Physical and Energetic Balance

 Today I want to pause and check in with you. It occurred to me recently that I've been leaning into the energetic gifts of the wonderful plants around me so much that I have neglected the very real physical gifts of these same plants.  and while the focus of this podcast is on the energetic and spiritual gifts and messages of the plants, the time seems right to address everyone's favorite topic balance.

You've heard me mention before the idea of holding two truths. Isn't it interesting how often we need reminding? How comfortable it is to see life through the lens of the binary? I would love to tell you that I am so spiritually evolved that I've mastered the understanding of the multidimensional nature of life, but then I would be a liar.

and if by chance, you happen to be like me, that is human. You might benefit from the same reminders I have been needing lately.

We are humans living in physical bodies that benefit from physical support. These bodies also greatly benefit from energetic and spiritual support. We must remember that this is not an either or situation.

It is both and. How lucky then, are we that these plants we have co-evolved with embody this both and. What I mean is. The plantain is ready to help relieve the sting of a bug bite while also offering a Bal to the spirit plantain doesn't need to offer one gift at a time like, "hold, please. I'm working on this mosquito bite. So you're going to have to wait a minute before I can help you feel supported and protected energetically." 

No, in fact. If we really dig in, it's hard to see where the physical support ends and the energetic support begins, but that's when we dig in. When we go about our everyday lives, we can be pulled up to the surface, so to speak and get tunnel vision.

I know for me, at times it feels like I have to switch gears to fully immerse myself in the physical and then to switch back to focus on the energetic. And honestly, I know about myself that this is how I learn. To really pay attention to one part of the whole before I can zoom out  and see how it all fits into the bigger picture.

So, yes, while we are learning, it can be helpful to separate the physical benefits of a plant it's herbal actions, it's affinities for different constitutions and on and on. Then on the other hand, it is helpful to put that information aside and focus on the feelings, emotions and messages of the plant spirit. What I've been doing here.

We must not stop there though. We must zoom out and see how the different aspects combine to give us insight into this plant's whole being. 

"Okay, Jessica, as usual, you're going way deep. I just wanna know what this plan is good for,"

and that is okay. But hear me out when someone approaches you wanting something from you, like, Hey, I heard you're good at taxes. Help me with mine, or, Hey, don't you make art, make some for me. How does that make you feel? 

Isn't it true that the ones in our lives who take the time to get to know us fully get more of us? We gladly offer more of our true self to those who are receptive to all of it. This is not a human thing. This is a relationship thing.

So while I constantly call for relationship building with these plants, I want to be clear for myself and for you that wanting to know what a plant is, quote good for is perfectly acceptable. And that can be the beginning of the conversation. The beginning of the relationship.

I recently had the pleasure of spending time with an herbalist I admire, Joanna Mann of Walden Farms. She led a beautiful herb walk at her farm. Ugh. It was fantastic sharing about the tastes and actions of familiar and unfamiliar herbs. It reminded me that I've been so focused on messages and energetics that I haven't been holding the full reality of many of these plants I work with.

It's not wrong or bad, just limited. Now for a lot of us, there are plants we can't grow in our gardens or we just don't have them around us physically. That's okay, too. We don't all have to grow our own plant medicine. There are so many really well made preparations available to us. And when it comes to knowing what to do with those preparations, or even what is available to us, things can get a little confusing. We hear about teas, infusions, tinctures, flower, essences, essential oils, et cetera. And it can all get overwhelming. And because there is no better place to start than the beginning, I will be airing a series of episodes devoted to explaining what each of these medicines is and is not. How you might use each preparation for physical healing and energetic healing. My intention is to give you a deeper understanding of the actual preparation so that you can decide for yourself what you might like to try. And coming back to the subject of this podcast: I want to. All of this while embracing and sometimes centering the plant spirit medicine available to you when using these different preparations.

Whether you are familiar with these preparations or not, I invite you to come on this journey with me. As my friend, Joanna, so wonderfully reminded me, there is always more to learn. 

In the next weeks, the episodes that will appear are going to address each type of preparation and help you understand exactly how it's made the process that that entails and how you might work with that preparation.

This is important because as I continue my work with these plants, it becomes more and more clear that the physical and energetic gifts don't need to be separated. In fact, can be better, felt better integrated into your healing process when they are embraced together.

For instance, Rosemary is a plant that I have long enjoyed working with physically. As a hair stylist, when I was many moons ago, it was a plant that came to me and offered so much support for my clients who were dealing with hair loss and thinning hair. And then as I got into plant medicine, even more, the benefits that Rosemary offers for cognitive function and stimulation became more and more clear. And now at this point in my life, working with the message and the spirit medicine of Rosemary has brought all of that to an even more potent level in my work.

 And yet,  it's almost as if the plant spirit message that Rosemary offers really doesn't want to stand alone. Right? This is a physical medicine. And especially for me, that I have come to know and love and,  really connect with. And to try to separate out those benefits and gifts and just focus on the message.

I remove some of the power of the full being of Rosemary. There are many plants like this.  there are many plants who really come to us in certain ways. And don't ask that we use them in both ways or in combinations energetically and physically, and that's all nuance. And that is all part of this relationship building that we can go through that each of us has access to.

So, I am inviting you on this journey of learning more about these different preparations, so that you feel more empowered to really carry the benefit of the whole being that you're working with.

I am excited and cannot wait for you to join me.

And if you are local to the Birmingham or Leeds Alabama area, or it is not too much for you to travel here, I invite you to join me in a workshop I'm hosting in person where we will walk through the process of distilling a Rosemary hydras. , we will actually harvest the plant. We will go through the whole distillation together and each participant will receive a hydrosol, which we will then connect in with energetically in meditation together so that we can really understand how to embody the benefits that Rosemary offers us physical and energetic and spiritual and just pure, yummy juiciness. So if you're interested, this event is happening on October 16th, 2022. You can sign up to attend on the ReSourced Apothecary website. That I will link in the description of this episode.

If this is something that you would like to experience and cannot make this particular workshop, please let me know. I am open to creating more experience that is tangible and real for people who want it while also maintaining this podcast in this virtual experience where we can connect anytime and any place. Again, holding all these different truths and realities to make the most of all this wonderful, wonderful knowledge that these plants are giving us and what we can share together. 

Big love my friend.