek but only for just a few days. One easiest way to determine if you are harvesting a wild Ramp is to simply smell it. If it smells like onions? Ya’ got a Ramp. If it doesn’t smell like onion smell? Put it back in the ground.



Here’s a story that demonstrates what can happen if one hap-hazzardly identifies a wild edible. This did happen to someone local who mis-identified the poisonous look-a-like False Hellebore, in its young stage thinking it was a Ramp. One, since he was inexperienced, he should have had an experienced person with him. Two, he should have brought an identification book with him and three, he should have at least confirmed his harvest with an experienced person. He did none of those. And then he even cooked and ate False Hellebore even though they didn’t smell or taste like onions and he said tasted awful. He was lucky. He only lost one kidney and he fortunately lived.

This tidbit about Ramps and False Hellebore is important. Its not small issue. They truly do not resemble each other if you’re not familiar with them. Take an experienced person with you to accurately I.D. Please.



Barring these practical precautions, Ramp popularity has grown over the years so much so that they can be purchased at markets, roadside farm-stands and restaurants from Quebec to the Appalachia’s. Bought over the Internet and shipped fresh to your door. There are even southern festivals dedicated solely for the Ramp season and Ramp eating.

All this demand brings such great concern for many around Ramps future viability. Especially when one considers the ratio of supply and demand at these current times. I personally believe that this wild edible can end up in short supply, and become endangered quite quickly if we’re not observant and careful.

Ramp Challenge – Under Harvest
You see, the variables are great in how people view Ramp stands. All is in the eye of the beholder. It’s relative. It’s personal. And it’s sensitive. Especially sensitive if there’s a cash crop and mouth’s to feed. We all have choices in this mish mash and as we keep a subtle eye on our wild fields of Ramps or other wild delicate medicinal and edibles. We can make a difference. All it takes is a keen observation and a new practice – ‘to-under-harvest’. Can we do that?

So I continue to ask year after year - please consider the Ramps, no matter how full your woodland hills look like - please consider harvesting without bulbs. Harvest just the leaves. HARVEST LEAVES WELL ABOVE SOIL LEVEL. And maybe even harvest as we see the animals graze – one leaf, instead of both leaves. I could be over compensating here, but I think not. (2017 – apparently, I’m not. See UpS To Be Endangered list. Ramps are on it now.)



Take The Ramp Challenge and Under Harvest
To everyone: those who harvest Wild Ramps, those of you who know someone who does the harvesting, to those who sell Ramps, Ramp Chef’s or who sell over the internet or at farm stands, please consider and ask others to consider the following suggestions I make here. The below may just allow Ramps for many future generations.

Suggestions are followed by statistics and supportive evidence (*).

Consider This …
1) Consider this: Invest in Ramps
Leave at least 95% of the plants for adequate self-propagation. For instance, for every group cluster of say 10 plants, remove only one or two single plants. Why? (*) It takes 2 to 3 years for a Leek seed to germinate and up to 6 years to fully mature before it produces seeds!

2) Consider this: Rotate harvesting stands.
Have at least 5 or more harvesting sites and visit only one of them each year. (*) It takes at least 2.5 years for a stand to fully recover from one single harvester. FYI: In Quebec Canada, permits are given for Leek harvesting. Only 5 Leeks per person are allowed !

3) Consider this: Keep their life force in the ground.
Leave their bulb root in the earth. Cut only the green leaves at an inch ABOVE soil level! (And take note, animals that eat Leeks do the same. Often, you’ll find some leaves only partially eaten.) (*) It has been observed that by keeping the bulb root in the ground, it will allow the plant to continue to grow for future seasons. Supportive studies show that when harvesting a stand of Leeks, if one picks as little as 5% – 15% (this is including the root bulb), this act of pulling the bulb too stresses the stand to go below ‘an equilibrium level’. This means that the stand 
then functions at a substandard level and can take several additional years to recover to normal. And, that is so long as the stand goes untouched for the next few years (3 to 5 yrs.), where no other forager takes from that same stand for those 3 to 5 years. Avoid at all costs taking the bulb. This will not only benefit you by providing you with many harvesting years to come, but Leek families and animals well.

4) Consider this: Before harvesting, look over the area to see if another was there… and if there was, walk away. Find another untouched location.

5) Consider: Think less is more.
Share these ideas with children in ‘ethical wild crafting’, and, ‘to-under-harvest. 
Ask merchants, restaurants, farmers markets and wholesalers for bulb-less plants. Insist on this year after year. Only take a few bulbs for personal use. Those who harvest huge amounts, leave the bulbs. Or just go for a forest walk and leave harvesting for another time as we don’t always have to get something from the Nature that surrounds us.

Catskill Native Nursery has a point … 
Diane Greenberg of Catskill Native Nursery propagates and sells wild foods and medicinals. Here’s what she thinks about Ramp harvesting practices: “people think they are harvesting sustainably by only taking a portion of a patch. What they don’t consider is 4 or 5 other people are doing the same thing to the same patch and soon an area that was covered in leeks is reduced to a very small population. Over the years, I have seen a few areas in Ulster that were once abundant in leeks disappear completely. Mostly these were patches along public trails or easily seen while driving along a back road. People have bragged to me about filling up the back of a truck with leeks and selling them …” and “People do not understand how long it takes for these plants to grow and that by harvesting mature bulbs they are destroying what is needed to insure future generations of ramps … I hope in time people will see the big picture of the damage they are doing in the name of “free food”. Visit Diane Greenberg’s website here: greenwitch@catskillnativenursery.com


RECIPE:
Delicious Potato Wild Leek Soup
by Marguerite 
2 lbs Potatoes, with skin
2 oz Leek Greens
Place both in a pot of boiling water. Cook till potatoes are done. Save water to side
Place half of potatoes and leeks in a blender
Add 3 tablespoons of Butter
½ cup Heavy Cream or Coconut Milk
½ tsp. Salt 
Blenderize well

Do the same for the remaining potatoes and leeks.
If you want the soup to be thinner, add some of the left over potato water. 

So, consider under-harvesting, do Pass Up Ramp Bulbs and every now and then, and definitely go for a woodland walk to just simply just to enjoy the green world. 



Blessings on this cold spring day.

ABOUT: 
Marguerite Uhlmann-Bower, R.N., Herbalist Educator, Earth Skills Guide and Wild-Crafter, training and workshops in Cultivating Cognitive Agility with our Plant and Tree Allies, and plant foraging that considers plants have rights. Combining her nursing background and herbal training and experience, she brings outdoor oriented workshops back in to everyday people’s lives. The basic purpose is that plants do so much better when humans become interested in them. And we want them to.

Maria Thun Compost

April 12, 2020

Thank you to Robert Kathmann of Cat Moon Hollow Farms, East Meredith, NY, for remembering to alert me to when the organic in nature — pregnant cow manure was ready to pick up (right).

What’s this for, you all ask? Here I go again, you say. It’s a perfect time and no better time than right now.

What I am making is for the land, plants and microbes that take care of me. I’m returning their gifts with gifts for them that will help them flourish, connect and replicate for the goodness of the whole on this space.

This gift is called Maria Thun Compost. Go here to learn more.

The last time I made this was 10 years ago — after reading and compiling the whole book Secrets of the Soil into workable chart form, There was no looking back. I had to live with this Nature-giving method.

What you see here in the first photo is 25 gallons of raw, pregnant-cow manure from Robert Kathmann cows in my back yard garden. It is on a tarp so as to not leach its goodness into the Earth — yet. Photo at left is said cow manure with 100 organic ground eggshells (probably most of them from Diane Frances) and 9 oz basalt ready to be mixed into it.

Below right is the manure all blended with the egg shells and basalt, and ready to be put into a 55-gallon wooden drum ¾ of the way in the earth that you see below left. I purchased that wooden drum 10 years ago at Wood Bull Antiques. Yes, it is ¾ into the ground. My son Nate dug the hole deep for us. But!!! Kaela Van Breevoort Reed, Stephanie Hertel, Rebecca Alexander and Andrea Menke helped remove the foot or so of snow and started the digging of this deep hole 10 years ago at this very same time of the year. Vesti Misner hadn’t arrived yet but was just a couple of weeks away from studenthood. :-)

With the manure in the barrel, I placed BD 502, 503, 504, 505, 506 into 5 holes in the surface of this manure. Next is a spray of BD 507 that goes inside and around the outside of barrel (read the link I gave above in first paragraph). Then we put a lid that is a small cute little wooden barn door, then a stone is put on top so no creatures make a visit. This is also sprayed with BD 507.

In 6 weeks students will remove contents. Stir manure for 10 minutes. Replace manure back into barrel for another 6 weeks, at which point students will remove again and this time store in large ceramic pots (and of course everyone will take some home too). These ceramic pots will be stored in an underground earthen space that Jerrid Leo and Jason Lindow dug. Daniel Caban built its wooden covering 2 years ago. Around these pots is moist peat moss surrounding the containers. This is a very special place made for these very special earth-honoring nutrients.

I do believe this is the barrel’s last year of use. Maybe there’s a Wood Bull Antiques visit needed again. But maybe I can find one in our community instead.

Please do give me a call to come over for some Maria Thun Compost. Social distancing honored. I’ll show you how to collect from its earthen place. I still have many gallons from 10 years ago. All is still good. All is ready to use. All come with directions on how to use and even how to make, if you so choose. Plus, I’d love to do an exchange for other things I may need and you have. All other preps are available too, in the same way, with directions and exchanging or . . . who knows.

Embracing Deer Medicine - The Flower of Kindness

by Marguerite Uhlmann-Bower (with the help of Bonnie Kavanagh)

How do we as holistic healers interface our work in a society which values the material? How can we prevent our healing work from getting caught up in the disconnected system of things? How can we develop a belief paradigm where our true intentions can originate from a place of integrity? Clarity? Open hearted gentle loving kindness? Where our authentic selves may walk in beauty.

Our hopes for today’s class are to share with you Deer Medicine concepts. For the purpose of re-defining our old belief patterns, for not only increasing the quality of our healing work as practitioners, (for friends and our own well being). But to also not loose site of the underlying reason we have accepted to walk this path as healers on this Earth, of this planet, for the Nature that we are.


//

The story of Deer Medicine as told by Jamie Sams and David Carson in their Medicine Cards book: 1999
”So gentle and loving you are. The flower of kindness, an embrace from afar. One day Fawn heard Great Spirit calling to her from the top of Sacred Mountain. Fawn immediately started up the trail. She didn’t know that a horrible demon guarded the way to Great Spirit’s lodge. The demon was trying to keep all the beings of creation from connecting with Great Spirit. He wanted all of Great Spirit’s creatures to feel that Great Spirit didn’t want to be disturbed. This would make the demon feel powerful. and capable of causing them to fear him.”

”Fawn was not at all frightened when she came upon the demon. This was curious, as the demon was the archetype of all the ugly monsters that have ever been. The demon breathed fire and smoke and made disgusting sounds to frighten Fawn. Any normal creature would have fled or died on the spot from fright. Fawn, however, said gently to the demon, ‘please let me pass. I’m on the way to see Great Spirit’ ’’.

”Fawn’s eyes were filled with love and compassion for this oversized bully of a demon. The demon was astounded by Fawn’s lack of fear. No matter how he tried, he could not frighten Fawn, becauses her love had penetrated his hardened, ugly heart. Much to the demon’s dismay, his rock-hard heart began to melt, and his body shrank to the size of a walnut. Fawn’s persisten love and gentleness had caused the meltdown of the demon. Due to this gentleness and caring that Fawn embodied, the pathway is now clear for all of Great Spirit’s children to reach Sacred Mountain without having to feel the demons of fear blocking their way. Deer teaches us to use the power of gentleness to touch the hearts and minds of wounded beings who are trying to keep us from Sacred Mountain. Like the dappling of Fawn’s coat, both the light and the dark may be loved to create gentleness and safety for thos who are seeking peace.”

//

The following is our experience with and our interpretation of Deer Medicine. Along with hours, days and years of group work in sister-hood to this Earth. The wise work of many gifted healers and mind seekers (see resources), and, the Fifth Dimension Protocols from the channeled books of Telos and Seven Sacred Flames (see resources).

It is here we share 3 simple steps for opening up our hearts to a new belief system (yet very ancient) using the principles of Deer Medicine and the book of don Miguel Ruiz, Mastery of Love. And, … we apply these principles to our varied activities of daily living circumstances. What we hope for? Solution for deepening our trust in Divine Universal Wisdom. Deep Truth.

This offers us the potential to catapult ourselves to dissolving our perceptual distortions, disharmonies, counter-balances, … our negative internal dialogue (defaulting beliefs) or even more insidious our subconscious sabotaging beliefs. Deer’s gentle, loving kindness ways with her source rooted in gratitude and Great Spirit, guides us to shift from a fear based mode to an allowing, open hearted, healing relationship mode. From the wounds we’ve carried for millennia, to the knee jerk, emotional, button pushing reactionary hurts. Deer and don Miguel’s 3 step process of love shows us how eventually, these wounds (layer by layer) can disappear (or not have the same grip on our self-worth, work and vision). We become better able to face our ‘trials and tribulations’, from bleeding its poison (belief’s) into our well-being that can lead to various dis-eases.

These believes come as reactionary emotional hurts to our psyche, taking over as high-jackers of our wits. Producing feelings of resentment, anger, guilt, shame, doubt, despair, distrust, fear. However FEAR is the bottom line, triggered from all unskillful beliefs and judgments (be they conscious or subconscious).

A Few Examples of Beliefs We Face in our Healing / Work:
1) Events or Social Impacts:
a. state licensure
b. one size fits all protocols
c. FDA
e. institutional policies
f. sickness
e. death

2) Someone or Something:
a. industry / trade organizations
b. accountability
c. liability
d. cancelled client appointments
e. irritating personalities
f. aggressive personalities or passive-aggressive personalities

3) Self-Inflicted:
a. waking up on the wrong side of the bed
b. self-criticism
c. continually allowing our boundaries to be leaky
d. “living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see”
quote by John Lennon

By applying the following to one or more of the above to your own circumstances, along with Deer’s gentle loving kindness and don Miguels 3 steps to love, our daily challenges, needs, wants, thoughts, feelings and actions suddenly become a whole lot less controlling over our lives. Its because our authentic selves makes itself known. We become clearer as to who and what we really are and want. We begin to be 100% ourselves, 100% authentic, 100% of the time. Well, at least as close as possible to 100% of the time. The world transforms before our eyes. We’re empowered rather than over powered. Better able to maneuver our core truths in a complex world which tries to keep us asleep. In fear. Under control.


The Basic Three Steps:
use Truth, Forgiveness and Love (by don Miguel Ruiz in The Mastery of Love)

1) We start by telling the truth
Fawn had one awareness. And that was in the truth of Great Spirits (along with her own as there is no separation) connection to all beings. Therefore she was not frightened when she came upon the demon. She derived power from Great Spirits connection in truth. We all have this innate connection with Divine Oneness. And as Eric Ericksons Stages of Development depicts, trust is the very first stage we enter this life with as infants. Unfortunately, most of us in this very vulnerable first stage of development, discover distrust instead. Basically - fear.

How can we apply Deer gentle loving kindness principles for ourselves?
To do this we first must get past the wall. This wall is the programming we’ve been and still are being bombarded with. Those lies and judgments we believe to be true. These lies and judgments hold back from fully finding our inner most truths.

So we start with soul searching questions. Getting in a quiet place in order to hear ourselves reply. And, writing the answers down to review later on, and we ask…what belief systems limit me? What judgments do I still hold? What do I know to be true about me? Do I love myself unconditionally? Do I trust myself? What do I feel guilty about? Do I accept myself? (see resources: Telos Vol. 3; Feeding Your Demons, Biology of Belief; Mastery of Love, Heal Your Body).

Don Miguel Ruiz in Mastery of Love challenges us to look at our struggles as though they are a wound (such as our demons, emotional garbage, emotional hi-jackings). The first think he says we do when we approach a festering wound is to open it to see what’s going on. Truth telling is the way we open up to our inner most resistances and fears.

We open the wound with truth:
We do this by asking ourselves the above and other challenging questions. When we do this, the questioning, then the listening, writing and re-questioning …we come face to face with our inner most truths. We begin to understand what walls are keeping us in distrust and fear. And we begin to get past the very source of our distraction and resistances.

This then brings us to the next step, we got to clean out the wound. What do we do that with? ...forgiveness.

2) What comes next is forgiveness
Fawn was unable to see the ugliness and fear provoking ways of the demon before her eyes. Why is that? Why did she not see this fear provoking being?

How can we re-create this same guiding force of Deers gentle loving kindness in us and apply this for ourselves? By searching the garbage inside us. Those which cause our buttons to be pushed and our old wounds to bleed. Those that still thrive in the depths of our being. That we often default to in times when our boundaries are leaky, when we give our power away, when we play small.

We clean out wound with forgiveness
This second part of our ‘wound care’ as don Miguel challenges, is to take action by cleaning out the wounds debris [the subconscious and conscious garbage, the emotional baggage] with forgiveness [self-forgiveness]. And with forgiveness we can begin to clear out those past hurts, layer by layer. We learn to accept ourselves for all we’ve done or perceived we have done or how we had harshly judged ourselves or another. This second step is a most powerful step. By listening to our answers and accepting them through forgiveness, we suddenly find the demon has no hook on us. There’s no big evil machine causing us to hurt. To worry. To feel anger. To feel separated. The demon was only a segment of our belief system. A result of all our years of programmings and judgments.

Now, the next thing we do after cleaning out the would, we now need to help get that wound to heal and close up. We do this with love and compassion.


3) We right things around with love and compassion
Fawns eyes were filled with love and compassion for this demon. And so no matter how they tried, they were unable to scare Fawn. Her love penetrated the demons heart. No longer does anyone have to feel ‘fears’ blocking their way to truth.


This heals the wound with the medicine of Love and Compassion
Love and compassion heals all things, is the catalyst and accelerator of the medicine needed for wound healing, and which is the same for every being we encounter. Inside us or outside of us. In our heart of all hearts. Love and compassion holds the key. Love and compassion is the language of Oneness. Of seeing Great Spirit in all beings and all things. All things.

The above is a life long arduous process of releasing our ego mind (demon) albeit in layers. Forever. As long as we are here on this planetary plane. Yet, we will always require this ego mind to be here with us until we’re done here. It helps us get around in our daily life. Like knowing when to cross the street, eat dinner, cross your ‘T’s’ and dot your ‘I’s’. And that ego mind can also be our barometer too. That is, it can be our ally and assist us to recognizing when ones deep dark defaults rear its ugly head. This can actually guide you rather than take you down the rabbit hole. Once you know and practice these things, you most often now have a choice if you want to go down that rabbit hole or not. That ego mind, if used correctly, can open up our awareness to our deep divine truth of love, compassion, and gratitude for ourselves. And then, others.

Basically this is like a re-alignment to the unified presence where truth informs our thoughts, … thought informs our emotions, … emotions informs our actions. Since action speaks louder than words, truth is exists or does not. As we fully employ this, right before our eyes we are transformed and fully empowered unified human being.

Remember: how ever we view ourselves, this is how we view the world.
It percolates from within us into our presenting personality.

Helpful hints when applying these 3 steps of don Miguel Ruiz and Deer Medicine vision:
The inherent frequency of the heart (oneness) is trust, gratitude, receptivity, wonder, acceptance, passion, openness, connection, inter-dependence, joy, integrity – these frequencies align with truth. Allow this to percolate through your personality.

The inherent role of mind (ego) is to learn, store knowledge, analyze, intellectualize, quantify, qualify... However, we get stuck in the minds sticky egoic patterns of control, dictatorship, separation, independence, distortions; its demands, restrictions, and genetically speaking, it’s pre-disposed patterns to believe in fears (demons, beliefs, and defaults). These are programmed patterns for our survival, which is not needed in all daily activities now.

So, as you work with this, say out loud:
- hello Marguerite, I’m glad you are witnessing the world
- my mind is in service to my heart
- my heart guide’s me to rediscover the language heart consciousness

Resources / Further Reading:
Blackfoot Physics by F. David Peat
The Nature of Consciousness by Rupert Spira
The Living Energy Universe by Gary E.R. Schwartz, Ph.D &
       Linda G.S. Russek, Ph.D.
Erik Erickson’s Stages of Psycho-Social Development
Animal Medicine Cards – Jamie Sams & David Carson
Animals Speak by Ted Andrews
Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm by Stephen Harrod Buhner
Feeding Your Demons by Tsultrim Allione
The Mastery of Love by don Miguel Ruiz
The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz
Children of the Sun Foundation
Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss, MD
A Course in Miracles as channeled by Helen Schuman
Heal Your Body by Louise L. Hay
Telos, Volume 3, Protocols of the Fifth Dimension by Aurelia Louise Jones
The Seven Sacred Flames by Aurrelia Louise Jones

My Sentiments About Ticks and Abundance of Other “Invasives”

On the Tick issue that is back in our face this gift giving season.

What to do?

I'm in awe with Ticks stealth aptitude of invasion. It so mimics our very own in what we humans have done to our living landscape. What we see happening now with this new Tick scare should scare us on how it litteraly parallels our very own actions to home. Earth.

This may sound strange for some of you, but here we go. We humans are invaders too, to this planet in as much the same way as we are seeing Ticks have on our environment. In as an expansive way as even other invasives.

And we villianize them.

Stop for a moment this holiday season of love and forgiveness and look at what we too have done (collectively). Especially at the following landscapes we've over powered with our vision of abundance: consider our environmental, social, political, capitalistic impacts....seems to me, there's little difference between us and Ticks (invasives).

I think, this massive invasion of Ticks (and other invasives) parallels our own and this is Nature’s way of taking Earth back. Of saving herself and her grandmother.

Google:
Gaia Theory by James Lovelock.
Symbiotic Planet by Lynn Margulis.
Symbiotic Earth by John Feldman.
The works of James MacAllister.

There's volumes of evidence that Earth is a closed symbiotic mutual working system where all is inter-related and inter-connected to all.

What goes around, comes around.

Been saying that a long time.

That's what I meant years ago in my first liberating plant walks.

Hard to grasp back then, I know, it was....but its true and can be seen as evidence now.

What goes around comes around.

And my heart asks for forgiveness….

New - Asian Tick in New York

**PRESS RELEASE

Hudson Valley Legislators' Bill to Address New Tick Threat Signed Into Law Albany, NY.

Legislation (S4876/A8098) sponsored by Assemblywoman Didi Barrett (AD-106) and Senate Agriculture Chair Jen Metzger (SD-42) to protect New York’s livestock industry from the Asian longhorned tick was signed into law by the Governor on Tuesday. The new law directs the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner to include the Asian longhorned tick on the State’s invasive species list and on the DEC’s comprehensive plan for invasive species management, and also directs the Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets to develop and distribute to farmers an informational pamphlet on Asian longhorned tick treatment, management, and prevention.“Due to the significant risks that the Asian longhorned tick may have for New York’s livestock industry, farmers must be made aware of the potential dangers of these invasive pests and armed with information on how to best protect their livestock,” said Senator Metzger, who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee. “These ticks flourish in humid, woodland areas, and as our climate continues to warm, their geographic reach will continue to expand across the Eastern Seaboard, and protecting farm animals and outdoor pets is an immediate priority.”

The East Asian longhorned tick—first reported in the United States in 2017—is the first new invasive tick species to enter the United States in 50 years, and is currently found in seven states including in parts of New York. The Hudson Valley and Catskills regions that Metzger represents have the highest incidence of Lyme disease in the state.

As of August 2019, there were no reported instances of the Asian longhorned tick being harmful to humans, but the invasive arachnid can transmit diseases to livestock such as sheep, cattle, and horses, and has also been found on people, pets, and wildlife. In Asia, the species carries a virus that kills 15 percent of victims through hemorrhaging, organ failure, and blood loss. Female ticks can reproduce without mating, laying thousands of eggs after a single feed, in turn covering animals with the external parasites.

Metzger and Barrett’s legislation will also compel public awareness of active ingredients approved by the EPA and DEC, as well as natural remedies and land care practices that are most effective in tick prevention to better protect livestock, people, and pets from exposure.
Earlier this year, Senator Metzger helped secure $250,000 in state funding to address Lyme Disease and other tick-borne illnesses and introduced a bill, passed unanimously by the State Senate, directing the Department of Agriculture and Markets to conduct a public awareness campaign focused on the farming community, with an emphasis on helping farmers and farm workers take preventative measures, recognize symptoms, and determine available treatments.
Jen Metzger represents the 42nd Senate District, which includes all of Sullivan County and parts of Delaware, Orange, and Ulster Counties. Senator Metzger serves as Chair of the Agriculture Committee and sits on the Environmental Conservation, Education, Health, Energy and Telecommunications, Local Government, Women’s Issues, Domestic Animal Welfare, and Legislative Commission on Rural Resources Committees. 

###Lacey Seidman
Communications Director
New York State Senator Jen Metzger
seidman@nysenate.gov

Creating Flower Essences

Over view of important points to use to start recognizing about ourselves when making and using flower essences.

We …

1. embrace our ancient blue print

2. tap into our indigenous selves

3. read the landscape

4. once we understand, how to get out of our own way in how we default to the old brainwashing of early childhood, we’ll fully be embracing flower essences to their highest capacity,

One flower I like to start with to prepare flower essences, and at the same time helps us get around our defaulting perceptions is Heal-All [Prunella vulgaris, a mint family plant] also known as Self-Heal, who grows low and gentle or tall and wise in northern climate regions. But first, lets get to the basics.

What are Flower Essences?

Flower essences are infusions of flowers (just one or to a few) in water, that are potentized (made stronger) and then stabilized (in a solution of brandy and water). They the electrical - vibrational imprint of that particular flower which is then transferred and linked to each water molecule. They have no scent so should not be confused with essential oils. Flower essences are extremely dilute preparations of plants and thus are in no way like an herbal tincture / extract.

Herbal tinctures / extracts are concentrated forms (not as concentrated as essential oils though) of different plant parts and are commonly used to treat physical body symptoms. In fact, many of our modern medicines are synthetic versions of the extracts from plants.

Flower essences, on the other hand, while they may also stimulate physical healing, are used mainly to promote awareness of emotional, mental and spiritual imbalances.

In contrast with essential oils and herbal tinctures, we do not harvest or disturb the plant when making a flower essence. In most cases we use only a few wild flowers to prepare the infusion. It is stabilized with brandy and subsequently diluted to so that only minute traces of the chemical components from the original flowers remain, making then completely safe for use.

What are Flower Essences Used For?  

Flower essences can help us recognize, resolve, or release different conditioned ways of perceiving the world and can help us experience greater well-being and harmony in our lives. By creating harmony within us, we often notice distinct changes in ourselves physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Flower essences are very effective in helping us to recognize and rid ourselves of limiting or destructive patterns of behavior. The essences support us in extending our consciousness beyond its present state. They provide a language that helps us to understand our emotions and inner soul urgings.

What happens when I use flower essences?

As we use a flower essence, we begin to resonate in harmony with the qualities of the flower, and limitations and disharmonies begin to change. It is not necessary to believe in them to experience their benefic effects. They’ve been used successfully not only with adults and children, but also with animals and plants.
Flower essences do not overwhelm or force something to happen. They do, however, help us become conscious of things that are already happening with ourselves. As a result, sometimes we may have an awarenesses with which we are uncomfortable.

The essences effect a shift in consciousness, and each person may experience the effects differently. To recognize how they are working, it is necessary to observe our inner state. The more attuned we are to our inner life, the easier it is to recognize the flower essence’s effects.

A balance between self-contemplation and feedback from trusted family members and friends is helpful to show us the changes that happened. Writing in a journal about our experiences can create clarity about the essences’ effects.

If you like, you can see a professional flower essence counselor for additional help. It is very beneficial, when dealing with intense emotional processing, to seek help from an experienced practitioner. Working with a professional can help clarify processes and provide support for peeling off the layers of worldly cares that usually accompany healing processes.

How are flower essences used?

Flower essences can be used in a number of ways. The most common way is to take them orally, four drops, four times a day. Our experience shows that it is not necessary to take them internally. They can also be used by adding five to seven drops in a plant sprayer bottle and misting a room or our bodies. You can also add a few drops to the bath, spray clothes before ironing them, or spray your pillow before sleeping. What is important to remember is that they are a vibrational essence, and surrounding yourself with them, inside or outside, is the best way to experience their effects.

How long do I need to take a flower essence?

We have found that there is usually a definite cycle period in taking a flower essence. A normal cycle is usually two to four weeks. Some folks may need to take an essence for a shorter period while others may need to use an essence for several months. If you want to increase their effects, use them more often rather than more drops each time. Persons usually like to take them more frequently at first, then find themselves tapering off as they near the end of the cycle. At the end of a cycle, they may forget to take them altogether, and this is normal.

Can I use flower essences together with other healing modalities?

Flower essences can be used on their own or in conjunction with other therapies to enhance a healing process. They have been used with great success by flower essence practitioners, naturopathic doctors, massage therapists, psychologists, medical doctors, veterinarians, and other health care practitioners. The essences can be an extremely effective tool in the hands of an experienced practitioner to enhance awareness, facilitate healing and create harmony. While it is helpful to have the assistance and insight of someone of wide experience while using them, the essences can also be a great personal support for those inspired to follow their own instincts in essence selection. Since flower essences are safe and have no negative side effects, they can be used with confidence by beginners and experienced users alike. They are an excellent aid for those desiring to take responsibility for their own well-being.

What can I do if I am sensitive to alcohol?

Adding a preservative is essential to keep flower essences pure and sterile. Brandy being the most reliable and palatable. Use a few drops of the essence in a glass of water if you are sensitive to alcohol or simply rub a few drops onto your skin or a sprayer bottle filled with water and mist yourself or surroundings.

How do I choose which flower essences to use?

Flower essences can be selected in a number of ways. Usually, a flower essence practitioner uses one or a combination of the following methods to select flower essences: detailed interview with the client, intuitive impression of the client’s concerns, muscle testing, dowsing with a pendulum, a cross-reference of the flower essences, or other methods. Since flower essences do not have negative side effects, it is completely safe to select the essences yourself. If you use an essence that you don’t need, nothing will happen. When reading about the flower essences we often recognize our attitudes in the descriptions of many of the flowers.

To select flower essences: ask What issues are most important to you?

Just 2 or 3 things that you would like to change or issues with which you want resolution. Next, ask yourself: What are my underlying issues? What is at the root or core of this situation? I like to use Louise Hayes workbook, Annie McIntyre, Green Hope Farm or David Daltons books to help me along with this. Or a combination of the two. Holding questions in your awareness and scan a list of essences to see who sticks out for you. You can use essences together, separate or you may choose to use just one at a time.

How many flower essences can I use at the same time?

If you want to select essences for yourself, it is advisable to focus on using just a few at a time. While there are no hard-fast rules to preclude your using more essences, you might want to limit the number of essences you use together to no more than four or five.

EMOTIONALLY & ENERGETICALLY PREPARING FOR ESSENCE MAKING

There are a variety of ways to prepare to make your own flower essences. Experiment to find your own way or adopt someone else’s for the time being. I suggest coming to the series of “Developing Cognitive Agility with our Plant & Tree Allies Series” workshops to tap into the language that lays quietly in our bellies and start remembering to listening to the voice of Nature.

DOCTRINE OF SIGNATURES

When we work with flower essences, and we are outdoors searching for a flower, (if the plant has not already called us to them first) we work with the Doctrine of Signatures, which says a plant is for us if …

• a plant looks like a form, shape, color, texture, scent, taste that is part of our issue

• how they respond to you (Plant Neuro Biology)

• if they grow near you

• who they grow with

• what their environment is like

• how they grow / blossom into

• do they grow close to your home or far away

• have they suddenly arrived in your garden and particularly where in your garden

• if they’re mushrooms, do they grow on a tree, the ground, on another mushroom

• what are their shape and color of and size of their spores?
  
  And much much more.

1.  Preparing a Mother Essence

Sit with the plant to get an imprint as to its purpose for you. When you know, go out in the early morning hours, or early evening on a Full Moon (affecting change and bringing to fruition) or early evening on a New Moon (holding space for considering a situation or thinking), harvest one flower and let it fall untouched by anything into clean (unchlorinated / unflourinated) water into a cut glass bowl and set it out in the sun or moon ligth for at least 4 hours to 6 hrs.

Next, get a 1 oz Boston Round Brown bottle with a dropper stopper. Fill half way with the Mother Essence (not the flower though, compost the flower next to the plant), then fill the remaining of the bottle with Brandy (shelf-life is 10 years) or Apple Cider Vinegar (shelf-life is 1 year), place dropper on bottle and shake well hitting the palm of your hand or better yet, a layered towel on a table top, 100 to 200 times hard. This helps break the Hydrogen bonds in water to accept the electric potential from the plants flower.

You’ve now energized the mother bottle which makes many many many bottles of stock essences. Keep in a dark place out of heat or sunlight or room light and don’t lay it down because it can take on the flavor of the rubber dropper.

2.  Preparing - Stock Bottle

Get a 1 oz Boston Round Brown bottle with a dropper stopper. Fill bottle half with Brandy or Apple Cider Vinegar, half with distilled water, and then 4 to 7 drops of the Mother Flower Essence. Shake this one too the same way by hitting the palm of your hand or a toweled tabletop 100 to 200 times. You’ve now developed this bottle and is ready for use for making the Dosage bottle. Keep this too in a dark place without light or heat. This too lasts for 10 years.

The dosage: you can use this bottle as a dosage bottle but it won’t be as potent and may work more slowly; 1 to 6 drops in water, juice, tea, or on the skin, on ones chakra points, on your feet or palms, in face creams if you make them, in a spray bottle, etc.

3.  Preparing - Dose Bottle

Get a ½ oz Boston Round Brown bottle and fill with pure spring water and 2 to 4 drops of the Stock Flower Essence bottle. Shake this one too the same way by hitting the palm of your hand 100 to 200 times. You’ve now developed this dosage bottle and is ready for everyday use. Use 1 to 4 drops, 3 x a day, but … remember, it expires after 30 days. This bottle is a little more potent and faster acting. Less is more in the flower essence realm as is homeopathy. Add to water, juice, tea, or on the skin, on one’s Chakra points, on your feet or palms, in face creams if you make them, in a spray bottle, etc. Use up by 20 to 30 days, otherwise recycle and make more.

RESOURCES FOR MORE ON ESSENCES:

• Green Hope Farm Flower Essences Guide – green.hope.farm@valley.net

• Perelandra Essences Guide – www.perelandra-ltd.com

• The Language of Plants – Julia Graves

• Stars of the Meadow, Medicinal Herbs as Flower Essences – David Dalton

• Flower Power by Anne McIntyre

The Blind Spot .... that the Root Cellar Transformed

Where's our herbal allies?

Where's the weeds?

Where's all the pretty flowers that are about to bloom this spring… that I usually post about?

The enchanting song birds?

Visiting Deer?

Adorable Chipmonks?

Blossoming trees?

They’re in between all the microbes to celestial stars, they are.

They’re in between the droughts, fires, food shortages to global changes, they are.

They’re in between all this and the species about to go extinct.

The arrival of The Root Cellar, in many ways, has shifted my perspectives. Very unexpectedly. First of all, I did not name it. One of us at Plant Pioneers did. Kim Kirby Salisbury woke up one morning down at her Floridian home and heard or dreamed those words for this place. Since that naming, over time, the sense of this below ground place has had an alchemical feel where future can be intermingled and considered together.

There's a different set of species [microbes] down here brewing, arising and mingling some of their original intelligence that I and others who visit have been showered with. This brewing, arising and mingling of our voices have now been happening … for a few months … by proxy. It just happened. Since tending to this below ground place, at least I can say for myself that I am seeing another set of things. The dark side. Not talking about good bad here. No no no. Just the whole of things.

So what is right here, for me anyway, is that I'm not in denial. Don’t want to be. Never did. That dark that I see that is in me, is in all of us too. Seeing the fears it provokes and staying with it is all I can do right now until it transforms and directs us to the next steps.

You see the Root Cellar has no windows. Some say when they come here to visit ... "ugh, I can't stand this, there's no windows, I need the light, it doesn't feel good down here, how long do we need to be here, can we go outside, this darkness is too depressing, I need to get to the light." And that’s fine. For myself, basking only in the light can do many wonderful things and not so many wonderful things too. The crux of it all? I’ll get quite a burn not accepting some shade.

Being below this ground has been good for me. I hope it can be for you. Being in the Root Cellar, below this ground we tend has shown me to stop leaning only on the beliefs that 'we're all going to be alright'. In many ways this addresses the denial that I've been in. However do understand, I deeply believe we are going to be alright - with or without this body of ours - I do know that at my very core. What I'm saying here is that I'm finally fully, whole heartedly accepting my complicit blind spot in the dilemma that we are all in. As I live my day, eat, drink, be merry, write here, food shop, spend money, be entertained, sleep in a warm soft cushy bed, be with great friends and community, ... I feel the sadness that is in the air. There are species struggling all around because of what I’ve done or didn’t do. And I’m done with that. I want you to know that.

Thus with honor in the sacred I keep my eyes wide open. In gratitude too, that you are here and respond to these words. And in appreciation, that I / we begin to see our denial, our blind spot not a punishment but a rather as a realization that always considers Nature first, before ourselves.

So I get started. And not through donating to organizations or writing too many ridiculous words … but rather of me giving to community that will support each other.

Will you do that with me?

I am going to do my darndest until my last days here,

Love and Blessings to a bunch of ugly beauties…

Marguerite

Spiders, Space Weather and Ballooning

Article by http://spaceweather.com/

Did you know that spiders can fly? New research shows that arachnids can launch themselves into the air using electric fields as a form of propulsion. These fields, which occur naturally in Earth's atmosphere, are linked to cosmic rays and solar activity. This raises the interesting possibility that spider flight and migrations may be controlled, to some degree, by space weather

Biologists call it "ballooning." Spiders spin a strand of silk, it juts into the air, and off they go. Airborne arachnids have been found as high as 4 km off the ground. Originally, researchers thought spiders were riding currents of air, but there's a problem with that idea. Spiders often take flight when the air is calm, and large spiders fly even when air currents are insufficient to support their weight. It's a mystery.

Scientists from the University of Bristol may have found the solution. In a paper published in the July 5th edition of Current Biology, they proved that spiders can propel themselves using electric fields.

"We exposed adult Linyphiid spiders (Erigone) to electric fields similar to those which naturally occur in Earth's atmosphere," explains the paper's lead author, Erica Morley. "Spiders showed a significant increase in ballooning in the presence of electric fields." A remarkable video of their experiment shows one spider flying when the fields were switched on, then sinking when the fields were off again.

The electric fields spiders use for propulsion are part of Earth's global atmospheric electric circuit (GEC)–a planet-sized circuit of electricity that researchers have known about since the 1920s. In a nutshell, thunderstorms help build up a charge difference between the ground and the ionosphere 50 km overhead. The voltage drop is a staggering 250,000 volts. This sets up electric fields linking Earth to the edge of space. Cosmic rays ionize Earth's atmosphere, turning it into a weak conductor that allows currents to flow through the GEC.

Spiders evolved inside the global electric circuit, so it's no surprise that they have learned to tap into it. But how? Peter W. Gorham of the Dept. of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Hawaii notes that "the complex protein structure of spider silk includes charge-bearing amino acids glutamic acid and arginine, which might be generated in a charged state as part of the spinning process."

Researchers have long wondered about the role of electricity in spider flight. Charles Darwin may have been the first. He wrote about it during his voyages on the HMS Beagle (1831-1836). One day, the ship was 60 miles off the coast of Argentina when the deck was inundated by ballooning spiders.

"The day was hot and apparently quite calm," Darwin wrote. Yet "I repeatedly observed the same kind of small spider, either when placed or having crawled on some little eminence, elevate its abdomen, send forth a thread, and then sail away horizontally, but with a rapidity which was quite unaccountable."

He was particularly struck by spiders using multiple strands of silk that splayed out in fan-like shapes. Instead of tangling as they moved through the air, the strands remained separate. Were they repelled by an electrostatic force? Darwin wondered in his writings. The work of Erica Morley and her collaborator Daniel Robert closes the loop on a train of thought almost 200 years old.

All of this raises the possibility that spiders may be affected by space weather as electric fields are perturbed by cosmic rays and solar activity. Research groups have demonstrated connections between space weather and atmospheric electricity on a variety of time scales:

• Days: Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the sun can sweep aside cosmic rays as they pass by Earth, causing temporary reductions in atmospheric ionization as large as 30%. Our own Spaceweather.com/Earth to Sky cosmic ray balloons have measured these events. [ref]

• Months: Measurements at the Reading University Atmospheric Observatory in the UK have shown that voltages can fluctuate +-15% as Earth dips in and out of the heliospheric current sheet (a huge corrugated magnetic structure centered on the sun) every ~27 days. [ref]

• Years: During the 20th century, fair weather atmospheric voltages at sites in Scotland and the UK decreased by factors of ~25% due to a long-term decrease in cosmic rays. [ref] That slow trend is now reversing itself as cosmic rays intensify again.

Could the migration patterns of ballooning spiders be affected by space weather? "It's entirely possible, but we simply don't yet know," says Morley. "The experiments we have carried out are mostly lab-based, which helps eliminate confounding variables. A next step in the project is to take this all into the field and look for patterns. Factoring in solar activity could be very interesting."

Marguerite’s Dandelion Flower Wine

[Please consider giving a donation by contacting Marguerite via 3moonsisters@gmail.com - thank you & in much appreciation]

Ingredients:

• 12 Cups Dandelion Blossoms

• 12 oz Golden Raisins (optional)

• 6 Cups of Organic White Sugar

• 1/4 Cup Warm Water for mixing with Dry Yeast

• 24 Cups of Water

• 4 Lemons, Juiced (optional)

• Zest of 1 to 2 of those above Lemons (optional)

• 1 Tablespoon of Baking Yeast

Utensils:

• Clean container to collect flowers.

• 4 – 1 Qt. Canning Jars or Gallon Wine Jugs with Air Loc’s or a Balloon

• Clean and sterilize the canning jars and or Wine Jugs

Preparation

1. Harvest 12 cups of Blossoms, from an area that has not been sprayed with herbicides or other toxic chemicals.
   Before and as you are harvesting, look at the plants and leave enough blossoms for pollinating insects.
   Choose flowers that are fully developed but no browning or starting to close up to go to seed.
   As you collect the flowers, also try to avoid facing your bowl directly in to the suns direction, this will
   cause your flowers to start to wilt.

2. Shake around the flowers from time to time to allow insects that are still in flowers to leave.
   Its not that they are bad for the wine so much so that they won’t be boiled and killed.
   Visualize an intention so that they can see the flowers will be going into boiling water soon. This is helpful.

3. Next, quickly rinse flowers with water. Do not let them sit in the water at all.

4. Place flowers off to the side.

5. Bring a pot of water to a boil, then pour over flowers in a large enough container or pour flower into the boiling water pot. Either way, allow this to sit for 2 – 3 hours or as long as 8 hrs.
   Strain. Squeeze or press flowers to remove any remaining liquid.

6. Next: bring the strained Dandelion Flower infusion to a boil, reduce to a low simmer; add the lemon juice and sugar. Stir till dissolved. And add to this, the lemon zest and chopped raisins.
   Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

7. When liquid is at body temperature to room temp, stir in white wine yeast (or baking yeast).

8. Cover with cheese cloth and a rubber band to ensure no critters jump in to be part of the brew, which can ruin its taste and cause unwanted bacteria. The cheese cloth is also there to allow the mixture to breathe; do not occlude this batch with an impermeable solid lid, the container will explode in short order. Leave this off to the side of your counter, undisturbed at room temperature for 7 to  10 days or until bubbling stops. Do stir this mix a couple times each day. At end of 7 to 10 days, strain out raisins and lemons.

9. Pour strained liquid into cleaned and sanitized quart mason jars or gallon wine jugs with a one way air loc you can use a balloon over the top of the jug and put a pinprick in it. This pinprick allows the fermentation gasses to escape during active fermentation, but the balloon still keeps unwanted bacteria out. If you choose the quart Ball mason jar method as I had used for 10 yrs, do not tighten the lid completely. This will allow gases to escape.
   Store in a cool, dark location [basement].

10. After 1 month or so carefully pour the liquid into another sanitized jug (or mason jars) leaving by products of the past fermentation / sediment at the bottom of the jug. [I like to use this – diluted in water – to feed my house and garden plants, they like it].
    Again, store this in a cool and dark location.
    Note: I’ve recently heard and so am going to try this that helps further the secondary fermentation: that is there is more than a couple inches between the top of the wine and the rim of the wine bottle, top this off with a syrup of equal parts sugar and water. Again, cover either with a one way air loc or a pin pricked balloon. If there is no longer any fermentation, the balloon will deflate and you can put on a regular cap.

11. When the wine clears &/or every 1 to 3 months [remove the sediment again] carefully pour wine into another cleaned jug, leaving sediment behind. 

12. Continue this type of siphoning off for another few months or until most or no sediment is forming, then, one can funnel off into sanitized wine bottles, cork it or into sanitized Ball canning jars with tight fitting lid on and store in a laying down position if it’s a wine bottle or standing position if it’s a canning jar for at least another 6 months if not a year or two.
    My favorite is a 3 yr old wine.

The result will be sweet, mellow wine that is a pale yellow in color.

So, ….You Want to Wild Harvest…

AS YOU EXPLORE NATURE FROM THIS DAY ON:
When you step outside for a stroll or go for a woodland walk or forage, try out a ‘free range’ experience in 100% Human-Plant relationship.

Stop, pause, listen, feel (open all your senses). Do this with semi-closed eyes or with a blank stair. Be in a mindless sort of way. Put aside the cerebral and bring in a heartfelt primal. Drop your thoughts to the beat of your heart and the rhythm of your breath. Breathe in. Allow the air, wind, sun, sky, rain, scents and  sounds to permeate and inform you and guide you into ‘just being’. What gifts does Nature before you, have for you on this day? At the same moments, release and recognize at the same time that you’re here not for the taking, … not for ‘there’s something here for free’…. you’re here because you know this is an act of both sacrifice and generosity, all at the same time. You recognize, … you sense that some where in your bones, there’s a call from a deep rooted memory, of an intimate past of reciprocity with all that is.

That’s my experience any way. I hope it can be yours. Well, I know it can be.

In this place, that is, the Nature that surrounds us, that Nature has opened up a gentle wildness in me of being home. And I feel home, all the time in that place. There, I’m instinctually fed on the emotional, elemental and spiritual – the God-Effect is clear - I’m revitalized, calmed yet invigorated. Feet planted. Mind clear. If and when you go out to harvest, do so with a 100% human-plant relationship in mind. Always ask first and always give thanks. Do inquire prior to leaving home too. What I mean by that is, ask if this day is the right day to go and forage. If a sense in your body-knowing tells you differently, then maybe just go out to browse and enjoy a one on one with a particular plant or bird or tree.

But also, be open to the reverse! Where if in you’re busy full day you suddenly get a sense that you need to be outside, or, its time to harvest a food or herbal … be open to this call and act on it. You’re being called upon.

As importantly, if you’re new to this, please do take a knowledgeable person to go with you who understands about the asking, who understands about the identification, who understands about how to listen, until you acquire the skills of inquiry and reception on your own. For instance, if you do go it alone and come to a plant that is new to you or if you are unsure of who the plant is, take note and leave the plant there. Learn more about the plant and the plants surrounding details. Read and research from numerous sources and friends. After some time, maybe even a few years, you may be ready to harvest, or, … maybe not. Perhaps the plant is endangered. Perhaps the plant could become endangered. Maybe even the plant is a poisonous one. Or … goodness gracious me, maybe, you’re still getting a “no” from the plant that you’re still not supposed to harvest this plant at all – just because. And so, you leave it be. Ah yes, this is a100% human-plant relationship.

WE KNOW THAT:
- wild foods are an enjoyable act of original giving and receiving behaviors
- eating wild foods is a timeless practice in reciprocity
- eating wild foods is currently being desired by many to know again (original
   wisdom)
- wild food is a gift from the-Nature-that-surrounds-us, take it seriously,
  our life depends on it.
- and always ask, every day-what have I done today to return to Earth, what
  Earth has provided for us

A HIKE’S FRAMEWORK
Honor this land and all (plants, trees, shrubs, fungi, ferns, lichen, moss, people).
Stay on the trail, pick up any garbage you may see, listen to Nature sounds, to your sounds that bounce off your breath, your senses, how your skin feels among  the outdoors. Help each other on this walk. Look out for each other. Look out for other species. Refrain from just mindlessly picking a leaf just to have a closer look. Leave the leaf on the plants body. Do hold a branch so that it does not bounce back into someone’s face and do hold on to that branch so as to not break or injure. I’ve seen young people kick trees … have honor and respect for both tree and our children. Stop, sit and listen with the child to connect to tree medicine wisdom. Getting still, the child will hear. And, do step gently and consciously as there are numerous beings below our feet.

SPRING TIME WEED WALK STANDARD
Whether today is your first time in a season enjoying a wild foragable or not, please refrain from eating more than one or two edibles. This is for the possibility of having an allergic reaction to the plant at hand. This way, you’ll be able to determine who contained the offending allergen. Also, many wild edibles have more nutrients than store bought fresh veggies and especially so during early spring. These plants are much more nutritionally dense and potent than the rest of the year. So less is more, almost always, in the realm of wild foods.

How much does one eat? Depends. Ask yourself these questions.
Is the plant an endangered plant? - Yes? Avoid.
Does the plant grow in abundance? - No? Eat little or none.
Can the plant become endangered? - Yes? Avoid.
Are there a lot of people attracted to harvesting this plant? - You can determine by what others are saying and what you’re reading in the media. - Yes? Eat little.
Is the plant being over harvested? - Yes? Avoid.
Are there only a few plants in the area you’re harvesting from? - Yes? Avoid.
Are they an ephemeral [delicate plants that grow for a very short time in one  season]? - Yes? Sample one and leave the rest there.
Do they agree with your stomach? Yes? Eat a small amount anyway.
Do they live close to or far from your home? This almost always means we should consider the natural elements rule: consume more of the plant if close by your home; less of the plant if far from your home.

What season do they offer their best nutrition?
What parts are edible? If only the roots, there’s a greater chance of humans impacting this plant from becoming endangered.

Once answering the above questions, I have always applied these two questions – again … just in case. (It’s a nursing thing. We ask safety questions again and again before giving a medication. So I apply similar rules to my practice before foraging.)

1) is the plant endangered? – check UpS plants list - www.unitedplantsavers.org
2) does the plant before you grow in abundance / invasive?

AND SO I ASK AGAIN - HOW MUCH TO HARVEST?
When it comes to our delicate or small plants such as Spring Beauty or Wild (Leeks) Ramps, that is, those who are here for just a short time such as ephemerals; or those that grow slowly such as Ginseng or Lichen’s (please note: most Lichen’s are NOT edible, plus they need so much time to grow; they grow only a few centimeters a year. Thus, please don’t use them for decorations). Or use plants that are known to be endangered such as Red Trillium or Goldenseal. These plant populations are so easily devastated. Thus please …
Be impeccable.
Choose wisely.
Ask gently.
Listen truly.
Receive clearly.
Do what is asked of you. You can’t tell? Wait then, and inquire later until you can. Practice makes perfect.

So … just how much does one eat of wild edible plants?
1) choose non endangered, non ephemerals and of course, non poisonous.
2) choose only those who grow abundantly.

Then the only other points to ask are - how does my belly feel after eating this leaf, stem, berry, root, bark or seed? Do I feel good afterwards? And is it okay to have if I’m on medicine’s? And that's another story.

Love and Blessings …

Spider Women

SPIDER WOMEN

It’s those quiet moments in the garden, when there’s no other human but just you and the outside world, where our greatest gifts and shifts occur.

Spring time for me is that special time of the year when I so look forward to just touching the sweet scented cold soil, swirling it around with the tips of my cold fingers … just because.

It’s simply too early to plant. Too early to uncover the beds, but just being there with all the early spring scents to just relish in our dynamic relationship with all garden beings. One never knows what experience lays ahead.

Well, this one happened to me some years ago when I was doing my usual early spring garden stroll through the shaded protected beds, taking notice of who might be sending up its first spring shoots so that I could be the first to say hello.

Sitting down on the stone wall that my friend Yemana and I built, to get a closer look at the wild ginger patch and you know, to just touch and swirl the soil around. No words are necessary here, I just surrender my wants and needs to the needs of the Nature outside of me.

As I sat on this cold damp stone wall, I touched the leaves that covered the soil and began moving them aside to see who I might find under its cover. Slowly and methodically I gently moved the leaves and maybe a little too quickly too, as before the next stroke of my hand, I stopped because my eye caught the movement of a tiny rolling white spider egg which belonged to a garden Wolf Spider. And there she, spider, went, scurrying in the other direction, surely wanting to save herself from my clumsy freezing hand. But then, she stopped. Turned around and looked right at me!!! She said to me ‘give me my egg’ or maybe she said ‘that’s my family there’ or maybe even, ‘I need my egg’. Whatever she said, I knew that she wanted her egg.

She looked at me, then at her egg and then back at me again. Yep, she wanted her egg.

Okay well I did not doubt any of what I heard, felt, saw. So I followed her requests. Did what she had asked and here’s how it all unfolded. I slowly moved my hand over to her egg to carefully pick up its delicate white casing. Holding it carefully between my thumb and fore finger, I slowly moved my hand towards her. Stopping a moment to show her that I had her egg between my fingers. I did this first from a long distance from her so that she could see what it was that I was doing, and then I got a little closer and showed her again. She then walked a little closer to me. Oh my goodness I thought. She understands. Darn it. So I advanced my hand a little closer to her. She advanced her body a little closer to me. Gradually we both got closer and closer.

As my giant hand approached her tiny body I rested it on top of the soil so that it would be right at her level. Still my fingers were carefully holding her egg. Cautiously she came up to my two fingers that were holding on to her egg.

She reached up.

Clamped on to her egg with her front legs.
I did not put it down on the ground.
I actually gave her, her egg!
She let me hand her, her egg !
Spider picked up her egg right out from my fingers.
She then scurried away.

My life changed forever, from that moment in time with a light stricken sonic boom went my senses, to the farthest east and west, and my crown center opened to the heavens and my feet were grounded in every earthly sense. We shared that white egg for one flash of a second. My pink flesh to her hairy pedipalps (her two front legs). Is this love? This is love.
 
We both followed and trusted our feminine instincts – mother to mother. Creator to creator. This was about us knowing our place in the garden. We are from the same mold, some where’s in our distant connections. Mothers. Both givers of life, dynamic forces in deep mutual relationship.

An Interview With Reba Linker

Head on over to You Tube for a listen! - > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSx0d9X5O_g

Lets Talk About Dreaming Our Future

I’d love to talk about the senses you may have around resurrecting our deep relationship with the natural world, plants and trees, Earth Mother, land and place.

About returning to our inter-eco-specie relationships. Reclaiming our indigenous beingness. How do we know landscape allies? How do we see them? How do we show them deep love and appreciation? What does this look like for each of us? How do we demonstrate mutual and multicultural respect and deep honor? Are we comfortable, grateful and grounded in how we do things for the-Nature-that-surrounds-us and for each other? Do we want to do more?

I've been relating and dreaming with the landscape for them and for humanity for a long, long time. About how to be proper, respectful and inter-relational humans with the-Nature-that-surrounds-us and that I am. About being inter-dependent, intercultural, and multi-generational; … becoming indigenous with each other and for our Mother; … being a builder and seeker of kinship’s, with the-Nature-that-we-are, the in-between spaces and the invisible ones.

You see, I deeply know, without a doubt, that for us to reclaim our indigenous selves, for us to cultivate our kinship in circles and Sacred Ceremony, is a super powerful way to reconnect with our Mother (Earth), and, a powerful way to dismantle the patriarchal colonial mind structures and ideologies of superiority and privilege. Coming together, outside, on the surface of our Mother, in Sacred Ceremony. Soooo powerful. Here, I feel, we reclaim our indigenous selves, we return to an original wildness, the-Nature-that-we-are that resides deep within each and everyone of us. And it is here, we know how to reconnect with her (Earth Mother) like we were meant to, as uncivilized creatures, who know how to treat her rightly. As we learn to embody Nature’s Law, natural law, as our guiding principles, we come to know that there is nothing more important than this. Nothing.

I would love to hear from you, about your thoughts, dreams and imaginings about this.

Making Birch Bark Oil

Its that time of year again for me when spring is still a wee bit far off and sugaring is on the horizon that I think of or maybe even take part in, the harvesting of a great tree for its medicine. Birch. Which is also coupled with a special memory of my first day with my herbal teacher, Kate Gilday. Each time this time of year comes around, whether I am harvesting Birch or just go out to visit these amazing trees, I also think of Kate as this is my tradition and my way of remembering our special bonds at the macro to micro level. Birch Bark Oil making is that for me on so many levels. And at this time of year, February and March, this is what I remember.

Birch Bark Oil, is warming and soothing aromatic uplifting oil; an extraction of Birch tree trace volatile oils, a.k.a. as essential oils or phytoncides, its extracted from a Birch trees pale green cambium layer just under its bark surface. The fixed oils used that hold on to these constituents can be olive oil, almond oil, grapeseed oil, safflower oil or others (see below for more) its up to you. And once this topical oil is ready, it has a sweet, soothing and warming feel that far exceeds what one may expect.

For this writing, this is strictly about making a topical oil, is used only on intact and closed skin; it is not for rashes or cuts or scrapes or wounds. And is used for achie muscles, painful joints, neck, arms, back, wrists, ankles, feet, or can be used just as an over all massage oil.

The type of Birch used in for this preparation is usually Black Birch Bark due to it being highest in volatile oil concentrations. Yet I have also used Yellow Birch with similar effectiveness. PLEASE NOTE: this is not the making of an Essential Oil (need hundreds of pounds of Birch Bark Cambium layer); nor is this the making of Flower Essences (needing just one flower vibration and reduced several hundred times for its subtle effects). Though there are numerous ways Birch offers her healing qualities for humans and land and I love what the spirit of the plant offers us that is so beautifully represented here by me herbal mentor and teacher Kate Gilday. - "BLACK BIRCH - (Betula lenta) Gracious. Sharing one's essence without fear of rejection, hurt, etc. Getting in touch with one's inner radiance." You can go here for more on what Kate offers. http://www.woodlandessence.com/essences.htm

HARVESTING BRANCHES FOR THE BARK:

First, accurately I.D. the tree. Bring an experienced person, use an I.D. guide, and do the scratch and sniff test. If the scratched bark smells like Wintergreen, then you have Birch. Often, Black Birch can be confused with Black Cherry, which when its bark is scratched smells like Bitter Almond and is the tell tale sign that you do not have Black Birch but Black Cherry.

PERMISSION:

Next, before even considering to cut any of her branches, ask the wisdom and spirit of the tree permission to choose some of her branches for the oil you would like to make. Visualize what you are doing for the tree to understand. Think about how you would like to make it into an oil for you or a loved one. Stay with the tree until you can feel in your heart an ok. Thank the tree. Give a gift of thanks, either the traditional that has been used by the original peoples of this land - tobacco; other types of gifts can be a shell, your hair, a flower, etc. and a sincere deeply felt sense of gratitude. Then and only then look at which branches would be ideal for harvesting, asking the tree the whole time to guide you. There may be some branches interfering with other branches such as that which may cross over others and hinder or complicate the tree. Again give thanks to the tree, the land and all elementals before trimming a branch. Trim only what you need. If its your first time, take only a small amount (a 12" section of a particular branch) for the experience. Later on you will then know how much it is that you or another will need. Now you can trim with clippers a small branch.

ITEMS NEEDED

• Sharp Knife

• Clippers or Heavy Duty Scissors

• Oil (see below)

• Large Bowl

• Glass Pyrex jar or a One Quart Wide Mouth Mason Jar 2/3 full of oil.

• insure this jar is not only clean but dry, any moisture left in this jar will

• cause the end product to spoil.

• Large Pot filled ½ way with cool water

CHOOSING THE OIL:

Olive Oil – healing on its own, warming, heavy so protective to skin, can ‘drag’ and

                  pull on the skin if its used for a massage oil, has a light scent of olives. Has the

                  aroma like olives). Texture is heavy and oily and may overpower a blend with its scent.

Almond Oil – a lighter weighted, unscented oil; since it’s a nut oil, some may have an

                  allergy to this oil. Light, slightly sweet and light nutty. Texture can leave

                  a slight oily feeling on the skin. Absorbs semi-quickly.

Apricot Oil - Somewhat oily, absorbs semi-quickly.

Avocado Oil - Thick, leaves a fatty, almost waxy feel to the skin.

Coconut Oil – very cooling, light coconut scent; does not drag or pull the skin.

Grape Seed Oil - cooling, thin but leaves a glossy film on the skin; good as a massage oil.

                   Light, slightly sweet with a hint of a nutty aroma.

Jojoba Oil - Light to medium in aroma, not as sweet as the nut oils. The aroma is distinct but pleasant.

                   Texture is light and silky. Absorbs well.

Sesame Oil – warming, having a light sesame scent; also may drag and pull on the skin; has a

                   distinctive sweet, nutty sesame scent; may overpower a blend with its scent. Texture is

                   mildly thick, leaves an oily film on the skin.

Safflower Oil – neither warming or cooling; no scent; does not drag & pull the skin; very neutral.

                      Texture is very light and healing.

REMOVING BARK FROM BRANCH:

Please do remember to honor and give credit to the Nature that surrounds us, whether you are indoors or outdoors and remember this tree, even though one did not take the trees life, we are using this trees limbs. You can burn sage, a candle or just have words for remembering the tree. But we must do something to remember. Its the only way. Creator, Great Spirit, all that is in Universal Wisdom is in every organism we touch, including ourselves.

Situate yourself at a table or on a clean tarp or cloth on the ground, prepare larger branches into smaller sections by cutting them 6 to 8 inches long that are 1/2 inch or greater in circumference, these larger in circumference branches will have the bark shaved from the branch. The remaining smaller branches can be cut with a scissors.

Organize into two batches, the smaller one for cutting with heavy duty scissors and the larger branches for shaving with the knife. Prepare your jar of oil filled half way up in the jar. Have your large bowl in front of you and start trimming and cutting like this: cut up all the smaller branches first into the bowl first, every so often remove cut up pieces and place into the jar of oil, with a wooden stick push down the clipped pieces so that it goes under the oil line, this prevents loss of volatile constituents which is an integral part of this remedy. Continue to cut like this until you’ve cut up all your little branches.

Next shave the larger branches using a sharp knife. Shave downward and away from your hand and body. Shave just under the bark down thru the light green cambium layer to just under that as this, the cambium layer is what holds active plant principles. You know you’ve shaved off all the cambium layer when the branch you’re shaving has a whitish wood color. If the branch you're shaving suddenly has an orange hue, this tells you that you did not get all of the cambium layer and this pale green layer is now oxidizing. Get deeper! This is the trees medicine for you. Again, as you accumulate shaved pieces in the bowl, every few minutes stop and put the shavings into the oil as this prevents loss of delicate essential oils (wintergreen) from also oxidizing which then looses its effectiveness for muscle pain relief.

IMPORTANT:

Whatever size jar you do end up using, always make sure the oil covers the bark – the bark should never, ever come above the oil line and into contact with air. If it does your oil preparation will oxidize, so, always add more oil to this if the bark does not remain below the oil level. Doing this prevents your efforts from ruining.THE DOUBLE BOILING STAGE:

Now put the mason jar into the cool water bath. Make sure the water comes up high enough around the jar but not so high that it makes the jar start to float. The jar needs to set in the water, not float on the water bath. Otherwise, it will topple over during cooking time.

Next, turn flame on low and heat oil to 110 to 120 degrees, mixing with a wooden stick from time to time to evenly distribute the heat. Test the oil temp, not the water temp, with a food thermometer. If no food thermometer, use the tip of your clean dry finger pad. If it feels a little too warm to your skin you know it’s a good temp. If it feels hot or sharp its too warm which then you’ll need to turn down the flame or remove the pot completely from the flame until it turns just warm again. Ideally, a thermometer is best.

Or if the flame is already as low as possible, then turn off the flame for an hour or so and return to cooking. And point here, those wooden sticks you're using to mix, there is no need to remove the sticks, they can stay in the jar the whole cooking time.

IMPORTANT:

Again, make sure the bark remains below the oil level, if it does not, just add more oil. Doing this prevents the product from spoiling.

COOKING TIME:

Cook the Birch Oil for 3 to 6 days. Keep adding more water around the outside of the jar into the pot as the water level evaporates. Of course, you’ll need to turn off the flame when you go to sleep or leave the house. Cover the jar with a lid and then cover the pot not with the pots lid but with a heavy non-lint kitchen towel. This will contain the heat and keep the Birch Oil processing longer. However when the birch oil is cooking, don’t cover the oil because moisture from the boiling water will condensate on the lid and drip into the oil, this then sets the stage for oil spoilage. Lastly, if you are unable to heat the bark for at least 8 hrs in a day, then extend the heating time another day or two. As you’re heating this bark, every so often smell it too. At some point you will start to smell the essential oils of Wintergreen in the oil. Lovely scent. And if you do this year after year, you're nose will be able to determine just the right time for when the oil is ready.AFTER 3 to 6 DAYS OF HEATING:

Remove jar from water bath. Dry the outside of the jar well. Now you have two choices on how to preserve for shelf life.

I’d suggest to use the 2nd as experience tells me it lasts longer.

FIRST CHOICE: strain bark out from the oil through a sieve to remove the bark and return the oil to the jar. Add to the jar 400iu capsule of Vitamin E to every 2 cups of oil (helps prevent rancidity). Put on a clean dry lid and place on a shelf away from heat and light.

SHELF LIFE: might last up to 1 yr. Its better to place this in the refrig if you want to ensure it lasts for 2 yrs. You can take a little oil out of the jar each time you need to use it and put into a smaller jar, this jar can stay out of the refrig., at room temperature making it easier to use than from direct from refrig.(brrh) but it won't last as long. Maybe a few months at best. You'll know ...

SECOND CHOICE: don’t strain out bark from oil, do add some Vitamin E (same as above), no need to put into your refrig., just keep jar on a shelf away from heat and light.

SHELF LIFE: a definite 2 years. As you use the oil, just remove the oil from the jar, BUT as you do this, remember you will also need to remove some bark from the oil too, because at some point as you use the oil, the bark will be exposed to air and make the whole thing spoil. Adding the oil you're using to a smaller jar will be helpful in using, and again, this jar of oil will only last a few months too. Maybe 6 months. You'll know ...... REGARDING SPOILAGE:

There’s always a possibility for spoilage to happen. For me the best way to determine if my oil has gone “bad” is to smell it. If you can’t smell well then have someone else do the smelling for you. What you’re looking for are 2 types of scents: a rotten scent and oh yeah, its smells rotten, like something just died. And then there’s the bitter scent, which is the scent of rancidity.Fortunately, this oil is not one we ingest, and if it is used when rancid or other, its not injurious but you’ll smell really badly. However I would not make this a practice because I do believe rancidity over time could be unhealthy for us. So please continue to use your nose and sniff over the months to determine how your oil is doing.

Precautions aside, this is a lovely oil that has a light wintergreen scent, feels good on the skin, is soothing and relaxing especially as part of a massage, and, can become a wonderful tradition at this time of the year when we’re all patiently (or maybe not so patiently) waiting for the green to arrive.