There are three main topics that I must weave together in time right now at 5am as this full moon light flows though my blood.
Women's birthing bodies and cycles contain metaphors for every aspect of exitence
Natures Laws of reciprocity
The repetition and proliferation of patterns throughout our collective, including the birth continuum.
Throughout this I will also be highlighting a wild plant I have come to know very well the last few days: Rumex Obstifolius or “Bitter Dock.”
I will start from the beginning.
Some days ago I woke up with the word “winnow” in my head on repeat. As a postpartum first time momma-I have experienced my share of repetitive invasive thoughts including words, visuals etc- some not so nice. So I tried to push it away as I wrote it off as a “postpartum mental crunch” that I should just ignore and it will go away.
But the word did not go away- and I couldn’t explain it.
The weekend came and my husband and I were out doing our thing on our little acre we homestead and I was opening my heart to our land as I do often and wondering what I should create. I am acutely aware of the many wild plants growing in the space but there were two that had prolific seed heads that were starting to dry so I decided to focus on that. My foraging books told me both of the seeds made great flour, and an overall nutritious wild food. A bit more research on harvesting and it hit me that I was meant to winnow these seeds (separating the seed from the outer casing or “chaff”)
I vaguely knew what winnowing was but came to understand it in a much deeper way as I began my bitter dock seed harvesting exploits on Sunday. By Wednesday I had written 3 different songs about winnowing, and basically spiraled into a vortex of ancestral remembrance and knew deep in my bones there was a lot here for me, my family and the community. I proceeded to make my little bag of flour to offer my CSA members (seriously love you guys).
The basic idea of winnowing is harnessing wind to separate seed from chaff as the seed is naturally heavier and will fall as the outer layer gets carried off by the wind. There are many ways to do this. And every culture around the world has/had their own method of creating/harnessing air flow through seed or grain harvesting in order to isolate and clean the seeds for consumption, and or medicine.
This leads me to a very important topic of both the proliferation of patterns and how they relate to our collective experience in the present moment as humans, and also how you can find every life lesson in the metaphors of the birth continuum.
Winnow=wind=air=harnessing
Seed=egg=sperm=fertility= fire
The act of winnowing falls on the elemental and energetic fire/air axis.
The metaphors continue with:
Seed= “prototype”=stage1=beginnings=Aries
Libra (opposite Aries and where our sun is now) represents the wind that blows on the "coals" of Aries (our current full moon) igniting the beginning of a creation (seed).
A perfect dual nature between the sun and moon on the Aries/Libra axis we receive an acute look into how ancestral traditions may create archetypal significance imprinted and remembered through cellular memory- or maybe it's that archetypal significance creates and shapes the traditions. Maybe both are true here.
Libra is also important here because it offers the “air of discernment/judgement” as it weighs things out to create a "harmony" for the cold months ahead. Winnowing is a verb “to separate out until you are left with what you want.”
There is even a passage in the Bible that relates winnowing to “judgement.”
There is a quality of discernment and judgement that really came through for me as I winnowed away seeds. Engaging in this task restored a sense of patience to my soul- as I separated out some of my own less than desirable qualities of impatience, fire, and quick/convenient action (Aries). Again- the beautiful dance of the Aries/Libra pattern representing itself in the embodiment of my actions.
Patterns like this repeat everywhere, constantly all the time. A womans body contains such a perfect microcosm of natures laws through her reproductive cycle. We could even say we see winnowing occur in the womb with the shedding of the uterine lining in order to properly receive the seed and then egg. The energy of discernment is employed through a womans cycle inviting us to winnow away the "chaff" of our wombs (unwanted patterns) to clear the path for a creative vision to be born. (receiving a fertilized egg)
The dance of birth- an act of intense surrender is a winnowing away of internal resistance in order to allow actual emergence. Physical mammalian birth.
It never stops and we can never escape the cycles and laws of nature. These creation cycles are mandatory. We can choose to ignore them or try- which is absolutely our right as humans but ultimately these laws will come for us no matter what as Mother seeks to restore balance.
This leads me to the next topic of the natural law of reciprocity as I have to highlight when speaking of the importance of resurrecting ancestral land based traditions such as winnowing.
When we consider our food supply chain and how many times this "alive" thing passes through the rites of capitalism and big AG before it reaches our digestion- all in favor of “modern convenience”- we start to understand the cost of such a convenience. Mother Nature, God, the universe- will ALWAYS balance the scales SOMEWHERE (hello again Libra)- this is guaranteed. A large lesson I learned through hand harvesting, winnowing and processing the seeds all for a cup of flour to be divided into a couple CSA bags-I was able to FEEL literally feel through my hands that worked for that bag of nutrient dense flour the cost of such a prize. I knew in my soul that I had achieved a proper, holistic, ethical, and non-violent production of something. I was held fully accountable within natures law of reciprocity. Nature wasn’t coming for me or anything/anyone else to balance out my act of consumption. I held it all in my work and patience. Now I understand why these traditions are so important.
Furthermore industrial agriculture offers little to no nutritional value other than caloric intake. This also has a MASSIVE global, environmental and cutural cost that we haven't even fully seen yet. So if you ever wonder "why wild food- why work so hard" the answer is simple: wild foods offer not only a vastly potent nutritional profile (dock for example has more bioavailble vitamin c than a whole orange) but also offer nutrients and bio mechanics that are RELATIVE to place meaning these plants have adapted to our soil, microbes, diseases, fungi, toxins, etc that we are also exposed to on a daily basis. This is land-relevant eating and reciprocity at its most finite level.
Lastly, I must live up to my name as Homeopathic practitioner, and herbal healer.
Bitter Dock; Rumex Obstifolius is a well known and widely used homeopathic medicine for hay fever, colds, and flus, allergies, and nettle rash. Here I am just rattling off basic acute/herbal remedy uses that anyone can find on google.
As a professional in my field however I have a duty and responsibility to dive deeper and let the voices of these plants come through in a deeper healing aspect.
I got into some of the old homeopathic Materia Medica books, as well as a little research on the history and lore of the plant itself and here is what I have found:
The constitutional energetics of Rumex Obstifolius:
Excessive internal coldness/loss of warmth
Starting from within- moving outward
Lower extremities
Icy coldness in feet- yin deficiency
Excessive flatulence, bloating in abdomen- excess of wind in Chinese medicine.
Alternating mental states of depression and Joy.
General alternating states
Affinity for the uterus, kidneys, and spleen.
Affinity for the waters in the body-
Excessive female discharges, hemorrhages, and nasal mucous.
Loss of fluid- yin deficiency, kidneys.
Spleen- worry (Chinese medicine) Depressive / morose states- susceptibility though mental clarity and thought process- hormonal in nature.
Female. Left mammae- lumps/hardness. Left rules the “feminine” aspects the body.
womb- upward - downward
Constriction of expulsive efforts from top to bottom
Expulsive efforts in the womb ie contractions, and shedding.
And lastly-
Sunlight aggravate: a duality/point of tension as the constitutional state is that of cold so why would sun aggravate- an oxymoron? No- the laws of polarity are our guide to deep truths. Polarities exist on the SAME line of thought. Just opposite ends. See through the illusion. 2 in 1.
This is clearly a remedy for women. Being a postpartum care practitioner and having a deep understanding of the constitutional state of the postpartum body- this medicine hits the key points.
This medicine in a deeper sense is for that excessive state of depletion a woman is in after giving birth. The mental and bodily "weariness" (weariness is a keynote to the medicine) The loss of sleep and loss of spleen “Qi” contributing to a host of alternating hormonal states, and being characterized by an "icy" coldness. Pregnancy is fire/yang/building and birth is the expulsion of all of that leaving an "empty/coldness" that we must caretake for lifelong wellness as women.
Further more- the emotional “essence” of this plant has to do with a fear of children being left alone due to war and catastrophe. The deep ache in the womb of a woman that these thoughts and realities conjure.
Sound familiar to the times we are facing globally?
This is a medicine for our time. For women- as the mishandling and efforts of escaping natures laws done by colonization and patriarchy for SO LONG will manifest through the portal of women bodies.
I invite you all to simply listen. Hear the wind, and winnow away the pain through a remembrance of traditional and universal wisdom we all share.
ALL THIS came out of a single cup of wild seed flour.
I can hear my husband laughing at me now as he’s reading this on his lunch break at work. Cant wait to see his text today…
Happy Aries——Libra axis full moon!!
Bless.
**Please note that I am an 8 year graduate of Homeopathic education. It is a fully developed alternative system of medicine. Please do not go buy rumex and take it based on any information provided here. Always work with a practitioner as the use of these plants in this deeper constitutional sense requires careful monitoring.
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