This week we will be meditating on an unknown herb of Chinese Classical Medicine. The reveal date on your pouch should match the date on the post--9/19 (a Thursday!).  Meditate and share your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual observations in the comments.  A summary will appear here when I reveal the herb. If you would like to join in, we'd love to have you. Check it out here.  Some areas of observation during your meditation and the day/days thereafter: -bodily changes (physical) -energetic shifts -mood/attitude changes -thoughts that arise that aren’t things you normally would think about (like you might normally be thinking about cooking dinner (so skip sharing that), but after taking the plant, you are also thinking about an old relationship and felt remorse, or forgiveness, or new awareness—share that) -images that come to mind -songs that come to mind -messages and/or phrases and their meaning to you if not the same for everyone

This week we meditated on Agrimony, Agrimonia eupatoria, an herb of traditional Western herbalism.  Pre-Meditation Mildly astringent. A little sweet, mild green taste. Meditation 1 My daughter: I saw a bat was flying. He started out by our house and then flew over the church. An owl murdered him. She stuck her claws through his chest, all the way through the other side.  Me: I kept being brought to my left shoulder (former arthritis) and how easy it was to heal. The thinking was to remember how easy it was to heal that shoulder and think of my current problems like that. Then I thought of law suits. How I get into a lot of them. Often astrology will be expressed whether you want it to our not. For example, at one point I said to myself 'I am sick of the law, I never want to deal with a law suit again. I'll avoid them at all costs." Shortly after that I was dealing with three suits against me, three entire fraudulent law suits, all beyond my control to "avoid them". At that point I decided my thought was not the right one! It is better to recognize that the archetype will be at play and to engage with it in the way that works best for you. I just had a law suit conclude positively and am looking two more potential suits. I have been thinking about how I tend to let people walk all over me, and how I can change that. Maybe this strategy will feel more appropriate. Meditation 2 My daughter: My hands are shaking.  Me: My energy is in my lung heart area for a time. I feel pain in the center of my chest. I see bright yellow (neon? it is like the flowers) come up from my abdomen to my mouth. It says yellow is for speech too (something like that!). The talk is about something I did which created a big change. I did this by using my voice. Then the energy rolls down to my abdomen. I feel movement down the center of my intestines (stomach and kidney channel area) then rolling down my left spleen channel area (to the left). It goes back and forth in those areas a few times. Not fast, just doing some energy work and switching.  Summary/Traditional Use Our experiences (including Alyssa's) touch on many of the uses of Agrimony: pain, activating voice, ending suspension (bat relating to the hanged man in tarot), use in relation to legal matters, nervousness, chest pain, intestinal health, and work. The magical and intense nature of this herb came to me more than it ever has. I felt like it has a cutting and dark nature--maybe it was the feeling of the owl grabbing the heart of the bat. This is not a negative at all--agrimony releases people from pain and situations that seem like they have no happy ending in sight. I will go through our list: Pain: Agrimonia is excellent for pain wherein the sufferer holds in their emotions and often their breath, puts on a happy face, and is stoic. Often those around the sufferer do not know the person has a problem. This herb helps people speak about their problems and breath through the pain. This can unwind the pain, and the social dynamics that are not being as supportive as they could be.  Activating voice: This herb has some interesting ways of freeing voice. It is useful for job interviews. I used it many times for jobs I wasn't passionate about but needed. In the job interviews they would ask me about my (not-closely related) passions and love my enthusiasm. We would barely discuss the position andmy feelings about it. Hired every time! I had a tea shop with agrimony growing around one of the seating areas. I repeatedly saw people walk into the area and share things with strangers they wouldn't normally open up about, and make good (often work related) connections. I used this herb for years (more on that in intestines) and it helped me open up and tell people how I was feeling. I once had migraines (almost every day for years) hardly anyone knew. I was definitely an agrimony type person.  Legal matters/Work: it is recommended to use agrimony on legal papers. This herb has a long reputation for working magic in law and work--any area where you feel you are stuck between a rock and a hard place. It has a way of opening up paths that are beyond your reality tunnel. In terms of work, it is important to play too. I like the Zoo song Alyssa posted in the comments. It is another form of venting to just stop the work mind and let loose, entering the animal world. I also like the "Make our dreams come true" lyric. Agrimony is for unstucking us--often that happens by helping us out of our limiting views. Our limits may be unnecessarily keeping doors closed. Prowl around and find out what's on the other side.  Nerves/Intestines: This herb is helpful for emotional reactions that often involve the intestines. I used this herb for some years to resolve IBS (variable) that had a lot to do with big emotions impacting my digestion. One key is to vent. Agrimony has this tea kettle without a vent feeling. It's great for everyone else, but up to your eyeballs with pressure for the one holding it all in. It helps you vent, breath, speak...other ways to release besides letting your poop-maker take the brunt of things.  Lungs/chest pain: This herb is used for asthma and problems were the breath is stuck. This could be emotional and/or something you catch. One way to describe flower essences (agrimony is a traditional fes) is that if you treat the emotions you are experiencing while in dis-ease, then the dis-ease can resolve quite quickly. There is not as heavy of a burden to move. I have internalized this way of thinking and always look at the emotional and spiritual side of things. This can help in the moment, but it can also teach us long terms lessons and prevent illnesses from taking such a deep hold in the future.  There are other uses for agrimony. This aerial parts are typically used as a tea or tincture. The flower essence too! Got a problem you can't seem to get out of? Try agrimony. Tell us your experiences with this herb below. It is in our Humanity tea:

This week we meditated on Bái Sháo, white peony root, scientific name Paeoniae Radix, an herb of Chinese Classical Medicine. Pre-Meditation I found this tea to have a very light flavor. I later read that some recommend steeping it for 20 minutes. I felt uplifted, that it was good I was drinking it, and it brought my energy up. My daughter describes the flavor as like leaves on a vegetable, a vegetable where you are not supposed to eat them. It tastes a little “forbidden”. Meditation 1 Me: Peony looks at my body, up and down from the inside. She says I had an accident and I made a life, a way of living, where my locus of grounding is my sexual body, this is to offset all the stuff I have going on upstairs. It is a center of gravity for for now (meaning where I can find balance). She seems to appreciate this.* Her presence moves up to my head. I see curling energies in my frontal lobe, coming out the front about an inch or two. The energy looks like clear flower petals curving out and up, but it also reminds me of the energy coming out of bodies in Princess Mononoke (we just saw the movie). She says there is a lot going on (in my brain) that needs support. The emotions come in from further back in my brain, and they are big. They come in and they are strong. It looks like a red line coming in from the back, right, middle area of my brain to the left frontal lobe. I feel supported by her and seen, it is hard to tell what is going on, but she can see and because of that she seems up for the job. My daughter: I saw flowers blooming out of my va-jay-jay. They were blooming out around my inner thighs and lower belly area. They were not specific flowers, just flowers. It made me feel kind of warm in that area. The flavor stayed on my tongue for a while.  Meditation 2 Me: I feel other activity and movement on my frontal lobe: I see ladders leaning on my forehead--like scaffolding, it's something for workers to climb. There is energy moving back and forth, mostly very front/forehead. The patterns of movment are new. It feels smooth and supportive. My daughter: I see the deer god from Princess Mononoke. In the movie when his hoof hits the land, it grows a bunch of flowers then they die. He is the god of life and death in the forest. In my vision, he was going across the pond. Every time he took a step, instead of them growing and dying, they grew, and grew more and spread around him. The feeling was peaceful and uplifting.  Summary and Traditional Use: After meditating with this tea we (all with female bodies) felt uplifted and supported. I noticed both my daughter and I had far less tension. This was an interesting experience because I had a little knowledge of this herb ahead of time but not much. Through my study of Western herbalism I had known of the use of peony root for neurological issues (such as seizures). I did not know its primary application in Chinese medicine is female reproductive health. I was surprised when both my daughter and I had experiences related to our reproductive organs. This is one more reason why I am so in love with plant meditation as a way to learn directly from herbs.  *Since she refers to a lifestyle where the focus is the sexual center (chakra 2), I think this may be referring to my study of Chinese medicine and Daoism where the meditation focus is usually the second chakra (compare to my usual meditation of the last 28 years, which focuses on the 3rd eye). SImilarly, when I have my period and am getting stressed, if I keep my energy in my pelvis I feel grounded and comfortable. If I try to keep my energy mental, I am more likely to get irritable or frustrated. The energy dynamic that came out of this accident feels similar and grounding. Overall my recovery is great and I think most people would not notice I was different. Staying grounded is an ongoing strategy to smooth things out and feel more peaceful. The sexual center (as Peony refers to it) is not just about sex. It also has a lot to do with creative expression (making a baby is only one way to be creative, lol). I have been diving into my art. See it here.  This herb has long been used to promote smooth liver qi. Liver qi stagnation is very common in our culture. Associated feelings are frustration, anger, depression, and resentment. What I witnessed in my daughter and myself felt like liver qi harmonizing. We both have a tendency to get frustrated, and we both felt noticeably peaceful. (Ah, the beauty of peony!) The liver is important for regulating and balancing hormones. When the liver if having trouble, it causes hormonal imbalance. In Chinese medicine the liver is often considered the organ to treat when there is a neurological problem, such as a head injury. By this connection these two parts of the body are not so disparate.  They can be healed in similar ways. This herb tonifies the blood, treating irregular, excessive, and delayed menses. It helps retain yin (which means it is valued during menopause when yin deficiency can cause hot flashes). Here is a brain health smoothie recipe and article that talks a little about the of peony to improve intelligence and clarity of thought. I will post a little more about Western use of this herb when I am back with my books! Check the comments.  Invitation This was such a sweet experience. Have you worked with peony root? If so please share your experiences and/or observations in the comments below. If you haven't tried plant meditation yet, I hope you try it out. Here is a video I made on what different plant meditation experiences can be like. 

In this video, I talk about the herbs in Clear Mind herbal smoking blend and how they can support your mental health. Spearmint, gotu kola, linden, and mullein work together to give, what users report as, a greater sense of peace, mental clarity, and relief from anxiety and ADHD symptoms. To me it has post-yoga class vibes. Try Clear Mind when you want to get zen, do creative work, or for greater ease do not-so-creative, but necessary, mental work. 

We offer our smokes in classic (with little messages on our color-coded crutches), filtered, and roll your own (great for pipe and tea too). I like them all for different situations:  A classic sampler pack is my favorite for meeting up with friends:       Whether you are trying to quit tobacco, or looking for a safer leisure, social, or ceremonial smoke, Brown Bear Herbs is here for you. We have several smoking blends that contain no additives, no CBD, no THC, no nicotine, no tobacco--indeed, nothing but organic and/or safely wildcrafted herbs. Find our Classic and Filtered packs here: https://brownbearherbs.com/collections/herbal-smoking-blends Find our Roll Your Own pouches for rollies, pipe smoking, and tea here:  https://brownbearherbs.com/collections/roll-your-own-smoking-blends

Take it Easy herbal smoking blend that I formulated to support folx during the early stages of tobacco withdrawal. The herbs in this blend are organic mullein, lobelia, skullcap, catnip, and rose. This blend is also good for work breaks and work frustration, and can be helpful for headaches related to neck issues.