The Plant Meditation Club meditated with violet this week.

Initial Impressions

Taste: Grassy, herbal, soapy, a little like nettles (mineral rich), but mild, (old-1) zucchini (2). A mild taste compared to how dark the tea came out.

Meditation

•Energy is going straight up and down my throat. Instead of a chakra wheel spinning in the round, it is simply shuttling energy through the throat chakra. Like the wheel has been transformed to verticle. It feels like this would help with obstructions in the throat chakra.
•This feels like it would be supportive of the lymphatic system.
•The energy is demure. I see a white dress, like cream linen, that goes from my breasts to my shins. 
•I felt a pulsing/massage-like feeling on my forehead. I am energized and feel uplifted.
•This feels strongly associated with Spring. I see a sunny meadow. It is a clear day with a blue sky. 
•My mouth is wet. I feel heavy, heat in my chest or breast, maybe both? I feel heat along my nose and into the inner eyebrow areas (my sinuses). It feels like a fever with a chest infection. Once I have identified that experience, it shifts to pain in my lower trachea, like pain from a deep cough. 
•This herb has a history of being smoked, so I ask her how she feels about it. She says that is not how she prefers to work. Drink it as tea. 
•Coughing, clearing the throat, feeling it in my throat.
•More pleasant the first meditation. This time I felt energized like coffee—restless, not anxiety, but this was brief. Then I settled into an alert meditation. 

Visions 
•I had a water-related vision. It started with someone diving into the ocea. Then I feel asleep, hard. Later I saw the snake dive into the water. It came out of the water looking like it got dunked into white paint. It jumped along the water like a skipping stone. 

Reflections & Traditional Use

Traditional recommendation is a room-temperature 8-hour steep, but we did a regular tea steep. 

Finding related to taste: The herb is mineral-rich, like nettles, parsley, and blackberry leaf. It contains saponins, which give it a soapy taste. Saponins in violet help break down mucus in the respiratory tract and may be part of its reputation for treating tumors. It is mild and nutritive (like zucchini), making it supportive to the spleen/lymphatic system. It is very high in beta-carotene, which may account for the dark look and mild taste. Beta carotene may reduce the risk of certain cancers, including breast cancer, lung cancer, and pancreatic cancer. (link: https://www.webmd.com/diet/health-benefits-beta-carotene) Susun Weed writes in Breast Cancer? Breast Health! that this can shrink breast tumors in a month, that it can also be used to slow progression to give time to make decisions, and cites Hildegarde of Bingen using violet in an ointment to heal tumors. Weed says it is safe to take this herb in large quantities. Matthew Wood (Earthwise Herbal: Old World) states violet is helpful for cancer of the lymphatics, breasts, lungs, and skin. While this is exciting news, this herb is very hard to find in commerce, especially in volume.

Physical Sensations in Meditation: There were respiratory symptoms, including coughing. Heat in the lungs, breasts, and sinuses. Lymphatics came up.  If the respiratory tract has hot and dry mucosa, whether chronic or a brief infection, this herb could be palliative. This herb has a long history of being used for hot and dry acute or chronic coughs, bronchitis, asthma, lymphatic congestion in the head, and respiratory tract infections, including whooping cough.

Findings related to our energetic experiences: For the most part, we all felt quieter in our meditations. This herb appears to bring clarity and peace. Violet flower essence and herb have a strong reputation of helping shy or aloof-appearing individuals balance having a presence in the world to share their work or gifts, while being able to shelter that which is still tender or unformed. The shuttling of the energy past the throat chakra challenges (like timidity, or caution when speaking) enables opening of the 6th (like the experience of third/eye and forehead energy pulsing) and 7th chakras. By easing our self-limiting behaviors/5th chakra challenges, it not only gives us a voice, but it also lets us move forward to seeing the truth (6th) and cosmic consciousness (7th chakra). 

Talking to this herb makes me rethink it as a smoking blend. While it is soothing to hot, dry lungs and helps quit tobacco in social smokers (it is in my smoking blend the Social) this herb prefers to be taken as a tea. This is herb is also very hard to come across. I recommend reserving the tea/dry herb for cancer treatment, which will demand large volumes, and using the flower essence for the rest. 

Invitation

Have you worked with Violet? Please share your experiences in the comments below.