Looking to quit smoking tobacco? Here are three herbal cigarettes that can help you break up with tobacco. Take it Easy herbal smoking blend is for physical addiction or nicotine withdrawal support (best for quitting cold turkey). Clear Mind herbal smoking blend has had many positive reviews from folx with anxiety, focus issues, and ADHD. Gentle & Protective herbal smoking blend is great if you are struggling with emotional or psychic overwhelm, it can also be used to wean off tobacco--roll your own with less and less tobacco and more and more Gentle and Protective. None of our products contain controlled substances--just the best herbs out there. :)  Find all our herbal cigarettes and smoking blends here. Or try our sampler pack:   

Want to enjoy sex more, have more relational sex instead of results-oriented sex, get off porn, shift your vibe, or have more confidence meeting people? Check out this video, Mother Earth has herbs and other nature medicine to help. I discuss Sexy Smokes, ASMR Tincture, and several gem and flower essences. Time stamps on the youtube description.            

In this video I discuss all our herbal smoking blends and their many uses! All herbs are organic or wildcrafted. Our five currently available smoking blends--Take it Easy, Gentle & Protective, Sexy Smokes, Clear Mind, and Astral in Body--are in our sampler pack:    

Agrimony is a key herb for leaving a dangerous or manipulative situation. Learn about herbs for fleeing danger in the home, work, or due to governmental oppression. The goal of this herbal education is not mere survival, it is developing resilience, thriving, and having the energy and fortitude to help others.  Agrimony is in the following Brown Bear Herbs products: Humanity Tea (which I discuss in the video)  This is a Dream tea  And the flower essence:      

This is video is the introduction to the Freedom Quilt series. This quilt includes cyanotypes of 29 herbs that can be supportive to people who need to leave their homes or homeland for freedom or safety. In this video I discuss Werewolf root, for when it is apparent you must change or die.

This week, for Plant Meditation Club, we meditated on "Portland's Favorite Tree"! It is rumored to be Portland's largest tree and it is my neighbors (one of four clustered nearby). The meditation was a beautiful experience. Coast Redwood, Sequoia sempervirens, also known as the names below (image from the Decolonial Atlas--thank you!) is sacred.  The tree is believed to have human blood in it. It, like all of nature, is considered a living home. I feel this so much from the trees that live near me. I sense their joyful experience of the animals that live in their branches and how they enjoy being a home. The first message I heard from the Sequoias was 'where we're from, the greater you allow everyone to grow, the better it is for everyone'. They are not harvested in indigenous communities, but they are used when they fall. They seem to hold so much wisdom, but are down to earth. They remind me of grandparents. Grandparents who want you to be happy and have a perspective that allows them to see how they can facilitate that.  To gather tree medicine without harming the tree, watch for limbs that fall after storms, especially in the Spring when the fresh tips are growing and the sap is running. You can watch the YouTube short/video on how I made the tincture here. To make a folk tincture, chop up the herbs--I prefer fresh. In this case, I used tips from the fallen branch. Cover the herb with alcohol--use something that tastes good! Let the herbs sit in alcohol in the dark for 4-6 weeks. Shaking every so often. However, sometimes I forget, and they rest quite a bit longer.  This tree, whom I think of as a Grandfather, talks to me here and there. (Grandmother, on the other hand, talks frequently. hugs!) After four weeks, having nearly forgotten about the baby batch of Sequoia tincture, I am out walking Cutie, and I hear Grandfather asking 'So, what's going on with that tincture?' Well, I think 'It is time to drain it and call together a plant meditation.' I love these trees.  Tasting and Preliminary Experiences Initially quite dry in the mouth. Fragrant, floral, savory, wine-like, woodsy, fruity, sweet! Super sweet with bitter waves. Light, lighter than I expected, it feels lighter than the brandy I made it with. A foamy feeling in the mouth. Champagne bubbly energy--effervescent. Calming, mildly numbing to gums. Dramatic! Warmth, especially across the chest, lungs; full and expansive in the chest. Satisfying. Feeling sleepy.  Meditations •Several of us experienced energy shifts we considered the Kundalini moving upwards. I noticed energy going far above the chakras I am familiar with up to the 10th chakra (which I had not truly considered previously) and then the grounding came. Bubbling or shaking/activation of energy in the head/forehead/third eye (all participants).  •We commonly experienced peaceful, loving grounding. Feeling lower body and hips release tension. "Helping me get in my body more fully." Similar to jade.  •The first experience I had was the medicine explaining it could help both a should issue I used to have and a should issue described in a recent interaction. Mine was arthritis resulting from Rugby damage that was better with activity (ie bad first thing in the morning). I resolved it with homeopathic poison ivy (thus tox), but the tree said, "What if I told you I could heal that again?' The other shoulder issue was described as loose ligaments that were aggravated by certain up and down movements while doing letterpress.  •Many of us experienced sexual, creative energy opening up. "It is okay to be there for yourself, to open up sexually." Not an aphrodisiac but an activating and opening of vital energies. •Tension releasing in the right brain.  •It feels antiinflammatory. •Helpful for women's hormonal shifts for balancing emotions/stress. "It helped my breasts when I was on my period." •Emotionally: Openness. Not allowing judgment, particularly about sex (multiple people). A sense that life can be joyful. Releasing the fears and judgments brings so much ease. I felt this in myself and in people I am energetically connected with.* •After energy moved up and then grounded, then clearing the energies around the body came next (multiple people).  Summary and Tradition The tallest living tree is a Coast Redwood. I often think of how a tree's roots go as far down as the tip goes up. This tree knows a great deal about traveling up and grounding down. The kundalini activation is telling about its spiritual state. Commune with the tree through being in its presence, connecting through literature, art, writing, tree essences (I will make one for the shop asap!) to ground and be spiritually more fully alive. This is an 'alive' that cherishes and fosters life (including sex and joy) rather than an austere spirituality. It does like the action--of birds flitting in and out, of people in the neighborhood, but also the underground connections that trees and other plants make. (*This may be a signature for I feel its strength can empower even those we are only connected to energetically.) It teaches all of this to us with its strong energy. It says we do not need to take it physically (like the tincture, it is a strong medicine) but, the essence can help if we are not near a Sequoia. Commune with trees. The taste was so dynamic and complex! Try nibbling on fresh evergreen tips in the Spring and see for yourself. Many resinous plants have joint healing properties--like lomatium and knees I believe, gumweed (grindelia), and hips. So it is not surprising that this has shoulder healing properties. Think of all those strong branch connections that must move with the wind but not break over hundreds, if not thousands of years...this tree knows about holding those arms just right. Lungs also make sense, Osha, lomatium, and grindelia all have a similar intense resinous quality that opens the lungs.  I will have to tune in more to the hormonal properties of this tree. The kundalini energy moves through many obstacles that are related to old patterns and negative emotions that hold us back. I suspect this and its grounding ability may be part of why it is helpful for hormonal and other forms of tension. There is so much to learn about this herb, but I feel its wisdom, commitment to living together/the beauty of interdependence and growth, and energetics are the most important.  Grandfather says, "There are people who stay at survival (think chakras 1 and 2) thinking it will help them be more productive in life, but there is nothing better than being all the way up and all the way down (think up to chakra 10 and grounded down to 10 as well). But even though this is so stable, we live in a world where if a man wants to take you down, he can." We can learn energetic stability and expansiveness, knowing that sustaining life is not a given, can make it even more precious. Enjoy each moment of living. Invitation Hug a tree, talk to a tree, listen to kind beings who have experienced more than you, help someone in your community. Check out these sites for more information:  Save the Redwoods STEM Humboldt Redwood Curriculum Decolonial Atlas National Park Services

I wanted to announce this exciting annual opportunity to get a seed grant (see video here) from Herbalists Without Borders. All members of HWB can apply (become a member here). You get a lot of seeds! If you have a garden or a seed sharing project, like Ida Galash's below, with Portland Monarchs. Drop by Ida's seed library for native/pollinator plant seeds at 2218 NE 22nd Ave Portland, OR. Or learn about monarch preservation on the Portland Monarch FB page. Look how cute her seed library is! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so feel free to apply for a seed grant, build a seed library (use a drawer and a glass cabinet door), and paint up a pretty neighborhood seed hub! The pollinators with love it. Herbalists Without Borders also offers fruit and veggie seeds. :)  Ida's garden is super inspiring! If you are in the area or visiting, check it out. :)  When you are there see if you can spot the world's smallest fish pond.  Post author is, yours truly: Lily Michaud, herbalist of Brown Bear Herbs in Portland, Oregon and Herbalists Without Borders Board of Directors member. Don't forget to play in nature and enjoy your community this Spring! xo

For our last plant meditation of this session we meditated with a very special plant, Cinquefoil. You may have heard it called any number of other names, including: Potentilla, five finger grass, septfoil, tormentil, and crampweed. Initial Impressions This tea tastes light, like Spring, grassy, mildly astringent. A pleasnt, mild flavor. Like a lighter version of raspberry leaf, agrimony, or strawberry leaf. It feels like it might clean my teeth. A little drying, like tannins. Reminds me of a lace bodice--white lace trim, I see yellow flowers. Meditation 1 •"A delicate hand." I hear this repeatedly. What you are close to becomes part of you. Herbs, like people who you associate with, become integrated parts of who you are. •I give a pretty thing she likes. The herb knows what they like.  •It is hard to concentrate. Things feel bright so I opened my eyes. •A Woman is sitting in a field of tall grass. She wears a long, puffy petticoat, and a bodice with a white lace trim. She is writing in her journal. •A sense of weightlessness. •Things are bright.  •I saw a bright green field, with an early Spring feel. I saw a kit. The sky was blue. The air was brisk. •I felt a pleasant pressure behind my eyes and in my forehead. Then warmth spread down my arms.  •I feel this herb can clear your mind and provide comfort. Meditation 2 •Trouble concentrating.  •Again a sense of this herb knowing things that people like and pleasing them. Also pleasing them through images that people like. Pretty, harmonious things.  •The herb talking again about becoming a delicate hand, both interpersonally and creatively. This is about art and human connection. It feels like it may be saying this to engage me in things I enjoy thinking about.  •A sense of de-stressing. Not very focused. I feel neck tension being worked out.  • I feel light, energized, happy. Even more this time than the first meditation.  • I feel rising bubbles in my body, they are joyful. Summary and Traditional Use Matthew Wood finds Cinquefoil to have the same medicinal properties and magical properties as Agrimony, an herb I have worked with extensively. These herbs are helpful for when a person is tense and tortured by pain or circumstances. The common characteristic is holding their breath in response to pain, they often cover their feelings with a happy face. Because of this they can have trouble being authentic. Health problems they can treat include asthma, intestinal problems like mixed IBS, and as one of Cinquefoil's names, Crampweed, indicates, menstrual pain and disharmony. Agrimony and Cinquefoil help unwind problems related to work and the law, and any areas where one feels stuck between a rock and a hard place.  Through plant meditation I find the temperments of these two plants different. Agrimony tends to loosen up speech and help people break their reserve by bringing out commonalities and talking about things you are genuinely enthusiastic about. Cinquefoil has a much lighter energy to it, the plant also feels lighter--the dried leaves are fluffier and less dense. Like some other herbs that help reduce tension, focus was less, in favor of being relaxed and happy. Cinquefoil has a reputation for attracting love. The way that it brought to mind light, happy feelings that were personal to each participant, seems similar to a gentle, attentive suitor. I also loved "a gentle hand"--it was a tender yet persistent message. In Europe the flower was used both to attract love and in wedding bouquets as a symbol of commitment and fidelity. Potentilla has been used as a antidepressant. Whereas Agrimony feels like a magician pulling rabbits out of a hat, Cinquefoil felt like it was shifting our internal energy and therefore would attract more positive energy. Potentilla is used magically for protection, the five fingered hand shape leaf seems to say "Stop" and is used as a talisman. I look forward to getting to know this herb's magical ways more thoroughly.  Cinquefoil is used for skin problems. It is used as a face wash to heal sores and wounds, as well as to reduce freckles and sunburns. In this way it can help you enjoy the meadow while protecting you from any harm that may come to your skin. This herb has very detailed leaves and when it spoke to me and others through very aesthetically transmitted messages it brought them to mind. This plant is used as an ornamental (unlike agrimony which is not quite so pleasing to the eye, sns) and it seems to put a lot of emphasis on the ability to heal through creating pleasing visuals, this could include art.  Above you can see the details in Cinquefoil's silhouette in my Freedom Quilt.   While mild in flavor, this plant has abundant tannins, as one participant tasted. It is recommended that the entire top of the plant be harvested in June. Dry carefully to avoid any risk of mildew, as the plant is prone to dampness. This plant has a relatively large root which was used for making bread during times of famine (called the 7th bread in Gaelic).  While not as commonly known these days, this helpful herb was a staple in the medicine cabinet.    Invitation Have you worked with Cinquefoil, aka Potentilla? Please share your experiences in the comments. References Coon, N, Using Plants for Healing, Hearthside Press, 1963, p 179. Harris, B The Compleat Herbal, Barre Publishers, 1972, p 82-32. Wood, M, The Earthwise Herbal: A Compleat Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants, North Atlantic Books, 2008, pp 399-400.