The Forest Apothecary: meditations

A sort of faerie-goddess-plant diva has been visiting me on occasion, since I've started my herbal ally research. She started as a face in my sketch book, some watercolors, and has now ended up on canvas in a collage piece. Who knows what other places she may take me.

She is reliable, strong, steadfast and true. Can you see the print on her hair? This was a rosemary branch dipped in paint then pressed on canvas.

Also, much to my delight, I recently re-discovered some natural incense that I crafted last year in a forgotten drawer. Last season I started getting into the idea of crafting my own incense using dried herbs and flowers from my garden. There are so many blend possibilities and research on natural incense is fascinating! These pellets are crudely shaped, but their scent is divine. I've always found that smudging or burning natural incense is condusive to creating a sacred space and evoking my creative muse. It's particularly lovely to burn when doing herbal meditations, especially when crafted by one's own hand. For that matter even just the act of gathering the ingredients and forming the pellets is meditative. This particular blend also contained raw natural honey as a binder. If you're at all interested, I leave you with the ingredients, which of course includes my beloved rosemary.

Amounts are not indicated, so use your judgement, what feels right, or as I've sometimes been known to write down in my scientifically correct herbal recipe journals... a "pinch or a drop" :) The botanicals were ground by hand in my mortar & pestle, though I did leave some of the rose petals whole.

~rosemary
~lavender buds
~jasmine buds
~mugwort
~damiana
~rosehip powder
~red sandalwood powder
~lavender essential oil
~ylang ylang eo
~benzoin
~raw natural honey to form pellets by hand, dry in oven on warm.

Until next time... green blessings all.

I've been continuing my journey with Rosemary. She is such a popular plant, that I haven't just limited my reading to the books mentioned in my previous post, but have been cross-referencing with other books I haven't opened in ages, along with my online research, and have also been tempted lately to check the cookbooks as well. I made a rustic bread using rosemary instead of caraway seed, and it turned out wonderfully.

I've also created a lovely herbal oil, and a vinegar, but have decided after more research not to make a tincture, since there can be danger of raising blood pressure, and kidney damage if taken in large doses. I created the oil in my yogurt maker, which allows for a consistent low warmth and strained in a french press, which I find to be an indispensible tool for straining herbal oils. I plan to use the oil topically for massage, and perhaps in a hair treatment. I've also been continuing to make a simple rosemary tea in the morning, which I enjoy drinking on my way into work.

Today I treated myself to a bottle of rosemary essential oil. I look forward to burning some in my diffuser this evening when resuming my reading, and will also use this when starting my herbal ally meditations.

My potted rosemary plant continues to keep me company, she speaks to me, I'm sure of this. We had a couple of warm spring-like days so she was able to get outside and stretch a bit in the warm sunlight. With spring here, now, I'm dreaming up all sorts of other ideas for using this herb.

I'll end this quick post by mentioning a give-away that you might be interested in. Joanna Rowan Mullane of Hedgefaery Herbals has just finished creating this magical book and will be giving away two copies! You only need to comment on her blog, or become a follower, and she'll do a drawing when she returns from her travels to Ireland. This book would be such a wonderful addition to my herbal library, I would love to own a copy, and Joanna's work is amazing. You can find her here: http://hedgefaeryherbals.blogspot.com/