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Hello everyone and welcome to the Awaken Together podcast. I'm Kat and today we have a very special

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guest on the show. This special guest is a dear friend of mine. Her name is Courtney Mirage.

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Today we're going to be talking about plant friends, plant consciousness, and it's a real treat

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because Courtney is an incredible, reformed lawyer, turned community, and folk herbalist and ritualist.

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She's a creator of the Well and the Wheel where she serves as a period keeper and womb tender.

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So without further ado, welcome Courtney! Hello, hi, thank you for having me. Of course,

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thank you so much for being here. It's such a treat. I feel like we've been talking about

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having you on the pod for a really long time and it's just all come into fruition.

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Yes, super exciting. Thank you. Yeah, of course. So I love everything you do. Would you mind sharing

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with our audience like what exactly you do? Sure. So I work with people, especially women in

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womb carriers, but people in all bodies to support them on their healing journey by using

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herbal and ritual medicine. So what that looks like is it could be as simple as making a cup of tea.

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It could also be more comprehensive where I'm making sort of a herbal ritual protocol for

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people to follow and infuse into their daily life for maybe three or six months or more

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to support them in whatever physical, mental, emotional, spiritual healing path they're on.

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One of the things I love about this medicine is that it's a form of like complementary alternative

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medicine, which means that while it's ancient ancestral and super foundational for our species,

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these days when we rely more on like modern western allopathic medicine, it's considered

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quote unquote alternative and they go so well together. So the people that I work with can be

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seeing a doctor who went to modern medical school and the work that I do can support and

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compliment the medicine that they receive from them. I also offer red tent circles, intuitive tea

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ceremonies, and tea leaf reading. So we get into some of the more the shorter ritual medicine,

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bringing in herbal allies to those experiences as well. That might not be a three to six month

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ritual. It might be like a powerful one day ritual. Similar to like a psychoactive plant medicine

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ceremony, those types of experiences without psychoactive medicine. Yeah, thanks for sharing

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all about that and I'm such a fan of your work, clearly. I mean, I attended your red tent circles,

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which are just incredible and such a magical space for women and womb carriers to come together and

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just be vulnerable and share truths, what's going on with our cycles, with our hormones, with

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anything else that's feeling present and you just offer such beautiful and dynamic ways to process.

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And it was such a treat having you at Myra Treats in April and that was just such a highlight.

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We created beautiful herbal blends with oils and it gave some self massage and screamed at mountain

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and sacred rage. So yeah, I mean, everything that you offer this world is so needed and I'm just

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really grateful to have you as a friend as well as in this space. And something you mentioned

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was the difference of the psychoactive and the non psychoactive plant medicine friends.

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And on this podcast, we have had, I think, two separate episodes with guests who have shared

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about the psychoactive kind of plant medicine. And so I thought it was really important for us to also

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have you on the show to share about the non psychoactive kind because like you said,

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they're a beautiful compliment to things that we're already doing in our everyday lives and they can

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be a lot more gentle but still very powerful. Absolutely. So just different ways to access

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nature, what's already around us and fill in gaps and use them as tools and friends. And so

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really excited to dig into that more with you today. Me too. Thank you. Yeah. And you created

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this beautiful tea blend for us that we're sipping on. Yes, this is my sisterhood circle tea blend

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that I brought for us today with a lot of divine feminine energy and womb and cyclical support and

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then also a lot of like nervous system energy so that we can be calm and in the flow of conversation.

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So we are allying with rose, raspberry leaf, catnip, holy basil, calendula,

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spearmint, ladies mantle and vervein today. And the blend is delicious and relaxing and

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yeah, also smells really wonderful. That rose is really coming through. Oh yeah. Just like a warm

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cup of tea that tastes so yummy. It's just very grounding me right now with that. Me too. We all

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know I always need it. Me too. Bring us back down. Yes, down dirt. Definitely. Yeah. Well,

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I'm excited to get into some of the properties of these plant friends. Yes. But I figure before we

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hop into that, if you wouldn't mind sharing like you have had such a journey in your life to get

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to this point. Yeah. And I think there's so much power in your story. So I'm wondering if you'd be

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open to sharing that. Sure. Yeah, my pleasure. So the short version is that I used to be a

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lawyer and I hated it. And it took me going to the tippy tip tip edge of the world in West

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Cork, Ireland to finding my connection with the plants. So that's like the log line for it.

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The much longer version is that I actually don't know if you know the beginning part of the story.

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So when I was born, my mom and I were very, very sick. And she thought we were both gonna die.

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I did not know this. Yeah. So when I was born, we were exposed to some very toxic

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building materials, some chemicals that were at the time legal and accessible in like carpet,

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paint, glue, that type of thing. And the house had been that we were living in and at the time

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was getting remodeled. And we were both super sensitive because we were in the postpartum phase.

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So we got really sick. And so my mom ended up raising us with a very sustainable, naturally

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minded lifestyle to save her lives. Wow. So I was raised with that mentality, which I'm very,

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very lucky to have had the impetus for that luck is sad. But we made it, you know, not without some

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long term health challenges. But luckily, my mom brought us into awareness of all the other types

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of medicine available to us. And we got to access that healing long term, which was great. And then

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I have had endometriosis as partly I have a guess we don't really know where endometriosis comes

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from it's a disease where the endometrial tissue in the uterus grows outside of the uterus. And in

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some people, unfortunately, including myself, it can cause tremendous pain with the menstrual bleed.

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And so a lot of guesses around that are environmental toxins are potential causes. And

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then there's also some genetic elements that I most likely won the beneficiary of. And so

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I have had to sort of seek alternative, quote unquote, alternative medicine to support my journey

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there because the only solution accessible to me in allopathic medicine has been either a very

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invasive surgery that is not even really proven to be helpful and can actually cause more scar tissue

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and pain in the long term or birth control, which as you have talked about on this podcast,

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can be an amazing ally for some people and can also mask a lot of challenges and cause

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um, cause hormonal imbalances, et cetera, um, as well. So, um, I had to fend for myself. And when

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I went to law school, I was so out of sync with my cycle that the pain was the worst it's ever been.

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Um, a little TMI, but I remember driving home after class one day, um, barfing in my car because

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the pain was so bad and that was so, it was awful. Um, so after law school, um, I was with a partner

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who was living in Ireland and, um, the pandemic hit. And so we were living in the really, really

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remote, um, village in like Southwest Ireland, kind of on the edge of the world, um, overlooking

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the Atlantic, getting away from everything, very lucky to be there, very, very lucky to have gotten

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to spend time there. Um, and that's when the plant started, uh, reaching out to me to build

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relationship. Um, because there wasn't much else to do. You know, things got quiet and so I was

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able to hear them and have them invite me in. And, um, I got to a point where I started working with

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them every day and cooking with them, foraging and building a little bit of like a emotional

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relationship with them and getting to a point where I was like, wow, I really don't want to

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practice law. This feels so out of alignment for me. And then the moment, um, that I like, I had my

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business set up to practice, the moment I decided to quit when like one of my good friends asked me

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to, um, help them out with something I really wanted to be working on in my law practice, it hit me

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that like, oh, I actually don't want to do this. I think I'm supposed to want to do this. So I quit

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and 48 hours later, this incredible ancestral herbal apprenticeship landed in my lap for me to

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apply to and it was the biggest hell yes I've ever gotten in my life. What a magical moment. Yes. I mean,

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talk about just clarity and like closing of one chapter to open anew and I mean, you're such an

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intuitive being. You always have been. I've always, we've always connected in this way. And you, I

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think like that was a massive time where you listened to your gut and it, it showed you the way. It

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did. It was painful, honestly, to let go of all the hard work I had done. Um, meant to step out of

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the capitalist, um, you know, wheel of feeling like I needed to climb the ladder of success

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and that I really wanted to be helping people and then I found, you know, once I got further into my

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apprenticeship, I'm helping people so much more than I ever would have with law. Like so much more

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deeply, so much more authentically and thoroughly and, um, it's so much more fulfilling for everyone

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involved, including the plants. You know, they were ignored. What I was doing before. So they get to

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participate now and it feels so much more enriching, um, and human, frankly, to get to spend my time

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like this now. That's incredible. Yeah. So something you said that I wanted to kind of circle back on

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that I just thought was so beautiful and, um, I was like starting to visualize it, but I'd love just,

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for just to hear more from your perspective on is you shared how the plants started talking to you.

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Yeah. Right. And so I feel like I've had those experiences too, right. Um, but I'm curious,

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like what did this look like for you? What did this feel like? Yeah. So I think in the beginning,

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it was pretty, uh, unconscious on my end. It was more like my eyes would just linger on certain

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plants and like I wouldn't be able to look away or I would start seeing them everywhere. And that

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could just be confirmation bias and you know, you're in a, I was in a place where like I'm surrounded

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by plants, right? But they started to sort of invite me into a multi-sensory meditative experience

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with them. So I would, instead of, you know, just like, okay, I'm going to pick some dandelion,

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greens and toss that in my salad. Um, I'm going to like sit with the dandelion. I'm going to sit

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with the honeysuckle. I'm going to sit with the wild radish leaves and notice that how they move in

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the wind. Notice, um, how they smell like when the salt water, you know, is infused on their leaves.

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Notice, um, you know, once I do bring them into my food, how do they really taste? And it made me

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so much more present with my food and with my experience of cooking. Like really the magic of

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um, plants is bringing us into the moment, bringing us into presence, bringing us into our

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bodies and into our senses. And um, I'm not a big one for like sitting and meditating.

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My brain bounces all over the place, but when I am sitting with plants, I, I've become still with

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them and they invite me into that experience. And as I got more and more intimately connected with

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them, they did start to speak and like, you know, my skeptical brain, my lawyer brain,

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you know, is still alive in some ways and wonders if like this is all just in my head.

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And I've come to the conclusion that, okay, if it is, does it matter? You know, does it really

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matter if when I sit down, um, with Rose and she says to me, I love you, please pick a flower

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I'm ready to share with you today. Is that in my head? I don't know if it really matters, right?

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Like this is like rule 101 of psychic mediumships. Yeah. This is in books of like,

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step one is getting comfortable with your imagination. Exactly. And what comes and trusting

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that and writing it off. Right. Phony. Yes. And, and frankly, even if it is just in my head,

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it's such an incredible experience to work through interrelationship, interrelational

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experiences in a safe way because the plants have so much more peace than we do as human beings.

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And so if I hear a boundary, you know, I'm trying to check in and see if Blackberry is

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going to let me tell this story. And she says, no, so I'm not going to tell her story. She's

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very boundaries. So I really am good at like making sure I honor her boundaries. She's a huge, like,

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she's a hedge plant. So she's like, she's a marker of boundaries. So she's a big boundary plant.

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She doesn't want me to tell this story. So I'm not going to tell her story. Um, sorry, that was a

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tease, but I love, I love even just experiencing this. It's really special. You know, I do, I listen

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to like, I have specific plants, like I have a Blackberry plant in my home, but I also connect

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with like the spirit of a plant and how they show up in the world, all over the world, right?

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And so there are some times when, okay, with my chamomile and calendula, I've got growing in my garden,

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I really wanted to harvest some because I'm drying them to use for medicine later. And I sat down

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with them recently and they said to me, not yet, Courtney, not yet, it's not time. And so I had to

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listen and like, I often find when they share a boundary, it's actually for my benefit. Because

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they're saying it's too early in the day, the medicine hasn't moved to the part of the plant that

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you need to harvest or, um, I haven't bloomed enough yet for you to harvest or recently, the

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chamomile was saying, please don't take all of me, leave some for the pollinators you're taking too

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much lately. So when I sit and listen, like they really show up in English in my head, but it also,

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at first, it shows up as like an energetic or spiritual or metaphysical boundary where I feel

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sort of a barrier. And then I ask, oh, what is this about? Or if I feel totally open and like,

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there's sort of no barrier at all, and there's just air between us and that invitation shows up,

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does that make sense? Totally. Yes, yes, absolutely. That's like the closest thing that I have to that

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too is when I'm on a hike, I recently learned that this is a big no-no, but picking wildflowers,

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right? Just like that's a general rule so that they're still in their habitat, right? And we have

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so few in Colorado. I know, yeah. This season was beautiful and this was before I really

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learned that. I was picking a wildflower bouquet, going on a hike with that intention, I always like,

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on the way back would look around and be like, okay, I would still have that moment of mindful

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check-in with each plant of like, can I pick you? Right. And sometimes it was yes. Yeah. And sometimes

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it was no. And whenever like an answer wasn't there, I would just like leave it and not mess with it.

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Beautiful. So I at least had that moment of check-in. Yeah, yeah. No, I'm not going to do that,

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but even still like in my backyard or whenever, whenever plants are around and there's,

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they're speaking to me, they're calling to me. If I want to have a moment often with sunflowers on

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walks, right? I just, ugh, every day that's like the one that speaks to me most because I don't

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know, there's so many reasons, right? Yeah. I have a tattooed on me now. Right. We have the same tattoo.

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Same artist. Exactly. Same artist. Dany did our tattoos and so it's the same location on each of

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us. Shout out to Das Colors on Instagram. Das Colors. Yes. If you're in Denver, check her out.

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She's freaking incredible. It's like a spiritual experience, honestly. Absolutely. And that's

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like, I think that's one thing that is helpful, you know, if I may segue into this, so helpful to

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know that we don't need to like take plant medicine into our body to connect with it. Yeah. Because

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what we're really talking about here is sovereignty and consent, right? And animism, knowing this

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concept that it's a spiritual theory, and we can use that word, it's a spiritual framework for

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recognizing that all things are sentient, all things are sovereign, all things are alive in

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their own way. And in our capitalist patriarchal society, we have this mentality of I need to

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have, collect, take, even dominate in order to connect. And that's not true. Yes. Like just

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sitting and observing and breathing on and with another plant, because we are plants in our own

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way too, which we'll get to in a minute. But you know, we have this relationship of carbon dioxide

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and oxygen. It's such a beautiful symbiotic relationship. Just sharing air with a plant

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can be a spiritual, powerful, medicinal experience. And we don't need to possess a plant in order to

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receive the medicine. And when we have consent, the medicine is so much more meaningful and powerful,

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not just from a spiritual perspective, but from a place of like, I feel good about taking the

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medicine in. You know, like my nervous system feels good about receiving this, so I'm going to be

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calmer and my body is going to actually be able to like, absorb and alchemyze this medicine better.

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Exactly. And that makes me think of an idea that I learned from Braiding Sweetgrass, which is a

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book that you love as well. You brought it here today. And it's a whole idea of reciprocity.

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Yes. Right? It's like getting away from just that capitalistic view of taking and understanding our

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place and all things with nature of there's a giving and a taking or a seaving. And it's always

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going back and forth in like really symbiotic relationships that are respectful and held

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with reverence and... Yeah. We are part of the ecosystem. We are absolutely part... And we don't

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think about it that way. We think we're above it, but we are absolutely part of it. We are the earth,

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you know? We are absolutely part of the earth. And I think one of the things that

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Robin... Wall Kimmerer, I think it's how I say her name. She talks about it so beautifully is

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right relationship. And that's essentially what we're talking about too is consent, right? And

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having that right relationship. And then also knowing that like, even if you get a yes and it's

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not in your ancestry or if it's an endangered plant, that might not be a yes to follow. It might be

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like, I could ally with you right now and I could really help you, but is there another plant that

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can offer the same or similar medicine that isn't going to cause harm in the process? Exactly. Like,

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for example, I don't work with Palo Santo or White Sage anymore because of both the endangered status

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of that medicine and the cultural appropriation involved, especially White Sage as a closed

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practice. It's working with White Sage as smudging, which I use the word sacred smoke because

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smudging is a specific term for that ritual, was illegal until the late 70s. And so it's,

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to me, it feels disrespectful of the sovereignty of the plant and the sovereignty of the ritual

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and the people that engage in the ritual to work with White Sage. It doesn't mean I don't work

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with sacred smoke. I absolutely work with sacred smoke. I use plants from my own ancestry, like

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rosemary and even clothes. I'm Persian and Jewish, so I connect with plants from the Swana region,

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Southwest Asian North Africa. Yeah, instead of Middle East, I learned that from one of my teachers,

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Sarah Corbett, and from Rowan and Sage. She's one of my favorite herbal teachers. I don't know that

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she came up with the term, but she uses Swana because it takes away the political charge of the

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term Middle East. And it also recognizes more of the cultural symbiosis between the region

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of Southwest Asia and North Africa. Very cool. Yeah. So that plant medicine, and that's also like

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one of the areas where, if not, some people say the area where herbal medicine was really

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discovered and honed is in the Swana region, especially Iran, which is where my family is from.

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So I feel strong pull to work with that medicine because it's so important and meaningful to me

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spiritually. And then my body can absorb it so much more readily than something that came from

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a different region. And that my nervous system doesn't feel good about because I feel bad

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working with that medicine. So it's, you know, that's not a healing experience. And even if you

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just look at it from that way, and you know, if you don't feel bad, then maybe, you know,

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you can look at it a different way. Yeah, I'm really paying attention to how it shows up in

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your body. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Get me deeper and deeper with it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Well,

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I know that there are some herbs that in plants that you work with a lot. And I'm curious,

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before we hop into each one of those, and their amazing medicinal properties and everything,

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how did you go about forming those bonds with these plants and specific? Yeah, so

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it's different with each plant, just like it's different with each person. So one of the ways

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that I frame this, I think I've heard other people discuss this as well, is that it's sort of like

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dating. Some plants are ready to make out on the first date, right? And you're gonna make me spit

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my teeth. You're making out with the plant. That's what you're doing right now. That's amazing.

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That's, I mean, you know, we're joking, but that's part of it. Like, some plants are ready

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for you to connect with them with your body inside right away. And some plants need time. So

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you might work with them by sitting with them. You might work with them by carrying a dried plant

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as like an amulet in your pocket for a while. The best way to work with plants is with our

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senses, right? But taste is not the only way. It could be meditating even with a picture of a plant,

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slowly court them and allow them to court you. I found so one way that I started my relationship

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with with some plants is one of my teachers, my apprenticeship mentor, Tanya Rikely,

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who was my teacher. She had us journey. She guided us in a journey on our first day of our

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apprenticeship together into like our inner psyche to meet our herbal ally for the year.

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Wow. And I had three show up. So overachiever. Yeah, that lawyer part of me still alive in some way.

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Yeah, but the plant that really showed up for me that I didn't know, like I saw the visual,

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but I didn't know who it was. So Tanya helped me identify it and link with her was ladies mantle.

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I brought her today. She wanted to come and hang out on the table with us. There she is.

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Yeah, she's beautiful. Do you want to smell? Yes, we can have a little sensory experience. Oh, yeah.

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She's ready to play. So what do you smell? Oh, smells florally. Almost oregano-y. Yeah.

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Yeah, and then like a little woody. That's so interesting and wonderful because it shows up

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a little bit differently for everybody kind of like drinking wine. It's like that sensory experience.

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So for me, I sort of get green tea and a little bit of tannin. Yeah. And I smell the woody bit as well.

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Yeah, I love her so much. She's special. And she really made me work for it. Yeah. To get into

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right relationship with her. So it took me ages to see her in the wild or in my neighborhood,

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even though she's a pretty popular plant out in the world. And it got to a point where I realized

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I had some internal work to do before I could allow her in. So she really took me on a journey of

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understanding my self-worth and that I didn't have to pedestalize her in order to be in relationship

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with her. She was teaching me about equality and not needing to experience idol worship. She was

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allowing me and inviting me to be unequal with her. And once I was able to understand that,

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it was showing up in my relationships with people too. And once I was able to understand that she

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showed up everywhere. Yeah. You know that happens. She was trying to teach me a lesson, which I'm so

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grateful for. So beautiful. Yeah. And so once that happened, and I could see her everywhere, then I

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started feeling consent and her willingness and even eagerness to connect with me beyond just an

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amulet in my pocket that I got from my teacher. And more in tea, in anointing oil, even as like a

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poultice and a salve. And she's an incredible ally for fertility and women's and womb support. So

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she's exactly right for what I need. But I needed to get in right relationship with her

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before she was going to be able to offer me that medicine. Get that foundation nice and right.

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Exactly. And build a beautiful bond on top of that. Exactly. And now it's such a spiritual

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experience connecting with her and I feel like I'm receiving medicine on so many different levels.

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Yeah. I love that whole holistic view on the medicine, on the plants and her properties and what

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she can do for you and all the lessons gleamed. Yes. So powerful. To me, this is how I want medicine

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to feel. And this is how I want my clients to experience medicine is a holistic experience

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that isn't just take a pill and call me in the morning, which can work, right? We know it can

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work and we know that sometimes we need it. But I always come to, you know, we are multifaceted

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beings. We have somatic needs as well as like digestive needs, you know, like they all go

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together. All of our organ systems are connected. So if we can get all of our systems aligned in

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our healing process, it's going to be so much more effective. And so I always come to herbal

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medicine first. And then when I need to explore allopathic medicine, like a surgery, for example,

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herbal medicine can help you recover, can help you prepare. But just ladies mantle can't hold a knife.

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Right. Like we need both and learning how to have that multifaceted approach to healing

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to cushion our experiences of allopathic medicine has been a pretty powerful experience for me.

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Amazing. Yeah. Yeah. And talk about like side effects, right? Like just the amount of side

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effects from like more clinical medications. It's always a need to cross reference and I'm sure

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there is a need for that. Every time. Every time. In herbs and plants as well. Yes. Yes. With every

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client, I always do my research and homework to make sure that with whatever allopathic medicine

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they're taking, pharma or anything else, even supplements and stuff, it is medicine. So we do

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have to be careful about contraindications, even like if you've got like lemon balm, for example,

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is a plant I work with very often. And you have to be careful with her in hypothyroidism.

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Interesting. Yeah. So just knowing that while this is the people's medicine, it's wonderfully safe,

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we still have to be careful with how we connect with them when we bring them into our bodies.

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Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Makes so much sense. And with that being said, I'm sure that some of our community

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members listening to this are going to be excited as I am and interested in channeling their inner

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which, maybe exploring this path some more. So I'm curious what tips would you have for

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our folks who are newer to this line of work and plants and consciousness and building bonds

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with this kind of medicine. So I would always start with sitting with a plant. And you can pick

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one plant, maybe that you've got in your backyard, in your home, it can be a house plant even,

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just learning to build relationship with them. It can be, I've got an oak tree in my neighborhood,

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who's young, he's maybe like 12 or 15. He's my buddy. And I always give him a high five or

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a little kiss when I pass by, like building relationship in that way. And then my intellectual

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lawyer brain wants to do the research. So you can, there's some incredible books and resources,

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definitely like Sarah Corbett with Rowan and Sage is one of my all time favorite

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resources online, if you want the intellectual side of things. There's so many different ways

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to do it. So you can do like the intellectual journey. I really, really, really recommend

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like a personal spiritual journey, if you're going to do that as well, starting with sitting with

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the plants and then ease your senses, you know, like we've been talking about. I would also say,

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if you've got a creative outlet that you like to connect with, like making music or painting or

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writing, using that outlet to connect, you know, writing poetry about a specific plant.

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And maybe if you're an intellectual minded person, you can do the research about like

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ancestral connections to that and ancestral uses of medicine for that plant and leave that into your

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poetry. You know, taking baths with plants is another one that I love because while we do absorb

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things through our skin and we still have to be careful, especially if we've got like skin-related

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allergies, like chamomiles in the Daisy family, for example, so you have to be careful if you're

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allergic to daisies kind of thing. But generally speaking, taking a bath with plants is a wonderfully

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sensual experience to build relationship with them. I would also say, this is the people's medicine,

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right? So look and see what is accessible to you right in your own backyard. There's a reason why

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this industry is not regulated in America at least. It's because it belongs to all of us.

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And it belongs to all of us because it's right there ready and accessible for us. So the dandelions

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you've got in your backyard, we can call them leaves or we can call them medicine. They're

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incredible nitrogen fixing plants. They're trying to heal the soil. So leave the dandelions. Oh my

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gosh. Yeah, that's a really simple way to connect with them. They're incredibly medicinal. The leaf,

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flower, and the root. That's something actually in Greek culture. Yeah. One of my, yeah, I remember

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that growing up, we call them horta. Beautiful. And they'll make like a dandelion tea, a dandelion

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stew. Yeah, it's a very common dish. That's wonderful. And they're delicious. Yeah. They're

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a little bit bitter. Yeah, you got to like treat them right. You got to treat them right. That's right.

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Exactly. And they're bitter for a reason. It's because it's part of the medicine.

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They have an amazing affinity for kidney and liver support. And like, you know, if you're

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in an urban environment, we do have to be careful about pesticides, sadly, like, and especially

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plants like that who help heal the soil, they'll absorb those toxins. So you might not want to

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harvest and eat the, you know, the dandelions you've got in your apartment complex or something

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like that because they likely have been sprayed and that can make you more ill, which we don't need.

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But, you know, build relationship with them and enjoy the sunshine that they bring and

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allow them to heal the soil. I think they're beautiful personally. I think so too.

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Yeah, they're a little like, they're called dandelion and they're also called, they've got a

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French name, like teeth of the lion, I think, because of the way that they're shaped. And they

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look like a lion because of their, and in Leo's season right now, we're still in Leo's season.

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So like relish that. I will also say one thing, another way to connect with plants is, speaking

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of Leo season is called astro herbalism. So if you're interested in astrology, there are certain

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plants that ally with certain signs and astrology. And so that can be like an interesting opening

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that's a passion of yours. So is it called again? Astro herbalism. Astro herbalism, amazing. I'll

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definitely check that out. Yeah, yeah. And it's a, you know, it can be as simple as like, oh,

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this is a great month to drink dandelion tea, or it could be as deep as I want to know when

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what phase of the moon is a good time to harvest this specific plant, you know, in this sign.

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You can get really nitty gritty with it. So that's one opening. Let's see. So many tactile tips.

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Yeah, I would say another, another, if I may, can I keep going? Please. I will also say,

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using sovereign language like we have been doing that Robin Wall camera talks about,

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is a great way to connect with plants because it just shifts our mindset about them. We don't use

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the word it. We use them, she, he, like it doesn't have to be gendered. Some plants might be gendered,

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like some trees are the female part of the trees and are the female species of the tree, some are

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male, but really, and that's like botanical, right? It can also be energetic, but they really

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transcend gender in so many ways. So whatever pronouns you want to use, the point is to give them,

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I hate the word personification because that implies that the only beings that are worth this

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language are people and that's not true. But that we don't really have another word for it.

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Yes. But to, to recognize their sovereignty by using people language, because that's the language

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that we have to recognize sovereignty is around human beings. So inviting them into that language.

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My brother has started doing this really beautiful gratitude practice before eating.

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And just recognizing the ecosystem that had to be at play, including us and how we cultivated that

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food to bring it into our body because food is medicine too. So just a brief thank you to the

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food in front of you. It doesn't have to be a spiritual thing, it can just be like a,

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you know, or a religious thing, it can just be a, I'm grateful for this food and I,

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I bet you will digest a little bit more easily. Yeah, thank you food. I just drink it with my coffee

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in the mornings. I whisper my gratitude into my coffee and then we drink it and it just feels

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like I'm being filled with the gratitude and the reciprocity. That's so beautiful. That's

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symbiosis. Yeah. There's so many ways that we can, and honestly, I bet a lot of us are already doing it.

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I think it's about bringing awareness and intention to it,

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because that's the spiritual practice, right? Is when we bring intention into it.

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Exactly, the missing link. Exactly, exactly. Yeah.

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Yeah. Oh my gosh, my heart is so full. I'm feeling very spiritually lit up and this has been such a

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incredible conversation. This is what I'm going to listen back to and I feel like I'm,

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like I'm going to just research things now. Yeah. And, and feel free to share with me,

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like absolutely. I would love to geek out with you about it and your listeners can totally,

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I mean, this is my jam. I love this stuff. So reach out to me and we can geek out about it

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together and I'm happy to share more resources and more ritual. How can our community connect with

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you? Yeah. So Instagram's a good way for better or worse. So my Instagram is at the well and the

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wheel and is spelled out Andy. And then my website is thewellonthewheel.com and then you can also

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email me at Courtney at the well on the wheel. Beautiful. You also have some amazing rentent

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circles coming up. I do. Yes. At Nurture, if you're in the Colorado area, Sunday, October 8th,

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one to six, it is always infused with plant medicine. And it's a way for us to connect with

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the sovereignty of our own bodies and the consent that we all deserve and some sex ed that we

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all deserve to know. And then some fun sacred rage practices and some ways to connect with

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herbal medicine and with other women in womb carriers. Everyone can benefit. Everyone should.

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I don't like using the word should, but like you will leave feeling so much lighter and more

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empowered and connected. Thank you. Really with yourself and community. So I cannot recommend

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your offerings enough. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you. And thank you all so much for listening,

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for being with us today. We would love to hear all of your questions and feedback. You can reach

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out to us on Instagram at AwakenTogether podcast and please like, follow, share, rate, review,

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all the things so that we can continue growing this little heart work. Thank you, Courtney.

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Thank you, Kat. Thank you all for listening. We'll see you next time.