Lichenwood Rambles

Finally Fairy Wands

Most everyone I know who grows Black Cohosh has enjoyed the swaying fronds of delicate white flowers in the heat of Midsummer.  The nature spirits at Lichenwood had something else in mind this year and it is only now, as Autumn creeps into the landscape that the fairy wands of Cimicifuga racemosa are unfurling. 

These plants live in my fairy garden which includes a very small pond, two terra cotta fairy women and a colorful garden gnome.  My adult children were rather horrified when I brought David the Gnome home from Big Lots.  Wasn't this just the same tacky kind of garden ornament I was always complaining about when other folks placed such things in their gardens?  Well, uh, yes, but I couldn't help myself.  David is holding a small fish net which seemed so perfect near the little pond, and those fairy girls were really looking for some male energy. 

This shady glade is also the home of Marshmallow, White Turtlehead, Dwarf Pink Baby's Breath, Wood Betony, Lady's Mantle, Variegated Hosta, Blue Violets, Nasturtiums, Daylilies, Wild Columbine, several varieties of Thyme, Kerria Japonica, and Flowering Quince.

Today it is the fairy wands of Black Cohosh that are the centerpiece of this tiny but jam packed with energy garden.  These are the plants with which I co-created Black Cohosh flower essence.  Black Cohosh brings the ability to face up to unhealthy life circumstances of abuse, manipulation, and threat.  People needing Black Cohosh are in a pattern of attracting to themselves the users and abusers of the world.  They constantly put themselves in bad situations and relationships.  They are often women, and they often are suffering from reproductive disorders, neck pain, headaches and other chronic conditions.  Their personalities seem dark, moody, and toxic.  Black Cohosh can help these individuals stand up for themselves, change their circumstances, and their lives.   

The best essay ever written on Black Cohosh (in my humble opinion) can be found in Matthew Wood's wonderful Book of Herbal Wisdom. 

Small Beauties of the Fall

Birch leaves have been yellowing for weeks.  Even in late August there were brown gold birch leaves on the grass.  In mid-September Birch has begun to discard her leaves in earnest creating delicate arrangements on the moss beds in the Lichenwood forest.

Moss covers large areas under birch stands at Lichenwood.  As I walked by this area the other day I was tempted to lie down in the soft receptive green.  It's no wonder that a collection of moss plants is called a "bed".  What green dreams would be engendered by a nap in such a magickal location?

Here's an interesting juxtaposition: an emerging pale lavender mushroom breaks free from the composting leaves of the forest floor next to a Pipsissewa plant.  A few years ago I found this little colony of Pipsissewa plants in bloom.  I did not make an essence at the time.  Every year since then I have tried to find the Pipsissewa at the proper time, but I have not been able to locate them until the other day.  I made good note of where to find them next year.   

Above is a slightly blurry photo I took of the Pipsissewa flower on that day a few years ago.  It is an exquisite pink flower that blooms on an arching stem and faces the forest floor.

Mushrooms of all kinds are decorating the woodlands and fields this year.  I'm sure our damp weather must have encouraged this proliferation.  All these mushrooms look quite fanciful.  It isn't hard to imagine a fairy or woodland sprite peaking out from underneath the cap of one of these ruddy red spotted varieties.

These yellow mushrooms, on the other hand, look quite tasty.  However, I am not well versed in mushroom identification, so there will be no wild mushroom dinners served at Lichenwood.  I'll enjoy them for their beauty and get my taste for mushrooms satisfied at the supermarket.

Finding Rabbit Tobacco

I went to the scary place today.  Don't ask me why I did it.  I somehow found myself googling the very specific name of the rare and aggressive cancer that paid me a visit nine years ago.  I read the information with the fascination of someone watching a deadly car wreck.  I revisited my fear.  My breath was shallow and my insides tight. 

I put on my colorful crotcheted poncho and went into the woods.  I knew where I would be going.  I had visited the pit (how aptly termed) yesterday as a diversion from the emotions of 9/11.  I had found Rabbit Tobacco blooming there in abundance along with Mugwort, Poke in full berry, and several species of Goldenrod.  It was Rabbit Tobacco that I wanted to commune with and today I knew it was the right day and time to co-create the flower essence.

So I sang to the plant and asked for her blessing, brought home the water and the flowers to rest on the sunny deck rail and begin the process of becoming a flower essence.  I think I'll be taking a good healthy dose of this one as soon as possible.

Remembrance

Five years is such a long time.  Five years is the blink of an eye.  Our collective memory holds the images with a shocking clarity. Our love envelopes the lost lives and broken hearts, the bravery and goodness of first responders.  In this we stand united.

Thoughts of Harvest

This lovely rose blooming in the backyard truly isn't the "last rose of Summer", but I'm savoring it and all other emblems of the season of warmth and light as we spin ever faster toward the Equinox, Samhain, and yes, Winter.  Even the heat of today was not sufficient to allay my thoughts of the dark half of the year.  There is much to be accomplished before the Libran scales tip.

I have started to write lists.  There are a few more herbs that I want to harvest before frost: Mugwort, Garden Sage, Comfrey, Spicebush tips and fruits, White Pine Cedar, Artemisia Silver King.  If I can get close to the Hawthorn that was surrounded by Poison Ivy earlier in the season, I'd like to get some berries.  Mountain Ash berries are ready to be plucked, dried, and stored away for magickal products.  It's time to make smudge bundles like the one in the above photo.

When the cold winds of December blow, and I am sitting warm and dry, drinking herbal tea in the cozy living room, I'll have the taste of summer in my cup, the smell of the woods in my incense, and the medicine of New England in my apothecary.

The Beginning of Between

Yesterday we experienced a lunar eclipse.  In two weeks there will be a solar eclipse.  The time between these two events feels particularly potent.  The Passionflower vine at Lichenwood seemed to respond to the astrological energies by gifting me with this flower.  The lunar eclipse took place at 15 degrees of Pisces, and it doesn't escape me that this flower has the look and feel of Neptune, ruler of Pisces.  Violet, light green, and blue are traditional Piscean colors.  The sign of Pisces is all about compassion, altruism, sensitivity, dreams and intuition.

The above photo gives you some idea of the size of this bloom.  The Passionflower has an otherworldly beauty and an almost hypnotic presence.  The flower essence of Passionflower connects you to your own sacred divinity.  This is a wonderful healer for the heart chakra, bringing a calm serenity.  Love for others begins with a healthy self-love and the ability to nurture and care for oneself.  Then this love grows and magnifies as it moves outward into the world of others.  Passionflower magnifies compassion and  guides spiritual awakening. 

Nature's other special blossom on eclipse day was the Water Hyacinth.  There's nothing more Piscean in the plant world than a violet blue flower floating in a water garden with many little fish swimming underneath it.

Water Hyacinth flower essence allows us to experience the emotions without self-judgment, moving them into a more balanced state, cleansing us of the extremes.  It can be of great help in the processing of very deep powerful emotions of all kinds.  It helps the emotions/memories/feelings to come up from the depths where they can be examined and processed.  Water Hyacinth is a useful essence when dealing with mood swings and seasonal affective disorder.  As the days grow shorter, keep this essence in mind if you get depressed from lack of light.

And so, we are between eclipses.  The veil is thinning.  Summer is ending.  Now we wait to see what will begin.

The Business of Busy-ness

No, I haven't been snoozing like this early morning bumble bee asleep on an Echinacea flower.  I've been busy, busy, busy during this past week.  In fact, the entire month of September looks to be chock full of scheduled busy-ness.  Don't get me wrong, it's all good because I am busy with activities that I enjoy.  However, it is a little backwards for me to have schedule quiet time, in between the appointments and obligations that I have made with the world at large.

My weekend was spent communing with the plants and herbal apprentices at Misty Meadows.  I had fun getting to know the women and watching them get hands on experience digging roots, making pills and lozenges, herbal incense, winter tonic, and tea.

Here the lozenges are being formed from powdered herbs mixed with raw honey.  Below, are the formed lozenges ready to go into the dehydrator.

On Monday Daryl and I drove to Newport, Rhode Island to reconnect with his sisters.  Cyrilla and her significant other Andy were visiting from Seattle and staying with Marie and husband Ray.  Andy is contemplating a career change from high tech to opening a chocolate shop!  Part of this vacation will include a chocolate makers' convention in Atlantic City.  Lucky for us, Andy had brought a sampling of his latest creations including a wonderful dark chocolate with a unique filling.  When you bite into this confection, there's a real margarita inside!  Wow!

Later in the day we caravanned up to Cranston, Rhode Island to visit the Aunties.  These wonderful women are the elder matriarchs of a wonderful loving Italian family.  Rose and Carmella are 97 and 87 years young.  No visit to their home would be complete without a meal personally prepared by one of them.  We had a delicious lunch of chicken cutlets and fresh vegetables with homemade wine.  Auntie Carmella got on the phone before dessert calling other extended family.  "Your cousins are here!  Come over!"  and of course, everyone came to greet us all.  What a wonderful day it was, so full of love.

On Tuesday I did a lot of catching up on chores.  Actually, I'm still catching up.  Happily, one of my "chores" was stocking up on chrysanthemums for the garden.  Ragged Robin Farm has such a great healthy assortment of plants just beginning to crack color.  I got a dozen, but since I'm a plant glutton I may go back for more once I've gotten my current batch into the earth.

So, I'm busy, as are we all.  I'll take a moment to meditate during today's Full Moon Eclipse.  I hope you have a transformative experience.