Hello, my friend!
It has been a minute since I last wrote you.
This time of year, I spend most of my days outside in the garden, tending to the land and plants… and kids and animals.
A friend once said that wherever you choose to shine your light and give your attention, there will naturally be tasks and things that won’t have sunshine at the time. Much like the dark side of the moon.
It doesn’t mean those things are less important; they just aren’t center stage right now.
Here’s a reminder that it’s okay to step back, breathe, and re-evaluate where you are in your journey. Sometimes a straight path isn’t for everyone. You are allowed to take a hard left and follow your intuition if you feel so called.
Your path is your own, and you can uproot any time you choose.
Speaking of uprooting… I am working with a powerful plant ally this month who helped me do just that.
Allow me to introduce you to Chamomile.
A little side note before we begin:
I have a little inkling that some of you might be thinking… Lindsay, tell me why working with just one herb, plant, or tree is so important? I could work with the whole garden! The whole grove would be much more powerful!
Once upon a time… I thought the same thing. And I have learned that when we take the time to slow down and build relationships with one plant at a time, it changes everything. We build relationships with people the same way.
We can make many acquaintances if we take only a few minutes to get to know a room full of people. Spending time to genuinely get to know someone makes all of the difference in how strong and powerful that relationship will be.
Now, without further ado…
In this exploration, you will find:
The Medicine
Introduction and Overview of Chamomile
The Roots
Soothing… or… and clever?
The Seeds
A New Approach to Resistance
A Poem
The Growth
Oracle Card Read
Channeled Messages through Song
The Medicine
Creativity · Play · Kindness · Nurturing · Soothing
Chaaaa-mom-oh-lee!
Chamomile (pronounced cam-oh-meel if you’re being proper) is a sweetly scented flowering plant that comes in a handful of varieties.
Most commonly known for its Roman (lower, expansive) and German (taller, long stem) varieties.
You can drink it as a tea and make it into balms or infused oils. You can combine dried chamomile and lavender into sachets for the bath.
While I’ve been drinking chamomile tea since I was a little girl, and it often shows up in my work, I’ve never sat with it in meditation. I took two shamanic journeys with the chamomile plant to bring back its wisdom and guidance for you in a new light.
Chamomile spreads quickly and is not afraid to take up space. It showed me how it multiples rapidly, and this is done intentionally to keep things out.
Who knew that chamomile would be such a great teacher for boundaries?
Planting chamomile brings presence, peace, and longevity.
I planted a packet of seeds the other day with the intention of helping me take up space. If you struggle with this, too, maybe it’s medicine for you.
I filled a giant pot and intend to use it for tea, bath sachets, and possibly some oils.
“Chamomile, German
Magical Uses: German Chamomile is used in calming and sleep incenses and brews. It is also used to attract money. The sunny nature of German Chamomile is used to combat curses and spells.
Chamomile, Roman
Powers: Money, Sleep, Love, Purification
Magical uses: Chamomile is used to attract money, and a handwash of the infusion is sometimes used by gamblers to ensure winnings. It is used in sleep and meditation incenses, and the infusion is also added to the bath to attract love. It is also a purificatory and protective herb. When sprinkled around the property, it removes curses and spells against you.”
-From Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs
The Roots
I believe the calming qualities of chamomile and its notoriety for helping with sleep run deeper than what meets the eye.
Remember the three-headed dog guarding the trap door in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone? I think his name was Fluffy. This giant, ferocious dog was placed to protect the stone inside.
Harry and his friends were only able to get in through this door by playing him a lullaby with a harp and sending him off to a tranquil sleep.
Internally, humans put doors (and guards) in place all of the time. It’s an energetic protection mechanism.
That one topic in your life that triggers the living hell out of you every time it comes up? You probably have guards and all kinds of protection in place. Which isn’t always a bad thing… it just depends on whether you want to keep it as is or change it.
Chamomile is the harp in Harry Potter.
As a gentle medicine that can sneak easily past the guards because they aren’t seen as threatening, but soothing.
And… or… very clever.
The Seeds
If you’re familiar with Shamanic work and have had a session with another practitioner or with me, you might recognize the resistance that comes up before sessions.
All the fun shadow-work stuff that rises to the surface for healing, clearing, cleaning, loving, releasing, just to be seen, or whatever we might need individually.
Chamomile has been a particularly difficult plant energy for me to work with, mainly because it has been strongly pointed out that I like to stubbornly do everything myself and dredge very slowly through the muck to get there.
Sometimes, kicking and screaming.
I began to hear the line “Do not go gentle into that good night,” from the poem by Dylan Thomas.
After reading it and sitting in my feels, I notice how, at times, I make things more difficult than they have to be. Maybe… we don’t have to fight against the current of life.
Maybe it can carry us, instead.
Thomas describes his father approaching an imminent death, and in his grief, describes that he will lose the light in his life. He is leaving the light and entering darkness.
I see light at both ends of the tunnel, and I believe this is subjective depending on the reader.
What does it bring up within you?
Here is the poem in its entirety.
Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
BY DYLAN THOMAS
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
The Growth
“Card Meaning: With its gentle energy and flavor, chamomile suggests that perhaps you need to slow down a bit. There is something in your life that is draining you or wearing you down— a relationship, a situation— and the chamomile card quietly reminds you that if you’re in a state of exhaustion, you won’t be able to do the work that is required in the future, either at all or to the extent that you need to.
Chamomile reminds you to take a pause. Step away from your work, whatever kind it may be, and give your mind, body, and spirit time to find balance and equilibrium.
Reflection:
Have you struggled to give yourself permission to rest lately?”
-From the Green Witch’s Oracle Deck
The lyrics in songs often hold a message, but the individual message lies in what feelings arise for you when you listen to them.
You have universes of information within you, and you can tap into them by feeling your emotions.
Channeled Songs from Chamomile:
Ain't No Rest for the Wicked- Cage the Elephant
This song reminds me that sometimes we settle for something we hate because we see no other options. You might be walking a rocky path because you haven’t seen a smoother one. Or perhaps, rough is what is familiar and what we were raised with.
Maybe, with a new perspective, new doors will appear
You’re allowed to want more. To seek scenic routes.
What do you yearn for?
Aim and fire.
Do you reach out and pull back at the last minute? What’s holding you back?
If you keep closing the door, you will never know how things could turn out.
The fool always wins because they are willing to try.
The fool will never live with the regret of not trying.
I’m being reminded to shout and let it all out.
Shout: Tears for Fears
The message coming through is that you “shouldn’t have to sell your soul.”
Or suppress yourself.
What are you holding yourself back from?
What needs to be vocalized?
…Speaks for itself.
The lyrics that come through to me in songs often hold a message, but it is also in the emotional responses. For a more individual message, you can listen and notice what feelings arise for you when you listen to the songs.
You have universes of information within you, and you can tap into your deep wisdom anytime you wish.
Lots to unpack up there!
Feel free to take your time with it, break it down for journaling, or use the information in your practice however you wish.
Thank you for being here on this journey with me. I value your presence.
Until our paths meet again…
-Lindsay
What a fascinating read 👏❤️
Chamomile is such a nice plant ✨