Presence with Lyreleaf Sage

Lyreleaf Sage

This spring to the dismay of all our neighbors, my husband and I made a bold decision. We let the weeds grow. Duhn Duhn Duuuuhhhnn.

Side note, I may be in the market for a sound effects specialist. Shoot me an email. If it's you. Anyway, we finally stood up to the neighborhood peer pressure of mowing as soon as the grass starts to brush your ankles.

For me, I was concerned about feeding the pollinators and all the wildlife who live in or move through the property we tend. I am also constantly observing this space to see what comes up. Who is here and is there more to their story? We both loved to see all the spring blooms and felt like we were watching the land repair itself in real time. We reminded the neighbors who complained that we are the crazy hippies who are into permaculture and just want to feed the bees, man! We aren't anybody's favorites, but that is neither here nor there.

So many new plants introduce themselves as they came and went. One plant caught my attention and wouldn't let go. Once we connected. I swear this plant was absolutely everywhere. I went. Once you make the connection, you may find that in the spring, Lyreleaf Safe is everywhere you look too.

Before I get into the conversation, let me give you some backstory. I have been really connecting into my ancestry lately, specifically my Prussian heritage. This process relies heavily on stories passed down to me and on insights gained in channeling different ancestors. I went way deeper when I read the book Ashkenazi Herbalism: Rediscovering the Herbal Traditions of Eastern European Jews by Deatra Cohen and Adam Segal.

This book explores the traceable history of a very specific region in Eastern Europe. It really sets the stage for the way society was organized in that area and time and how herbal traditions played significant roles in the lives of a group of people I relate to. And you might too. I've got to say it's not an awesome resource for learning about herbs, but seeing some of my very favorite herbs listed and reading about how my ancestors may have worked with them, triggered a lot of remembering and connection for me. All that to say, when I sat down with Lyreleaf Sage, ancestry was on my mind big time. Okay. Let's get to it.

After I called in my angels, my guides and my source, I called in the spirit of Lyreleaf Sage, and asked that he share his wisdom and medicine with me.

I start out: "I get the sense that you are connected to my ancestors. Are you connected to my ancestors from Prussia, from elsewhere? Or do you represent the ancestors of this land?"

His direct reply: "It is all one land."

"Good point." I say

 He expands, "As it is all one land, we are all one family. There is value in learning about the branches of a family tree. Take my family, Salvia, as you call us, there is so much focus on White Sage. An attempt to enjoy a relationship cultivated by kin on a different branch of the tree from you. Here I am in abundance with many gifts to share. And instead of sitting with me and creating relationship, people are mowing me down. Don't even care to ask my name."

" That has to be frustrating. Could I get to know you today and begin a relationship with you? You are beautiful. You resemble ground Ivy. Are y'all kin?" I ask, missing his point.

"We are all kin." He replies.

"True. And I asked if I could create a relationship with you then immediately made it about someone else. That's not fair. I apologize. Tell me about you." I reply.

Now here, I'm going to cut to a part of the conversation that I recorded. Please forgive the audio quality. I was sitting on a crunchy blanket out with Sage and that crunch comes through real well.

Sitting with Lyreleaf Sage and accepting the invitation to create a personal relationship with the plant that is in front of me instead of hunting down and importing or trying to make something grow that doesn't want to be here, especially with White Sage. And I'm explaining to [Lyreleaf] Sage that I am one of the human stewards of this land at this time.

And I'm so grateful to be here doing this work and getting to know all of these plant beings and doing what I can to help rejuvenate and restore this land.

And I want to be able to do this work in a bubble. I want to feel safe on this land, and I want to feel free from the prying eyes of all of the neighbors.

I want to feel safe and I haven't felt safe on this land.

And

it is immediately very interesting to me that this is where the conversation has gone today. So I'm interested to know Sage, if... how you feel about this?

I hear you asking me or saying to me, You are safe, are you not? You are here and safe. To which, I have to answer, yes. I am safe and physically safe. And I... Still can't shake the feeling of being on display and open to questioning and attack. Obviously not necessarily physical

it's more that emotional and energetic attack that I feel open to that makes me uncomfortable to be out here by myself most days.

Ooh, and I hear you asking me why I feel like I'm by myself and then I have all of you here with me.

That's a good question. You are all here with me.

you are a companion, aren't you? In the true sense, the birds and the bees and the bugs all get it. So why can't we?

Feel you echoing pine and the other plants who asked me to come home and be here. Thank you. Thank you for inviting me back into my home. Back into nature.

This part of me that I forget is part of me and that I am part of

so I, I feel like you really, we just want to be a companion and you want to. Um, or you are, you don't want to, you are offering presence. Presence and support.

And I have to ask, because presence has been a funny topic here on this land, because there are, there are those beings who I do not want to be present here,

whose presence makes me feel uncom or I, well, yeah, whose presence makes me feel uncomfortable. I allow that whether it's right or wrong, that's my current reality.

So I would love to know your thoughts on the presence of those beings, who I'm not comfortable with

sharing this space with,

 I hear you saying don't, don't share it if you don't want.

But presence is what's called for

So if you, Jessica, won't be present in this space, someone will

fill up this space with your presence, your energy.

create the reality you want instead of dwelling on the reality that makes you feel unsafe,

show up and be present.

Oh, goodness. Thank you for that. It's felt so hard to do because I feel like I want to feel safe before I am present.

My recording device, overheated and cut off at that point. First world problems, I know. Anyway, that last little bit of the conversation was the juicy part. I was reminded that I am physically safe here, and my presence will lead to an expansion of my feeling of safety. I can't wait to feel safe to be present.

This is the beginning of a relationship, not a one-time deal. We are all related. Kin. We have so much support and help open to us when we commit to creating relationships. To doing the work involved in creating actual relationship with any and all of our kin. There is no merit in co-opting the traditions or relationships created by others.

If we do not have a strong ancestral tradition, even if we do, we have plant kin all around us who are ready to co-create with us now. We can connect in just as our ancestors did. We can enter into respectful and reciprocal relationships with the plants we feel connected to and create our own special rituals.

Honor, the beings who are present for you. Get to know them and explore their medicine. Be present, with them.

I feel super vulnerable about sharing this conversation. This land I get to tend is beautiful and being here is such a gift. I am never in any actual physical danger. Ever. So what I'm sharing with you is that weird kind of spooked out feeling I get like something is lurking. As far as I know, I'm the only one who feels this here.

I know it's an energetic thing and I know there is much more work to be done. Here we come back to this holding two truths at the same time again. This is my home and with the help of the plants and energies, I connect to, I am taking my place as part of this ecosystem. For many reasons, that's intimidating and at times foreign to me. Every ounce of my being wants to stop recording, delete this and go back to painting my Disney princess experience of talking to the plants and singing with the birds happily ever after. But, I'm being guided to share my dynamic experience to remind you that I mostly just hit the highlights here. I like it that way. But this journey is messy and weird and real. It's not picture perfect. And the deeper I go, I wouldn't want it to be. These experiences have such a profound effect on me and I'm honored to be part of it all.

And the real talk here. The real message is that sometimes the things that shake us to our core, the things that we have physical, visceral reactions to are not truly a result of outside triggers. They are coming from deep within, and we are in these positions where we are shown an opportunity by what we feel is an outside trigger. It may actually appear to be an outside trigger, but what the plants are showing me is there is more work to do. And as far as I can see, it most often is internal work to do so when I'm being called into presence on this land, the deeper message appears to be that I'm being called into presence with myself.

All of those parts of me that may be uncomfortable or may hold memories,

impressions, feelings that I haven't dealt with,

the plants are holding space for me to process all of that. And I'm sharing this with you because I feel like this is probably a more universal experience. Then any of us believe or see.

I know these plants are helping me and in truth, they're very specific about my job to share this journey that I'm on and to share the messages that they bring to me. So even though I am letting you into the other side, right? Of my fairy tale. I'm honored to be doing so I am honored to be opening up with you in this way.

So I'll close. With this final quote from Lyreleaf Sage. "I'm calling you into presence, not into control. You don't need to dictate these people's experience. Come be present with them. Facilitate that, guide them into themselves. And hold this space, offer your experience story, but give them the space to have their own."

So with that, dear, listener, I invite you to stay tuned for more here, on this podcast and on this beautiful land that I tend.

Big love.