Ziziphus jujuba, aka Jujube, or Dà Zǎo was our plant meditation subject this week. We had this as a tea. It is a food herb that can be eaten raw or prepared in the many ways fruit can be cooked or baked. Boiling brings out several times more of the beneficial properties. We consumed this as a tea from dried fruit. Pre Meditation Taste: "mild smoked gouda in need of salt", smokey and dank, musty, sweet aftertaste, the sweet flavor was more prominent as it cooled. Energy: Warming and sinking, bringing the energy downwards in a comforting way. Meditation 1 -Pleasant stable pressure at the third eye and across the forehead near the brow. I also noted/the herb pointed out that my brain was improving, as the energy of on my forehead was as balanced as it has been in a long time. There was slightly more energy on the left, but not much difference.  -I was feeling a little sick, like a cold, this tea improved the symptoms. I felt cleared out, but also like my insides were soothingly coated. So it felt like happy mucosa, at the same time as less mild post nasal drip. I mostly felt calm, which was a relief from how I had been feeling with the mild irritation from the head cold. -On the plank of a ship. Everything was in black and white. There was a big cheese on the plank, it looked like pound cake with fuz on the top, but it was indeed cheese. There was a Nightmare before Christmas style pirate character, He looked like a skeleton, and was bouncing up and down on his toes, like a ballerina. He was over-the-top weird/freaky.  During my vision I kept flashing back to falling asleep last night, this made me tired and I fell asleep. I dreamed the herb transported me into the dream.  -Calming, soothing, sedating, heavy, syrupy--like cough syrup. This felt releaving as it descended.  -Sedating, making me sleepy, mostly feeling quiet and stable.  -Slight pressure between my brows Meditation 2 -It felt like a fog lifted, with my focus. -Lightness in spleen area, this feeling spread out and was creating lightness in my lower left lung too. My lungs felt better. -I had a nice deep meditation this time, it was deep and restorative. I had the same slight pressure on my third eye. I felt relaxed, peaceful, and stable. -My sinuses cleared a bit.  -I saw the skeleton pirate again. He finished his dancing, he was tired and holding his back because it hurt him. He was thumping his peg leg everytime he walked. He started coughing and hacking. He coughed out a tooth and it landed on the deck of the ship. He picked up his tankard and downed it all in one go. It was all cough syrup. I could see it going down his body. -My spleen felt warm. Summary and Traditional Use This herb is sweet and sticky and is considered contraindicated when there is dental disease. Don't eat too many or you could end up spitting out a tooth.  This herb is considered an adaptogen. Its sweet taste gives it an affinity towards the spleen and stomach, but it works through all meridians.  Jujube syrup (try this Italian recipe) is calming for asthma and coughs. Studies show that using jujube syrup (if you are scientific use the recipe in the linked study) can reduce medication induced hepatotoxicity in Tuberculosis and reduce the severity of the cough.  This herb is used to treat insomnia. It is helpful for stress and anxiety. On another note this herb is very high in iron and vitamin C which improves utilization of the iron. It is used to treat anemia and is a supportive food during menstruation. Low iron can cause or increase insomnia.  While not a stand-alone treatment for back problems, (few herbs are used independently in Chinese medicine), it's ability to sooth and replenish the blood can be a supportive part of a larger treatment plan.  Though it didn't come up in meditation, this herb helps with constipation and is a digestive aid. Though it is sweet it can be used to help with diabetes and blood sugar managment. It can moderate or harmonize the medicinal herbs in formula (Wilms, Divine Farmer's Classic of Materia Medica). Jujube nurtures the spleen (we all felt it!) (also, Wilms, Divine Farmer's Classic of Materia Medica). I love having my spleen nurtured. Invitation Have you played around with Dà Zǎo? Aside from syrup and tea, it is used in many Chinese recipes for flavor, nutrition, and as a decoration. Cook something up and let us know how it goes. Have you noticed this supporting your menstruation or sleep? Please share your knowledge and/or the recipes you have tried below. I have been procrastinating the dentist, but once I am in the clear (coughing out a tooth sounds really bad, lol), I think I will play around more with this pleasing food herb. :)

This week we meditated on mullein flower, an herb of traditional Western herbalism.  Pre Meditation I thought this herb smelled like saffron (but not strong like saffron) but the taste was more typically herby. We found it to be moistening and coating in our mouths. Some thought it tasted sweet, like licorice. Meditation Me: It went into my head, balanced, above my nose/mouth. Bright yellow. Healthy feeling. Then it showed me green (healthy bright, light/medium range) going along my right side. Asymmetrical. It would help me with inner thigh and central muscle weakness that is caused by lower mullein leaf overexposure, (a special indication for me, not a use for most people). Getting a tickle in my throat. Then the energy is green and yellow (pleasant colors, like the plant) all over on the right side of my body. Previous plant meditation in my father's house: “I am all on the left, then i will go to right, then center.” Next the energy goes to my head. I check in about 7/8 chakra work I am focusing on. "How does that work?" I ask. It goes straight up and down. Up to the top of my head, and down to the ground. Like a line of energy (thin line, pale yellow, light green, white). It shows me being centered. I feel this herb part is critical for getting me back on track, after lower leaf mullein over exposure (from years of cigarette making). This is balancing for getting back to my normal energetic functioning and to do more 7/8 work instead of being slow and slightly ill.   My daughter: I was lying on my right side, curled up. It was in my belly. There was this liquid (burgundy in color), and then a tiny stream of burgundy went through my abdomen. It felt like it was going downhill. It went through my bottom arm (the red stream) it was a small stream (a centimeter or less wide). It came out my fingers, which were resting on my knee (bottom knee). It looked like melted terracotta clay. Then it went down the crease of my knee and it went down the line of my calf onto the couch. Then it went down onto the floor, and it traveled to the oxygen room across the floor. It traveled to one of the oxygen tanks and wrapped itself around one oxygen tank a lot. And then it traveled back to me, and back up between my legs. And then my ankles were crossed and it forced my ankles apart. Time passed really fast on a clock (like in a movie showing time-lapse). I opened my eyes and there were millions of little red trails all over the living room. It kind of looked like a snail trail, but red and solid. Then I actually opened my eyes, then it looked like my finger-tips were red with the stuff (like dipped in sauce). Then I closed my eyes again and all of the trail caught on fire and were blazing. Then when Granpi was talking I was imagining my tongue was on fire. Summary and Traditional Use I have recently been talking to Matthew Wood about the use of upper and lower mullein leaves. I believe this differentiation would extend into the flowers, or be further refined. That is confirmed by the flower indicating it would heal me of muscle weakness I am having. I see this as in alignment with a strategy I have for overexposures and some allergies, of using another part of the plant to balance out the problem. I may have learned it from Matthew, but I may have just learned it from corn, by using corn silk. At any rate that is a strategy I often find helpful when I holiday from an herb or other plant is not practical. I was going to use upper leaves to heal the imbalance, but they have been hard to find. I look forward to taking more mullein flower tea and seeing where things go! Stomach, abdomen warmth and activation was a common theme. Mullein is known to be anti-inflammatory and is used for inflamed and/or bleeding bowels.  Cough, the tickle in my throat which became a cough reminded me of the cough I get from inhaling mullein. It is a very common reaction to inhaled plant particles (not like the smoke which is smooth). I feel the coating and moistening quality of the flower would be a good thing to experiment with if that cough arises. I usually use agrimony, which is quite helpful. Oxygen, the vision of the red pathways seemed related to this plants ability to increase lung function, the most important aspect of which is the ability to grasp and utilize oxygen. The oxygen tank was leaking that day. Oxygen is heavier than air and supports combustion (if something is burning, it makes it burn faster).  Mullein has a reputation for integrity and for helping you hear your higher calling.  Invitation Have you worked with mullein flower? It is most commonly used in oil for earaches. I would love to hear your experiences. Please share in the comments below. Join Plant Meditation Club here. 

This week we meditated on guā lǒu shī, 栝樓實, Trichosanthes cucumerina fruit, snake or king gourd. Pre Meditation Sweet flavor. The flavor lingers. Meditation 1 Me: I have a strong headache come on in front on my right ear/below my temple (zygomatic arch, near TMJ). This passes. I have a lot of sensation in my crown chakra.  My daughter (with a stomach ache going into the meditation): There was a shadowy clawed hand, made of shadows inside of my body. My stomach ache was in the form of a black mass in part of my abdomen (upper left quadrant). The claws were scraping against it and the darkness was spreading. It was making the problem spread. Passing gas has begun (maybe helping with the stomach ache).  Meditation 2 Me: A headache started in the same spot, went right through my head to the other side, and wrapped upwards around and above my left eyebrow. Then it dissipated.  My daughter: The claw was coming towards the black "bulb" on my left side again. The bulb started radiating white light, and by doing so it drove off the claw.  Summary and Traditional Use Guā lǒu shī is considered sweet and helpful for clearing phlegm heat and qi stagnation (often manifesting as pain). The whole plant can be used, but the fruit (which we used for our tea) acts primarily on the stomach, large intestine, and lung channels. Relieving dry constipation, lung qi stagnation (manifesting as lumps or absesses in the breasts, could be sorrow), today the fruit is made into an injectable form and used for angina (often due to build up of fatty substances narrowing the blood vessel walls), used in diabetes for sugar management. This herb is also used for menstrual block and general blood stagnation (or congealed blood). It is said to cure deafness (Shén Nóng Běncǎo Jīng)--i do not know what the mechanism is for this, whether it is clearing passages in the ear that are filled with mucus, wax, or other congealed substances, or regrowth of cilia. Not to be used in large quantities by pregnant women (extracts of the plant were used as an abortifacient during "one child per family" China and continue to be used for expelling dead fetus, ectopic pregnancies, etc).  In Ayurvedic medicine, T. dioicha (leaf), is used for enlarged and edematous (damp) liver.  The ability of this herb to moisten and promote movement did seem to be experienced by my daughter. I had painful headaches arise and disappear that were positionally related to the gall bladder channel (often associated with liver issues). Helping with menstrual issues is often related to some support of the liver function. In Chinese medicine the lungs control the liver and the two organs work together to regulate flow of qi. Because of these connections and my experiences, I could see this herb being part of a formula to ease headaches in front of and above the ears, and eyebrows. Energetically I wonder about how the herb is so into stagnant and inflammed liquids (tumors, blood clots, phlegm, plaques seem to have a similar quality and are often associated with inflammation). I enjoy looking at a plant's physical characteristics and environment of preferences for clues to why they succeed medicinally and how they teach us to function better. This plant enjoys growing in marshes, home of stagnant waters. It moves the stagnate, turbid liquids up high (it is a vine)--unlike most plants, growing close to the earth, this ascends the water and transforms it. The plant takes this energy and makes the largest/'king' gourds, filled with cooling, moistening energy, with the ability to move this fluid as far as it needs to go. Movement in itself is medicine--this is a large part of the process of healing pain.  Invitation Have you worked with Guā lǒu shī fruit by itself or in formula, or other parts of the herb, or varietals? What was your experience? Our plant meditations make me curious about the emotional and/or spiritual qualities of this herb. Did you notice the plant's work on this level?     

This videos discusses Brown Bear Herbs' gem and flower essence Addiction Recovery Support. It contains the energies of flowers and gemstones to promote a consciousness-shift approach to releasing addictions.    

Let this video on darkness, shadow, and healthy sexuality be a reminder to please freaking vote for Kamala, and vote blue in general. Our sanity cannot afford to lose reproductive choice. Let's clear our trauma (with the help of Sexy Smokes), do our emotional work (plenty more herbal allies will help), and walk forward into a more equal, progressive future. F-off to geriatric hypocrites who accost women and benefit from sex work while trying to control our bodies and diminish our human rights. With passion, Lily

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.