WEBVTT 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:06.280 Welcome to the Plant Wisdom Circle. This is a 00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:09.460 space to share the wisdom of the plants, letting 00:00:09.460 --> 00:00:12.560 their voices ripple outward into ever -widening 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:16.280 circles. Together, we honor the plants as medicine 00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:19.339 guides and living beings of healing consciousness. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:25.280 I'm your host, Amy Tarepka. Welcome back, folks. 00:00:25.539 --> 00:00:30.500 I am Amy, your plant guide. The plants have been 00:00:30.500 --> 00:00:34.159 working with me for nearly two decades now in 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:37.420 this very energetic and psycho -spiritual capacity, 00:00:37.939 --> 00:00:42.859 and they have been my biggest guides along the 00:00:42.859 --> 00:00:46.340 way, along my healing path, my journey of awakening 00:00:46.340 --> 00:00:50.329 to the magic of the earth. and they come in to 00:00:50.329 --> 00:00:54.789 support everything that I offer from my one -on 00:00:54.789 --> 00:00:57.429 -one bodywork and energy work sessions and my 00:00:57.429 --> 00:01:00.689 practice groundwater healing to most of what 00:01:00.689 --> 00:01:03.869 I teach inside of my school, the Golden Stone 00:01:03.869 --> 00:01:08.170 Wisdom School. Everything I share in my work 00:01:08.170 --> 00:01:11.269 is supported by these incredible beings, the 00:01:11.269 --> 00:01:15.969 plants, to help you remember the magic of being 00:01:15.969 --> 00:01:19.319 a body on the earth. So if you want to learn 00:01:19.319 --> 00:01:21.799 more about how to work with me, you can take 00:01:21.799 --> 00:01:24.459 a look at the show notes where I have links to 00:01:24.459 --> 00:01:28.060 my free online community inside the Golden Stone 00:01:28.060 --> 00:01:32.799 Wisdom School, as well as a master class on communicating 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:38.170 with plant consciousness. And today... I'm going 00:01:38.170 --> 00:01:42.090 to be sharing about the medicine of elder or 00:01:42.090 --> 00:01:46.209 elderberry known to the ancient Celtic people 00:01:46.209 --> 00:01:52.469 as the elder mother. This medicine is deep and 00:01:52.469 --> 00:01:56.890 wide and rich and I'm so excited to share her 00:01:56.890 --> 00:02:00.799 with you today. She has been quite tricky for 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:04.099 me to sum up. She's just such a force and I have 00:02:04.099 --> 00:02:07.780 so much information on her from people's experiences 00:02:07.780 --> 00:02:12.599 over the years. Elder was the plant that came 00:02:12.599 --> 00:02:17.319 to me in 2018 with a plant spirit medicine course 00:02:17.319 --> 00:02:21.120 proposal that became Call Into Darkness, a course 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:23.960 of plant alchemy and spiritual healing that I 00:02:23.960 --> 00:02:26.620 offer. through the darkest six weeks of the year. 00:02:26.680 --> 00:02:30.379 So we're inside that right now. And inside the 00:02:30.379 --> 00:02:32.240 course, we work with elder during the first week. 00:02:32.280 --> 00:02:35.099 So I have experiences of folks from the last 00:02:35.099 --> 00:02:38.120 seven years of spending time with her. So I have 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:41.180 a wide range of experiences to share with you 00:02:41.180 --> 00:02:43.680 and let alone my own experiences throughout the 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:49.300 year. So this will be a lot of plant story and 00:02:49.300 --> 00:02:51.719 connection with the spirit of the elder mother. 00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:59.780 And I do want to share that most often when people 00:02:59.780 --> 00:03:02.860 work with me, with the spirits of plants, in 00:03:02.860 --> 00:03:05.379 this case elder, they're taking a couple drops 00:03:05.379 --> 00:03:10.080 of a tincture, which is the plant material, either 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:13.360 the berry or the flower, and often a mix of both, 00:03:13.939 --> 00:03:18.250 extracted in alcohol and water. Most often I'm 00:03:18.250 --> 00:03:21.210 mixing the flower and the berry together as I 00:03:21.210 --> 00:03:23.330 feel like it offers more of a range of her medicine 00:03:23.330 --> 00:03:26.750 and I like to feel both the qualities of the 00:03:26.750 --> 00:03:29.810 flowers and the berries, but both the berry and 00:03:29.810 --> 00:03:32.629 the flower separately are beautiful medicines 00:03:32.629 --> 00:03:36.810 and you know, hold certain qualities in and of 00:03:36.810 --> 00:03:39.710 themselves so you could play around with how 00:03:39.710 --> 00:03:44.819 each of those feel. And in this case, I harvest 00:03:44.819 --> 00:03:48.879 the blue elderberry, the Sambucas cerulea, but 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:51.860 here in the U .S. there's also the American elderberry, 00:03:51.979 --> 00:03:55.860 which is Sambucas canadensis, and much of Europe, 00:03:56.060 --> 00:03:58.120 North Africa, and Western Asia you'll find the 00:03:58.120 --> 00:04:01.120 black elderberry, the Sambucas nigra, all of 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:04.080 which can be used as medicine interchangeably. 00:04:04.819 --> 00:04:08.979 We also have the red elder here, which I am not 00:04:08.979 --> 00:04:14.750 talking about. Only a drop or two of the tincture 00:04:14.750 --> 00:04:18.949 is all you need to experience her magic in your 00:04:18.949 --> 00:04:21.930 body. You don't actually need any tincture at 00:04:21.930 --> 00:04:25.550 all or any essence at all. You can call in her 00:04:25.550 --> 00:04:27.949 spirit or sit with her physical body in the wild. 00:04:28.129 --> 00:04:32.509 But this is how we sit in the plant wisdom circles 00:04:32.509 --> 00:04:34.230 with the tincture. So I just wanted to share 00:04:34.230 --> 00:04:37.079 that with you. I'll share a little bit about 00:04:37.079 --> 00:04:39.860 her physical medicine and structure because it 00:04:39.860 --> 00:04:43.259 informs her spiritual and energetic qualities 00:04:43.259 --> 00:04:46.879 and then I'll go into some general themes of 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:50.699 elder, some folklore, other people's experiences 00:04:50.699 --> 00:04:53.680 from both Call into Darkness and the Plant Wisdom 00:04:53.680 --> 00:04:57.720 Circle and finish with my own journey with her 00:04:57.720 --> 00:05:02.350 from this last Plant Wisdom Circle. So elder 00:05:02.350 --> 00:05:08.730 can be either a tree or a shrub and is kind of 00:05:08.730 --> 00:05:11.009 a shapeshifter because sometimes she has one 00:05:11.009 --> 00:05:13.670 single trunk that branches off then into many 00:05:13.670 --> 00:05:17.790 branches. But oftentimes she looks like a shrub 00:05:17.790 --> 00:05:21.949 and has many smaller trunks, maybe even just 00:05:21.949 --> 00:05:24.990 a inch or two or a couple inches wide growing 00:05:24.990 --> 00:05:30.399 up from the same place in the ground. and her 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:34.560 stems are hollow and this is often a signature 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:39.079 in the plant world of plants that are supportive 00:05:39.079 --> 00:05:42.680 to journeying, to helping us open ourselves, 00:05:42.899 --> 00:05:46.339 to hollow ourselves out so we can receive spiritual 00:05:46.339 --> 00:05:49.540 messages more easily so we can journey beyond 00:05:49.540 --> 00:05:55.199 this physical reality. Her flowers are these 00:05:55.290 --> 00:06:00.149 delicate dainty white flowers that smell so divine. 00:06:00.829 --> 00:06:04.290 The smell is intoxicating and it really does 00:06:04.290 --> 00:06:06.490 feel like they bring you into a different world. 00:06:07.649 --> 00:06:11.089 And the seeds and the berries contain some toxicity 00:06:11.089 --> 00:06:16.199 when eaten raw. So it's not enough to kill you, 00:06:16.199 --> 00:06:19.399 but will potentially make you nauseous, vomit, 00:06:19.639 --> 00:06:23.220 have digestive upset. So there is a level of 00:06:23.220 --> 00:06:26.720 caution or respect when approaching this medicine. 00:06:27.899 --> 00:06:30.920 If you want to know more about identification 00:06:30.920 --> 00:06:33.000 or the physical properties, there are so many 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:35.139 amazing resources out there. We can find all 00:06:35.139 --> 00:06:38.699 that, but this podcast is not about that. We're 00:06:38.699 --> 00:06:41.399 going to talk about the energetic and the psycho 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:46.560 spiritual medicine. So I do feel like it's important 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:51.300 to touch on the folklore of Elder because ancestrally 00:06:51.300 --> 00:06:56.060 she is just such an important medicine and played 00:06:56.060 --> 00:06:59.180 such an important role in the lives of folks 00:06:59.180 --> 00:07:02.699 across ancient Europe, North Africa, Western 00:07:02.699 --> 00:07:07.759 Asia, and here in North America. She is a tree 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:11.300 that has some of the most folklore surrounding 00:07:11.300 --> 00:07:14.779 her of all trees. And most of the information 00:07:14.779 --> 00:07:18.019 I've looked into is from Northern Europe, the 00:07:18.019 --> 00:07:22.540 Celtic lands where my ancestry is from. And in 00:07:22.540 --> 00:07:26.439 these areas, she, again, is known as the elder 00:07:26.439 --> 00:07:30.939 mother and was so interwoven into their lives. 00:07:32.019 --> 00:07:36.740 In Celtic lore, she stands as a gateway to the 00:07:36.740 --> 00:07:40.360 fairy realm or the other world. She has long 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:44.860 been referred to as a tree of the fairies, her 00:07:44.860 --> 00:07:47.759 hollow stems used to create wooden flute said 00:07:47.759 --> 00:07:52.339 to be music that the fairies loved best. And 00:07:52.339 --> 00:07:55.379 if you stood under an elder tree at midsummer, 00:07:55.920 --> 00:07:59.680 it was rumored that you were able to glimpse 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:03.410 the fairy king or the fairy queen. To me this 00:08:03.410 --> 00:08:06.110 medicine often comes through more with her flower, 00:08:06.129 --> 00:08:10.569 but not necessarily. She holds a very etheric 00:08:10.569 --> 00:08:15.509 and ephemeral quality that opens us up to the 00:08:15.509 --> 00:08:20.980 spiritual overlay of life. And for the Celts, 00:08:21.319 --> 00:08:25.060 the elder mother was supremely protective. She 00:08:25.060 --> 00:08:28.779 was the one who helped protect the home from 00:08:28.779 --> 00:08:33.059 evil spirits and just protect their lives. And 00:08:33.059 --> 00:08:35.980 it was considered bad luck if you ever cut down 00:08:35.980 --> 00:08:38.899 an elder tree or took from her without ritual 00:08:38.899 --> 00:08:43.299 permission. So again, she is demanding some respect 00:08:43.299 --> 00:08:47.419 here as this elder. She was brought into the 00:08:47.419 --> 00:08:51.720 home for a lot of kitchen witchery, the medicine 00:08:51.720 --> 00:08:56.000 for so many ailments from cold and flu support 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:59.320 to skin conditions and rashes, sinus relief and 00:08:59.320 --> 00:09:02.840 asthma relief and reducing inflammation. Her 00:09:02.840 --> 00:09:05.279 berries and flowers were made into cordials. 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:09.679 Her berries were used to dye textiles. Her wood 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:13.120 was used in cribs for babies for musical instruments 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:16.980 and she was just overall revered as a symbol 00:09:16.980 --> 00:09:21.440 of the divine feminine and the generosity of 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:26.620 the medicine of earth and because of this it 00:09:26.620 --> 00:09:30.340 is no wonder it makes sense that witches were 00:09:30.340 --> 00:09:33.899 often associated with her during the burning 00:09:33.899 --> 00:09:38.720 times in europe and often witches were burned 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:45.240 using the wood of the elder tree and this topic 00:09:45.240 --> 00:09:49.039 of the witch wound that so many of us still carry 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:52.799 is one that's so dear to me and to my heart, 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:55.259 but it's a topic for another time. We could have 00:09:55.259 --> 00:09:58.799 a whole podcast on that. But what I want to impart 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:03.279 here is that elder is truly a witches herb, a 00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:07.759 folk herbalist herb and brings us into that deep 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:11.519 sense of connection and relationship to the magic 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:15.360 of life and the mother. the divine feminine and 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:21.919 just how woven that was back before patriarchy 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:28.440 and the empire of colonialism swooped in. So 00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:33.039 this is a good segue into the spiritual themes 00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:37.559 surrounding her and that I find emerge circle 00:10:37.559 --> 00:10:45.149 after circle. We often find themes of, again, 00:10:45.269 --> 00:10:49.889 this elder crone, like having an elder spirit 00:10:49.889 --> 00:10:54.110 presence, the grandmother, the dark mother, the 00:10:54.110 --> 00:10:58.309 divine feminine, and this experience of a deep 00:10:58.309 --> 00:11:02.590 respect that she just innately exudes or demands, 00:11:02.669 --> 00:11:08.110 not in a demanding way, but she commands this 00:11:08.110 --> 00:11:12.340 air about her. And folks feel that experience 00:11:12.340 --> 00:11:17.179 of being in the presence of an elder where they 00:11:17.179 --> 00:11:20.200 have that innate sense of respect, where they 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:23.139 know not to mess with her or that she's really 00:11:23.139 --> 00:11:26.320 powerful, but there's also so much love there 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:30.600 too. So just remembering back to that folklore 00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:34.600 that talks about her wanting specific ritual 00:11:34.600 --> 00:11:38.899 permission to harvest. but with this permission 00:11:38.899 --> 00:11:45.539 she's really happy to provide. I think it's interesting 00:11:45.539 --> 00:11:48.019 because pretty much every time I've harvested 00:11:48.019 --> 00:11:51.799 elder I end up cutting myself on a bramble or 00:11:51.799 --> 00:11:56.720 at some point blood is offered and she often 00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:00.980 grows in these wide open fields where brambles 00:12:00.980 --> 00:12:06.409 and blackberries and those vines with thorns 00:12:06.409 --> 00:12:12.309 often live as well, but it doesn't feel like 00:12:12.309 --> 00:12:16.929 a wicked or negative, but just like an offering, 00:12:17.730 --> 00:12:22.250 a sacrifice, this idea of what are you sacrificing 00:12:22.250 --> 00:12:25.649 or offering to me that's meaningful? And she 00:12:25.649 --> 00:12:30.330 understands that there's always a cost. to a 00:12:30.330 --> 00:12:32.350 choice, right? There's something you're needing 00:12:32.350 --> 00:12:36.409 to say no to in order to honor a yes in something 00:12:36.409 --> 00:12:40.769 else. And because she honors death and the death 00:12:40.769 --> 00:12:44.970 process and how we need this in order to honor 00:12:44.970 --> 00:12:48.929 life, she wants us to be really intentional about 00:12:48.929 --> 00:12:53.509 this offering, about what we are giving in order 00:12:53.509 --> 00:12:58.820 to receive. And, you know, I found this more 00:12:58.820 --> 00:13:02.440 superficial and kind of harmful idea in some 00:13:02.440 --> 00:13:05.840 new age circles that we can have it all in our 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:07.960 lives and we don't need to sacrifice anything 00:13:07.960 --> 00:13:10.740 and can always be easy and smooth and beautiful 00:13:10.740 --> 00:13:13.879 and that we can have this shiny gem without the 00:13:13.879 --> 00:13:17.000 deep and often challenging processes that lead 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:20.919 us there and you know there's also truth to this 00:13:20.919 --> 00:13:24.750 because we can have whatever we want we are creators 00:13:24.750 --> 00:13:28.450 in this life and she steps in and wakes us up 00:13:28.450 --> 00:13:30.830 to the reality that life can be hard and it's 00:13:30.830 --> 00:13:34.309 not always easy and that pain and grief and death 00:13:34.309 --> 00:13:38.169 of the old are also medicine they're just as 00:13:38.169 --> 00:13:41.549 necessary to life as the other more quote -unquote 00:13:41.549 --> 00:13:45.970 beautiful parts of life and she wants us to welcome 00:13:45.970 --> 00:13:48.669 all experiences of life and not push anything 00:13:48.669 --> 00:13:53.860 away to honor life, yes, but also honor what 00:13:53.860 --> 00:13:56.259 we're giving up, what we're letting go of in 00:13:56.259 --> 00:13:59.179 order to have this beautiful life and recognize 00:13:59.179 --> 00:14:05.139 this as the offering, this as the sacrifice in 00:14:05.139 --> 00:14:08.419 service to our greater becoming. So what do we 00:14:08.419 --> 00:14:10.659 need to sacrifice that's keeping us small, that's 00:14:10.659 --> 00:14:13.399 keeping us back from our power? These are things 00:14:13.399 --> 00:14:18.870 that she asks of us. So these offerings, are 00:14:18.870 --> 00:14:22.230 something that she takes seriously. She's not 00:14:22.230 --> 00:14:24.809 into surface level, she's not into trite, she's 00:14:24.809 --> 00:14:28.230 much more interested in meaningful, deep, or 00:14:28.230 --> 00:14:36.009 intentional offerings. So alongside this, she's 00:14:36.009 --> 00:14:39.529 very much associated with the liminal times in 00:14:39.529 --> 00:14:42.309 the Wheel of the Year, where the Otherworld is 00:14:42.309 --> 00:14:46.960 near. Beltane when her flowers are blooming and 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:51.700 the fairy realms are near and Samhain when the 00:14:51.700 --> 00:14:54.679 ancestors are near and both of these seasons 00:14:54.679 --> 00:14:59.840 being ones where either life is coming in through 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:02.200 the veil from the other world or life is dying 00:15:02.200 --> 00:15:06.200 back from this world to the other world. They're 00:15:06.200 --> 00:15:11.610 transitional times. She's an amazing guide for 00:15:11.610 --> 00:15:16.029 us when we're at thresholds in our lives where 00:15:16.029 --> 00:15:19.570 one thing has to die for the next to be reborn 00:15:19.570 --> 00:15:25.730 and being with us through that place of liminality. 00:15:26.990 --> 00:15:32.190 And not only this, but anytime. when we're clenching 00:15:32.190 --> 00:15:35.309 too tightly to life and not allowing change to 00:15:35.309 --> 00:15:39.370 happen, not allowing life to move itself through 00:15:39.370 --> 00:15:44.389 us. And I most often associate her with the season 00:15:44.389 --> 00:15:48.029 of the witch, the time where life is dying back, 00:15:48.029 --> 00:15:54.070 the time of this liminality. And it feels like 00:15:54.070 --> 00:15:55.990 she lives here to me. It feels like she's the 00:15:55.990 --> 00:15:59.549 most comfortable here. She's definitely a Scorpio 00:15:59.549 --> 00:16:04.179 and really asks us to allow what needs to die 00:16:04.179 --> 00:16:09.320 to die to make friends with death to honor and 00:16:09.320 --> 00:16:14.440 acknowledge the power and importance of death 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:18.259 in the cycle of life and again invites us to 00:16:18.259 --> 00:16:20.220 make that intentional through our relationship 00:16:20.220 --> 00:16:23.960 with offerings and not only that she invites 00:16:23.960 --> 00:16:29.129 us to be with this space of dreaming this time 00:16:29.129 --> 00:16:32.889 after death and before birth that is sometimes 00:16:32.889 --> 00:16:36.570 uncomfortable because it asks us to be with the 00:16:36.570 --> 00:16:40.590 unknown. She's often associated with the dream 00:16:40.590 --> 00:16:44.450 world and dreaming which is an extension of this 00:16:44.450 --> 00:16:50.370 other world, this world of spirit and soul and 00:16:50.370 --> 00:16:56.120 she is the one that stands here at this threshold 00:16:56.120 --> 00:17:01.860 between our world and the other world and very 00:17:01.860 --> 00:17:06.500 much the one to help us usher death across the 00:17:06.500 --> 00:17:11.380 veil as well as usher the new what's being born 00:17:11.380 --> 00:17:15.200 across the veil. So again, being in this space 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:21.869 of That cosmic cauldron soup and I feel her as 00:17:21.869 --> 00:17:25.930 this dark mother this dark mother that lives 00:17:25.930 --> 00:17:32.589 here between worlds at the seat of all possibility 00:17:32.589 --> 00:17:37.130 Where all is consumed and all is born where all 00:17:37.130 --> 00:17:41.950 dies back into and all is created It's this place 00:17:41.950 --> 00:17:46.910 that she lives and she really embodies this dark 00:17:46.910 --> 00:17:50.970 mother archetype, which is so beautiful and so 00:17:50.970 --> 00:17:54.650 powerful. And it's really interesting to me. 00:17:55.150 --> 00:17:59.029 At some point in October, the spirit of elder 00:17:59.029 --> 00:18:02.190 will arrive in my life. I'll just all of a sudden 00:18:02.190 --> 00:18:06.990 feel her in my client sessions or just in my 00:18:06.990 --> 00:18:10.769 life. I'll just feel that spirit of her that 00:18:10.769 --> 00:18:14.119 I've come to know so well over the years. and 00:18:14.119 --> 00:18:17.940 her arrival to meet ushers me into the Samhain 00:18:17.940 --> 00:18:21.759 season ushers in the season of the witch ushers 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:24.960 in this time when the veils are thin and when 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:27.240 she arrives again her presence just represents 00:18:27.240 --> 00:18:32.640 that to me. It's also common to find her supporting 00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:37.039 us in claiming our power or accessing a deeper 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:41.160 power within ourselves And again, this is a pretty 00:18:41.160 --> 00:18:45.039 scorpionic theme of power that's born from the 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:49.680 dark and power that comes when we're willing 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:54.980 to face our shadow and integrate that into more 00:18:54.980 --> 00:18:58.759 wholeness. So she's really helpful for all of 00:18:58.759 --> 00:19:05.720 that. And we also find themes of opening, of 00:19:05.720 --> 00:19:10.180 surrendering and being held. There's a way that 00:19:10.180 --> 00:19:15.400 she aligns us with the truth of things so we 00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:18.940 don't have to try to grip and control so hard, 00:19:19.579 --> 00:19:24.460 especially aligning us with the wholeness that 00:19:24.460 --> 00:19:27.500 includes the dying and includes the death that 00:19:27.500 --> 00:19:31.619 in modern culture we turn away from. And she 00:19:31.619 --> 00:19:35.099 lands us in this place of acceptance, acceptance 00:19:35.099 --> 00:19:39.170 of all of it. and how death is always in service 00:19:39.170 --> 00:19:45.829 to life. And often folks find this feeling of 00:19:45.829 --> 00:19:49.630 grounded truth and acceptance with her and that 00:19:49.630 --> 00:19:54.349 they're so held and so protected through this 00:19:54.349 --> 00:19:56.990 aspect of the Wheel of the Year and this aspect 00:19:56.990 --> 00:20:00.190 of the life cycle that can feel hard for a lot 00:20:00.190 --> 00:20:04.900 of people. But with this acceptance, we have 00:20:04.900 --> 00:20:11.119 access to a more complete wholeness of our power. 00:20:13.359 --> 00:20:20.539 She has this very ethereal presence, yet brings 00:20:20.539 --> 00:20:25.880 in a sense of steadiness within that very ethereal 00:20:25.880 --> 00:20:32.799 nature of reality. So folks feel held the fleeting 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:36.339 nature of life because she's there and held in 00:20:36.339 --> 00:20:39.480 this acceptance of impermanence because she's 00:20:39.480 --> 00:20:43.859 there. And again I know I'm talking a lot about 00:20:43.859 --> 00:20:46.960 death here and impermanence here but her medicine 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:51.039 is so much wider than this as it opens us up 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:55.640 to the more expansive nature of reality. She 00:20:55.640 --> 00:21:01.309 is not limited. She includes all. She's a very 00:21:01.309 --> 00:21:05.670 spiritual presence and helps us really know and 00:21:05.670 --> 00:21:09.809 really trust that there's more to life than this 00:21:09.809 --> 00:21:13.049 physical form, than this physical realm. She 00:21:13.049 --> 00:21:18.769 lives so connected to what's beyond this material 00:21:18.769 --> 00:21:23.569 world and because of this we feel held knowing 00:21:23.569 --> 00:21:26.910 that there's more, there's so much more to life 00:21:26.910 --> 00:21:31.650 and she opens us up because of this knowing that 00:21:31.650 --> 00:21:35.890 this isn't everything, that there's life beyond 00:21:35.890 --> 00:21:39.589 death, that there's a spiritual layer to our 00:21:39.589 --> 00:21:44.769 physicality, that our soul is so wide and wise 00:21:44.769 --> 00:21:50.210 and she's so connected to that magic, to the 00:21:50.210 --> 00:21:54.069 way that we are always in communion with the 00:21:54.069 --> 00:21:56.710 unseen world. We're always in communion with 00:21:56.710 --> 00:21:59.890 the forces of nature and the forces of life that 00:21:59.890 --> 00:22:04.750 are informing our lives every single day. And 00:22:04.750 --> 00:22:09.549 because of this drops us into that very magical 00:22:09.549 --> 00:22:14.430 place, you know, true magic, just being your 00:22:14.430 --> 00:22:18.109 own consciousness pairing and working with the 00:22:18.109 --> 00:22:20.829 consciousness of the unseen world, the consciousness 00:22:20.829 --> 00:22:25.670 of the forces of life and allowing that relationship 00:22:25.670 --> 00:22:29.910 to affect change in your life and the material 00:22:29.910 --> 00:22:34.150 world. So she is very magical because she brings 00:22:34.150 --> 00:22:39.710 us into relationship with the unseen. And not 00:22:39.710 --> 00:22:43.809 only that, you know, again, there's this level 00:22:43.809 --> 00:22:47.589 of being held here. the level of knowing that 00:22:47.589 --> 00:22:53.049 it is all okay and that we can, you know, lighten 00:22:53.049 --> 00:22:57.910 up a little bit about our lives because there's 00:22:57.910 --> 00:23:03.069 more beyond the veil. So it's time now to share 00:23:03.069 --> 00:23:05.470 some specific words from folks who sat with her 00:23:05.470 --> 00:23:08.829 medicine and you'll notice threads of all of 00:23:08.829 --> 00:23:12.349 these themes weaving themselves in. and then 00:23:12.349 --> 00:23:15.089 I'll share my experience from the last Plant 00:23:15.089 --> 00:23:21.390 Wisdom Circle. There are many, many examples 00:23:21.390 --> 00:23:24.430 of folks who've experienced connecting with their 00:23:24.430 --> 00:23:29.849 own grandmothers with elder, and many more feeling 00:23:29.849 --> 00:23:33.950 elder as a grandmother figure. I'm just going 00:23:33.950 --> 00:23:38.539 to share a couple of them. Someone in Call into 00:23:38.539 --> 00:23:42.759 Darkness in 2023 said, I'm totally new to this. 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:45.359 So I was really surprised that I was visited 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:50.279 by my granny who transitioned in 2015. She told 00:23:50.279 --> 00:23:52.819 me that everything was going to be okay and that 00:23:52.819 --> 00:23:56.740 I was going to be okay. She also asked for some 00:23:56.740 --> 00:24:01.460 cornbread on my altar. I drew a tarot card after 00:24:01.460 --> 00:24:05.200 the meditation and pulled the six of cups. My 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:08.440 deck has a picture of a grandparent with grandchildren 00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:14.940 on it. And someone from this year said she didn't 00:24:14.940 --> 00:24:18.299 want to let Elder go. She felt a gentle discipline 00:24:18.299 --> 00:24:23.779 with her. Being able to trust herself to move 00:24:23.779 --> 00:24:28.869 and behave and be in ways that help her be truest 00:24:28.869 --> 00:24:32.150 to herself and what she wants to cultivate and 00:24:32.150 --> 00:24:35.750 offer in this world, which for her requires this 00:24:35.750 --> 00:24:39.910 gentle discipline. And she also felt this gentle 00:24:39.910 --> 00:24:42.349 knowing smile from Elder every time she sat with 00:24:42.349 --> 00:24:47.170 her and felt very seen in this way where without 00:24:47.170 --> 00:24:50.190 saying anything, Elder was able to just call 00:24:50.190 --> 00:24:55.240 her on her shit. And this person is a terrorist 00:24:55.240 --> 00:25:00.400 and over the week spent with Elder drew the six 00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:03.980 of cups three different times. This is the same 00:25:03.980 --> 00:25:06.279 tarot card that the person two years ago also 00:25:06.279 --> 00:25:12.779 pulled with Elder and this person this year was 00:25:12.779 --> 00:25:15.019 sharing a little bit about what the six of cups 00:25:15.019 --> 00:25:18.619 means to her talking about cups as the element 00:25:18.619 --> 00:25:25.259 of water and the human emotion and in her deck, 00:25:26.200 --> 00:25:29.220 it's two children, not a grandparent and a grandchild, 00:25:29.319 --> 00:25:33.740 but one child is older and bigger. And there's 00:25:33.740 --> 00:25:38.380 always this idea of someone who's older giving 00:25:38.380 --> 00:25:43.880 a gift to the younger one, this idea of the past 00:25:43.880 --> 00:25:50.190 giving a gift to the future. in her instance, 00:25:50.369 --> 00:25:54.869 connecting her to her matriarchal lineage and 00:25:54.869 --> 00:25:57.289 showing her the ways in which it served her and 00:25:57.289 --> 00:26:01.609 not served her. And she also talked about nostalgia 00:26:01.609 --> 00:26:05.869 often being associated with this card, as well 00:26:05.869 --> 00:26:09.329 as an eldership, a learning and a gift that is 00:26:09.329 --> 00:26:13.390 all encompassed in the meaning of this card. 00:26:14.470 --> 00:26:18.650 And then a third person had the same experience 00:26:18.650 --> 00:26:21.210 with the Six of Cups. Well, not the same, but 00:26:21.210 --> 00:26:26.430 she went to receive an intuitive reading from 00:26:26.430 --> 00:26:30.210 a person after her week with Elder before transitioning 00:26:30.210 --> 00:26:34.829 to the next plant. And the tarot reader pulled 00:26:34.829 --> 00:26:38.279 the Six of Cups. And I found that so fascinating. 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:42.099 I don't know a lot about tarot. And I looked 00:26:42.099 --> 00:26:46.259 up the Six of Cups myself and found some information 00:26:46.259 --> 00:26:50.640 on it that also felt interesting about reconciling 00:26:50.640 --> 00:26:54.740 the past and how the past holds keys to what 00:26:54.740 --> 00:26:57.980 makes us happiest, the past feeding the present, 00:26:58.839 --> 00:27:02.039 and perhaps completing an old cycle that's kept 00:27:02.039 --> 00:27:05.559 you stuck. or getting ready to start a new one, 00:27:05.640 --> 00:27:07.960 which is so interesting because again, that's 00:27:07.960 --> 00:27:11.960 where the place where I feel elder lives at this 00:27:11.960 --> 00:27:14.960 completing the old, getting ready to start the 00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:19.019 new, but maybe not quite being there yet. And 00:27:19.019 --> 00:27:21.579 this idea of reminding yourself who you really 00:27:21.579 --> 00:27:25.380 are, remembering yourself and bringing your disparate 00:27:25.380 --> 00:27:30.089 parts back into alignment. The nostalgia of the 00:27:30.089 --> 00:27:33.930 past in this card reminds me of the fleeting 00:27:33.930 --> 00:27:37.869 nature of reality that Elder helps us lean into, 00:27:38.470 --> 00:27:45.230 accept, to learn from. As we learn from the past, 00:27:45.390 --> 00:27:48.829 we allow it to shape our present moment, but 00:27:48.829 --> 00:27:52.150 we're not clinging to it, we're bringing it in 00:27:52.150 --> 00:27:56.450 as a gift. you know, all of this kind of swirls 00:27:56.450 --> 00:28:00.309 around in elders' medicine, which is just so 00:28:00.309 --> 00:28:05.609 fascinating to me. Someone in this year's Plant 00:28:05.609 --> 00:28:10.569 Wisdom Circle connected with a great, great, 00:28:10.650 --> 00:28:14.430 great, great, great grandmother from the 1600s 00:28:14.430 --> 00:28:19.880 in England, and she was brought Into this grandmother's 00:28:19.880 --> 00:28:23.539 cottage and there was a hearth and she was cooking 00:28:23.539 --> 00:28:26.779 elder She was cooking elderberry and she the 00:28:26.779 --> 00:28:30.599 grandmother was showing her how she prepared 00:28:30.599 --> 00:28:34.259 it at different times of year and how To use 00:28:34.259 --> 00:28:36.859 different types of water and different preparations 00:28:36.859 --> 00:28:39.720 in order to get different medicine for different 00:28:39.720 --> 00:28:43.519 types of ailments or purposes and It was very 00:28:43.519 --> 00:28:47.589 clear how integrated elder was into their lives 00:28:47.589 --> 00:28:51.750 back then into her ancestors' lives and just 00:28:51.750 --> 00:29:00.589 the very integrated nature of knowing the land 00:29:00.589 --> 00:29:03.130 and knowing the medicine of the land so well 00:29:03.130 --> 00:29:06.349 and that working with the elements and the plant 00:29:06.349 --> 00:29:09.109 medicines was just a way of life and it wasn't 00:29:09.109 --> 00:29:14.650 anything extraordinary. And this intense comfort 00:29:14.650 --> 00:29:19.099 of just being there on a warm floor in front 00:29:19.099 --> 00:29:24.920 of a fire in an ancestor's home. And this is 00:29:24.920 --> 00:29:32.000 something that arises time after time, this experience 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:39.359 of elder showing us the old ways, the old medicine 00:29:39.359 --> 00:29:44.740 ways, the old folk ways, the ways that were deemed 00:29:45.230 --> 00:29:51.509 demonic and harmful and witchcraft in the burning 00:29:51.509 --> 00:29:54.970 times. You know, most people who were burned 00:29:54.970 --> 00:30:00.829 at the stake were women over 40 who didn't have 00:30:00.829 --> 00:30:05.009 husbands, who owned their own land, who worked 00:30:05.009 --> 00:30:10.049 with herbs, who were healers or midwives or... 00:30:10.190 --> 00:30:15.109 anyone who, yeah, used plants as medicine, an 00:30:15.109 --> 00:30:19.269 elder really feels like she wants us to remember 00:30:19.269 --> 00:30:23.190 that relationship and realign ourselves with 00:30:23.190 --> 00:30:28.049 that magic that is just innately human and that 00:30:28.049 --> 00:30:32.309 lives in all of us still. This year in Call into 00:30:32.309 --> 00:30:35.890 Darkness, someone else had the experience of, 00:30:35.930 --> 00:30:41.089 first of all, feeling very held. She was sick 00:30:41.089 --> 00:30:44.109 during the week of working with Elder and just 00:30:44.109 --> 00:30:47.569 felt so held, branches wrapping around her, helping 00:30:47.569 --> 00:30:52.750 her feel held and safe and a holding space for 00:30:52.750 --> 00:30:56.650 her to relax into and open up a little bit. And 00:30:56.650 --> 00:31:01.589 Elder took her into her Scandinavian... heritage, 00:31:02.170 --> 00:31:05.829 her Scandinavian ancestry, the Scandinavian landscape, 00:31:05.930 --> 00:31:09.230 and wanted her to listen to Scandinavian music. 00:31:09.349 --> 00:31:16.049 And as she was going into her ancestry, reading 00:31:16.049 --> 00:31:21.549 about what a big part of Scandinavian tradition 00:31:21.549 --> 00:31:25.609 and myth Elder was. So again, this idea of Elder. 00:31:26.349 --> 00:31:29.869 connecting us back to those more intact lineages 00:31:29.869 --> 00:31:35.289 with myth and tradition and wisdom ways that 00:31:35.289 --> 00:31:41.589 involved her a lot. In 2022 in Call into Darkness, 00:31:42.109 --> 00:31:46.049 someone else had this very vivid visualization 00:31:46.049 --> 00:31:50.390 where her grandmother came in and said to live 00:31:50.390 --> 00:31:55.019 your life as if you are taken care of. and felt 00:31:55.019 --> 00:32:00.259 this call to again, research where that grandmother 00:32:00.259 --> 00:32:05.039 hailed from in Italy and researching how the 00:32:05.039 --> 00:32:08.299 elderberries are also used there as traditional 00:32:08.299 --> 00:32:14.039 folk medicine. And yeah, again, this way of life 00:32:14.039 --> 00:32:19.200 that elder was a part of. Someone in 2023, Colin 00:32:19.200 --> 00:32:23.859 to darkness said, Elder feels quiet, ancient, 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:27.440 and deep for me. I would feel like she would 00:32:27.440 --> 00:32:31.900 guide me to the dark and liminal spaces as if 00:32:31.900 --> 00:32:36.039 she roots between realms. I would sense fairies 00:32:36.039 --> 00:32:39.039 in her leaves and they would accompany us sometimes 00:32:39.039 --> 00:32:43.119 on our journey. I would feel Elder's encouragement 00:32:43.119 --> 00:32:46.819 to let go. That letting go opens to something 00:32:46.819 --> 00:32:51.150 more, to trust that I don't need to know. what 00:32:51.150 --> 00:32:55.809 something more is. There is a beginning and an 00:32:55.809 --> 00:32:59.509 ending. It was interesting to me that the offering 00:32:59.509 --> 00:33:04.029 I felt Elder wanted was the citrine crystal, 00:33:04.670 --> 00:33:07.490 which seems more like the sun and bright energy, 00:33:08.170 --> 00:33:10.930 where Elder seems to hold more of the night mysteries 00:33:10.930 --> 00:33:14.130 for me, but a cool balance and polarity between 00:33:14.130 --> 00:33:19.940 the two. And this is especially interesting because 00:33:19.940 --> 00:33:22.700 this year, the same person who was brought to 00:33:22.700 --> 00:33:25.339 her ancestors' kitchen in the 1600s in England, 00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:30.259 felt Elder wanting her to offer her citrine necklace 00:33:30.259 --> 00:33:33.720 that she wears every day, as well as the citrine 00:33:33.720 --> 00:33:37.819 that her daughter gave her. So there is something 00:33:37.819 --> 00:33:42.000 about Elder and citrine being an offering that 00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:46.559 she's asking for. And I don't have... any reasoning 00:33:46.559 --> 00:33:51.440 for this, but what is interesting to me is that 00:33:51.440 --> 00:33:55.200 the same person who was asked to offer her citrine 00:33:55.200 --> 00:33:57.519 necklace has been continuing to work with elders 00:33:57.519 --> 00:34:01.619 since the Plant Wisdom Circle to dismantle the 00:34:01.619 --> 00:34:05.640 energy of the imbalanced masculine in her solar 00:34:05.640 --> 00:34:10.500 plexus that asks her to exhaust herself and overwork 00:34:10.500 --> 00:34:16.070 and bring in a more feminine embodied power that 00:34:16.070 --> 00:34:21.210 actually fills her inner well and can be sustainable. 00:34:22.530 --> 00:34:26.829 Elder has been inviting her to sacrifice this 00:34:26.829 --> 00:34:31.570 old way of being and this identity that goes 00:34:31.570 --> 00:34:35.469 alongside that of the over -functioning and being 00:34:35.469 --> 00:34:38.010 able to get all the things done and all the accolades 00:34:38.010 --> 00:34:42.159 that come with that etc. you know to me I could 00:34:42.159 --> 00:34:45.460 interpret the citrine as a representation of 00:34:45.460 --> 00:34:49.079 that sacrifice that she's asking her to offer 00:34:49.079 --> 00:34:55.179 the sacrifice of that imbalance of the more masculine 00:34:55.179 --> 00:34:59.800 way of being and or the citrine as a more balanced 00:34:59.800 --> 00:35:03.690 way to be with the masculine power so There's 00:35:03.690 --> 00:35:05.489 a lot of ways to interpret these things, but 00:35:05.489 --> 00:35:08.070 I just found that synchronicity so cool. There's 00:35:08.070 --> 00:35:11.030 been so many synchronicities over the years here. 00:35:11.409 --> 00:35:15.630 And back to a few experiences from folks in 2020. 00:35:16.969 --> 00:35:19.369 One person said, when I introduced myself to 00:35:19.369 --> 00:35:21.269 Alder at the beginning of the journey, I felt 00:35:21.269 --> 00:35:25.829 a cold sensation in my solar plexus and saw a 00:35:25.829 --> 00:35:30.920 gray color. It felt like powerful and empowered 00:35:30.920 --> 00:35:35.500 sensation. It felt old. Gray continued to be 00:35:35.500 --> 00:35:38.539 a theme. Elder appeared to me as a crone with 00:35:38.539 --> 00:35:43.039 long flowing gray hair. Beyond the door, I stepped 00:35:43.039 --> 00:35:46.380 into what felt like the essence of everything. 00:35:47.119 --> 00:35:50.360 And it was gray swirling wind. She seemed to 00:35:50.360 --> 00:35:53.239 impart to me that this is everything we are and 00:35:53.239 --> 00:35:56.840 have been. She showed me we are the soul of the 00:35:56.840 --> 00:36:00.610 earth. and the earth is our soul. And if we could 00:36:00.610 --> 00:36:03.630 only see beyond the door, we would know that 00:36:03.630 --> 00:36:07.869 we are all a part of this essence. Life and death 00:36:07.869 --> 00:36:11.969 are only one droplet of the vast wisdom of the 00:36:11.969 --> 00:36:19.090 cosmos. And another experience from 2020. Elder 00:36:19.090 --> 00:36:24.829 took on a very fairy -like form, a tall queenly 00:36:24.829 --> 00:36:29.380 figure with a deep liquid indigo color hair and 00:36:29.380 --> 00:36:33.000 cape. She led me to a vibrant dwelling covered 00:36:33.000 --> 00:36:35.480 with bright green moss at the base of a great 00:36:35.480 --> 00:36:40.320 tree. Inside all I can see is shimmering sparkling 00:36:40.320 --> 00:36:44.260 light flowing over all surfaces. I noticed that 00:36:44.260 --> 00:36:48.400 on the side nearest to the tree is a small waterfall 00:36:48.400 --> 00:36:52.179 spilling into a sparkling pool. There is a door 00:36:52.179 --> 00:36:55.760 here through which an ancestor would visit. A 00:36:55.760 --> 00:36:59.059 mostly formless, feminine spirit came through. 00:36:59.679 --> 00:37:02.760 She was an air spirit, an elemental ancestor. 00:37:03.539 --> 00:37:06.400 She showed me a time when I was the wind, moving 00:37:06.400 --> 00:37:11.619 across vast ocean waters. She took me to memories 00:37:11.619 --> 00:37:15.260 of gentle breezes caressing my cheek and how 00:37:15.260 --> 00:37:19.139 the simple momentary bliss of those sensations 00:37:19.139 --> 00:37:23.099 is her medicine, her communication. She breathed 00:37:23.099 --> 00:37:25.400 through me and refreshed my body and spirit. 00:37:25.500 --> 00:37:28.420 She asked me to play my flute, a wind instrument, 00:37:29.239 --> 00:37:31.440 as both a gift to her and a way to commune with 00:37:31.440 --> 00:37:37.139 her. Now back in 2025 at the Plant Wisdom Circle 00:37:37.139 --> 00:37:43.300 this month, the medicine of elder went right 00:37:43.300 --> 00:37:45.760 into this person's heart and she started crying. 00:37:46.119 --> 00:37:49.920 She was shown a box here. An elder took out her 00:37:49.920 --> 00:37:52.500 newborn self and put her in the trunk of her 00:37:52.500 --> 00:37:55.699 tree and started nursing her with the juice of 00:37:55.699 --> 00:37:59.079 the berries. It was like this alternate timeline 00:37:59.079 --> 00:38:02.460 if she had the nourishment she needed at a young 00:38:02.460 --> 00:38:05.340 age and what that would do for her. There was 00:38:05.340 --> 00:38:09.840 a big restructuring of her neuro pathways and 00:38:09.840 --> 00:38:13.300 she received the message to be in your life. 00:38:13.550 --> 00:38:17.269 in all of it instead of thinking there's limitations. 00:38:17.469 --> 00:38:19.969 She doesn't have to choose between things she 00:38:19.969 --> 00:38:23.849 loves or limit herself. She gets to have all 00:38:23.849 --> 00:38:27.429 of her life and be in all of her life that she 00:38:27.429 --> 00:38:32.190 chooses. With this person, Elder was helping 00:38:32.190 --> 00:38:35.989 heal her lack of self -worth and not being good 00:38:35.989 --> 00:38:39.769 enough and just being shown all the not enough 00:38:39.769 --> 00:38:42.750 paradigms and programming running through her. 00:38:43.150 --> 00:38:46.690 And she said, as I am healing, not being good 00:38:46.690 --> 00:38:50.230 enough and replacing it with I am enough and 00:38:50.230 --> 00:38:53.449 more than enough, I am complete. My creativity 00:38:53.449 --> 00:38:57.389 is flowing more seamlessly and ideas and projects 00:38:57.389 --> 00:39:02.050 are coming to me with ease. Someone from this 00:39:02.050 --> 00:39:07.610 era also mentioned this empowerment. connected 00:39:07.610 --> 00:39:11.570 to her power saying big stuff is happening in 00:39:11.570 --> 00:39:15.969 her life and her process right now and Elder 00:39:15.969 --> 00:39:21.150 is helping her stand in this sense of grounded 00:39:21.150 --> 00:39:24.489 power being called into a more embodied sense 00:39:24.489 --> 00:39:29.429 of leadership and She is returning to that grounded 00:39:29.429 --> 00:39:32.730 power over and over again with elders support 00:39:33.130 --> 00:39:35.989 In the Plant Wisdom Circle this year, someone 00:39:35.989 --> 00:39:39.369 had the experience of recalling the first time 00:39:39.369 --> 00:39:41.349 that she sat with Elder as a kid when she was 00:39:41.349 --> 00:39:44.369 seven or eight years old. And she'd read about 00:39:44.369 --> 00:39:46.469 the Fay Folk and their connection with Elder. 00:39:46.610 --> 00:39:50.809 And so she laid down with Elder outside to see 00:39:50.809 --> 00:39:54.510 if she would encounter any fairy spirits. And 00:39:54.510 --> 00:39:57.590 she doesn't know if she fell asleep or not. But 00:39:57.590 --> 00:40:01.090 when she kind of woke up out of the reality, 00:40:01.550 --> 00:40:06.130 she was brought into under the tree. She was 00:40:06.130 --> 00:40:08.550 wondering if she woke up in a different timeline 00:40:08.550 --> 00:40:11.590 and was looking around to see if anything was 00:40:11.590 --> 00:40:14.730 different. And it was her first recollection 00:40:14.730 --> 00:40:17.929 of being in an altered state of consciousness. 00:40:19.250 --> 00:40:22.030 Another person at the Plant Wisdom Circle said, 00:40:22.550 --> 00:40:25.789 openness and acceptance were the words for her 00:40:25.789 --> 00:40:29.639 that guided the experience. Elder invited her 00:40:29.639 --> 00:40:33.280 to open her hands out wide, her chest opening, 00:40:33.820 --> 00:40:37.119 hands opening up wide and feeling so much love 00:40:37.119 --> 00:40:39.880 for the people in her life and how much love 00:40:39.880 --> 00:40:44.239 she has for them. It was very heart opening and 00:40:44.239 --> 00:40:48.420 had feelings of deep acceptance and also had 00:40:48.420 --> 00:40:51.579 a memory of a dream that she'd had a little while 00:40:51.579 --> 00:40:56.989 ago come to mind and a message to remember, to 00:40:56.989 --> 00:41:05.710 dream. Another person said, the themes of surrender 00:41:05.710 --> 00:41:09.250 and pleasure came up in my meditation, particularly 00:41:09.250 --> 00:41:13.710 that pleasure is a key to deepening my intuition. 00:41:14.530 --> 00:41:17.809 I often experience a lifting sensation. Elder 00:41:17.809 --> 00:41:22.659 lifts my spirit and body upwards. And two other 00:41:22.659 --> 00:41:26.340 folks in this year's Call into Darkness had images 00:41:26.340 --> 00:41:30.920 of a slide downwards and a ladder downwards, 00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:34.559 one inviting surrender and letting go and one 00:41:34.559 --> 00:41:38.599 inviting connection to this darker, more quiet, 00:41:38.739 --> 00:41:43.630 liminal underworld. And in all cases, in this 00:41:43.630 --> 00:41:46.690 like lifting sensation, the sliding sensation, 00:41:46.750 --> 00:41:51.469 the ladder, to me it's this invitation for movement, 00:41:51.929 --> 00:41:54.550 for shifting levels of consciousness, an invitation 00:41:54.550 --> 00:42:00.190 to expand beyond the normal reaches of the material 00:42:00.190 --> 00:42:07.309 world. A few folks had experience of grief and 00:42:07.309 --> 00:42:12.809 being held in grief. and one of them felt Elder 00:42:12.809 --> 00:42:17.030 wanting some of her tears as a gift or an offering 00:42:17.030 --> 00:42:20.590 and felt surges of energy moving through her 00:42:20.590 --> 00:42:23.670 body, every cell becoming alive and buzzing. 00:42:24.750 --> 00:42:27.889 She felt a groundedness and also like Elder was 00:42:27.889 --> 00:42:32.710 holding her and had a strong connection to feeling 00:42:32.710 --> 00:42:36.269 the beautiful things in life and grieving some 00:42:36.269 --> 00:42:40.719 because of this. seeing the beauty in things 00:42:40.719 --> 00:42:46.840 and knowing that it's fleeting and she felt really 00:42:46.840 --> 00:42:51.619 held through all her tears and was just feeling 00:42:51.619 --> 00:42:54.940 very grateful for everything around her and the 00:42:54.940 --> 00:42:57.119 support system and the earth resonating with 00:42:57.119 --> 00:43:00.659 her and just felt very connected to the wider 00:43:00.659 --> 00:43:05.400 experience of life. She also works in end -of 00:43:05.400 --> 00:43:08.659 -life care and is in call into darkness. So during 00:43:08.659 --> 00:43:12.139 her week with Elder, she reported Elder coming 00:43:12.139 --> 00:43:15.360 in really strongly to support her and her work 00:43:15.360 --> 00:43:19.940 with the folks close to death. And one day when 00:43:19.940 --> 00:43:22.500 she was offering a bodywork session to one of 00:43:22.500 --> 00:43:25.739 her clients, she felt Elder come in really powerfully 00:43:25.739 --> 00:43:29.539 during that session and after. Her client reported 00:43:29.539 --> 00:43:33.739 this really mystical experience of being surrounded 00:43:33.739 --> 00:43:38.099 by his ancestors and relatives and that it was 00:43:38.099 --> 00:43:41.420 such a beautiful, healing and peaceful medicine 00:43:41.420 --> 00:43:45.760 for him during this time in his life. And someone 00:43:45.760 --> 00:43:49.239 else in the circle had recently had someone in 00:43:49.239 --> 00:43:53.420 her community die and she felt the grief of this 00:43:53.420 --> 00:43:57.260 moving her body in a way she never had before. 00:43:57.769 --> 00:44:01.630 Her heart was bursting open with sorrow in a 00:44:01.630 --> 00:44:05.869 way she'd never felt before. And she was just 00:44:05.869 --> 00:44:09.329 able to feel in awe of this aspect of the human 00:44:09.329 --> 00:44:13.610 experience when a loved one dies that's so powerful 00:44:13.610 --> 00:44:16.750 to be with these feelings. And she was just very 00:44:16.750 --> 00:44:20.809 aware of the healing quality of grief that was 00:44:20.809 --> 00:44:23.920 moving through her system. It felt like a very 00:44:23.920 --> 00:44:28.019 beautiful and precious and heartbreaking and 00:44:28.019 --> 00:44:35.320 heart expanding experience. And last person who 00:44:35.320 --> 00:44:40.159 I'll share before my share is she had the experience 00:44:40.159 --> 00:44:45.099 of this like three act play. The first act was 00:44:46.030 --> 00:44:50.010 very heavy and she was taken down and down and 00:44:50.010 --> 00:44:53.110 down, spiraling and swirling into herself and 00:44:53.110 --> 00:44:58.789 her body and was brought into her stomach and 00:44:58.789 --> 00:45:01.469 it was brought to her attention, you know, this 00:45:01.469 --> 00:45:05.809 pain that she's having and a health scare that 00:45:05.809 --> 00:45:09.860 she's experiencing in that area. And it felt 00:45:09.860 --> 00:45:13.840 like Eldar was playfully batting that area like 00:45:13.840 --> 00:45:18.659 a kitten batting a ball, working to loosen up 00:45:18.659 --> 00:45:21.139 the constriction there. And it felt to her like 00:45:21.139 --> 00:45:24.139 she was playing with death, playing with something 00:45:24.139 --> 00:45:27.539 potentially deadly and facing it really playfully 00:45:27.539 --> 00:45:32.420 and lightly. And after the meditation, she said 00:45:32.420 --> 00:45:35.780 that part of her body feels much more open and 00:45:35.780 --> 00:45:40.599 light. And the second act of her experience, 00:45:40.679 --> 00:45:43.940 her journey, her meditation, was a white light 00:45:43.940 --> 00:45:47.440 with beautiful sheets and dancers dancing with 00:45:47.440 --> 00:45:50.920 the sheets and just the beauty of this really 00:45:50.920 --> 00:45:55.500 ephemeral type quality and watching the dancers 00:45:55.500 --> 00:46:01.739 and dancing herself. And in the third part, she 00:46:01.739 --> 00:46:05.489 was invited to put her hands on the ground. and 00:46:05.489 --> 00:46:08.590 she felt like the earth was shaking and it was 00:46:08.590 --> 00:46:11.989 so intense. It was too much. She kept having 00:46:11.989 --> 00:46:15.849 to take her hands up off the earth, but then 00:46:15.849 --> 00:46:19.090 Elder was inviting her to just start to shake 00:46:19.090 --> 00:46:22.349 and move with it, matching the energy to get 00:46:22.349 --> 00:46:25.449 in alignment with it, so matching the energy 00:46:25.449 --> 00:46:29.449 of the earth. and then it didn't impact her as 00:46:29.449 --> 00:46:32.570 much and towards the end she was playing with 00:46:32.570 --> 00:46:35.889 not physically shaking but being able to receive 00:46:35.889 --> 00:46:40.070 that energy, contain and hold it without being 00:46:40.070 --> 00:46:43.849 so impacted by it. So I've shared a lot of my 00:46:43.849 --> 00:46:47.010 general experience I have with Elder and this 00:46:47.010 --> 00:46:50.690 is my particular journey that I experienced with 00:46:50.690 --> 00:46:55.570 her in the Plant Wisdom Circle this year. I felt 00:46:55.570 --> 00:47:01.289 like my body was dissolving and opening and expanding 00:47:01.289 --> 00:47:05.610 and the word I kept hearing was open, open, open. 00:47:06.329 --> 00:47:10.170 And I had an image come of a mother rocking a 00:47:10.170 --> 00:47:14.010 baby. And I was brought into this experience 00:47:14.010 --> 00:47:19.010 as the baby and what it feels like to be held 00:47:19.010 --> 00:47:23.760 and to deeply surrender to this level. which 00:47:23.760 --> 00:47:26.880 is really hard. It was hard for me to just fully 00:47:26.880 --> 00:47:30.380 let go and trust in the mother that was holding 00:47:30.380 --> 00:47:33.380 me and rocking me. And I really couldn't do anything. 00:47:33.519 --> 00:47:36.679 You know, I was helpless in the way that a baby 00:47:36.679 --> 00:47:41.699 is helpless, but also the experience of the freedom 00:47:41.699 --> 00:47:48.380 in that. And then just after this image, I saw 00:47:48.380 --> 00:47:51.940 the image of me being hung and just hanging. 00:47:52.199 --> 00:47:56.320 And again, Elder is showing me this level of 00:47:56.320 --> 00:47:59.820 surrender in a very different way. It was kind 00:47:59.820 --> 00:48:02.400 of shocking to feel and see those images back 00:48:02.400 --> 00:48:05.280 to back, but it also just made sense to me in 00:48:05.280 --> 00:48:07.900 that moment and felt like she was inviting me 00:48:07.900 --> 00:48:10.659 to surrender more in my life and also showing 00:48:10.659 --> 00:48:15.960 me these moments of birth and death as these 00:48:15.960 --> 00:48:21.219 experiences of the ultimate surrender. and so 00:48:21.219 --> 00:48:24.760 much of the in -between moments when we just 00:48:24.760 --> 00:48:28.599 try to cling on and control things, but really 00:48:28.599 --> 00:48:33.380 all of life flows more easily when we can invite 00:48:33.380 --> 00:48:38.000 in a level of surrender. And after that, I was 00:48:38.000 --> 00:48:40.360 kind of somatically brought into this field of 00:48:40.360 --> 00:48:42.840 energy that I often feel with her, which feels 00:48:42.840 --> 00:48:47.360 like the field of consciousness or the energy 00:48:47.360 --> 00:48:50.079 that moves and permeates all of earth and all 00:48:50.079 --> 00:48:54.300 of life. And it's this same sort of feeling I 00:48:54.300 --> 00:48:57.139 get when I'm giving cranial sacral work and tapping 00:48:57.139 --> 00:49:01.480 into that deep rhythm of the cerebral spinal 00:49:01.480 --> 00:49:07.159 fluid. It has this feeling of like a slow moving 00:49:07.159 --> 00:49:12.679 cloud that's always changing but has no agenda 00:49:12.679 --> 00:49:18.400 or urgency. and it feels so relaxing and inviting 00:49:18.400 --> 00:49:24.719 to sink into and she was showing me this constant 00:49:24.719 --> 00:49:29.199 change and movement of life that's always unfolding 00:49:29.199 --> 00:49:34.340 and she said there's no sense in holding tight 00:49:34.340 --> 00:49:39.159 because it's going to move and change and flow 00:49:39.159 --> 00:49:44.289 and she's showing me the endlessness of time 00:49:44.289 --> 00:49:50.250 and the shape shifting of energy and how soothing 00:49:50.250 --> 00:49:55.849 that is to surrender into. And then I saw an 00:49:55.849 --> 00:49:59.190 image of myself being stretched open from the 00:49:59.190 --> 00:50:03.489 sides like an accordion and things just falling 00:50:03.489 --> 00:50:07.400 out of myself like holding a purse upside down 00:50:07.400 --> 00:50:10.119 and emptying it out. And, you know, her just 00:50:10.119 --> 00:50:14.920 expanding the space, stretching me out, expanding 00:50:14.920 --> 00:50:18.679 the space I feel in my body and clearing out 00:50:18.679 --> 00:50:22.360 what's been compacted in there. And then she 00:50:22.360 --> 00:50:25.920 brought my attention to this part of me in there, 00:50:25.960 --> 00:50:31.199 very young, who has this trauma from noise from 00:50:31.199 --> 00:50:35.730 when I was a baby and my older brother the scream 00:50:35.730 --> 00:50:38.710 in my ear as loudly as he could and the shock 00:50:38.710 --> 00:50:42.630 of that in my system and the complete inability 00:50:42.630 --> 00:50:47.650 to feel safe in that moment. And it's something 00:50:47.650 --> 00:50:50.429 I've revisited a lot in my life, this moment 00:50:50.429 --> 00:50:53.750 of total unpredictability and feeling totally 00:50:53.750 --> 00:50:55.530 unsafe and not being able to do anything about 00:50:55.530 --> 00:50:58.860 it. It was interesting because there were some 00:50:58.860 --> 00:51:01.519 noises from the group that she was showing me. 00:51:01.719 --> 00:51:06.880 I was subtly bracing against, closing off to 00:51:06.880 --> 00:51:10.579 the soundscape and showing me this frozen part 00:51:10.579 --> 00:51:15.079 of me that she was helping to just gently shake 00:51:15.079 --> 00:51:20.420 loose and open up so I could just be in resonance 00:51:20.420 --> 00:51:24.840 with the world around me. receiving it, moving 00:51:24.840 --> 00:51:28.659 with it, attuning to it, allowing the sound to 00:51:28.659 --> 00:51:32.119 come in and through, which reminded me of the 00:51:32.119 --> 00:51:37.159 last person share that I read. And, you know, 00:51:37.159 --> 00:51:42.360 it's interesting because she is so amorphous 00:51:42.360 --> 00:51:49.380 and flowing and wide, and yet I feel so protected. 00:51:49.500 --> 00:51:53.960 Like, I don't feel like anything would come in 00:51:53.960 --> 00:51:59.300 and through that would harm me in her presence. 00:52:00.199 --> 00:52:04.800 So again, just like in folklore where the elder 00:52:04.800 --> 00:52:08.159 mother is this deeply protective presence to 00:52:08.159 --> 00:52:13.460 protect you from evil and her medicine of blocking 00:52:13.460 --> 00:52:16.500 cold and flu viruses from entering the cell, 00:52:17.860 --> 00:52:20.900 it's like she... opens us up and she does this 00:52:20.900 --> 00:52:24.860 physically to opening our pores helping us sweat 00:52:24.860 --> 00:52:31.579 out toxins or breaking a fever and opening us 00:52:31.579 --> 00:52:36.179 up like clearing out but at the same time we're 00:52:36.179 --> 00:52:41.519 so protected we're so protected in her arms she 00:52:41.519 --> 00:52:46.630 also kept bringing up the phrase not enough time 00:52:46.630 --> 00:52:53.070 and kept showing me the way that I say this and 00:52:53.070 --> 00:52:57.630 how it was so faulty and such a constricting 00:52:57.630 --> 00:53:02.690 way to see and perceive the world. And, you know, 00:53:02.750 --> 00:53:06.389 she lives in such a timeless possibility. And 00:53:06.389 --> 00:53:09.389 when we work with her, we can sink into that. 00:53:10.039 --> 00:53:14.000 and open our lives up to more spaciousness and 00:53:14.000 --> 00:53:17.719 more possibility and more timelines that are 00:53:17.719 --> 00:53:22.039 wanting to be dreamed through us. So she just 00:53:22.039 --> 00:53:25.320 kept the energy of those words, not enough time. 00:53:25.840 --> 00:53:29.139 She kept showing me how that landed in my body 00:53:29.139 --> 00:53:34.780 versus her expansiveness in regards to timelessness. 00:53:37.039 --> 00:53:42.880 I had this incredibly powerful dream that night 00:53:42.880 --> 00:53:44.800 of the Plant Wisdom Circle. It was one of the 00:53:44.800 --> 00:53:47.159 most powerful dreams I've ever had and I'm not 00:53:47.159 --> 00:53:50.440 going to share the details of it but I will say 00:53:50.440 --> 00:53:55.079 that I was brought through this type of death 00:53:55.079 --> 00:53:59.179 and rebirth process through a deep healing and 00:53:59.179 --> 00:54:02.320 was presented with my power face to face and 00:54:02.320 --> 00:54:07.920 had the opportunity to choose to learn from it 00:54:07.920 --> 00:54:13.300 instead of battle against it and I woke up after 00:54:13.300 --> 00:54:19.380 that dream feeling so changed and like Nothing 00:54:19.380 --> 00:54:23.519 would be the same after that and I recorded the 00:54:23.519 --> 00:54:26.360 dream. I like went downstairs recorded the dream 00:54:26.360 --> 00:54:29.940 sat in the dark for a while and as I lay back 00:54:29.940 --> 00:54:34.400 down was kind of brought back into that same 00:54:34.400 --> 00:54:37.719 space that she was holding me in in the plant 00:54:37.719 --> 00:54:44.719 circle and that slow morphing cloud timelessness 00:54:44.719 --> 00:54:51.360 but also ever -changing type space and I just 00:54:51.360 --> 00:54:54.219 began receiving all of these downloads from elder 00:54:54.219 --> 00:54:58.260 about working with energy and consciousness and 00:54:58.650 --> 00:55:04.289 the alchemy of numbers, and she was saying that 00:55:04.289 --> 00:55:09.769 she gave me that dream at 3 .33 a .m. When I 00:55:09.769 --> 00:55:14.429 woke up, it was 3 .40, because it was a nine, 00:55:14.989 --> 00:55:20.250 and that nine is the climax of numbers. It's 00:55:20.250 --> 00:55:23.983 the ultimate climax energy before there's... 00:55:23.980 --> 00:55:26.699 resolution, there's a death, there's an ending 00:55:26.699 --> 00:55:31.400 here at nine, and that then gets resolved in 00:55:31.400 --> 00:55:35.639 the following zero. And I'm not, I've never been 00:55:35.639 --> 00:55:38.280 really into numerology, but she was really showing 00:55:38.280 --> 00:55:42.840 me her energy in numbers, which was really interesting. 00:55:43.579 --> 00:55:48.380 And so in that zero, there's this state of all 00:55:48.380 --> 00:55:52.539 possibility, but possibility that's available 00:55:52.889 --> 00:55:58.630 only because of the learning and experience of 00:55:58.630 --> 00:56:04.530 the previous nine. So this climax and death of 00:56:04.530 --> 00:56:08.650 the nine into the zero, and she lives here, this 00:56:08.650 --> 00:56:13.070 space in the void, in the all possibility, and 00:56:13.070 --> 00:56:16.070 helps us have a smooth transition from the ending 00:56:16.800 --> 00:56:20.019 of something into the void and then moving towards 00:56:20.019 --> 00:56:25.760 that birth of the new into the one. So that was 00:56:25.760 --> 00:56:30.280 a fascinating way to show that to me. And I could 00:56:30.280 --> 00:56:34.219 really feel like she is that dark mother who 00:56:34.219 --> 00:56:38.260 is again always destroying and creating and destroying 00:56:38.260 --> 00:56:42.219 and creating and service to life. And it was 00:56:42.219 --> 00:56:47.300 so powerful and beautiful and I received a follow 00:56:47.300 --> 00:56:51.519 -up dream two nights later that was equally as 00:56:51.519 --> 00:56:55.159 powerful and transformative and with themes of 00:56:55.159 --> 00:57:00.380 death and snake skin shedding and you know just 00:57:00.380 --> 00:57:05.599 very elder type dreams. So she's just been with 00:57:05.599 --> 00:57:11.820 me in this liminal space and feeling into really 00:57:11.820 --> 00:57:16.530 her power as the dark goddess and her teachings 00:57:16.530 --> 00:57:20.130 that are available to us, especially in the dark 00:57:20.130 --> 00:57:23.210 months of the year, especially in the shedding 00:57:23.210 --> 00:57:25.789 and dying back, especially in these liminal times, 00:57:25.869 --> 00:57:29.869 but always in any threshold and any transition 00:57:29.869 --> 00:57:36.050 and any time or place you're moving through an 00:57:36.050 --> 00:57:39.570 ending and into a transition of birthing something 00:57:39.570 --> 00:57:44.829 new. And in that transition, there's often an 00:57:44.829 --> 00:57:49.949 uncomfortable place of not knowing yet and she 00:57:49.949 --> 00:57:55.989 is here in that place cackling and creating and 00:57:55.989 --> 00:58:01.969 dreaming and inviting us to surrender and anchoring 00:58:01.969 --> 00:58:06.710 us more deeply into our power and is just such 00:58:06.710 --> 00:58:11.460 a beautiful guide for us during these transitional 00:58:11.460 --> 00:58:16.159 moments of our lives. So as you can see, there 00:58:16.159 --> 00:58:20.880 are lots of threads of elder being a wise teacher, 00:58:21.300 --> 00:58:26.119 an elder figure in our lives, one who stands 00:58:26.119 --> 00:58:28.719 at the threshold, helping us move through endings 00:58:28.719 --> 00:58:31.739 and beginnings more smoothly, calling us into 00:58:31.739 --> 00:58:35.619 presence and the truth of the very ephemeral 00:58:35.619 --> 00:58:39.920 and magical nature of reality. And when we accept 00:58:39.920 --> 00:58:43.820 this reality, we are able to loosen our grip 00:58:43.820 --> 00:58:47.800 of control and access another layer of our power, 00:58:47.980 --> 00:58:52.000 one that's comfortable with the range of life's 00:58:52.000 --> 00:58:56.590 rhythms and seasons, you know, elder. opens us, 00:58:56.769 --> 00:59:01.809 she asks us to lean into this ever -changing 00:59:01.809 --> 00:59:05.030 morphing consciousness of life and invites us 00:59:05.030 --> 00:59:09.110 to let that moving nature of life in, asks us 00:59:09.110 --> 00:59:14.030 to trust in its unfolding and with her presence 00:59:14.030 --> 00:59:20.289 really experience being held in this. When you 00:59:20.289 --> 00:59:25.730 can really open up to the magic of life and the 00:59:25.730 --> 00:59:31.829 messages from beyond, you know that you're always 00:59:31.829 --> 00:59:37.670 held here in this very impermanent existence 00:59:37.670 --> 00:59:43.889 and you're never alone. So that is elder. There 00:59:43.889 --> 00:59:50.119 you have it. This cauldron of elder experiences 00:59:50.119 --> 00:59:53.440 and teachings and wisdom. So just take a moment 00:59:53.440 --> 00:59:57.639 to feel what it feels like to have just listened 00:59:57.639 --> 01:00:02.079 to this, to have received these insights into 01:00:02.079 --> 01:00:07.119 your body. Just hearing people's experiences 01:00:07.119 --> 01:00:12.179 is medicine. It is her medicine. It is her story. 01:00:13.059 --> 01:00:16.480 And through these words, it's like you are taking 01:00:16.480 --> 01:00:20.280 her in. So take a moment to close your eyes and 01:00:20.280 --> 01:00:23.900 invite her in. See if you can feel her with you 01:00:23.900 --> 01:00:29.980 right now and open yourself to what she may want 01:00:29.980 --> 01:00:35.719 to teach you. If you want to connect with the 01:00:35.719 --> 01:00:39.119 plants in this way, all you have to do is go 01:00:39.119 --> 01:00:43.920 outside Find a plant or a tree and open yourself 01:00:43.920 --> 01:00:48.000 up to listen. It's really simple and it's in 01:00:48.000 --> 01:00:51.760 your bones. All of our ancestors have done this 01:00:51.760 --> 01:00:55.900 and it lives in you too. And if you want to learn 01:00:55.900 --> 01:01:00.980 from me, I have a pre -recorded one hour masterclass 01:01:00.980 --> 01:01:04.079 called How to Connect with Plant Consciousness 01:01:04.079 --> 01:01:07.139 Without Psychedelics. And you can find that in 01:01:07.139 --> 01:01:10.519 the show notes. And I trust that any way you 01:01:10.519 --> 01:01:12.360 choose to move forward with your relationship 01:01:12.360 --> 01:01:15.420 with the plants is going to be meaningful to 01:01:15.420 --> 01:01:20.039 both you and them. So until next time, may you 01:01:20.039 --> 01:01:23.519 open yourself up to the magic that's all around 01:01:23.519 --> 01:01:27.780 you. May you remember your power and that it's 01:01:27.780 --> 01:01:33.199 okay to let go into this field of flowing, changing 01:01:33.199 --> 01:01:39.179 life because you are so deeply held. Thank you 01:01:39.179 --> 01:01:42.159 for joining the plant wisdom circle. May the 01:01:42.159 --> 01:01:44.320 teachings of the plants continue to ripple through 01:01:44.320 --> 01:01:47.099 your life, guiding you and nourishing you in 01:01:47.099 --> 01:01:49.820 the days to come. If you'd like to keep weaving 01:01:49.820 --> 01:01:51.980 with the plants, you can subscribe to the show, 01:01:52.460 --> 01:01:54.659 leave us a review, and share it with others who 01:01:54.659 --> 01:01:57.159 would love to listen. This would mean so much 01:01:57.159 --> 01:02:00.559 to me and to the plants. Make sure to check out 01:02:00.559 --> 01:02:03.280 the show notes below to learn about any links, 01:02:03.539 --> 01:02:06.400 events, or classes I shared with you today. You 01:02:06.400 --> 01:02:08.880 can find the next Plant Wisdom Circle and other 01:02:08.880 --> 01:02:12.400 classes and resources at groundwaterhealing .com. 01:02:12.840 --> 01:02:15.559 Until next time, may you walk gently with the 01:02:15.559 --> 01:02:17.559 earth with the plants by your side.