Plant Meditation Club: 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: