Pink Coyote

Mother of All Releasings Ceremony, Winter Solstice 2011

Elke May, releasing fear.

Who: YOU, and if you wish, your circle, tribe, family, or village.

What: A fire ceremony, to release the old year and shift up into the new.

Where: In your backyard firepit, on a bonfire beach, around your fireplace, (even in your kitchen sink if you can make it scout-safe with a fireproof container).

When: Winter Solstice, December 22nd, 2011.

Why: We release what no longer serves us on the Winter Solstice, because it is the darkest day of the year. We let go so that we can step freely into what is waiting for us, as the light begins to grow brighter with each day. We're doing it as an extended community to raise the energy level of letting go, together!

How: Make a releasing bundle. Gather friends and family around a hearth (or do this in sacred solitary), set the bundle safely aflame, and let the alchemical element of fire transform the old, as it knows how to do so well. Feast on Solstice treats and celebrate the return of the light. Tune in here after December 16th to see the video created around my tribe's ceremony.

2012 is a powerful year to let the old ways go and step fully into creative self-expression and abundant support for our dreams from All That Is. It is a time for visionaries to create reality.

Thank you, sisters. I'm so grateful that you and your energy is rippling out into the world!

 

 

Kits, Fokses and Creative Fire

This season. Oh, this season. You are sneaking away from me so quickly like a sly little red fox. In addition to eating the children's Halloween candy...I am trying to soak up as much of the Autumn air as I can. This is the season which always feels like New Year's to me. I don't want it to slip past me. Staying in the present moment has been at times, really easy. Such as when I whipped up a little minky black tail, a kitty cape and pointy ears on an old headband for Ivy's cat costume in under two hours, two days before All Hallow's Eve. Oh, and gaining an hour on the clock last night. That was especially easy to be present for.

But most times I am feeling surrendered to the chaos that is looking at houses many times per week, driving back and forth to Ojai, falling in love with it, transporting back here, grieving this place and loving how we're able to spread out here on this land. There is much talk of releasing coming out of my mouth these days and releasing what was, in order to embrace what would very much like to be, is required. I have not designed that ceremony yet.

I did take some time this week to create Releasing Kits for the wild women of Autumn SouLodge, however. And that was great fun for me.I have to balance the work in my head with work for my hands. Fun! I mean, fun for my hands. It's late. To the photo journal.

Ceremony starts with smudge.

It all began rather innocently.

Tribbles! I mean, er...Releasing Kits!

Rainy days make for good indoor ceremony, and tired mama Lodge leaders with naps in the agenda.

The creative fire is eternal.

 

burning woman*

i'm too tired to capitalize, i'm sorry, friends. my beltane weekend away brought so so much teaching, movement and unexpected growth. best moments were cackling it up under the stars around a fire with some amazing women who traveled a long way to play with me and my local wild women. most surprising was coming home a day early to tend to my own homefire.

here is a photo journal of some of my favorite moments...

the day began with picking up my cohorts and going out for the absolute BEST veggie burgers and fries ever in the world at r&d, on montana ave. in santa monica. if you're in the neighborhood, do not pass them up. the food is magical. i wish i'd snapped the mascarpone and berries for you to drool over.

 

terri working her henna skillz on kirsten.

and again on julie...

 

beach shenanigans, which involved wine drinking and cheerleading jumps in the ocean.

terri, kirsten and julie.

photo by terri

altar building

talking stickin'

tarot card readin'

it was a weekend of laughter and merriment, but also one of deep emotional processing and exhaustion. it is said that beltane is all about fertility, may day, as it were. i would say we covered some pretty fertile territory, unearthed some deep roots, shifted our perspectives and learned a lot about what we have to let go. what i tried to bear in mind on this adventure was to know what i needed and ask for what i want. isn't that sometimes the hardest thing to do? to claim what's already yours-and to stand in the confidence of that decision?

i plan to go camping (or glamping as one husband had referred to it, as his wife journeyed toward) each beltane and for every natural holiday that i possibly can. i love that there is purpose in these days that mark mid-spring and solstices, that there is a history there to add to the toolkit for growing and learning. sometimes the lesson is to sit still and stop growing! and i embrace those teachings, too, as i tend to get easily obsessed with movement. however, this time movement swept me up and away without warning, and through the eye of a very small needle.

i hope that your holy day of fires on the mountain found you releasing the old and making way for the new, in one way or another, dramatically or softly.

Vlog Sacred Tools: Gratitude

 

I've made another video, this time while daytripping at my favorite beach here in California, Rincon Point. It's a local's beach where the surf is good and tide pools abundant with sea life for the kids to poke around in and discover the magic of tide pools.

I'm demonstrating how easy it is to set out into nature with the tiniest of sacred tools, in order to give thanks to the directions, the Ocean and the sacred planet for all that they give and inspire in us. When we go for outings, my kids often like to bring home treasures. It is fitting to leave behind a blessing. My children participated in thanksgiving offscreen today, because they were having too much fun playing to be part of mama's production. The wee pouch didn't take much preparation to fill, nor did it take up too much room among the baskets and bags to schlep down to the sand. Some rites can be brief and compact, while being very effective.

I don't have a photo of my pouch handy, but I wanted to share one with you. This one, called Palomino, was made by Karen Prado. There are all kinds of pouches, bags and beautiful ways to carry the sacred medicine, some of which are more American Indian in appearance and tradition, and some which have obvious Celtic details, and plenty more others still beyond that. Receiving one as a gift or making one with your own hands makes it extra special.

I packed the pouch with:

lavender buds

a rose quartz bear fetish

pieces of blue kyanite

If you hang in until the end of this short vlog, you will see a panicked me bolting off to save my children from a runaway horse, who dumped it's rider and took off down the shoreline toward the area where they were playing with a friend of mine and her baby. Brandon and I  laughed MIGHTILY, because it's like watching a Funniest Home Video. Thank goodness no one was hurt! Interesting that even a spooked and stampeding horse can use selective judgment in a crisis, eh?

My first thought was to trim the video just after I said final thanks, but Coyote insisted I leave it in for laugh therapy.

Bless the Ocean & Earth, Japan, frightened horses, and each of us on this global ride. After the events of the week, perhaps a hearty laugh will be a good release for all.

 

Smudging the New Den

photo by fellow Traveler, Lisa Field-Elliot

It's very exciting to me that so many of you are asking for more details about smudging and creating sacred space in your environments. If you didn't see the first video, which covered a little bit of information on smudging, check it out here.There are also a few resources for smudge sticks listed in that post.

One question is whether one should smudge her apartment before she moves her things in or after. If it were me, I would like to smudge the empty nest first. I take my shell or bowl, light the smudge stick (I'd definitely use white sage in a new dwelling) until it's burning nicely, then blow out the flame so that the dried herbs are smoking. You can use your hand or a big feather to fan the smoke up into all of the corners of each room, and into the cabinets and closets.

Here are some awfully pretty fans that I found on Etsy by searching for "smudge fan". The legal-use feathers used are painted to resemble eagles and hawks and look nice and big. I also like the looks of these. You could just as easily make your own. Wonderful feathers are sold at pow wows, as well as Etsy, or you may have a local farm that will allow you to collect.

Aside: Be forewarned, if you are planning to purchase a fan from this seller, that she is indeed selling real migratory and predator bird feather fans from Australia, and U.S. Migratory Bird Laws do not allow the sale or purchase of feathers from protected species (almost all birds except some fowl, I believe). Fines for buying, selling or even carrying a migratory bird feather are in the thousands of dollars. Risky business. I don't mean to be a boo-bird while up there flaunting my Hawk wing.

What smudging does is clears the existing energy out, especially in corners and small spaces in which it tends to gather and stagnate. Smudging also acts as a prayer of blessing and intention in a new space where you hope to thrive.

The photo above was snapped by a friend I visited this weekend. After we'd done a fair bit of unloading of our hearts and before we headed out to breakfast and back to our families, we smudged ourselves and her altar. I think of it like a reset button. I joke to friends sometimes that if I get pulled into negative energies online that I have to smudge my computer screen. I actually do it, believe it or not. I can feel negative energy sticking on me like stinky perfume!

Good luck smudging, goddesses. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do.

 

 

 

Medicine Lodge

Sioux Lodge

Saturday night I drove two and a half hours to Pasadena to attend my first lodge in a long time. It was a rainy torrent on the road, but I arrived just on time- to a roomful of strangers, all seeking a polishing of their spirits for the Solstice.

It was a powerful sweat, and a hot one, too. Especially that fourth round. The water-pourer kept that round short, but I could feel the water and all that I was letting go raining off of me in streams at that point, like tributaries flowing generously and sacrificially into the Great Mother.

Let me back up a bit and tell you about what I was really there for.

Midwinter is a traditional time for purification. It symbolizes a housecleaning and detoxification to prepare for the longer, deeper days of winter ahead. Though we celebrate the sun's return, it will be much colder before it gets warmer, in this hemisphere, anyway.

I consider that so many of us are Lightbringers. It is as if we have awoken to our collective purpose of giving away the best of ourselves so that others and the Earth will benefit. Thus, ceremoniously welcoming the Sun back to his seasonal throne, feels affirming to me. It feels a fitting celebration for the creative work ahead.

I went to release grief. Grief of the things which cannot be and that no longer are. Grief that clings and punishes when it has stayed on beyond its healing usefulness.

I was there to release fear, always fear. Because as soon as I think I'm the bravest mama in the world, something new creeps up and scares the holy beejeesus out of me and I have to learn to release that one.

I went to meet up with ego voices and the higher selves of those I share conflict with, to sit with them at the confrontation table of trance and heat, and to listen, and receive an understanding between us, and from higher Selves and guides, about how to proceed.

I went for messages from my ancestors about the things I have no control over- time-related grievances that can only be understood and accepted outside of the castle of time, in the deep and magical forest of trust and *always*.

I've carried many heavy burdens this year, as a year tends to pile up on a being, and this time of Peace on Earth is the perfect occasion to lighten the load and cultivate peace within. I felt called to sit in the lodge as the rain pelted the exterior, chanting and prayer-speaking in unison with fourteen others.

And I went to crawl out.

Exiting a sweat lodge feels like being born. Imagine the energy and heat that accumulates as we are making our way into this world. A Midwinter sweat, with it's focused intention and collective vision charges a lodge likewise. So as anticipated, I crawled out in the end, soaking wet and mostly naked, stopping to bless the Earth and my relations with my forehead to the wet ground, and stepped out into the darkness and cold winter rain outside the flap.

I went to brighten my soul up, release the funk, and ready my skin for the new year. My voice felt and sounded extra clear as I chatted and ate like a horse at the feast afterwards in the kitchen of the Firekeeper, who'd asked me to create a heartbeat while inside with one of his drums, at the instruction of the water-pourer. A huge honor.

A very young first time sweater spoke at the closing circle, saying that when he came in to get dressed, he'd studied himself in the mirror and noticed that something had transformed. His eyes were more...sparkly. He felt alive in a really different kind of way. It's no wonder the ancestors created so many roads to rise up and meet the Spirit. And it's not a bit surprising that so many of us are finding our ways back to them.

Tools: Plant Kingdom, Part Two

The doors are flying off of the hinges here at Pandora's box, as I realize how very many things I have in my toolkit to be shared. I don't know what's got into me! I had a completely different post planned for today, but, no. These members of my family demand to be introduced. Who am I to argue?

*Please bear in mind that my experience of plants and herbs may be somewhat different from yours. That is to say that what I feel safe ingesting may not translate to others' constitutions. Always consult reliable resources for contraindications before using, especially if pregnant, nursing, or when considering remedies for children. I'll include the references I use most at the bottom of this post, as well.

If you share a comment or story, I would love to send you a little medicine bundle of gratitude. Email me with the address you want a little plant lovin' sent to and then watch your mailbox...

 

Juniper is a common shrub which offers so many uses, from medicinal salves to headache remedies and even to prevent nightmares. I use the beautiful, tasty, little juniper berries in a tea (when I'm not pregnant or nursing) to create a sacred environment within before sitting in a sweat lodge or doing a releasing ceremony. Juniper berries (relaxing in a bowl of last year's lavender buds) are such good friends to me. I have been using them in medicine bundles as a way to dispel negative energies for a long time and there's something that is just so comforting about them. I love to throw a handful of them into a fire and smell their evergreeny scent. Carried in a pouch, they have a protective, safe quality to them. One might use them mixed with a bit of lavender or chamomile buds in a little bundle for a young child's pocket when leaving to school for the first time.

Juniper was a name I was quite keen on for Ivy, but Ivy sounded better with her middle name :) Miles loves to play with the dried berries, smell them and make special "potions" with them. Wild animals love to eat them, too.

Salvia Mellifera, or Black Sage, grows like pure madness here. I planted a very small twig I bought at a native plant sale two years ago and now this hulk is over 3' tall and perhaps 5-6' wide. Dried, then wrapped into smudge sticks with colorful cotton thread, it is a lovely companion for shamanic journeywork. Truth be told, it is a bit stinky to my nose until it is burned. Hummingbirds and bees love this giant plant, but most insects do not. That makes it perfect for burning around a campsite or picnic area to keep pesties away. The bees who frequent these plants make very yummy honey. However, I am not a beekeeper...but I know a few of you who visit here would like to be! My garden always looks lush with this evergreen fellow hanging around in bulk.

Comfrey is pretty much a lifesaver and is used routinely at our house. I first discovered it when my midwife recommended making large batches of tea out of it, refrigerating it, then spritzing my birth-weary parts after bringing Miles & Ivy in. The reason for this is that it has regenerative properties and helps tears and lacerations mend. I found it to be very useful with both births; I applied the tea directly on my birthing region extraordinaire, and also poured it liberally into the bath. I also found that it works well on Ivy's eczema if I make a tea and just lightly blot the area.

I only use it topically, because it is indicated as causing distress to the liver. The varieties used in herbal teas you may have seen on market shelves likely do not contain the harmful alkaloids that cause liver trouble. Always best to check. Some who are even more woo-woo than me might use a pendulum over the herb to intuit whether it *feels* safe to ingest or not. I like to play it safe. And I'm pretty woo-woo.

Mugwort! Doesn't that just sound like a witch's plant? It is sometimes actually referred to as Croneswort because it's an old folk belief that it springs up at the doorsteps of healers. This is a plant that I have never taken internally. I picked it up years ago while making a dream bundle for a family member who was having a terrible time sleeping and also trying to work through some issues that her thinking brain was making no progress with. It is used to stimulate lucid dreaming, but best used in small amounts so as not to have restless sleep. I'm a big fan of letting dreams do my inner work for me at times when I feel too overwhelmed to think about them in my waking life. Mugwort is another great insect repellent. Wing of bat! Eye of newt! Hair of Toad!

Balsam tea is relatively new to my collection of helpers, though I'd been drinking it without knowing it's true medicinal properties for years. I used it with great success when very little else was working on the bout with bronchitis I recently had. It's full of vitamin C, and acts as an expectorant. However it is also slightly diuretic, so I drank only one cup per day, followed by lots of water, so as not to disrupt my milk supply for Miss Ivy. It is so very yummy. Juniper Ridge makes a great bag of Douglas Fir Tip tea that I crave during the wintertime.

I hope you've enjoyed this little show-and-tell I've presented. Perhaps on your walkabouts, you'll be inspired to say hello to those plant people who rise up to greet you and make your landscape more beautiful. Maybe one in particular would like to make a love connection with you. (push play: romantic music)

Resources for Herbs:

Las Pilitas Nursery -for the best in California native plants

Cal Flora -the go-to plant identification database

Juniper Ridge- my very favorite grassroots wildcrafters who make amazing incense and tea

Mountain Rose Herbs -my one stop for organic essential oils and bulk herbs

Plants of Power: Native American Ceremony and the Use of Sacred Plants

Hygieia: A Woman's Herbal -this is radical book written by the ballsy Jeannine Parvati and I love reading her folkloric writings about woman's body and the plants that heal them. (It must be undergoing another printing according to availability)

Native American Healing Arts -a lovely reference for native ceremonies involving plants and folk medicine.

Plant Spirit Medicine -a wonderful little book about understanding the more esoteric value of plants and developing relationships to them.

I would love to hear your stories about how you heal with herbs or recollections from your childhood about a sensory experience with plants or whatever you feel moved to share. Don't be shy! Let your earthy,hooey-dooey, intuitive freak flag fly...in all of us, there is a healer.

Tools: Plants, Part One

Oh, where to begin!? While I'm not being pushy with myself to be productive, I thought I'd share some of the tools I commonly use here at home and in ritual space. There are so many tools to talk about and I simply don't know where to begin. Plants may be a good place to start.

Anything can be a useful tool for healing, change, or manifesting, when you think about it. A tool can be tangible or not. It can be a mantra or a meditation. It can take any shape, and I suppose, for me, it can be defined as a tool if it helps. (do caramels qualify? i think so.)

Here are two of my favorites from the plant kingdom, but I will be sharing lots more:

 

White sage (Salvia apiana) is found not far from here and is probably the most common herb used for smudging today. I light it over a big abalone shell , blow out the flame after a few moments, and use a feather fan to send the smoke up into the corners of a room or even inside of cabinets to break up stagnant energy and wake the place up. It's also used to purify, cleanse and prepare the body when sitting in ritual, so it isn't uncommon to be "saged" before crawling into a sweat lodge or sitting in a sacred ceremony. I love the smell of white sage and always have lots on hand.

Cedar bundles are used very much in the same way as sage, but the scent is much different, less strong. White sage is very distinctive and cedar is probably more accessible. Native Americans use it to help release heavy emotional energies, and cedar is burned in lodges to help with detoxification and purification. It is a lovely winter plant to use during  Solstice and Yule rituals.

I realize I have so many herbs, plants and roots that I use, that I could write forever about them. I'm so grateful for the plant people! They make such wonderful companions. I've entitled this "Part One" because I'll be paying my helpers a proper tribute here shortly. (They like to be photographed in sunshine and we don't have any today!)

What are some of your favorite plants and healing herbs?