FEP71 Connecting to the Unseen World with Help from Flower Essences
Show Notes:
Recorded during the liminal time of year when the veil between the worlds is thin (Halloween, Samhain, Day of the Dead), Rochana and Kathleen discuss how we connect to the unseen — plant devas, our dearly departed, ancestors, angels, and spirit guides.
Animism, a belief that spirit is alive in everything, is a basic principle of making flower essences as we view it as a co-creative activity between ourselves and the spirit of the plant.
We don’t need to turn to psychedelic plant medicines to connect with spirit beings. Flower essences can help us open to spiritual connection, practice discernment, and invoke protection on our journeys. Join us for this interesting conversation as we bring in some of our favorite plant spirit helpers.
Audio:
Video:
Flower Essences discussed during the show:
- Angelica (FES, AK)
- Hairy Angelica (FoA)
- Forget-Me-Not (AK, FES)
- Hound’s Tongue (FES)
- Mountain Forget-Me-Not (FES)
- Yarrows (FES)
- Siberian Yarrow (FoA)
- Black Tourmaline (AK)
- Hematite (AK)
- Rainbow Hematite (AK)
- Guardian (AK)
- Purification (AK)
- St. John’s Wort (FES)
- Mugwort (FES)
- Queen Anne’s Lace (FES)
Resources:
Courses, Books: Shamanic Journeying: A Beginners Guide, Awakening to the Spirit World: The Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation, and others
Tom Cowan
Book: Shamanism as a Spiritual Practice for Daily Life
Emma Farrel
Book: Journeys with Plant Spirits: Plant Consciousness Healing and Natural Magic Practices
Book: Ancestral Medicine: Rituals for Personal and Family Healing
Show Transcript
Kathleen Aspenns: [00:00:17] Welcome back, everyone. We are looking forward to what promises to be quite an interesting chat today. Rochana and I are here to talk about connecting to the unseen world. We are gathered here together. She and I are recording this on Dia de los Muertos, which is a traditional holiday that’s all about celebrating our connection to the spirit world and to our ancestors. So today felt like a really good day to have this conversation. Welcome back, Ro. It’s always lovely to spend time in your presence.
Rochana Felde: [00:01:12] Hey, Kathleen. Yes, it’s great to be back chatting again for the podcast. And we’re in this weekend of Halloween, Day of the Dead, All Saints’ Day, Sauin, lots of different traditions and cultures around the world recognize that this time of the year, the veil is thinner between our world and the unseen world. And we thought it would be fun and interesting to talk about how we connect and experience these other realms or work with ancestors or spirit guides or plant spirits. They all fit into this subject, and are there flower essences that might assist in this journey?
Kathleen Aspenns: [00:02:08] Yeah, it’s a good topic. I’m glad you brought it up. I hadn’t really thought about this, and we haven’t really talked about this on the podcast yet, so great idea. Hopefully, everyone who’s listening will enjoy this. In the meantime, we have been busy and we are also getting ready for an exciting new year to come. We are closing out the season and in planting stages let’s say for a floriferous new year to come. We have finished up cohorts on our practitioner training which were amazing. We had some really beautiful aspiring practitioners and the sessions were just wonderful. What we’ve done is we’ve created this mixed learning model where we have videos that are on demand, and then we have group sessions where it’s really rich, the discussions that are taking place. So if that sort of thing is your thing, we would encourage you to join our waitlist for the next cohort, which will be this spring. Look forward to that.
We’ve also initiated a practitioner mentoring group this year. It was wonderful to be able to be in presence with all of these practitioners, sorting out all the details of what it’s like to be a practitioner giving help on just the nuts and bolts of running a practice, as well as case study and discussion about plants. So it was a really great group, and we are looking forward to continuing that as well in the new year to come. So if that’s part of your interest, if you could use that kind of support, take a look at floweressencestudies.com and join the waitlist. Hope to see you there.
Rochana Felde: [00:03:59] Yeah, the practitioner training is the best one we’ve done yet and it keeps getting better. We have such an amazing amount of material pre-recorded, and yet, that gives us this spaciousness to really engage and have lots of discussion around the material with the live cohorts. So it’s a format that everyone loves, and it’s very adjustable. I like to call it a choose-your-own-adventure because you can work with the material at the pace of the class, or you can work with it at your own pace and take longer to do the self-study materials. So it’s very flexible for everybody’s different amount of time that they have to do the training and to put into that. And even if people are not able to keep up with the recommended schedule, it still is valuable to be part of these discussions. And so it’s not a prerequisite for these discussions. That way everybody is getting this amazing immersion into the flower essence practitioner content. And it has just been something that all of the students have absolutely loved, the way that we’re doing it this year. So we will continue to do it this way next year. And we hope if you’ve been considering it, definitely sign up for the waitlist.
Kathleen Aspenns: [00:05:47] As we transition into our primary topic today, one word that you brought forward, Ro, when we were discussing this was animism. What does that even mean? What are we talking about? I certainly would regard myself as being an animist. I align with that worldview that everything is endowed with a personhood, everything is endowed with a consciousness and even a will. How do you like to talk about animism?
Rochana Felde: [00:06:31] Yeah. The way that I understand it is that everything, objects, places, creatures have an energy, a spiritual will, if you want to call it that. They’re alive, the world is alive, animals, plants as distinct entities. And in working with flower essences and in making flower essences, that’s really a part of the process, is engaging with nature and the plant world and having conversations with nature, developing relationships with nature. So it’s really a part and parcel of being a flower essence practitioner of working with flower essences. There is a metaphysical aspect to it. Animism, there may be philosophical pieces. I haven’t honestly delved into all of the discussion on it, but just the general concept, yeah, I completely align with.
Kathleen Aspenns: [00:07:49] Well, you’re right for bringing up that concept of a flower essence itself. It almost requires a certain amount of at least openness to the premise of animism because what are we doing? What is a flower essence? It’s a connection to the spirit of the plant. It’s a connection to some sort of an intelligence within the plant. It is a way of, I just like the word, capturing, but when you’re making a flower essence, you’re creating an imprint. You’re co-creating with the plant an imprint of the energies, of the consciousness of the plant, and putting it in a way that is mobile and is out of time. You can create a flower essence and it can sit on the shelf and wait for you until the time comes that you can use that essence or that you can spread that essence around. I see my work as a flower essence maker, as almost being an energetic seed bank or a pollinator for the plants. I’m giving them legs, I’m giving them the ability to move around the world and to connect with people in a way that they can’t in their physical form. So it’s being a facilitator for this process of deeper connection with the natural world.
Rochana Felde: [00:09:24] Absolutely. And being able to be open to this connection is also open to– the unseen world does contain other realms. And part of this– I just want to preface, what we’re talking about has nothing to do with religion. Some religions are also dealing with angels, right, and other entities that we could consider in this unseen realm. This is, we’re dealing with spirits. So whatever your belief system is, this can cross those boundaries. So I just want to preface that because we’ll probably use a lot of language that is more metaphysical, that’s more magical and shamanic than religious, but that’s not to discount religious spirituality at all.
Kathleen Aspenns: [00:10:33] Yeah. Great point. Working with flower essences doesn’t require you to accept anyone’s worldview. We enjoy a plural community and really appreciate that everyone has a different spiritual path and process. And all of those are welcome here in an atmosphere of respect and appreciation for each other. Even plants, I think, have different affinities, and so some plants perhaps really have affinities for people of certain types of spirituality or certain types of spiritual paths. Certainly, Angelica comes to mind, and I know that’s one that we want to talk about. Do you want to go into that or give a little more framework on some of these conceptual frameworks for the unseen world?
Rochana Felde: [00:11:30] Yeah, maybe just a few words on the framework in that our goal is to become more aware and receptive of the unseen energies around us of the nature spirits, of if there’s entities we want to work with like our ancestors, like our relatives that have passed over, angels or power animals. It’s helpful to understand that. I think people get frustrated because they hear people talking about, say, having a conversation with their spirit animal or their spirit guides and wonder why they don’t have them. And there are protocols for getting into these other realities that can help facilitate those conversations. And so as we talk about flower essences that help us to be open to these other realities, I just want to say that there is lots of protocols and processes like shamanic work, shamanic meaning in indigenous cultures from around the world since the beginning of time have had practices for going into non-ordinary reality. And non-ordinary reality is a term used by Sandra Ingerman and others that teach on this topic, and who I’ve taken courses from, to learn these methods of shamanic journeying. It’s similar to the Otherworld in Celtic work and the Dreamtime with the Australian Aboriginals. And in all these cases, this is where you go to meet your spirit guides or meet your spiritual teachers. And this creates a way that you can do it in a grounded way, in a way that’s safe, in a way that enables you to go back and forth between the worlds. It doesn’t require substances like hallucinogenic substances. It doesn’t require that kind of plant medicine to do this. So we like to use non-hallucinogenic plant substances to assist in these processes. But also it’s just if people haven’t come across this or are aware that these ways of working with the unseen world are available and out there, there are so many resources, and we’ll definitely put some links in our show notes, but that can really help, so everyone can do it. Just like meditation, it’s just something that you can learn how to do. And I wanted to let people know that this is something that is available. Some people, sure, might have more of a psychic proclivity that is innate and it comes easier to them, but it is something that you can learn.
[ppp_patron_only level=”2″]Kathleen Aspenns: [00:15:09] I want to address the other side of this coin because there are a lot of people who are frightened of the unseen world, who have been taught to be frightened. I know I grew up in a fundamentalist religion where I was taught that there were evil spirits all around that were just waiting for me to stray from the path and would seize me, and I would be possessed. I mean, it was very intense levels of fear about the unseen world. It’s like the only ones that were hanging around were demons. So I’m very familiar with the other side of this equation, and I know a lot of people are really concerned about that. And there are also lots of people in our world that we want to also say hi to who have unwanted contact with the unseen world, who have had frightening and distressing and disturbing experiences with the unseen world. So we’re talking about one side of the continuum, but there’s also this other side of the continuum that we want to let you know that there is help for that too because this quality of opening up to the unseen world is something that you can choose to do, or it can be something that happened to you as a result of trauma or cultic experience, or who knows what, there’s a lot of possibilities, but the essences can help you– because they’re always working on that spectrum, they can help you with whatever side of that you’re on. If you are troubled by these intrusions, you can learn how to turn on and turn off. And that is really where the essences can help.
Rochana Felde: [00:16:56] It’s so important to do that other work that you’re talking about, that energetic hygiene and being able to open and close your field at will. So yeah, there is a practice to doing this and being safe. And there’s a certain amount of stability that you want to be in before going off to the other worlds. There’s a certain amount of grounding, stability, and not having a lot of other chaos going on mentally or even physically or in any matter in any way in your life. I mean, if there is chaos around you that you cannot separate yourself from or that’s within you, that’s just going to follow you. So it’s part of this practice on this path that we are on. And we definitely will talk about some protective essences, but yeah, if something very disturbing, some sort of attachment had happened to somebody unknowingly, this is where you’d want to get professional help from somebody who is well-versed in that, for sure.
Kathleen Aspenns: [00:18:26] I like what you say about how it’s if your life is really chaotic, and we’ve all been there, and that desire to leave this world because the other world is going to be better or spending a lot of time in the other realms is coming out of a place of not really wanting to be here. We also want to appreciate that we do understand that part of the life cycle and really want to encourage the more that we can be in our bodies, firmly boundaried and protected in our bodies because that’s where the safety is, that’s really that foundation from which you can then go out. So I appreciate what you said, Ro, on that because that’s really important.
Rochana Felde: [00:19:26] Yeah. I think Angelica is really the first one to talk about. I mean, out of all the essences that help with opening to spiritual experience, the Angelica is so nurturing. It feels so comforting and protective and supportive. And I really do feel like it’s an earth angel to watch over us. I mean, growing Angelica, I felt like it watched over my garden. It just has that quality of protection and guidance.
Kathleen Aspenns: [00:20:05] The really important thing to remember about Angelica is being humans, we see what’s growing above the face of the earth, the foliage and the tall, tall stems and the flowers at top, but so important, it doesn’t grow without a really strong root. And it spends its first year growing a really, really strong root, and after that, then it can bloom and extend out. So the essence is about opening to the angelic realm, to feeling protected by the angelic realm, but it’s also, let’s not forget, about being really rooted and solid in your body and on the earth as well.
Rochana Felde: [00:20:49] Yeah. And there’s a couple different kinds of Angelica, different species. And so we have the Angelica Archangelica that FES makes and Angelica Genuflexa that Alaskan makes. I’ve made the coastal Angelica here in Northern California, Angelica Hendersonii, I believe. And you’ve also made an Angelica or two, haven’t you, Kathleen?
Kathleen Aspenns: [00:21:17] Yeah, I’ve worked with the hairy Angelica, Angelica Pubescens. My experience of it was less of that connection to the spirit realm and more about the connection to the physical realm. So they may have different perspectives, and that may also be me coming from a certain place as I work with the plant. Plants have so many different faces that they can show, and the more that we work with them and the more people that work with them, the more faces we get to see.
Rochana Felde: [00:21:54] Yeah. When there’s a flower essence that different makers have made with different species, it is really interesting how sometimes they overlap so much, it’s very, very close. And at other times, different species of plants can really have a different energy. So, there’s no rule of thumb. It’s like you have to look at each. And I feel like the Angelica has a lot of overlap with the different species, but of course, each has their own unique flavor, so to speak. But you can’t really go wrong with any of the Angelicas for this theme, I think. How about Forget-Me-Not? That’s another really common one to move into.
Kathleen Aspenns: [00:22:45] Well, I appreciate that you’ve brought the Forget-Me-Not in, and I just need to bring in that whole family of the Boraginaceae because they really do speak to this connection between heaven and earth. They are all working on that spectrum. So please bring the Forget-Me-Not and then I want to talk about some of the other members of the family as well.
Rochana Felde: [00:23:11] Yeah. The Forget-Me-Not, where I live, it grows everywhere, every nook and cranny. I mean, it is so prolific in the coastal forest area where I live, and it helps us have that awareness of subtle realms and our relationship with the spiritual world. It is used a bit to work with the beloved deceased. So people that you know in your life or in your family who have passed on, this is the plant that helps work with them. And in the Alaskan Forget-Me-Not, which is a little bit different, but again, lots of overlap, lots of similarities, I think that speaks a little bit more to when there’s really a deep sense of separation, that profound kind of longing, deep sense of separation that might be a little bit more indicated than the California Forget-Me-Not. But either way, they look pretty much identical. And the flowers just have this quality, and I’m going to let you talk about that, Kathleen, because this is a real part of this family, Boraginaceae.
Kathleen Aspenns: [00:24:40] And when you’re bringing in the Alaskan version of the Forget-Me-Not, I just wanted to say, hi, Steve Johnson, we miss you. We want to recognize you as one of our ancestors who’s on the other side now, and you are deeply missed and also appreciated because we do reach out to you regularly for your help and guidance. So thank you, dear ancestor, Steve.
The Boraginaceae, if you look closely at the flowers, all the ones I know anyways, let’s start there, have this celestial blue flower, and there is this strong quality of the light in the plant themselves and in the flowers for sure. You’ll see these almost like sparkles on the flowers. And it’s because there’s a silicaceous quality. So there is this channeling the light into the plant. And you’ll see that in Borage which is such an important essence for all of us to be working with. It’s one of these frontline essences we use for just loss of faith and hope and loss of courage, and it’s just such a good booster. The Forget-Me-Nots, very specific for, like you said, this character of separation between the worlds and not feeling like you have ancestors or not feeling like there are others who care, feeling so isolated from the world. So I get that. And the other Borage member that I would like to bring in is Houndstongue. And Houndstongue is such an important essence for those who are really colonized with the world view of, the world is dead and just material. And the only thing that matters is what you can prove scientifically. Nothing really matters. Nothing really means anything. And that’s very much the Houndstongue is being really locked into that worldview where it’s an impoverished worldview where there’s no mystery and there’s no magic, and there’s nothing else but what you can see and touch. And the Houndstongue helps us to open the door to the potential for something else being there. It’s one that I really love because it’s one that grows in the hills around me. And just each time I think of it now, I think of it after the fires because we had some really terrible fires that just completely wiped out all the vegetation, and there were these colonies of Houndstongue that I would always go visit in the spring when they bloomed and they were burned completely to the ground, very hard, hot burn, and yet they came back, which, it made me feel so happy to see them return untouched, no problem, I got this, I’m back, being able to grow back from their roots. So there is that characteristic of being rooted, and they really are plant ancestors to me. I’m not sure that I’m making any sense, but I really dig Houndstongue.
Rochana Felde: [00:28:13] Yeah, it’s another one that pops up wild on my property in the same spot every year. And there’s a lot of oak trees here, and so it’s under a very deep pile of oak leaves that it just pushes up through the earth when it comes up every year. And I found that very telling about its signature in the way that it comes through the darkness into the light like that.
Kathleen Aspenns: [00:28:47] Well, really, unlike Forget-Me-Nots, which are annuals, they pop seeds everywhere, and so they’ll come sprouting up thither and yon. They’re very hard to get rid of if you’re tired of them. But the Houndstongue is a rooted plant. It grows in the same place every single year. So those are very different kinds of personalities as far as the species go.
Rochana Felde: [00:29:13] And there’s also another one in that family, the mountain Forget-Me-Not, which looks just like the regular Forget-Me-Nots, but it is a different genus, but it is in that same family. And how do you like using that one?
Kathleen Aspenns: [00:29:31] This isn’t one that I’ve used as much. I know that it’s one that our teacher, Ruth Toledo Altschuler, really loves and has a deep connection to, so I just have to ride on her coattails as far as the connection to this particular plant. But when you’re looking at something that grows in the higher elevations, the one that grows further away from humans– the regular Forget-Me-Not is a garden plant. It’s a plant that will grow through the forests, and it will also grow in people’s gardens, so it has a really everyday connection. So it’s like everyday spirits. The mountain Forget-Me-Not is one that you have to journey to. It’s not one that will just grow anywhere. So that’s how I would think about it, is that that’s more of the journey kind of connection.
Rochana Felde: [00:30:25] That is my understanding as well. And like you, it’s one that I have not worked with as much, but I can really see that in the description of it, talking about it working with spiritual teachers and guides and dealing with soul memories and karmic patterns. So there’s more of a thoroughfare to a bigger-picture connection in that sense. Yeah, very cool.
I wanted to bring up Lotus really quickly because that’s one that people think of as such a spiritual flower and energy. I mean, my gosh, it’s used as a logo for every new age or healing or metaphysical. I mean, it’s just everywhere in the world of healing and spirituality. And of course, it’s an ancient– from the times of Egypt, this plant has been part of us that we’ve worked with, that humanity has worked with. And the thing about Lotus is because of the way that it grows and in its roots in the mud, it is so rooted that it’s really about staying grounded on the spiritual path. So it’s not necessarily one for going to those lofty levels that I think might be the misconception. It is about stimulating that creative visualizations to do that connection, but while you’re grounded, while you’re in service, keeping you firmly planted on that path is how I see the Lotus.
Kathleen Aspenns: [00:32:28] It’s the variation on the, think globally, act locally part of spirituality. It’s like, well, yes, you can have very amazing visions, but what are you actually doing with your life? How is this practical? And I love that you brought Lotus in because it really is practical. When I offer it to a client, they’re like, oh, that’s wonderful. I want to be enlightened. And I’m like, well, also, let’s make sure that you keep your feet really nicely grounded in your body, in where you walk in an everyday kind of sense.
I would love to bring in some plants that are these protective plants because that quality of staying in your body as the Lotus is helping us to ground into the mud is really an important piece of this conversation of like, how do we maintain that clarity as we aspire to open to the other world, or as we aspire to open to higher guidance or wisdom or what have you? I always think one of my first essences is to think of Yarrow because it’s so important, especially for those who have had traumatic experiences, or traumatic spiritual experiences particularly where they had perhaps a premature psychic opening, or even just for people run-of-the-mill, hello, excessively sensitive without the ability to know whose stuff am my processing. This is a bigger topic, and I think we’ve probably talked about it before, but Yarrow, Yarrow, Yarrow is a really important essence for this process of opening to spirit because if you don’t have that energetic hygiene that you referred to a minute ago, Ro, you’re really going to get muddy results because you don’t know who’s coming through, you don’t know what they’re bringing with them, and you also want to make sure that they leave when their time is done.
I’m going to reflect just for a second on the Siberian Yarrow, which is an essence that I’ve made and worked with from the Flora of Asia. And first off, this is the Yarrow that’s used in the divinatory method of the Yijing. This is the Yarrow that’s used as those Yarrow sticks for casting and Yijing oracle. And there’s a characteristic of this particular Yarrow that when I made it, it was this numinous experience of just feeling really able to see through but also really protected. I can’t even explain it, but it gave me this ability to recognize that the other people that were around or the other beings passing around, even the other plant beings that were all around were all in their places, and I was in my place, and I had plenty of space, and I wasn’t feeling overwhelmed by all of it. It was really a beautiful experience of feeling completely protected and safe where I was. And so I’m always thinking about that when I’m thinking about the Yarrows, of which there are so many, as far as essences go. But having that cloak of safety is such an important characteristic to working in this realm honestly every day, but particularly when we’re in this realm.
Rochana Felde: [00:36:20] Totally agree. And especially, as you say, for anyone who is naturally a sensitive person, it’s just really crucial to be working with the Yarrows, especially when opening yourself up even more than you already are. And doing that energetic hygiene, working with some of the maybe more structured practices for meeting and working with spirit guides, I think that’s just a good idea. Instead of just opening your doors and saying, hey everybody, I’m open. That can really backfire. So we don’t want to necessarily do that.
Again, the protection and the grounding being such an important part of this, I would add in perhaps a couple of the gem elixirs to this conversation. And Black Tourmaline is always a great one that I think about when I think about– it goes so well with the Yarrows because it is all about cleansing that energy that might have gotten in that’s not yours and releasing it and then helping with the protection. So it’s just a great energetic hygiene gem elixir.
And Hematite in general is quite protective. The Rainbow Hematite, though, is really neat and interesting for this topic because it helps to strengthen our insight and vision, but in that process, it’s helping us to basically ground it to earth. And so it’s helping develop that sixth chakra, that third eye, but in a really balanced way. And I just imagine like that’s how rainbows are, right? When you see them in our line of sight, here on the planet, you always see them starting and ending on the earth, on the ground. And so they may go up to these beautiful, lofty heights, and they look magical and they invoke that feeling of magic, but they are grounded to the earth. And so that’s how I think of the Rainbow Hematite as well.
Kathleen Aspenns: [00:39:06] I totally appreciate you bringing the gem elixirs in this because this is absolutely a must-have. So the formula Guardian from the Alaskan Essences was created specifically to help people who are moving into spaces that are– it was designed for the process of space clearing, which is an energetic process of moving energies on that you don’t want to have in your home or space anymore. And so those who do that work are constantly exposed to things that maybe they wouldn’t want to be exposed to. And so Guardian helps us with creating a really strong field, dumping out all the stuff that doesn’t belong, and creating a really good boundary. So it is definitely part of an energetic hygiene process that I would recommend. And if I recall correctly, the Black Tourmaline I know for sure is in there as well as some Yarrows and some other essences that are really helpful for that. So I just wanted to throw that in there as a formula that might be a good baseline to start with if you want to start with your energetic hygiene.
Rochana Felde: [00:40:23] Yeah. And they also make a Purification blend. Great for that cleansing process if you need it. There are a couple others I just want to make sure that we touch on. And one is St John’s Wort because that is a plant– and some herbalists also call it St Joan’s Wort to reclaim it from a feminist viewpoint. And there is something really special about that plant. It is always helping to increase our light. So I think about in terms of protection– sometimes you’ve heard in sports a good offense is better than, I don’t know, whatever, a defense, something like that. And that’s how I look at St John’s Wort because it’s helping us to have protection and increase our power and protection by increasing our light. And that’s when that’s indicated, especially if there’s out-of-body experiences or anything that you’re having that, but we want to connect with the light inside of us and boost that in these scenarios. And St John’s Wort helps to do that.
Kathleen Aspenns: [00:41:56] I mean, it does bloom right at the summer solstice here in California. So it’s very affiliated with light. It’s very affiliated with peak light. So just learning the plants and learning rather than– not that we are ever like this, just being able to read the catalog, but because we are so plant-centric and we just absolutely love these plants and learn so much from them just in the way that they grow and in their families, just I’d like to bring that part in that the whole concept of St John’s Wort being a light bringer, it’s not just because somebody said it is, it’s also because that’s part of its whole being. If you meet the St John’s Wort, it has this absolutely radiant golden flowers just covering the plants, and they bloom right at summer solstice. So it is all about light.
Rochana Felde: [00:42:49] Yeah. A fascinating plant that is used in herbalism, it creates this bright red oil really helpful for the human body. And so that, to me, is an energetic indicator that it is a plant that’s really appropriate for humans to work with. And we certainly have since antiquity with this plant.
Another one, because it’s the Halloween weekend and there’s a witchy vibe, we can’t leave this conversation, I think, without bringing in Mugwort, which I always look at that way, especially the European Mugwort. And I feel like I have just an affinity with that plant that’s in my genes, in my genetic structure, in my bones. And it’s one that definitely helps bring greater awareness of dreams and really enhance your psychic life. It’s one that you would maybe not use all the time because of that exactly. I know people who’ve put the plant, like you can put a sprig of it in a dream pillow or under your pillow to remember your dreams. And some people that I know of had really intense experiences with that and have ended up throwing the dream pillow across the room, out of the bedroom in the middle of the night because they were having really too intense dreams. Of course, that’s not everybody’s experience, but it’s one that people have had experiences. So there are lots of stories and lots of lore, but it’s also one that is such a strong, I think, promoter of female agency. And I think that’s why it has this reputation of being a witchy plant or a plant for witches. And it has a power, a regalness, and a sovereignty to it that I just love. And I love to tap into that plant energy.
Kathleen Aspenns: [00:45:19] Yeah. I’m glad you brought Mugwort in. The Artemisia family is broad, grows lots of places, and is always treated with respect by the healers who work with it and live near this particular group of plants.
I don’t think we can close the conversation today without talking about Queen Anne’s Lace. I think it’ll bring a lot of these topics together. It’s such an important essence for discernment. It’s for that spiritual insight, but it’s also for recognizing what’s signal and what’s noise. And not every voice is telling you the truth, whether those are human voices or whether those are spirit voices. And so Queen Anne’s Lace can help us to develop that character of discernment and to feel into whether this is valid and useful information or whether this is noise.
Rochana Felde: [00:46:25] I was exactly going to say that same thing. We can’t leave this conversation without Queen Anne’s Lace, and it’s the first flower essence I’ve ever made, so she really taught me how to open and to be discerning with the information that I was receiving. And for those who don’t know, this is the Wild Carrot. So it’s actually the same genus and species of the carrots that you eat, that you buy at the grocery store. Daucus carota, but it’s not a cultivated version, it’s the wild version. And the root is not orange. It’s a white color. And it’s very wild. And it’s in the plant family, the carrot, parsley family that has a lot of poisonous plants, plants that you really have to know your plant identification. If you’re going to go out and work with Queen Anne’s Lace in the wild, you really have to know what you’re doing and be more than 100% sure that it’s Queen Anne’s Lace and not Poison Hemlock or one of those relatives. And I’ve talked about it a little bit before in terms of the saying, the Queen has hairy legs. That’s one of the features of it that’s different than Poison Hemlock, and that’s one of the ways that people can remember it when looking for it in the wild. But you use more than one way to determine. And again, that teaching is just discernment and how to tell the difference between things. So it’s really funny, I see that correlation between plant identification with Queen Anne’s Lace and having to hone your discernment to learn what you’re looking at when you’re trying to ID it, and then the spiritual aspect, the spiritual discernment. And it has that colored center flower. It’s a very white, lacy flower with a dark, deep, burgundy, or black single flower in the very center. And now some of them don’t have that, and they still are Queen Anne’s Lace. So it’s not always 100% on every flower, but it does represent that third eye, that sixth chakra for vision. And so again, it’s bringing in that vision and then grounding it into the earth with that very, very strong deep taproot that it has that eventually became carrots on our table. But that plant will bring in the grounded discernment and vision that is so necessary in this work. And it is definitely a friend of mine and many.
[/ppp_patron_only]Kathleen Aspenns: [00:49:48] Well, thank you for sharing your first-hand experiences with Queen Anne’s Lace. I know that she’s a good friend of yours, and I know that I’m also very fond of her. So I hope for all of you who are listening or watching, that you take some time to connect to the unseen world in a way that’s really grounded and with good boundaries and good energetic hygiene. All these things are important, and once again, our plant allies and friends are always here to support us in these spiritual pursuits. But also, this is something that all humans have been doing since the beginning, connecting to our ancestors, giving appreciation and asking for their help. They are around and available for us if we reach out.
Thank you, everyone, for joining us, for listening in, for being part of our community. If you aren’t on our mailing list yet, we’d really love for you to be there. You can go to floweressencestudies.com and join the mailing list, and then you’ll find out about all the things that we offer, whether it’s the practitioner training coming up next year or our practitioner circles, mentoring groups, and also we do free live events, gatherings. We love to support our community and would like for you to be one of them as well. So see you there. Thank you for being with us. We really appreciate you, and happy time in nature.
Rochana Felde: [00:51:35] We do. We really appreciate you. Thank you, everybody. See you next time.
Kathleen Aspenns: [00:51:44] This podcast is meant for educational and entertainment purposes only. We are not physicians and do not diagnose, prescribe, or treat medical conditions. Please consult with your own physician or healthcare practitioner regarding the suggestions and recommendations made by the hosts and guests of The Flower Essence Podcast.
