plant medicine lessons...12-2-20

Plant medicine…trending way to politely reference pychotropic drugs.  We are so creative with our euphemisms.  Back in the day…well, I digress.  But I've been steeped in plant medicine this week. Not the kind of plant medicine one might call in, but medicine all the same.  You're lucky if you've never been gifted an excruciating brush with poison oak.

By the time of the scheduled appointment made after a worried night, I figured out what it was.  Slow painful onset, fifth bout in 30 years, must have been that American River hike to see the salmon running.  How it landed on my upper chest, neck and lower face I’ll never know.  And other assorted random locations.  Doc prescribed a 21 day course of prednisone and this initiated days of listening deeply. Every bone in my body screamed a resounding NO to this intervention.  Felt like my body needed to expel, not repress, this toxin.

Days and nights of listening.  Attentively.  To what my body needed.  At first, hot compresses eased the itch, seemed to draw the toxins out.  As the rash began weeping, it became all about cold.  Listening attentively, trusting what emerged. When the skin turned all red and scaly and dry it was all about hydration.  With what?  Listening attentively.  Trusting.  Back and forth between avocado oil laced with tea tree and Aquaphor.

There has been no lack of advice from well-wishers.  And the internet is chock full.  But this plant medicine had something it wanted me to learn for myself and so I have surrendered.  It wanted me to spiral back again to the holy trinity.  It wanted me to remember that what is true for the body is almost always true for the holy trinity.  When we listen attentively to what our bodies need and trust what emerges we’re often spot on.  Same for when we deeply heart attune and trust what is revealed.  When we meditate, attend to what our mind is up to, even the looping obsessive stuff, we can trust twin jewels of insight and intuition that sometimes emerge.

When we listen attentively and trust what emerges from the holy trinity---body, heart, mind---we’re delivered to a destiny that is truly ours.  We’ve laid the groundwork that might open us to divine guidance so we can trust spirit to lead the way. It all starts with these precious vessels we’ve been dealt, with all their unique challenges and quirks and special needs.  Let’s take a listen together this week and trust what emerges.  I don’t know any other way for healing to happen.

Love, Bella