https://botanarchy.cargo.site The Botanarchy Journal Wed, 08 Apr 2020 21:43:22 +0000 https://botanarchy.cargo.site en https://botanarchy.cargo.site/Home Wed, 26 Feb 2020 22:49:51 +0000 The Botanarchy Journal https://botanarchy.cargo.site/Home Alchemical Poetics&nbsp; + Anarcha Taoist Medicine <img width="600" height="634" width_o="600" height_o="634" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/df56ad4987b283925626e67da7dd035d25e8dda3d3c540ffa35f957d40c9f5d6/48782590547_1db6329a4b_o.jpg" data-mid="62086176" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/df56ad4987b283925626e67da7dd035d25e8dda3d3c540ffa35f957d40c9f5d6/48782590547_1db6329a4b_o.jpg" /> Tsuba by Georg Oeder, 1916 https://botanarchy.cargo.site/01 Wed, 26 Feb 2020 22:49:51 +0000 The Botanarchy Journal https://botanarchy.cargo.site/01 <img width="600" height="605" width_o="600" height_o="605" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c2d10f190bc148dd525a9a5d17a496ae9bd4fb5d60836e2bd79e7c910c6e3326/48782059213_f36aa14e3b_o.jpg" data-mid="62089755" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/c2d10f190bc148dd525a9a5d17a496ae9bd4fb5d60836e2bd79e7c910c6e3326/48782059213_f36aa14e3b_o.jpg" /> The Fire Element 火 Central to the core of Traditional Chinese Medicine is the concept that the moon, stars, and sun invest destiny in our jing, qi and shen, and as the cosmic influences assert their will upon the tides, so are we each unfolding in cadence with their heavenly mandate. Each season brings its own expression from our particular perch in the solar system, finessing a distinct merging and meddling of the elements in the swirling, hurling Milky Way we call home. As we find ourselves at the close of summer, in an open-armed embrace with the sun from across the sky, certain archetypal energies are awakened in us, the same energies that force the buds to blossom, the cicadas to sing, the antlers to grow, and the squirrel to seek shade in the towering Oak. One of the poet priests of the 20th century and my guide in the Great Work likes to say that&nbsp;“wild nature is the ultimate ground of human affairs.” That is the poet Gary Snyder, and much like the Taoist sages and doctors of yore whose work this divine medicine is based upon, he is a seeker of universal truth, of the cosmic ties that bind us all together in process and purpose while supporting and sustaining the discovery of our own unique divinity. I’ve always considered poets to be the stewards of the seasons, the cartographers of the cosmos, the score keepers of the human unfurling. As the Taoist sages discovered a template of medicine in the balladry of earth shifting, their poetry fleshes out the collective consciousness in language, mirth, and metaphor. “The fertility of the soil, the magic of animals, the power-vision in solitude, the terrifying initiation and rebirth, the love and ecstasy of the dance, the common work of the tribe”-&nbsp;these are some of the ways the most archaic and elemental values on earth are expressing themselves in summer, the season of the Fire Element. Fire Element Summer Alchemy Rosy, rubicund, accelerating and expanding. Desiring and being desired, radiance, Leo hair, the pleasure principal. Urgency, flagrancy, intrusive proximity, sex magic, control vs. chaos, attraction vs. repulsion, healthy intimacy. Fusion, illumination, yab-yum, all-consuming, the alchemical furnace. La Dolce Vita, Ashes to Ashes, power, fulfillment, savagery, eruptions. Tribalism, generosity, community, storytelling around a midsummer bonfire, performance, flamboyant self-revelations. Kineticism, eroticism, the unfurling of petals, deer antler velvet, the quest for the infinite and for the infinitesimal… Welcome, Fire. As the Five Element acupuncturist Lonny Jarrett likes to say, all movement and life in our solar system is oriented toward the sun, and the sun is the ultimate embodiment of fire. To know fire is to know the benevolence of the sun. In the season of fire, we see the generosity and grandiosity of the sun who isn’t stingy with the vibes, laying them on thick. Summer is the season where we can give it all away, for in our yang exuberance we have more than enough to give. Whereas spring and the season of wood broke ground and outstretched its arms, fire expresses and extends in all directions, places new and novel, in a grand display of beyond-ness, which some might call,&nbsp;extra. Yes, fire is sometimes consuming. Yes, fire occasionally overextends itself. Yes, fire has an issue with boundaries. But if we contain and control the burn in a sexy Taoist fireman kinda way, we can sink into the medicine of the season without getting scorched and parched. On The Heartmind Summer is the moment in the cosmic rotation where we are closest to the sun, the moon, and the stars. So close, that perhaps - PERHAPS - we can hear them whispering to us. The fire season is ruled by the heart, and the heart reaches apex aliveness during the summer. Intuition and xin - the heartmind- stir and rustle in the summer breezes. The capacity to sense with our heart awakens, and if we consciously open the doors of perception, we can directly experience the inherent meanings that flow through nature and connect with the living intelligence of Gaia and her kin. In celebrating nature as a kindred being, we wake up our inherent wildness and learn to govern by the part of us that remains undomesticated, feral, in tune with our truest desires. An excellent primer for this wilding work can be found in the rich canon of herbalist &amp; earth poet Stephen Harrod Buhner. His episode of the ReWild Yourself podcast with the inimitable Daniel Vitalis on reclaiming your feeling sense is an excellent roadtrip ally for summer soirees abroad. More intrepid individuals can dive into his lusty tome Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm: Beyond the Doors of Perception Into The Dreaming of Earth whilst on beaches real and imaginal this summer. On Boundaries and Elemental BDSM I offer an exercise in Summer lite BDSM - push boundaries, and then create them for yourself. As summer is all about expression and expansion, how can you expand, and take up more space? Maybe the need for a sacred manspread is upon you. What areas can you push and extend into? What line can you cross? Heat accelerates processes, so any Rite of Expansion you begin will have the anointed inertia of fire breathing down its neck, so light the wick and watch it blaze. A healthy fire element expresses in our bodies as well-defined boundaries, and part of the work of the heart and its coterie of companion organs is to regulate what comes into and out of our sacred temenos. It wasn’t until I heard my mentor Lorie Dechar speak to boundaries in a workshop on their very importance that I truly understood their hallowed task, as I come from a lineage of open-door-policies and bleeding hearts, and frankly, I didn’t even know that I was allowed to negotiate a new contract. The Chinese character for boundary - 边界 - is a composite character comprised of tian - field - and jie - introduce - that implies two people entering into an enclosed, defined, and protected space. There is an implicit sacredness sanctioned within the character that can help us navigate boundary creation through the lens of a divine contract. This is the perfect season to draw up a new contract pertaining to your personal boundaries, consecrating your time and space as sacred, and your body as a shrine to the work of your becoming. Is your body a Temple of Dionysius? If so, should we bring wine and floggers? Is it a shrine to Vesta with a ‘Picnic At Hanging Rock’ dress code and there’s NO SEX and NO BOYS allowed? Are you only open for worship on Sundays from 11-2? Boundaries are an art, and if you constantly struggle with them, petition an acupuncturist to work on empowering your fire element so that it may function properly as your Temple Bouncer, artfully controlling who and what has access to your inner sanctum. For a botanical ally in the work of boundaries and bouncers, I recommend Skyrocket Flower Essence from Lotus Wei, flower ambassador of ‘NO is a full sentence.’ On The Pleasure Principal Summer is the moment of the Great Flowering, and as such, is the time to do those things that make you say “why don’t I do this more often?” The emotion associated with a healthy internal fire element is joy, peak Dionysus. As a Priestess Of Austerity, I take the summer off of saturnine solemnity and do some work around joy and pleasure. What engenders it? What is blocking it? How can I access it in deeper, richer, freer ways than what compulsion and capitalism have to offer? I have never related to pleasure and joy in their typical guises. My patron saint is Hildegard Von Bingen, and, like David Bowie, I know when to stay out, and when to stay in, get things done.&nbsp;For those of us whose ability to access pleasure and joy is blocked by heartbreak, trauma, and a flagrant sense of duty, or for those of us whose boundaries have been breached leaching joy hither and thither, this work can be eased on down the road with the help of acupuncture point Heart Protector 8: Lao Gong ‘Palace of Weariness.’&nbsp; One of my favorite writers on the Taoist lore of acupuncture points, Debra Kaatz, says this of Pericardium 8: ”Here is the fire point of the heart protector meridian where it is in its home and official residence. It is where our fire can be truly nourished and cared for when the way has been long and hard. When we have enough loving fire then the ashes of old hurts and trouble fade away on their own.&nbsp; Lao Gong is a palace or temple of the ancestors. It is where we can go and be cared for when there has been weariness, trouble, overwork and when suffering has been long. It is for someone who needs this special care. This point is even more effective in its own time and season where the heightened fire energy of summer can enhance the fire energy of the point. Lao is drawn as a lamp that flames with a gentle fire at night. It means to exert one’s self in an extraordinary manner, work, labour, suffer, weary, make, encourage, give trouble to, reward and consumption. Gong is drawn as several rooms under a roof. It means the Imperial palace, temple of the ancestors, palace rooms, and college. At Lao Gong is all the love, nourishment, and luxuries of a great palace for the weary heart to regain its lost trust, and ease its hurts. Here the Emperor himself gives tender care to the troubles of the heart so its doors can open and fill with the joys and laughter of the world again.” Located at the point on center of the palm where the tip of the ring finger lands when we make a fist, Lao Gong is the energy center where qi is transmitted in martial arts, qigong, and pan-cultural traditions of energy work. This is an excellent point to ‘seal’ after giving too much of yourself, pushing past your boundaries, performing extensive work with your hands, and not being able to access pleasure on account of exhaustion. Though flower essences and essential oils can be excellent allies on this point, I prefer to use an acupressure magnet as a great condenser and refractor of qi. While applying the magnet or oil, visualize a great seal containing and condensing your precious resources as you direct your energetic flow inward. Pleasure is a gateway drug; Once you tap into it, you have access to the entire prism of embodied emotion, the well of human experience, the arcanum arcanorum. On Collectivism and Giving It All Away The healthy expression of our inner fire element is an acknowledgement of abundance and an abounding generosity. Think of the summer flowers, show-ponying about town with their flagrant displays of plumage and their wanton coffers of pollen. They aren’t being stingy with the stank. In the summer sun, their buds, blossoms, and bowers of nectar seep every which way, a sacred vessel of sustenance they share with all of creation. Plants - though exploited and shaped and poked and prodded for gain - aren’t bound by the fake laws of capitalism and its paucity politics. They live outside the law, in a model that knows no scarcity, where it is intrinsically understood that giving your pollen to the bees creates more abundance. Why hoard (so uncouth) when you can unleash your limitless resources and give it all away? Energy is a resource. Time is a resource. Willingness is a resource. Ingenuity, influence, invention, vexation, elation, elbow grease… all resources, collateral in the collective economy. Like flowers, there is also that inimitable resource that is yours and yours alone, that fragrant je ne sais quoi that when unleashed, the world is marked with your signature, and we are all the better for it. A prescription for the summer swelter - Share and Expand - just like the rest of the ecosystem. Do you really want to be the only species not giving it up?&nbsp; For the exasperated and overwhelmed, think locally. Who or what has helped you reach your perch of comfort or assisted in the unfolding of your Tao? Can you give back to your community in the same way? For me, I bow down eternally to all of the gracious, disruptive doctors and practitioners that unflinching encircled me with love and care when we lacked monetary resources. I took their lead and built that very same support for others into my business model, and this summer I expanded my sliding scale and pro bono offerings. Systems, hegemonies, regimes… no one’s gonna give it to us, so we have to give it to each other. Mixtapes of the Tao: Summer//Fire Since my thesis on ‘The Mix Tape: A 90’s Artifact or Archetypal Medicine for Mass Liberation?’ is still being reviewed by my advisors at Harvard, here’s my sonic offering to rest upon the altar of Summer. Please, make love to this, flaunt your ample thighs in the sun to this, have an interpretive dance party to this, play it in the car whilst driving off a cliff with Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon. Impressions of the fire element condensed into a cauldron dripping with honey and sweat. ︎opentaoistboombox︎ Elemental Reading List Pleasure Activism, adrienne maree brown: The politics of feeling good and a living spell for changing the world The Art of Sexual Ecstasy, Margo Anand: Doin’ it and doin’ it and doin’ it well The Red Goddess, Peter Grey: The goddess Babalon as a weapon of spiritual liberation Principia Discordia, Malaclypse The Younger: Chaos magic beach reading My Best Friend Hildegard, Adam Greenberg: Because you need a fabulous fable written by my friend Adam Greenberg about the 12th Century mystic Hildegard and her gay best friend, as they escape slaughter, perform exorcisms, and enjoy love affairs with celestial and demonic beings Psychomagic, Alejandro Jodorowsky: Jodorowsky’s poetic acts of transformation, better living through metaphor A Spy In The House of Love,&nbsp;Anais Nin: Is there anything more Fire Element than Anais Nin? Wild Feminine, Tami Lynn Kent: Finding power, spirit, and joy in the female body Pirate Utopias, Hakim Bey: Collectivism + living out of bounds WE: Understanding the Psychology of Romantic Love, Robert Johnson:Myth, meaning, wounds in the crucible of partnership The Dream Of A Common Language, Adrienne Rich: Sumptuous poeticism at its rawest and most refined Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm, Stephen Harrod Buhner: Accessing the omniscience of the heart through Gaia and plant communion The Five Spirits, Lorie Dechar: The alchemical heart of Chinese Medicine, written by my cherished teacher and mentor all about love, bell hooks: Love, sans patriarchy.&nbsp; Philosophy In The Bedroom, Marquis de Sade: I mean, it’s the MARQUIS DE SADE Fire Medicine: Goji Schisandra Lemonade In Chinese herbal therapy, sour &amp; astringent herbs have the energetic quality of ‘consolidating’ our qi and precious body fluids from leaking out of the body. They are useful for sheltering our three treasures - jing, qi, and shen - firmly within the body temple, and securing what is lost after a ribald summer bacchanal of profuse sweating, bleeding, urination, extravagant orgasming, or fatigue after indulging in supernatural amounts of sexual activity. Taoist medicine folk of yore likened the wonders of astringent herbs to a ’turtle pulling back into oneself’, their magic being that of conservation and condensation. Seeing as summer is all about oozing fluids with wild abandon, worshiping ancient sun gods, and flagrantly squandering our immortality, sour and astringent medicines like Schisandra Berry and Lemon can help guard our vital fluids and protect us from the dangers of over-sweating. This rubicund elixir immortelle is on tap all summer long at the Botanarchy Homestead, because if there’s one thing I do with gusto, it’s drop fluids like its hot. 2 Tablespoons Schisandra Berries 4 Tablespoons Goji Berries 2 Tablespoons Aloe Juice 1 Cup Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice 4 Tablespoons Maple Syrup A Pinch of Sea Salt 1 Quart Spring Water Simmer the Goji Berries and Schisandra in spring water for 30 minutes, strain, add your various accoutrements with gusto, let cool, ice it up, and drink in dewy dankness. Fire Medicine: Mung Bean Mylk For those kindred spirits that find themselves a sticky heap of hot &amp; bothered ire in this oppressive swelter, here’s a quick and easy food cure to clean up your complexion, soothe the Mean Reds, and clear toxic heat from the body. Hot and humid climates force our pores open, weakening the body’s defensive Qi and depleting our internal Yin, making us vulnerable to pernicious pathogens. Excess heat and damp can act like a vector for disease to root in the body, and we are left with a coterie of flu-like symptoms ranging from restlessness, hot flashes, headaches, copious sweating, nausea, sluggishness, vomiting, dry mouth and throat, profuse thirst, constipation or diarrhea, muscle aches, sore joints, turbid discharge, skin eruptions, dizziness, palpitations, and fatigue. Mung Beans, humble verdigris pellets of puissance, have been used in Chinese herbalism for ages to battle summer heat and damp heat conditions. They reduce pathological heat lodged in the body, and dissolve accumulated toxins, leaving us with a lustrous, clear complexion. Skin care from the inside out, Mung Beans address the internal environment that engenders breakouts, gently coaxing the body to a state of balanced bravado. Li Shizhen, the Grandpappy of Chinese Herbalism, wrote of them in his cherished herbal materia medica Ben Cao Gang Mu, proclaiming that “Mung Beans are highly recommended not only as a rich source of nutrients, but also as medication.” Whether plaguing the skin in a pestilence of pimples and purulent eruptions, or cursing the innards with turbid discharge from the respiratory, genitourinary, or digestive system, damp heat is a lingering, loathsome pest. However, with a daily dose of the right food medicine, dynamic equilibrium is maintained within the body cauldron, letting the body heal itself. Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen: Recipes from the East for Health, Healing, and Long Life has a slew of inspired recipes featuring the cooling mojo of Mung Beans. However, my favorite is this simple, egalitarian milk made from the boiled beans, drunk daily as a skin tonic: 2 Handfuls of Dried Mung Beans/Lu Dou 4 Cups of Purified Water Rinse your Mung Beans in a jacuzzi, holy well, or kitchen sink, removing any grit &amp; grizzle. Boil the beans in four cups of water for roughly three minutes, remove from heat, and cover with a snug-fitting lid. Let the beans stew for thirty minutes, strain, and chill your brew in a sacred vessel in the ice box until needed. Repeat the whole rigamarole once over with fresh water, to milk the most mojo from your batch of beans. To clear up break-outs, drink one cup of milk daily.&nbsp; Fire Medicine: Damiana Elixir Known for centuries as a potent sexual and nerve tonic, Damiana grows wild throughout the American Southwest, and has been used throughout indigenous cultures in Central America and Mexico. With his cohorts Saw Palmetto and Angelica by his side, and a heavy-handed dose of vodka and honey, this tonic harmonizes the reproductive system and spread fire energy throughout the body. This recipe is adapted from herbalist Lori Herron. You will need the following accoutrements: 750 ml bottle of Prairie Organic Vodka&nbsp;(Non-gmo vodka distilled from corn, cooperatively grown in the heartland of Minnesota! Swoon!) 1 oz Damiana Leaves 2 Tbsp Saw Palmetto Berries 2 Tbsp Angelica Root 2 Vanilla Beans 1 Gallon Glass Jar Distilled Water 1 Cup Local Honey Measure out your herbs, adding them all to your gallon jar. Pour the whole bottle of Vodka over them, ala Nick Cage in Leaving Las Vegas. Seal your jar and put in a cool, dark place so it can do its sultry magic in private. Keep your empty Vodka bottle for later. After one week, strain the mixture through a coffee filter and save the liquid (this is where your empty Vodka bottle comes in handy). Re-soak the herbs in your gallon jar, this time adding 750 ml distilled water. Let this sit for another week, then strain yet again. Heat this mixture just enough to dissolve one cup of local honey, remembering to thank the bees for their beautiful bounty. Remove from the heat, allow to cool a bit, and then add your vodka infusion. Don’t hit the sauce just yet - you must age the whole thing under the cloak of darkness for at least a month! Be mindful, and remember the wisdom of the wizened sage Axl Rose - all we need is just a little patience. You can take a few ounces of this ambrosial elixir daily as a heart-opener, or add it to cocktails. Word on the street is that a chalice of this balmy brew shared with your beau will induce euphoria and a heightened sense of communion. Hoist the chalice! Waving Goodbye to Fire Season, i.e. The Nature of Nature Is Endings Gary Snyder’s bonfire ode:&nbsp; ‘To Fire’ (Goma&nbsp; /&nbsp; Homa) I have raised pure flames With mystic fists and muttered charms! All the poems I wrote before nineteen Heaps of arty cards from Christmas Straw shoes Worn clogs The English Daily—Johnson’s, Wilson’s Ho Chi Minh —face crumpling inward licked by yellow locks The contracting writhing plastics And orange skins that shrink and squeak peace! peace! grace! Using sanctified vajra-tongs of blue I turn the mass and let in air Those letters forwarded now to Shiva the knots of snot in kleenex, my offering— my body! And here the drafts of articles and songs Words of this and that Bullshit—renounce the leather briefcase no one wants the holey socks. As sun moves up and up; And motorcycles warm the street; And people at the bus stop steam— GREAT BRILLIANT KING Unshakeable! —halo of flame— these sweets of our house and day: Let me unflinching burn Such dross within With joy I pray! 火 https://botanarchy.cargo.site/02 Wed, 26 Feb 2020 22:49:51 +0000 The Botanarchy Journal https://botanarchy.cargo.site/02 <img width="600" height="621" width_o="600" height_o="621" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4d4967dfa3bd382fa9b38d989775d348f96c173beefcd2535765ffed8cc226aa/48782059168_3b2502f0fb_o.jpg" data-mid="62146538" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/4d4967dfa3bd382fa9b38d989775d348f96c173beefcd2535765ffed8cc226aa/48782059168_3b2502f0fb_o.jpg" />1/2 —Japanese Tsuba, 1916<img width="600" height="611" width_o="600" height_o="611" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/44ca0b17a14917db313cdb749c874197a9c36ff4efbd854ecc7a27a167288ff9/48782421421_13d0e40182_o.jpg" data-mid="62146525" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/44ca0b17a14917db313cdb749c874197a9c36ff4efbd854ecc7a27a167288ff9/48782421421_13d0e40182_o.jpg" />2/2—Japanese Tsuba, 1916 The Earth Element 土 Round, ripe, rotting, reciprocity. The splendors of the body, security, stability, being filled to the brim. Humidity, heaviness, hearth, harvest, not fearing the reaper. Moldy peaches, Bergman’s Wild Strawberries, languidness, turbidity, torpor, ennui. Ahhhh, late summer, Sorceress of Saudade, surprise season of surplus and swamp, of yin emerging from yang, duality and abundance on the precipice of decrease. In the five element calendar, Late Summer is the fifth season, a poetic interlude of plumpness betwixt the third week of August and the autumn equinox that hearkens the arrival of fall. The Earth element reigns over her kingdom in Late Summer, and to understand her splendor is to romp in her amber waves of grain. Abundance and satiety abound in tandem with decline and decrease. With a tinge of melancholy and a golden brush stoke, the entire cosmos is swaying in a heat-drunk torpor to Bowie’s ‘Golden Years’ as the earth does its best impression of a Fauvist landscape with languishing bodies lolling in the low-hanging sun. Some may say, “my dude, that’s just summer!” But if you’ve been paying attention to the Great Unfurling, everything is… slowing down. There’s an entirely different flair to Late Summer than the swank and swagger of its sister season. For in this moment, fire hath liberated the moisture hiding within Earth, and the air is pregnant, heavy, like an Earth deity herself. The whole of the cosmos is telling the alchemical tale of how yin - substance - emerges from yang - energy. Can you feel it? (Hint - it’s sticky.) Our embodied Earth element is our spleen and stomach organs, the Axis Mundi and cosmic hinge for the whole of our metabolic processes, and the reverse equation of how yin - substance - creates yang - energy. What a magnificent ouroboros this universe is! As five element acupuncturist Lonny Jarrett says, “The earth element governs our connection to the Earth in a way that empowers utilizing and integrating all sources of available nourishment in life so that our potential may be actualized.”&nbsp; In honor of our potentialities both amorphous and accomplished, I offer this series of rites and ruminations, a bouquet of spectral sunflowers upon the auric altar of Earth. On The Earth Element Within and Throughout Whilst in the throes of a love affair with Earth In Her Season, I stumbled across this quote from the lusty tome The Deep Ecology Movement: “The photograph of earth taken from outer space by a satellite that shows the whole blue orb with spirals and whorls of cloud, was a great landmark for human consciousness. We see that it has a shape, and it has limits.” I remember a story I heard about the writing of my favorite song - Terra - an ode to the naked curves of Earth by Brazilian musician and anarcho-provacateur Caetano Veloso. It’s the most beautiful song that ever graced our hoary hobgoblin ears, and we are surely not worthy of its majesty, but regardless - go listen to it right now. Veloso wrote the song from the depths of a jail cell, doing time for protesting police brutality during a period in which Brazil had suspended habeas corpus. From his captivity, he witnessed those very same photographs of Earth taken by the first astronauts on the moon. Gazing at her, he distilled her celestial grandeur into an swoony, sparse, seraphic ode to Her supernal shape as witnessed from above — From where, neither time nor space May the Force send courage For us to treat you tenderly During all the journeys That you carry out in the nothing Through which you bear The name of your flesh… Earth! Earth! However distant The wandering navigator Who could ever forget you? The song is sung entirely in Portuguese, but its message was never lost on our english ears; Despite our various freedoms, we are ALL longing heretics trapped inside a prison of our own creation, calling out to Her to hold us. Earth…Won’t you re-parent us? Give us what we never got? Shell out something sweet to take away the pain? Teach us about enduring beauty? Won’t you be our lover AND our mother? The Earth has always been fetishized as a talisman of unconditional love and generosity. She connects and unifies us in our differences as inhabitants of her home, mediates conflict, and soothes with her boundless breast. We call her Mother and she gets our needs met gracefully with silent aplomb. Sympathy, in the Chinese Five Element tradition, is the emotion of the Earth element, and you can feel it in her liberal charities and licentious largesse. As if by the grace of a hidden hand, our Mistress of Eternal Empathy anticipates our needs, placing the medicines we seek for the plague du jour smack dab in the palm of our hands. Toxic oil spill? Here’s an oil-eating Oyster mushroom to devour the poison miasma. Malarial outbreak? Here’s a heap of Artemisia Annua growing in the garden path. Her body is sustenance for the entire swathe of terrestrial enterprise. She endures abuse, and continue to provide for us.&nbsp; In the cosmic re-parenting, an out of balance Earth element in our own bodies is reflected as an insatiable neediness, a loss of connection to source that is dealt with by compulsive consumption, eroding our digestion of both food and experience. We may even feel the need to over-give ourselves, equating self-worth with the ability to caretake for others at the expense of our own flowering. When our internal Earth is shaky, we may find ourselves resisting change or avoiding choices that might jeopardize security and stability. Working on the Earth element in acupuncture and herbal medicine pulls us back to our center, empowering us with feeling at home wherever we go. Though we often debauch her narrative by casting her as bruised and battered, a hapless victim of patriarchy that needs our saving, Earth has been self care-taking and evolving solutions since time immemorial (learn from this). Her timeline is not one of minutes and years, but of centuries and millenniums, and us Children of Earth often miss how she regulates and repairs. She didn’t need a #selfcare hashtag with a jaunty blonde in a bathtub to teach her how to patch her wounds. If she needs a solution, she creates one, quite literally (evolution). This is something to consider when we work on healing our inner Earth element. Late summer and the gentle work of nourishing our Earth element imparts this sense of sublime security and abundant bounty, much needed to combat the chaos of culture that is insistent that we never have enough. In Her season, perhaps more than ever, the umbilical connection to Earth as home and navigator is paramount as we float through deep space untethered and astray. The advice for those floating comes again from The Deep Ecology Movement: “We must find our way to seeing the mineral cycles, the water cycles, air cycles, nutrient cycles, as sacramental—and we must incorporate that insight into our own personal spiritual quest and integrate it with all the wisdom teachings we have received from the nearer past. The expression of it is simple: gratitude to it all, taking responsibility for your own acts, keeping contact with the sources of the energy that flow into your own life, i.e. dirt, water, flesh.”&nbsp; On The Spleen and Stomach "Every Microcosm, every inhabited region, has a Centre; that is to say, a place that is sacred above all.” - Mircea Eliade In order to discuss the majesty of the Spleen and Stomach, we have to understand the central metaphor of digestion through the lens of the Earth element. Both our center and our alchemical furnace, the Spleen and Stomach are paired as the organs of our internal Earth, and their transmutation and transportation of nutrients provide the context and structure for how we support ourselves. These digestive organs nourish and nurture, providing stability and serenity (or when out of balance, worry, obsession, and self-doubt). They are responsible for the efficient digestion of all we encounter - both food AND experiences - churning and turning the manna of life into qi to fuel the body’s processes. ‘Neutral Good’ in alignment, the Spleen and Stomach are concerned with how we meet our own needs and the needs of others. Providers of comfort, they are the embodied Nonna’s in all of us… worried with how we are fed, perhaps a little needy, often overbearing, imprinting our relationship to food for life, for better or for worse. One of the legendary Chinese medical physicians of yore, Master Li Dong-Yuan, founded what would come to be known as the Earth School in 1200 C.E. The Earth School believed that disorders mainly originate with damage to the Spleen and Stomach, and helped to contextualize how disease could be engendered by lifestyle and emotions, and how both these things are shaped by oppression and poverty. I was going to write a whole swoony love letter to the Earth School, but everything I would have said, acupuncturist Sharon Sherman said better in this article: As Chinese medicine evolved, practitioners began to realize that patients did not live in a vacuum and they could not be treated as such. Every patient affected by an ailment needed to be treated individually because many factors beyond just physical disease were playing a role and required attention. For Master Li Dong-Yuan, lifestyle was a major factor in the preservation of a patient’s well being. He felt that patients’ emotions could heavily influence the qi’s integrity and that physical illness could be eroded by the socio-economics of a war-torn society plagued with famine, epidemics and poverty. Li Dong-Yuan believed that the cause of damage to the stomach and spleen occurred as a result of three main factors: intemperance in eating and drinking (especially consumption of excess amounts of cold, raw, fatty or unclean foods), overwork which leads to exhaustion, and from the effects of excessive and habituated emotional expression — excessive emotions agitate the body and consequently weaken digestion. When the conquered people were left powerless, poor and unable to access proper nutrition, opportunistic disease processes were able to also overcome and vanquish health physically, mentally and spiritually. In honor of the Earth School and Late Summer, I invite you to to do a hot little inventory of nourishment, and how that might be supporting or thwarting your tao. On Feeding the Earth Element “It is not easy to recognize and choose good nourishment of any kind if the spontaneous and receptive instinctual part of us is numb and neglected.” - Jean Shinoda Bolen As someone who has the privilege of tending to bodies and secrets, I know how deep and vast our wounds with Earth run, expressing themselves through disordered and dysregulated eating. Let’s get something straight - If we are eating outside the boundaries of Monsanto-fied foods that feed corporate egregores whilst robbing bodies and Earth of their legacies, there are no inherently ‘good’ or ‘bad’ foods. Where food falls on the spectrum between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ is completely relative, and is one of the myriad ways we fall victim to internalized prejudices informed by a slew of various cultural conditionings that impose false hierarchies on things. Most of this has more to do with socio-economic biases (and sophisticated advertising both overt and covert) and less to do with nutrition. That said, food CAN support or negate our thriving, but this is different for everybody and informed by the climate of each person’s unique ecosystem, personal history, and stew of inflammatory predispositions that can take a lifetime to understand. This is where the Taoist approach to nourishment diverges from most modern nutritional practices… we think seasonally and contextually, focusing on the relative truths of each person, and not a supreme truth, acknowledging that reality is in a state of process. Everything changes, nothing is constant, and sometimes things flourish best when left alone. We don’t need to obsess too much about these things (but I still do from time to time, it’s a hard knot to undo). Which is to say… the following ruminations on digestion aren’t about diet in the sense of DON’T EAT LECTINS, LECTINS BAD, but more about the SPIRIT in which you eat your food. The query of Earth is ‘what is your relationship to nourishment in general,’ so this work can be aided by understanding the ways digestion is supported in Chinese medicine, gentle pillars to reinforce the Earth element. 土 Earth is stodgy and likes monotony, ergo having stable rituals around food is a way to encourage digestion and assimilation. Chew slowly, eat regularly, try not to eat when angry, tired, or rushed. 土 Following the meridian clock, the qi of the Stomach is at peak energy between 7 + 9 am, and the Spleen qi between 9 + 11. If you love syncing up with your biorhythms, eat a big, sexy breakfast between 7-9, and then carve out a swathe of Spleen time between 9-11 for meditation. 土 Earth gets soggy and slow with damp and cold foods, and digestion gets sticky, curdled, and congealed like when excess dampness turns the earth to mud. The process of warming up cold foods absorbs a fair amount of your precious qi, energy that you could be using for far more interesting things. In some internal climates, too many foods of this nature end up damaging digestion over time, so it’s worth examining if ice cream, dairy, iced drinks, and smoothies might be curdling your innards and impairing flow. 土 Science experiment: try not drinking water with meals (puts out the digestive fires and dilutes your precious gastric juices) and removing iced drinks from your repertoire for a hot minute. See if your center feels more fortified. 土 Keep the Earth strong and nimble with warming foods and spices. Warm grain bowls, pumpkins and squashes that embody the golden color of the Earth element in her prime, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, soups and stews, parsnips and root veggies, baked yams drizzled with maple syrup, think like a harvest goddess and what she might eat. 土 An out of balance Earth element craves sugar, but often does’t respond to it well (oh, the pathos!). Sweets that get those neurotransmitters all a’gaga whilst also nourishing the Earth are molasses, dates, rice syrup, warm fruit compotes, rice pudding. Think sexy macrobiotic restaurants from the 90’s. Communing With The Gut-Mind If you’re feeding your Earth responsibly and still experiencing digestive duress, or feel like old tricks ain’t working, I leave you with a slew of Earth element reframes for intuitive eating that can separate the proverbial wheat from the chaff, and guide you in the direction of waking up your receptive and instinctual gut-mind: 土 Are you allowing the Earth to provide for you? 土 Are you approaching her bounty with reverence, slowing down to receive it, tuning in to how it may support or hinder the unfolding of your Tao? 土 Are you sublimating unmet needs through compulsive consumption? 土 Are you looking to food for sympathy? 土 Do you have stable rituals around food, feeding yourself in congruence with the needs of your day so that you can provide for your emotional and physical labor? 土 Are you warming your center, keeping your earth warm like a swaddled child? If any of this resonates and feels like it needs further unpacking, you might want to enlist the wisdom and wiles of your acupuncturist to work on fortifying your center. On Dampness Dampness is humidity in the internal ecosystem, manifesting as things that are puffy, sticky, and heavy… think lethargy, lumps, bumps, boredom, brooding, bloating, mucus, phlegm, water retention, accumulation, and aggregation. It likes to perturb the Earth element with such illustrious foes as diarrhea, sticky stool, nausea, and loss of appetite. Per my oft-quoted dude Lonny Jarrett, “dampness is an accumulation of everything that should have nourished us but has instead transformed into burden.” Think of a tree holding onto rotten fruit, or a fridge hoarding exotic condiments past their expiration date whose monetary and utilitarian value have long since soured (Earth Rx bonus ritual - clean your fridge! I’m sure my shui sorceress Meghan Wallace James would approve). Dampness slows things… thoughts, processes, metabolisms both psychological and physical. This is how Late Summer is distinct from Early Summer, which is marked by its speed, joie de vivre, and robust quickening. Dampness often rears its heavy head in folks that find it difficult to say no, continually ensnaring themselves - begrudgingly, yet brusquely - in the projects, dramas, and predicaments of other people, taking on an excess share of the collective weight of the world. And dampness also calls into question resource hoarding and guarding.&nbsp; Do you hold onto things because of their perceived value, but feel the weight of these ephemeral widgets is actually slowing you down? RELEASE THEM UNTO THE EARTH. As I write this to you, it’s day 1 of Autumn, the season of dropping leaves and sickle-bearing reapers - shedding excess weight on this cusp is part and parcel. Elemental Acupressure: Spleen 21 ‘The Great Enveloper’ Debra Kaatz, in the resplendent ‘Taoist Tales of Acupuncture Points’, translates acupuncture point Spleen 21 ‘Da Bao' 大包 as ‘A Vast and Extensive Containment’ or a ‘Big Cuddling Embrace’.&nbsp; This is the point I choose when my patients need to remember that they are nourished, safe, contained, and held, supported by both the vast reserves of their bodies and the grace of the all-encompassing tao. The energetics of some points are subtle, but this one has a rich, warm, spreading sensation, almost as if Earth herself was holding you close in a bower of leaves and mulch. I liken it to the arms of a lover around your waist as the sun crowns in a late summer meadow, except better, because romantic love never lasts but the ardor of Earth is eternal. Located on the mid-axillary line below the holy hallows of the armpit in the 6th intercostal space, you can rest your palms here whence engulfing yourself in an embrace of devotional self-love. Or, you can declare your body a safe space and sovereign nation by activating this point with self-qigong, rubbing your hands together until you feel flickers of electric qi shooting betwixt them, and then placing them upon The Great Enveloper whilst ensconcing yourself in a gravity blanket of protective Earth qi.&nbsp;Kaatz sermonizes on the services of Great Enveloper, describing it as the point where “we can dive deep within the wonders of our Mother Earth and feel her vast and extensive containment. It is here the spleen enriches us with all its great vitality and dynamic movement, the place that everything within us is connected to the Mother Earth with her great care, stability, warmth, and nourishment. In this great enveloping embrace we can feel secure and come back into balance to receive the warmth and care that we need.” Mixtapes of the Tao:&nbsp; Late Summer/Earth An ode to Gaia and her golden kin, this elemental mixtape is a cosmic etching upon her great countenance, an alchemical distillation of sunflowers and saudade, a solemn soliloquy to the receding waves of summer and how we make *home* upon her grand facade. Invitations for use: Use this mixtape to nation-build with the elementals, forming coalitions with the air, water, and soil (vow to protect them with your magic). Play it whilst reposing under a taciturn tree, watching the interplay of golden light and shadow upon your skin. Use it to ruminate upon the inter-connectedness of all life at the close of a boozy picnic at dusk (you drank too much AGAIN). Fan yourself on the porch during an Indian summer heatwave while this wafts through the willowy curtains. Make like Dylan Thomas and use it to rage against the dying light. ︎opentaoistboombox︎&nbsp; _____________________________ Elemental Reading List Earth House Hold, Gary Snyder: The poet laureate of the Archaic Revival Pharmako/Poeia Series, Dale Pendell: On the poetry and power of poison plants. Dale Pendell is Gaia’s consort, and he sampled every psychotropic plant upon her vast countenance so that you don’t have to Apocalyptic Witchcraft, Peter Grey: The witch was created by the land to speak and act for it Queer Ecologies: Sex, Nature, Politics, Desire, Catriona Mortimer-Sandilands and Bruce Erickson: Queer interrogations that subvert and transform heteronormative nature relations The Alexandria Quartet, Lawrence Durrell: Bodies and landscapes colliding in the Alexandrian sun, sumptuous word-drunk fiction to be read in the blaze of a late summer repose Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu via Ursula Le Guin: A 2500 year-old manifesto on rewilding (and the entire basis of Chinese medicine) that reads like a Taoist handbook for crafting a temporary autonomous zone with feminist flourishes from Le Guin Treatise On The Spleen and Stomach, Li Dong-Yuan: Digestive medicine from Earth School Grand Magus Li Dong-Yuan, written over 800 years ago but still r-a-d-i-c-a-l Healing With Whole Foods, Paul Pitchford: Elemental nutrition for balancing the internal ecosystem In The Realm Of Hungry Ghosts, Dr. Gabor&nbsp;Maté: Rewiring the maladaptive compulsions of human cravings and addiction How Much Land Does A Man Need, Leo Tolstoy: My best friend and Slavic Soul Brother Boris Dralyuk translates Tolstoy’s tiny folktale on the impossibility of satisfying desire Borderlands/La Frontera, Gloria Anzaldúa: Transcending cultural tyranny within a topography of displacement, a Chicana activist’s reflections on borders both geopolitical and conceptual. Now, more than ever&nbsp; Caliban And The Witch, Silvia Federici: The enslavement of the female body via capitalism and the enclosure of the common lands The Parable Of The Sower/Earthseed #1, Octavia Butler: Adaptation and working together in the throes of the slow apocalypse we are all ensconced in that barely reads like fiction at this point Deep Ecology, Bill Devall: Living as if nature mattered Walden and Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau: A stodgy old white dude contemplates nature and writes loquacious earth porn about resistance and simplicity, both ‘meh’ and ‘still good’ Earth Medicine Brew What Thou Wilt: Lacto-Fermented Beet Kvass “The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious… The beet is the murderer returned to the scene of the crime. The beet is what happens when the cherry finishes with the carrot. The beet is the ancient ancestor of the autumn moon, bearded, buried, all but fossilized; the dark green sails of the grounded moon-boat stitched with veins of primordial plasma; the kite string that once connected the moon to the Earth now a muddy whisker drilling desperately for rubies. The beet was Rasputin’s favorite vegetable. You could see it in his eyes.” -Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume Beet Kvass is an acquired taste, a guttural garnet brine of sanguine soil, mossy mouthfuls of prosaic, proletarian food medicine. A digestive tonic of Slavic heft and ardor, it’s a simple remedy that exalts the latent magic of the beet through fermentation, boosting its nutritional profile and inoculating the beets with boughs of beneficial bacteria. Kvass is a perpetual staple at my LA homestead, along with bone broth&nbsp;&amp; cod liver oil. Taken religiously with the fervor of my Slavic ancestors, it can render the need for further digestive support obsolete, all the while strengthening a sluggish immune system and supporting the organs of elimination. I first sampled this rosy, fermented fête out of an unmarked carafe at a hot spring in rural Austria. Thinking it to be cranberry juice, I was immediately perplexed by its salty strangeness and effervescent bite. Which is to say, I spit it out. Moments later, I longed to swill it by the mouthful, like a Viking gulping the blood of its enemies. Beet Kvass will sneak up on you like that. My friends from Eastern Europe grew up swigging Kvass daily in school, a nourishing ritual that shames the pants off the Dixie Cups full of sugary fake juice doled out by the US school system. The probiotic puissance of Beet Kvass lies in its ability to rectify the morass of an unbalanced digestive system, whilst thinning out the bile to help with liver congestion and function. The mystical beet, in and of itself, also boosts an ORAC value of 1,776, making it an excellent natural anti-inflammatory and preventative medicine for cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, allergies, and chronic fatigue. Fixin’s 6 Organic beets, washed &amp; peeled 1 Tsp Sea Salt 1 Packet Body Ecology Probiotic Starter Culture ½ Gallon Glass Jar or Fermentation Crock Method Wash, peel, and chop your beets into small pieces, placing them in your sterilized glass jar. If you don’t have a ½ gallon vessel, you can distribute them amongst smaller jars, and divvy the recipe up equally (Kvass is a cooperative chap!). Fill the jar with purified water, enough to cover the beets, making sure to leave 1 inch headroom at the top. Add your sea salt and probiotic starter, shaking and whisking until thoroughly infused. Loosely seal (I use a paper towel and a rubber band, because I’m the utmost fancy) and store away from direct sunlight, allowing your rubicund potion to ferment at room temperature for 3-5 days. You may notice a winsome, white mold starting to form on top of your prized Kvass. Fret not! It’s merely a harmless rogue mold, entirely par for the course in the wily badlands of cultured foods. Scoop her off gingerly, with nary a scoff or skirmish. After my counter top fermenting has commenced, I’ll either whirl my Kvass with a smidgen extra of water in a Vitamix before bottling (for the earthy girth of a thicker brew), or strain the beets and bottle the scarlet elixir. You can reserve the beets for a nice salad or amuse-bouche, or re-ferment them in a second batch of Kvass. Store your Kvass in a sealed glass vessel in the fridge, where it will continue to simmer and seethe with bountiful bacteria indefinitely. Serve chilled, with a squeeze of lime or a spritz of sparkling water if you so fancy, or add to homemade Borscht for a bit of old world Slavic kitchen witchery. If the Kvass is entirely too pungent for your palate after the counter top fermentation, mellowing it in the fridge for 2-3 weeks will curb its mojo. This will also enhance the nutrition of the Kvass, but is not a necessary step, as she’s already an unequivocally potent brew. Dose ¼ cup per day. If your body is not accustomed to the bubbling brawn of fermented foods, start small, and work your way up to the full dose. Earth Medicine: Four Deities Soup&nbsp;四神汤 Preventative medicine in a porcelain pot, Si Shen Tang 四神汤, ‘Four Deities Soup’ is an old school tonic soup cure from the annals of Chinese Medicine. This gentle soup can be utilized in a myriad of ways, from strengthening the digestive system, increasing appetite after illness or chemotherapy, battling fatigue, boosting the immunity, and calming a jostled nervous system. Because it’s taste is placid &amp; mild, Si Shen Tang is the perfect source of nutrition for finicky kids with digestive distress, Earth element alchemy to woo the spleen and stomach back to life. Though I find juice fasts to be haughty, ill-informed, and positively superfluous (life is entirely too vivacious to camp out on top of a Vitamix for weeks on end, eschewing commitments, kettlebells, and spontaneity), I CAN get down with a soup detox, which grounds, nourishes, and warms the body. Where juice often lacks fiber and protein, shuts down the thyroid, dampens the digestive system, and contributes to wild fluctuations in blood sugar, tonic soups are perfect for an autumnal cusp cleanse. They will sustain and simplify, supporting your organ systems without dampening and depleting your inner fire. Soup cures are this anarcha-taoist’s medicine of choice, nonpareil. Though you must be proactive, prudent, and vigilant in your preemptive preparation, using soup as medicine is an infinitely rewarding alternative to medication and surly interludes at urgent care. A dash of fastidiousness in the kitchen goes a long way in the gallant fight against acute ailments, chronic fatigue, and recovery from illness, by maintaining a buoyant and valorous flow of qi throughout the body. Ingredients Though their pedigree may seem glamorously avant garde, Chinese herbs are a customary staple in most Asian pantries for both healing and grubbing. All of the herbs below can be easily procured in your local Chinatown apothecary, should you have a local Chinatown apothecary. If Los Angeles happens to be your halcyon homestead, hustle on over to Tin Bo or Wing Hop Fung for a crash course in Chinese herbalism, and a fanciful frolic amongst shelves of dried fish maw and prizefighter champion mushrooms. Fresh fare- such as Sake and Chinese Yam- will be readily available at any Asian market, where you can also try your luck at finding rogue Chinese herbs to flesh out your budding collection. 1 Cup Job’s Tears Barley/Yi Yi Ren A gluten-free barley (be still my heart!) that adds burly nourishment,&nbsp;Yi Yi Ren is excellent for eliminating dampness, heat, and toxicity. Its energy is directed towards the spleen, stomach, and lungs, aiding in digestive troubles, swelling, fatigue, urinary difficulty, abscesses, and joint pain. I was thrilled to learn recently that Yi Yi Ren is being used intravenously in China to shrink cancer cells, and has been exhibiting hefty anti-tumoral powers. It is, unfortunately, not suitable for pregnant women, though it’s wondrous in soups for conjuring postpartum joie de vivre. 1 Cup Lotus Seed/Lian Zi A dapper bedfellow to Yi Yi Ren, Lian Zi is a meaty seed that nourishes the heart, spleen, kidneys, and vital essence. Another darling of the pantry, Lotus Seed is mild enough to beef up any feast, excellent for cases of chronic diarrhea, urinary and reproductive disorders, low appetite, irritability, insomnia, anxiety, and palpitations. 1 Cup Fox Nut/Qian Shi Completing the trifecta of tonics, Qian Shi gently supports the spleen and kidneys, for frequent urination, diarrhea, diabetes, chronic discharge, and sore low back from stress and over-taxation. A Few Pieces of Fu Shen/Spirit Poria Mushroom, Broken Up One of the most poetic medicinal mushrooms of the Chinese canon, Fu Shen is both a mushroom AND a morsel of host wood from the pine tree upon which she feasts. Thus she contains the rootsy, arboreal energetics of the tree, and the otherworldly, decaying detritus of the fungus. Spirit Poria nourishes the heart spirit, and the ancient Taoists believed that consuming this famed fungi 'leads to a long and happy life.’ It is used by those wishing to overcome anxiety, palpitations due to heart deficiency, insomnia, poor memory, worry, fear, edema, and urinary difficulties. 1 Raw Chinese Yam/Shan Yao, Grated and Sliced Another boon for boosting spleen and stomach qi, Shan Yao is excellent for diarrhea, fatigue, spontaneous sweating, and lack of appetite. Also admirable for tonifying lung and kidney qi, it is a delightful herb for diabetics and those with chronic cough and wheezing. 3 Cups Sake or Mirin In Traditional Chinese Medicine, rice wine invigorates and warms the channels of the body, quickening the flow of qi and enhancing the potency of herbs. 3 Liters Purified Water or Homemade Bone Broth Should you be hoarding any homemade bone broth, this would add luscious flair to your brew. I recommend a lighter broth, such as chicken, tempered with purified water. A Heavy-Handed Sprinkling of Toasted Sesame Oil and Sea Salt, To Taste Optional: Chicken or Pork Method First, sanctify your herbal assemblage by bathing it in water, and grate the scrappy skin off your Chinese Yam before slicing. Once your herbs have been happily hallowed, grab a hefty stock pot, and throw in the Job’s Tears, Lotus Seed, Fox Nut, and Fu Shen with wild abandon. Cover with a liter of purified water, boil, and then reduce to a slow simmer with lid on for about 2 hours, until your herbs have softened. Roundabout two hours add the Sake and Chinese Yam. Once the yam is soft, season to taste with Sesame Oil and Sea Salt.&nbsp; Waving Goodbye To Late Summer Smile O voluptuous cool-breath'd earth! Earth of the slumbering and liquid trees! Earth of departed sunset—earth of the mountains misty-topt! Earth of the vitreous pour of the full moon just tinged with blue! Earth of shine and dark mottling the tide of the river! Earth of the limpid gray of clouds brighter and clearer for my sake! Far-swooping elbow'd earth—rich apple-blossom'd earth! Smile, for your lover comes. Prodigal, you have given me love—therefore I to you give love! O unspeakable passionate love. — Walt Whitman 土 https://botanarchy.cargo.site/03 Wed, 26 Feb 2020 22:49:51 +0000 The Botanarchy Journal https://botanarchy.cargo.site/03 <img width="600" height="592" width_o="600" height_o="592" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6e03c74232eda5ee8e267009178a75fd596a6c2f21749b8a2b29ac1aa8fbf254/48782421756_ec78a5c30f_o.jpg" data-mid="66229104" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/6e03c74232eda5ee8e267009178a75fd596a6c2f21749b8a2b29ac1aa8fbf254/48782421756_ec78a5c30f_o.jpg" /> <img width="600" height="621" width_o="600" height_o="621" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bddbbea560dff92d281c5912071216e14f26afb3f89a6f4463e81148a549968f/48782421381_36c2bee4c2_o.jpg" data-mid="66228977" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/bddbbea560dff92d281c5912071216e14f26afb3f89a6f4463e81148a549968f/48782421381_36c2bee4c2_o.jpg" /> The Metal Element&nbsp; 金 Air shifting, skin tightening, clarity of sight, liminality. White, like bones and ghosts. Magic, the underworld, things that are not exactly alive yet not exactly dead, fertilizer. Werner Herzog, shoegaze, solemnity, austerity, condensation, storage (it’s ‘gourd season,’ after all). Oh Autumn, nature’s strip tease, strip us down to what's essential. Drop it like it’s hot, return us to origin. Through your pivot of beauty and loss, let us understand the indispensable allure that lies within, allow this transformation to uncover who we are without our fruits and flowers, expose the silvery crone core in all of us and let her luster be untarnished. In the five element calendar, Autumn corresponds to the element Metal. The progeny of heat and pressure, Metal embodies the magic of time, its innate preciousness an exposé of the Hermetic rituals that occur in the mysterious depths of the underworld where life, death, and transformation happen. Sequestered and shrouded deep within Earth’s core, metals alert us to the hidden treasures within, much like Autumn asks us to go inward and mine the caves of our own unconscious for riches to sustain us through the yin time of year. Metals are comprised of matrices of minerals, which are catalysts for action and necessary for all organic life, sustaining and empowering all processes from mushroom to man. Metal is one of the first things we pounded and shaped for use, and in this sense, it has always been emblematic of alchemy and transformation. Metals are, in essence, what make things valuable. Ever verbose Lonny Jarrett likens Metal to the “condensation within the Earth of heaven’s spiritual light, which is evidenced in their radiant brilliance and intrinsic worth.” In the Taoist classics, Metal is described as ‘condensed yang’ - precious energy that has moved into storage. Before modern physicists even traced the origin of Metal to dust clouds formed by the stars and the sun in a prehistoric rager in outer space, Taoist philosophers believed that metal’s purpose was to grace the earth with the ‘purity of heaven’. On The Metal Element Within and Throughout It has EPIC composure, won’t relinquish authority, loves to be master of ceremony, wants you to kiss the ring. If the Metal element were a song, it would surely be Janet Jackson’s ‘Control’ — When I was 17, I did what people told me Did what my father said, and let my mother mold me But that was long ago I'm in Control - Never gonna stop Control - To get what I want Control - I like to have a lot Control - Now I'm all grown up Metal is all hard edges and radiance, awe-inspiring with its brilliant shine and fierce containment. Aloof, hard to read, detached, and a bit mystical, Metal is like all of your unrequited loves folded into one. Shapeshifting sorceress, she can be recast and molded a thousand times over, and be it a weapon or a diamond ring, her fine edge cuts to the core of things. Like Water, Metal can take any form. But whereas Water is spillage and flow and won’t shirk at being called ‘everywhither’ (go ahead, call her that to her face!), Metal holds form on her own with an erect poise. In order to hold that form with the grace and austerity of a bronze bust of Isis, Metal runs the risk of being somewhat fixed and unyielding. Our embodied Metal element is the conformist in all of us, the part of us that takes the shape of the container we are in, being careful not to splatter, spurt, or spill, fastidiously keeping it all within the lines. That’s why Metal gets the bad rap of being a control freak - she’s nature’s corset, holding it all together with rigorous discretion, doing her best to prove that scrupulous and prudent can be sexy, too. Metal in five element medicine imparts the virtue of self-worth, the kind of self-worth that has you singing Janet Jackson to yourself in the mirror whilst dance-impaling the ghosts of anyone who dared vanquish your virtue. Metal wants you very much to know that self-worth should NOT be confused with ‘self esteem,’ which is bumbling, young, dumb, and risky (hello, WOOD element), generally lacking the refinement and discernment that is the hallmark of the Metal element in her ripened experience. On The Lungs and Large Intestine Our embodied Metal element is the Lungs and Large Intestine, who provide the pivot of gain and loss for the body cosmos. Like a piggy bank amassing pennies from heaven and the blade of a knife on a chopping block, our Metal organs accumulate precious qi from above via inhalation and cut our losses out the back end via defection. Uniting Heaven and Earth, they are our emissaries to the outer world, intimately embroiled in the sordid affairs of our environment. In a mystical sense (Metal by her very nature is fond of the mystical), the Lungs and Large Intestine allow us to be in touch with the essential spirit of things and to let go of their superficial material form. When the ‘letting go’ part becomes a problem, we might suffer from not being able to exhale fully, constipation, anal retention both metaphoric and medical, and control issues. If we don’t know how to hold onto what’s sacred and valued, we might suffer spiritual crises, grief over past losses, feel 'cut off from the qi of Heaven’ (aka UNINSPIRED), and become afflicted with diarrhea or asthma. In the Taoist classics, the Metal organs are said to impart ‘purity’, but this is NOT the pontifical purity of virgins and penance that may come to mind. The purity of Metal is about emancipation - in returning to the Earth what no longer serves, they keep us true to ourselves, not full of proverbial s#^t. Our Metal organs allow our essential nature to shine like an untarnished nugget, cleansed of the chaos of culture. To understand the inference of purity upon the Metal element, here’s a hot metaphor from Car &amp; Driver Mag:— “What is most of the extremely rare metal platinum used for? Catalytic converters — the devices on automobiles used to clean exhaust. Platinum is an exceptionally good catalyst: it aids in the conversion of toxic gases in exhaust, such as carbon monoxide, into non-toxic gases.” Gonna throw down my favorite seasonal hashtag #natureismetal in honor of the alchemical battles that Metal wages on behalf of all of us on the reg, stoically with strength and persistence. lead ——&gt; gold chaos ——&gt; order That’s alchemy, m’dears. All hail the Lungs + Large Intestine ∞ _____________________________ On The Alchemy of Metal and Fire To understand the Alchemy of Metal and Fire is to understand this poem by Joan Didion’s 4th grade daughter about Autumn — Dry winds and dust, hair full of knots. Gardens are dead, animals not fed… People mumble as leaves crumble, fire ashes tumble. — Throughout California, early autumn is wildfire season, the spurious offspring of the slow climate apocalypse, the shifting winds, and encroachment upon the urban-wildland interface that ravages our typically halcyon homestead. In the Five Element Cycle, Fire shapes, melts, and controls Metal, and when the two meet in the blustery, shifty, liminal cauldron of Autumn, we all feel the capricious chemistry. Fire melts the order of the Metal element inside of us, disintegrating the hardened belief that all is tidy and contained, that we have some modicum of control over the shenanigans of the Heavens. Metal is mastery, and for the things we have yet to master (ala WEATHER), Fire can threaten Metal’s sense of stability and adeptness. I see this emerge clinically every year in my practice. Anxiety, apprehension, desolation, grief… they all seep into the consciousness as the physical symptoms of Fire and dryness attacking the Lungs start to appear: dry cough, parched nose and throat, over-sensitivity to wind and changes in the environment, eczema flares, tiny streaks of blood in the phlegm, phlegm being lodged deep in the lungs, lingering sore throat, and that scurrilous ‘black gunk’ - toxic particulate matter in the upper respiratory tract. Though the adeptness of Chinese medicine rests in highly individuated care via your local Acu Crone, desperate times call for desperate measures. Thusly, I put together a shopping list (very Metal) for harmonizing Metal and Fire during wildfire season at the behest of my patients near and abroad, who are reaching out for support. 肺 For Lung dryness: Autumn Rain Teapills 肺 For cough with sticky yellow phlegm: Clean Air Teapills 肺 For cough with sore throat: Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa Loqaut Syrup 肺 For inflamed mucus membranes and allergies: Ponaris Nasal Emollient 肺 For fragility both physical and emotional: Reishi Mushroom Tea On Dryness In the alchemical chamber of our bodies, the Lungs sit at the seat of our inner heaven, and like a surly Zeus, controls water to condense, rise, and descend like rain clouds. Healthy water in our Metal organs forms a fluid interface between the internal and external world, a velvety mist that lubes the tubes and makes such banal functions as breathing and shitting as smooth as Sade crooning ‘Smooth Operator.’ This refined yin nectar nestled within the hardened crystalline matrix of our Lungs and Large Intestine forms a protective sheath and barrier betwixt us and the harshness inflicted by our environment. Ever the edgy alchemist, the element Fire likes to harass our Lungs and erode this barrier, and with the added vector of *wind*, the elemental orgy of fire, wind, and metal turns sour (we’ve all been there), drying out our fluid sanctums and leaving us parched and withered. Dryness, in its myriad forms, is a messenger hearkening an out of balance Metal element. Acupuncturist and scholar Lonny Jarrett likes to say that dryness imparts a sense of loss, and a feeling of being ‘burnt by heaven’ which has taken away what one has valued. If you live, like I do, in the anguishing charnel grounds of LA wildfire season, you are no stranger to this scorched despair. Is it any wonder that in these fiery bowels my patients and community have dry cough, parched mucus membranes, constipation, dry skin, sore throat, and blood tinged spit? What’s more - it plunges us deep into the throes of examining the quintessential Metal quandary: how can I accesses the ever-present essential spirit of things whilst letting go of their superficial material form? It’s a hot mess of loss over here. So… what’s a gal to do if she’s feeling scorched and scorned? Keep the Lungs clear and polished to receive the heavens, of course. Perhaps in connecting to the Lung qi, we can come to an embodied knowing of the transient nature of form, acknowledging deep within the soma that the only object of lasting value is the eternalness of emptiness and spirit (cc: Heart Sutra). Holding this for everyone today and always. Baked Asian Pears: An Anarcha-Taoist Prescription to Dispel Lung Dryness Yin - it's nectarous, slippery, high femme, fluid… just like all the women I’ve loved and lost (badda bing!). Asian pears, sweet emissaries of Yin, banishers of dryness, are effortlessly sexy sorceresses, reposing coyly in a fishnet stocking on the shelves of most Asian markets but also available elsewhere, and lucky for us, in season. With their mucilaginous kink, they moisten the lungs and soothe a parched respiratory tract, particularly puissant for the tender throats of our little ones who might need to be straightjacketed to the table in order to take cough medicine (ahh, memories from my childhood). Pears balance the inner ecosystem from the damage of hot, dry weather, and though they have an affinity for the lungs, they are great for dry constipation in children and adults alike. I have shared this recipe with patients for over a decade, and if taken a few days in a row, it can subdue the most stubborn of dry cough and heal the sorest of throats. This recipe is adapted from the supreme Chinese kitchen witch tome Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen, which, if you are my patient, I have probably demanded that you get at some point. Wash - but don't peel - your pear. Cut off the top 1/3 of the pear and reserve Core your pear, making a hole but leaving the bottom intact (will become a chalice for accoutrements). Place in an oven-safe vessel with a lid and a little liquid. Stuff the pear with a dab of coconut oil, a drizzle of honey, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and if you like: Chuan Bei Mu Bulb - Clears Fire, drains mucus, and is especially chic for blood-streaked phlegm and a hot, sore throat. Replace the top of the pear, cover, and cook in a 350° oven for about 1-1.5 hours until the pear is soft and yielding. A consideration: I have a pantry full of exotic unguents because that’s my job. I would never assume that you keep an arsenal of lung herbs at your disposal, so just know upfront: the pears are what’s key here, everything else will just layer on moxie and it’s all optional, like everything, always and forever. Zombie Fungus Congee: An Anarcha-Taoist Prescription For Boosting Lung Qi Mushrooms are biology’s continuum between birth and decay, teetering presumptuously on the precipice between life and death, one foot always in the grave. Ushering one poor soul across the River Styx while sowing the seeds for another life’s claim on some prime terrestrial real estate, fungi are the entire life cycle manifest. In the spirit of the Death Holidays, I’m offering up a savory Cordyceps mushroom soup, based on medicinal congees from Traditional Chinese Medicine. The Cordyceps is a gloriously macabre mélange of science fiction and Greek myth. Its delicately deceitful spores coyly infect its caterpillar prey, killing them softly then re-animating itself within their corpse. When the fungus parasitizes the larva, its mycelia spread through the larva’s body, hijacking its nutrients and sapping all of its succulent qi. The Cordyceps then springs forth from the larvae’s head, birthed from the brains of its prey like Athena erupting from the head of her father Zeus (oh, the poetry of it all). All guts, glory and folklore aside, these fungi are truly mythical in scope. Is it really a coincidence that the Cordyceps - hailed on the street as Himalayan Viagra - is revered for its ability to boost Lung qi? In the throes of Metal season, it improves the way your body uses oxygen, is great for recovery after a respiratory illness, boosting stamina, quieting asthma, coughs, weak lungs, wheezing, and shortness of breath. If you’d like to harness the power of the Huntress Athena, boot-up for an all-night Bacchanal, or carouse with the saints of caterpillars past, here’s a recipe for Cordyceps Congee: 3 organic chicken thighs, parbroiled for 2 minutes and cut into pieces. 4 strands of dried Cordyceps 6 red Chinese dates A handful of goji berries 1 girthy knuckle of ginger 4 1/2 cups bone broth 1/2 cup rice or barley Place your chicken &amp; medicinals in a large stock pot, covering with broth. Simmer with the lid on for 1½ hours, strain the ginger, ladle into bowls, sprinkle some sea salt, and enjoy. On Wei Qi and Protecting Yourself Be it a chastity belt or a sword (wearing both right now!), Metal is protective by its very nature. Tough, enduring, impenetrable, our Metal organ’s jobs are to render us essentially bulletproof (a word that has the misfortune of being coopted by Silicon Valley Nootropic Bros), immune to sticks, stones, pathogens, and the ever-changing moods of our environment. The Lungs govern what is called Wei Qi - the ancient Chinese medical term for our body’s energetic shield and first line of defense - and their optimal functioning ensures its strength and circulation, providing vitality and fortitude for the body en masse. Wei Qi warms the body and protects from the rigors of the outside world. It’s lively, agitated, antihistamine agitprop for the cause of your wellbeing. If you catch colds easily, are prone to allergies, sneeze at the faintest pressure drop, have chronically low energy, poor wound healing, or require a long time recuperating from an illness, your Wei Qi may be low, bro! Wei Qi also has an intimate bond with our relationship to change - how we adapt, weather, and flow with the cosmic unfurling. Take this poetical interlude from the Huangdi Neijing: If we ignore this vital connection between heaven, earth, and human beings, we risk to be harmed by pathological influences. This is the main principle of health and longevity….If we go along with the changes that heaven brings, our yang qi will be stable and firm. Even if there are pathological influences present, they will not be able to cause harm. This is the beneficial result of following the energetic rhythm of the seasons. Therefore the sage cultivates the unity of jing and shen, imbibes heavenly qi, and is intimately connected to the secrets of the universe. If we go against this vital connection, the nine orifices will become blocked on the inside, the muscle layer will become clogged on the outside, and the protective effect of our wei qi will become disbanded. Nature: it’s movement and change (cc: the I Ching), so we’d all do right by our ol’ pal the Tao to lean into the parts of ourselves that are adaptable and pliant. When all else fails, here’s a few hot tips for boosting the Wei Qi to protect yo self&nbsp; from the rigors of change like a surly switchblade sister: 起 Winds— they’re the enemy! Keep the Wind Gates of your neck and chest covered like a boss. 围起 White, pungent foods support the detoxification of the lungs and Metal element. Think turnips, radishes, horseradish, onions, garlic, and leeks. 围起 Diffuse Metal essential oils like Frankincense and White Pine in the home, or place on Metal element spirit points. 围起 Nourish the Lung yin with moistening foods like loquat, mushrooms, honey, apples, pumpkin, flax, and almond oils, kelp, squash, eggs, Tremella fungus, and pears. 围起 Strengthen and circulate your Lung energy with qigong and pranayama. 围起 For the fragilest of Lungs, you may want to consider an air purifier.&nbsp; Ritual Medicine: Magically Charged Wei Qi Tonic If one cannot obtain medicines One can live still to several hundred years of age, If one fully grasps the principles Of cultivating Qi and practices daily. Indeed, humans exist within the Qi And Qi exists within humans. From Heaven and Earth to the myriad things, Qi is pervasive. There is nothing that does not rely on Qi for life. — Master Ge Hong, The Book Of The Master Who Embraces Simplicity, 4th Century C.E Ritual and Medicine were once entwined in a caduceus of consanguinity, an ouroboros of serpentine synergy. Mutually engendering one another, they coaxed forth each other’s latent powers and filled in the gaps in their respective repertoires. Most traditional medical systems still honor this alchemical marriage, but our current hegemonic medical paradigm has been ripping up the paperwork and denying them rights. As a healthcare provider, it’s fashionable and expected that I shirk away from this brouhaha and peddle the antiseptic certitude of allopathic care with sophistry and absolutism. However, I believe the physician should be a mender of chasms, honoring the prosaic prowess of each paradigm and fusing ritual and remedy as one. On a forced sabbatical recuperating from the pernicious three-week flu that recently swept Los Angeles, I was reminded of how important it is to fuse ritual and medicine, particularly when you’re wilted and supine, struggling to find your mojo in a disempowered mire. There’s nothing more humbling then being banished to your bed by a gruesome malady, a victim of capricious circumstance failed by your own flailing biology. It is in these ashen hours that a call to arms is ever so crucial, so that we may remind ourselves of our ferocious latent powers and re-connect with the seeds of our quieted magic. This is a simple, homespun ritual that I like to do at the advent of cold &amp; flu season, when I feel an itchy tingle beckoning in the back of my throat, or when I’ve got tendrils of pestilence bristling within my body. The purpose of this rite is to strengthen the body’s energetic shield and first line of defense, and allow its innate curative alchemy to expel any lingering pathogens. As magic is best when it’s a prosy pastiche of incongruent passions, this ritual draws upon Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fire Cider folk herbalism, and the ancient Taoist art of qigong. A Little Background Qigong is the ancient Taoist art of cultivating qi from the environment, and circulating its healing helices of gossamer elixir throughout the body. Through qigong, we can tap directly into the diaphanous motive power that operates the universe, and circulate it within our own body cauldron. Qi is everywhere… within, without, above, below, giving life to all things. Its nature is to move and change, and the root of all health problems, be it injury, illness, or aging, involve the stagnation and circulation of qi and blood. Their harmonious flow is the basis of all ancient Asian medicinal and magical practices. This simple equation, culled from the magnificent book The Healing Promise of Qi by Roger Jahnke, appeases both the science nerd and wizard in me, and distills the myriad mysteries of qigong into a basic formula: Practice + Intention = Inner Harmony = Qi Flow = Health and Longevity In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the lungs are inextricably linked to qi. Doctor Shen’s Compendium of Honoring Life (Shen Shi Zunsheng Shu), a Chinese medical text from 1773, states that: “the lung is the master of qi. Above, it connects to the throat; below, it connects to the orifices of the heart and the liver. It is in charge of inhalation and exhalation, and, in more general terms, the flux of coming in and going out.” The optimal functioning of the lungs ensures vitality and fortitude for the body en masse. The Statutes of Medicine (Yimen Falü), another Chinese medical text from 1658, illuminates this relationship, stating that: “all bodily qi has its physical origin in the lung. If the lung’s qi is clear and straightforward, then there is not a single type of qi in the body that will not obey and flow along smoothly. However, if the lung qi becomes obstructed and turns murky, then the qi dynamics of the entire body will start to go against their natural flow and start to move upwards instead of downwards.” The lung also has the unique distinction of being the uppermost organ in the body, an envoy between the external evils and the internal sanctum, uniquely susceptible to pathogenic factors like wind and cold. The lungs control the strength and circulation of Wei Qi, the ancient Chinese medical term for the body’s defensive energy and proverbial force field. This ritual uses qigong and kitchen alchemy to strengthen the lung energy, boost Wei Qi, and ensure the harmonious flow of qi throughout the body. Procurements Your ritual libation will be a magically-charged Wei Qi Tonic, comprised of horseradish root, white onions, hot peppers, garlic, ginger root, and apple cider vinegar. In some circles, this is called ‘Fire Cider’ (big ups to the herbalists fighting against the corporatization of this folk medicine!). Fire Cider is white and pungent to support the lungs, as this combination of color and taste resonates with the element Metal in five element correspondences within Traditional Chinese Medicine. You can find directions on how to make this brew here. Wei Qi Priests &amp; Priestesses could also use an immunity alembic of their choice in lieu of Fire Cider. A strong hot toddy, a shot of fresh pressed garlic juice, oil of oregano, cayenne &amp; lemon water, whatever is on hand. Ideally, your libation will be zesty, fiery, and entirely NOT sip-worthy. But with a dash of magical zeal, anything radiating with the harmonics of healing will do. When you fall ill, first regulate the breath, Ingest the Qi, and fix your attention on the afflicted area. Practice holding the breath, And by means of conscious attention Visualize the breath concentrating in the afflicted part. Visualize the Qi attacking the illness. When you can no longer comfortably hold the breath, Exhale very slowly. -The Immortal Master’s Treatise on the Absorption of Primordial Energy 1. &nbsp;&nbsp; Prepare the space with a banishing ritual that you vibe with, and an incense of your choice. Ai Ye, Mugwort, would be an excellent fumigant for this rite, as it is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to purify pathogens and warm deficient conditions within the body. 2. &nbsp;&nbsp; Sit your Wei Qi Priests &amp; Priestesses in a circle in a comfortable seated position, each with a chalice of Wei Qi Tonic.&nbsp; 3. &nbsp;&nbsp; Call upon a pathogenic factor you wish to expel. This could be an emotional pathogen plaguing the body, such as lingering bad habit or traumatic event, or it could be a physical ailment, such as a runny nose or sinus headache. Attune to the physical locus of the pathogen within the body, and fix your attention on the afflicted area. Where does it linger? Is it heavy, oppressive, constricting? Does it feel hot? Sticky? Smokey? Summon it forth, feel its viscerality, and let it grow. Connect with its noxious character and feel it licking the walls of your viscera. 4. &nbsp;&nbsp; When the pathogen has been effectively summoned, slowly imbibe the Wei Qi Tonic, and feel its vigorous heat burning away the putrid evil of the pathogen. Sip slowly and with fierce intention until a visceral response is elicited. This could be anything from a hearty sweat, to a cough, tearing eyes, digestive noises, cathartic breath, or a sensation of lightness within the body. When you feel you have expelled your pathogen, push your ritual chalice to the center of the circle. &nbsp;If you are working with a group, this will signal to the other Priests &amp; Priestesses that it is time to move on to the Wei Qi cultivation portion of the rite. 5. &nbsp;&nbsp; Now that you have purified your body, gather the Heavenly Qi of the universe and store it within you. Begin by standing comfortably in&nbsp;Horse Pose. Circle your arms over your head as you inhale Heavenly Qi through the lungs, drawing the qi down through your arms as you rest them in a circle over your umbilicus, exhaling Evil Qi out of your lungs. Visualize spirals of healing qi descending into the lungs, and disseminating protective Wei Qi over the surface of the body. Repeat at least 5 times. 6. &nbsp;&nbsp; Electrify the Wei Qi, and increase the diameter of its energetic field by relaxing and shaking the body vigorously for at least one minute. Imagine golden white light enshrouding you with protective mojo that no ills can permeate. 7. &nbsp;&nbsp; Give yourself a Wei Qi bath, by rubbing your hands lightly over the entire surface of the body, starting with the head and face, moving down the outer legs, and back up through the inner legs, dousing the body in energized, electric Wei Qi. 8. &nbsp;&nbsp; Once thoroughly exulted, close the rite by taking a few deep breaths to honor your inner physician. Whenever you feel persnickety, pestilent, or fatigued, know that qi is bounteous, free, and omnipresent, the marrow of the universe ripe for the suckling. Enjoy in robust health.&nbsp; &nbsp; American Ginseng: Warlock Of Wei Qi Some might say that American Ginseng is the patron saint of checking yourself before you wreck yourself, via things that come real stealth that are bad for your health. In that regard, American Ginseng may be the hero of our time, a Wei Qi tonic with a subtle temperament that enshrines the lungs and protects the body from the menaces of stress, illness, dryness, and other desultory -ess’s that erode the qi and disorder the body temple. Who, out of us, is NOT suffering from one of these maladies?! Come forth, I dare you! Thwarting the archetypal vulgarity of American might and moxie, American Ginseng is cooler, calmer, and more collected than its Eastern Ginseng brethren, showing us that grace and restraint can be sown in native soil, i.e. there may be hope for us after all. While all the Ginsengs share the commonalities of adaptogenic herbs, Chinese and Korean Ginseng are surlier wizards that rise the qi and can heat the body, unsuitable for constitutions prone to high blood pressure, insomnia, irritability, headaches, and dryness. American Ginseng is less stimulating, more like a gentle, warty warlock who has made a covenant with the Wei Qi to protect and venerate you with softhearted honor. Because it’s a North American native, the root can also be sourced domestically and ethically from Wisconsin to Appalachia, where it’s poached like hell inspiring tales both tall and televised, so you know it’s juju must be good (cc: Appalachian Outlaws + Smoky Mountain Money). The malady de rigueur in my clinic is a dry cough with perpetual sore throat, and a precarious tiredness teetering on “am I getting sick?” This, my friends, is what American Ginseng LIVES FOR. Let it perform magic spells upon your lungs and body! How to, you ask? Decoct 3-6 grams of dried American Ginseng root and add it to 2-3 cups of water with a thumb-sized nob of ginger, chopped. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low for an hour. Drink daily in the morning to moisten the Lungs and keep them polished to receive the Qi of the heavens. Your Wei Qi will ensconce you in protective armor all season long. On Pruning Some get uneasy in the naked bardo of Autumn’s leafless bower, but it’s this aspect of Metal season that I love most - it’s unsentimental, cuts to the core of things, prunes the superfluous, and gets down to the proverbial brass tacks (metal pun very intended) that give life anatomy and architecture. We should all be pruning on the regular, but the stinking pyre that is Late Capitalism has us clutching and hoarding like there’s no tomorrow. Pruning brings an elegant austerity to things which is in abundance in natural states, but lacking within the confines of culture. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - ‘austerity’ is as sexy as it comes when it comes to both words and concepts. Austerity invokes the efficiency of a well-oiled machine, where everything has a purpose and nothing is gratuitous. Austerity can also be mystical, but in a ‘Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram’ kind of way - pragmatic, everyday, purifying, preparatory. It’s the kind of mystical that gives rise to value and structure, much like minerals and metals do for earth, plants, us. My favorite elemental tome likes to say that Metal provides “the structure that enables us to apply the metaphysical to the mundane,” a spirit I like to invoke each Autumn through a practice of crystallizing values I call the ‘Ritual Inventory’. It’s as simple as making a list of your daily habits, practices, protocols, and pruning what has become superfluous, rote, mechanized, lacking purpose. If you have trouble figuring out what gets the chopping block, you can use this simple equation: What giveth qi vs what taketh away? Take it further - Practice austerity in the coming months, doing only what is necessary, aligned, honoring of your energy. The time for superfluousness lies ahead, on the wanton beach of summer where resources and rambunctiousness run high. For now, bask in the asceticism of Autumn, where rigor and virtue reign. On Grief When our Metal element is in balance, there’s an embodied understanding of the value of loss. The ecstasy of an effortless poop, the rapture of a deep exhale, the religiosity of beholding the phantasmagoric colors the trees turn as leaves wither and die. Emptiness is fundamental and sacred, debts and forfeiture are nature’s way, the sighing of autumn pulls what was once expanding to the ground, and all the world is sinking and descending like the wailing of a Morrissey song. Every day is like Sunday, and if you turn the station you miss the point. The Lungs and Large Intestine teach us that we can simultaneously mourn our losses whilst celebrating the sacred space they make in the core of our being. However, if we mourn losses past their season, we can become besotted with Metal’s shadow, grief. To understand the Lungs relationship with grief, think about the somatic sensation of sadness. Sadness brings us down into ourselves, like Persephone retreating into the underworld… a tightening of the chest, a grasping for air, a collapse of our will, a fine mist clouding the lungs until the tears cascade and break like clouds. This is the same pull of gravity deep into Earth’s core that creates and shapes precious metals, if we allow ourselves to surrender to the process. Grief unprocessed is an interruption to the flow of our vitality, like a fine mist clouding the lungs, blocking inspiration and the magic of change. The Chinese character for grief - Bei 悲, - is drawn as the refusal of something over the heart. It is the refusal to accept what is, a resistance to the alchemy of pressure and time, a failure to allow the weathering of the elements to shape us into remarkable precious gems. Debra Kaatz translates Bei as “grieved, sorry, sad, to lament, to regret the passing of the summer of life.” If we fail to allow erosion and rust to have their way with us, we reject the polish of the passing of time. If instead we move through the pain of loss and longing, calmness and peace can permeate the void like small lights in the dark sky that eventually fills with stars. Our lives can then be guided by the infinite Tao, we follow the breath of the world where it leads us. An Acupressure Spell for Transforming Grief Sadness, like all emotion, is a transient energy, and as water vapor turns into clouds when it cools and condenses, it passes and transforms into other feelings. Taoist doctors use the metaphors of matter shifting through space and time to inscribe meaning and mythos to the capricious seasons of the body, as the natural world provides a cipher that we can all decode within the template of our bones. They speak to grief as embodied weather, a migratory emotional climate that is described as a cloud or mist that clings to the Lungs, obstructing the qi of heaven from penetrating our inner chamber and sitting upon the heart like leaded smog. In Taoist Tales of Acupuncture Points, the weather of grief is spoken to as Autumn rainclouds - “When the autumn rains come we take shelter and wait for the weather to clear. The bitterness of sorrow soaks everything around us, but slowly the clouds clear and we begin again to breathe the inspirations of each new day. In our grief the tears fall, and like the rain, water the ground beneath out feet and allow us to wash away the bitterness and pain.” Things get a little treacherous when the weather is denied its season, when we bury the grief and don’t allow the clouds to swell and burst. I’m thinking a ton about grief these days (or rather, FEELING IT, as grief by its very nature is anti-intellectual), because I’m tracing my ancestry as a devotional to my mom, who never got to finish this work before departing this world last year. I’m mourning her, and beneath and beyond that grief, I’m mourning all of the ancestors I never got to know, the grief extends itself to the stories that lie dead and buried that I’m trying to witch out of the ground. This is a BIG grief - collective, even - and I’m having to revisit the rituals that got me through her passing in order to stay afloat. This one - an Acupressure Spell For Transforming Grief - is stop, drop, and roll Anarcha Taoist qigong for when sorrow clings like a mist to your deepest core. It will require to you embrace the sorrow, then use the mojo and moxie of your own hands to break up the clouds and allow the storm to rage as it may. Sadness and grief, can become physically embodied as phlegm in the lungs, chronic cough, constant dripping sinuses, eroded immunity, wheezing, and unresolved bronchial infections that can’t be kicked with antibiotics alone. Grief also has a home in the body, and likes to rest its oh so weary head upon acupuncture point Lung 2 ‘Cloud Gate’ 雲門. Cloud Gate speaks to the aspect of grief that feels like living “under a cloud”, where one can’t see the vast expanse of the sky. Located in the tender depression that your finger falls into whilst tracing the underside of your clavicle outward where it meets with the shoulder, Cloud Gate can be used clinically to to help break through the clouds so as to be inspired once again. It’s helpful to make yourself familiar with the location of this point before we begin, which you can do here. And so we begin. Sit in a comfortable position with your spine erect, and establish a connection with the energetics of Earth below where you make contact with the ground, and Heaven above where the spaciousness is felt above your crown. Take a few deep breaths sinking into this polarity, connecting to the rise, fall, and cadence of your own breath. Bring your attention to your Lungs and chest. Notice the quality of sensation in that area. Feel how your grief likes to nestle inside. Begin to feel into these repositories of grief. If it feels safe, it may feel right to use painful images, moments, and memories from the past to make your grief fully tangible. Attune to the physical locus of the sorrow in the chest, and fix your attention on the afflicted area. What’s it like in there? Is it frigid, foggy, windy, stormy? Does it feel heavy and oppressive, or tight and constricting? Does it have a color? A smell? A sound? Summon it forth, feel its viscerality, and let it grow. Most of us will be crying at this point, and I usually become a snotting, weeping mess. Ephemeral visions of things I was sad about at 9 years old appear before me, so I’d cry about those, too. The reservoirs of the Lungs are deep and many-chambered. Feel the most recent sorrows, and the genealogy of all sorrows that came before them. Whatever ghosts of sorrows past are hiding in there, feel those as well. What’s behind that sorrow? And THAT one? And what about THIS ONE? Keep going and going until all the grief coffers have been emptied upon the table. When you have summoned the sensation of sorrow fully, briskly rub your palms together in the front of your body until you feel electric sparks of qi between them, a seeping warmth that spreads and summons. One side at a time (or alternating sides), use your fingers together (like a claw) to tap vigorously over your Cloud Gates, allowing the qi of your hands to move and disperse the vapors of grief choking and oppressing your Lungs and Heart. Continue vigorously, tapping, tapping, tapping, TAPPING, until you feel the density begin to dissipate. If you need more qi, rub your hands together again. There will be a moment when you feel a lightness start to permeate your being, an openness and spaciousness break through the lungs like the shards of sunlight after a storm. This is usually when the tears stop, and something else appears. Feel into this. Allow that sunlight to spread, and crowd out anything dense that might still be lingering in the shadows. Feel the caverns of the Lungs and chest fully filling up with sunlight. Whatever sensation emerges here, allow it to BE, perhaps pass and transform into any other feelings or sensations it longs to be. When the weather feels settled, notice the Cloud Gates in your chest and how the feeling in there has transformed. Take a few deep breaths into this, and allow the expansiveness of the Lungs and Heart to be fully felt and honored. Bow to the sacredness of emptiness, and tell the void &nbsp;that you are ready now to be filled with newness and inspiration. ____ When I think about the alchemy of loss and grief, my mind inevitably rests upon Poetess Gloria Anzaldúa and her concept of the ‘Coatlicue State.’ An incarnation of cosmic processes and embodiment of the sacredness of paradox, Coatlicue is an Aztec goddess that represents the conflicting identities of Life-Giver and Death-Bringer. To Anzaldúa, the Coatlicue State describes a “moving closer to knowing that means embracing moments of despair, desconocimiento, and failure.” Those activities or Coatlicue states which disrupt the smooth flow of life are exactly what propel the soul to do its work: make soul, increase consciousness of itself. Anzaldúa teaches that “our greatest disappointments and painful experiences- if we make meanings out of them- can lead us toward becoming more of who we are.” On Longing I’ve been waxing on about grief and its relationship to the Metal element, but grief has a sister shadow, and her name is Longing. My man Lonny Jarrett describes longing as grief directed toward the future (oh, Lonny!). Longing likes to direct our attention outward, away from the precious gems and treasures that lie within, unto the various vagaries of living in a material world and being a material girl. An in balance Metal element doesn’t mind a good tarnish, and through the majesty of the Lungs and Large Intestine, allows us to connect to the transcendent value of things without attachment to material form. Metal out of balance can become obsessed with perfection (anal retention=very metal), and suffering from low self-worth, directs its gaze outward for the keys to lasting happiness. Longing can ensnare us in a spiral of endless wanting and dissatisfaction ref’d on the streets as the phenomena of ‘hungry ghosts’. Hungry Ghosts are the avatars of hunger and hoarding, and this, my friends, is their season to tramp about. Black Fridays, shiny new things, gift guides, midnight instagram comparison attacks, lists of what we long to “accomplish” in the New Year. Though Metal’s blade can be crushing during the holiday blitz, there are ways we can engage with it equitably and overcome its gravitas, a Taoist gift guide if you will: Quality over quantity, as goes the old adage. Polish the old and present it as new. One of my most cherished gifts (not even given during the holidays! SO avant garde) came from a dear friend who stealthily rescued my ruined Le Creuset teapot from the trash, restored it to its original grandeur, and presented it upon my doorstep without a word. Give experiences in lieu of material things, which is throughly more sexy and exploratory than a wrapped relic. One year, my partner and I exchanged a series of enigmatic love letters detailing surrealist adventures we would ensconce each other in. We visited redwoods and got engaged. We vowed to be silently supportive of each other’s creative pursuits. I told him I would get him a tattoo mixed with my menstrual blood, but alas! It appears to be against health code. Seek the mysteries. Holidays are about family traditions for many, but for me they are about communing with the mysteries of the natural world. The winter holidays are, at their core, an expression of the awe of beholding the cosmos transition from dark—&gt;light—&gt;dark, again. My partner and I are spinster nuns with dogs in lieu of children and no moms, so this is easier for us than it may be for others. Perhaps you can extricate yourself from the cacophonous confines of the family table, politely, with a promise of another dinner soon? Tell them nature is your religion and you’d rather worship in peace and solitude.&nbsp; When all else fails, The Heart Sutra. Treasure emptiness as sacred, holy and valued. Mixtapes of the Tao: Metal //Autumn Autumn is the season of decay and destruction, of letting go and grieving our losses whilst surrendering to the seduction of change, of underworld magic where base materials begin their process of transformation into precious ones, and things like Chelsea Wolfe begin to make a little more sense. Yes m’dears, the season of the Dark Goddess is upon us, and should you need a suitable soundtrack to match the entropic ennui of THE most yin of yin time of year, I got your backs! In my latest installment of Mixtapes of the Tao, I’ve finessed an Acu Jamz playlist to croon tales of diamonds and rust into your ear while you contemplate your sorrows and losses whilst swaying to Metal’s boom + clack. Ahhhhh, Metal season… smelt us into something more refined, let pressure and time weave their spells upon us in your alchemical gristmill. Public Service Announcement: If you love mixing Joy Division with Janet Jackson and have a rampant disregard for social codes, you may already be a Taoist!&nbsp; ︎opentaoistboombox︎ _____________________________ Elemental Reading List Light On Pranayama, BKS Iyengar: Lungs, living their best lives Techgnosis: Myth, Magic, Mysticism in the Age of Information, Erik Davis: Do Techgnomancers Dream of VR Sheep? Gnostic mythology meets computer love in the alchemical marriage of the digital and the spiritual Rules For Radicals, Saul Alinsky: Metal loves rules but also likes to rage against the machine Mushroom Essences, Robert Rogers: Harnessing the underworld magic of Gaia’s best alchemists Promethea, Alan Moore: “'I'm going to teach you the way of the sword.' 'What like chopping people up and stuff?' 'Oh darling you're rather literal. You see, darling, on this level, everything is symbolic. Swords stand for reason and discrimination. Frankly, dear, they cut through bullshit. Reason slices through illusion and hallucination.’" The Way Of The Crucible, Robert Allen Bartlett: Paracelsus-chic practical alchemy for the aspirant Metal Mage The Order of Things, Michel Foucault: Foucault is like a leather daddy Marie Kondo, a master of ceremony and discipline that spends 200 pages categorizing the ephemera of life into neatly folded socks with elegant erudition, and then in the last chapter tells us it’s all meaningless. MOST METAL. The Way Of Zen, Alan Watts: A manual on emptiness to appease the Large Intestine in all of us Psychology and Alchemy, Carl Jung: Smelting the base metals of our soul in the quest for the imaginal opus Owning Your Shadow:&nbsp;Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche, Robert Johnson: Because you can’t spell alchemy without ‘ME’ Japanese Death Poems, compiled by Yoel Hoffman: Metal minimalism at its most refined (and goth) My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies, Resmaa Menakem: A field guide for healing the Po Soul (thank you for the rec, Lorie and Benjamin) Gemstone Reflexology, Nora Kircher: Put Metal to work on your qi Cultivating Stillness:&nbsp;A Taoist Manual for Transforming Body and Mind, Lao Tzu via Eva Wong: Internal metallurgy to become like Metal, subterranean and smooth I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem, Maryse Condé: A cauldron of colonialism and patriarchy that elegantly elucidates the legacy of puritan trauma, ie what to read when you opt out of Thanksgiving The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, Alain de Botton: Applying the metaphysical to the mundane in a hella Metal rumination on the alchemical gristmill of toil The Ultimate Journey: Consciousness and the Mystery of Death, Stanislav Grof: Because we’re all gonna return to the mineral matrix when the reaper calls On The Po Spirit The Metal organs house their very own aspect of soul (“why have only 1 soul when you can have 5?!” -Taoism), and its name is the Po Spirit. Lorie Dechar, my mentor and exquisite emissary of the Five Spirits of the shangqing taoist tradition, describes the po thusly: “In life, the po resides in the lungs and is responsible for vital involuntary physical functions such as breathing, peristalsis, and evacuation. At death, the po descends with the decaying bones of the body to the underworld where it is reincorporated into the inert structures of the earth, the stones, crystals, and minerals of the soil, whose richness they renew in the process of slowly decomposing and disappearing.” Animal wit, embodied knowing, somatic sensations, the dance of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, street smarts, complexes, primal desires, psychosomatic syndromes, intuition, instinctual responses, stayin’ alive… this sensorial stew is the realm of the po. Never taking a holiday, the po are always working on our behalf like the cunning Metal mages they are, autonomic aboriginals of the wildself. You can honor and appease them by engaging in the traditions of the Cunning Folk, our ancestors that lived in right relationship with the qi of the land by their embodied wit and wisdom. Be the sentient forest crone you wish to see in the world. Hone your wildmind with foraging, hunting, mushrooming, birding. Take a forest bath and attune to the rhythm and cadence of the World Soul. No one needs ‘science’ to tell them what to do and I often wish it would take a long walk off a short pier, but these practices have been shown to lower cortisol and interrupt the fight or flight response, which is really all I want for Christmas for every one of us. Po imbalances can manifest as “emotions that elicit involuntary instinctual responses at the level of the breath, hormones, fascia, muscles.” If fight, flight, and freeze run rampant, the po may need attending. I recommend trauma-informed acupuncture, Somatic Experiencing, Continuum Movement, breathwork, plant medicine, and psychedelic therapy as allies. Waving Goodbye To Metal &nbsp; How it Seems to Me — by Ursula Le Guin In the vast abyss before time, self is not, and soul commingles with mist, and rock, and light. In time, soul brings the misty self to be. Then slow time hardens self to stone while ever lightening the soul, till soul can loose its hold of self and both are free and can return to vastness and dissolve in light, the long light after time. 金 https://botanarchy.cargo.site/04 Wed, 26 Feb 2020 22:49:51 +0000 The Botanarchy Journal https://botanarchy.cargo.site/04 <img width="600" height="615" width_o="600" height_o="615" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b54065a4e948b980ca5c4a3fe9bef3f2c6353442a18128fdcd0978480c911112/48782059338_56bd7ba665_o.jpg" data-mid="66229635" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/b54065a4e948b980ca5c4a3fe9bef3f2c6353442a18128fdcd0978480c911112/48782059338_56bd7ba665_o.jpg" /> <img width="600" height="607" width_o="600" height_o="607" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2917d0bc6765d2f0a75395790c05fca36a3eb956e2dcabf37b697f44cadb7f0a/48782591962_ab9edf909b_o.jpg" data-mid="64161267" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/2917d0bc6765d2f0a75395790c05fca36a3eb956e2dcabf37b697f44cadb7f0a/48782591962_ab9edf909b_o.jpg" /> <img width="600" height="621" width_o="600" height_o="621" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7da661b4733cb4f83e93d49c6b91b401c512094d83351f8bb2832c54e898bc9e/48782590607_b066c1e4fb_o.jpg" data-mid="64161276" border="0" data-icon-mode alt="1/3 Tsuba by Georg Oeder" data-caption="1/3 Tsuba by Georg Oeder" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/7da661b4733cb4f83e93d49c6b91b401c512094d83351f8bb2832c54e898bc9e/48782590607_b066c1e4fb_o.jpg" /> The Water Element&nbsp; 水 The unseen, what’s coming but isn’t yet known. Earth as seed, latent upsurging. Primordial realms, the unconscious, pluripotence, potential. Wu wei, rushing water, alluvial coasts, Lawrence Durrell writing “expressionless as cuttlefish, or those other grotesque monsters one sometimes sees lurking in the glooms of aquaria” at his typewriter in the south of France. Invisible landscapes, mystery schools, the mythic imagination, mushrooms, mud. The smell of wet wood, the mycelial blanket - deep, dark, damp, secretive. Sleeping, storage, silence, survivalism. Obscurity, twilight, shadow, the occult. Rock out with your crock out for yin time beckons, and the Season Of The Crockpot casts its glare upon us. In five element alchemy, winter belongs to the element Water, as it gives us our reservoirs and reserves of energy. Winter is a sacred pause of concentration and contemplation that marks a drawing inward and guarding our reserves, a time to tap the marrow of life and suck it deep into our bones to nurture and gestate the seeds of our will. Winter has a bivalent nature that you can sense in the spirit of the New Year, as we simultaneously carouse with the ghosts of Christmas’ past whilst calling in the spirits of what’s to come. I learned from my mentor Lorie Dechar that the Water element’s dual directionality is encoded in a Taoist symbol, the two-headed white deer. As the animal spirit of Water, the two-headed deer resides deep within the old growth forests of the kidneys, looking into two divergent directions at once - in one direction, the past, and the other, the mystical darkness of the future. The work? Keep your eyes on what’s emerging, what’s gestating in the inner sea, what’s dancing in the rhythms of your bone marrow. Can you dive deep into your potential whilst surreptitiously surrendering to the blackened chaos? Winter is a’knocking. Winter Solstice: There’s A Darkness on the Edge of Town Despite the whitewashed glitz of tinsel, Bing Crosby, and the ever elusive ‘getting what you want’, the winter season is really all about the discomfort of a precipice, the disorientation of decomposition, and the exploration of the liminal boondocks between darkness and light. Liminal means “relating to a transitional stage” or “occupying a position at both sides of a boundary,” and the shadowy magic of liminal states lie in their ability to be brazenly nebulous, threatening the sense of equilibrium and unambiguousness that our binary-bound, homeostatic fleshsuits crave. Our ancestors turned the distress and unease of lying in wait under the shadow of a darkened sun into ribald celebrations of death and rebirth, where social hierarchies were reversed or temporarily dissolved (here’s looking at you, Saturnalia!), and bloodied sacrifices were made to hasten the return of the sun. ’Tis the season of nigredo, the alchemical Darkness On The Edge of Town, the first stage of the Great Work where the fixed gets dissolved by the volatile. Nigredo - sometimes translated as ‘blacker than the blackest black’ - is a liminal phase shift that putrefies the shadowy morass of the ‘dark night of the soul,’ and through discomfort and decomposition, condenses it into light. It’s the alchemical version of Christmas - the return of the Sun King that only the tenebrous coupling of chaos and the unknown can provide.&nbsp; A few ideas for exploring the divine discomfort of transition &amp; liminality during the wintry holiday season: Prostrate yourself in front of the dying sun on the edge of a precipice, a border between the here and there… where the sand meets the sea, an ominous crossroads worthy of a Robert Johnson yarn, a lawless bordertown at the terminus of a highway, the 8th stair in a 16-stair stairwell. When you are positioned on a hinge between the density of the past and an amorphous future, where do you lean? When there is ambiguity and disorientation, what sort of things come up? Find a waiting room in which you have no set appointment and sit in it until you become wildly uncomfortable with anticipation. Incant Yeats’ Rosa Alchemica at the mouth of the La Brea tar pits whilst a rogue street pigeon is disentangling itself from the tarry mire. Have someone tie you to a tree in the middle of the woods and trust that the knots will find their way loose. Let a stranger blindfold you and walk you home. Go ahead, tell them your address. Ride an elevator for an entire day. Light one white candle under the cloak of darkness in a coyote den on the outskirts of Elysian Park, and sing Springsteen’s ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’ at the top of your lungs like it is holy writ. When you come to the part that goes - “Everybody’s got a secret, Sonny, something that they just can’t face. Some folks spend their whole lives trying to keep it, they carry it with them every step that they take” - blow out the candle. Make like the Hanged Man of the major arcana and suspend yourself upside down for a distressing duration of time, unwinding into the discomfort of the upended, yielding to surrender. What condenses in the darkness and discomfort? Can you attune to sensation without assigning it roles? Can you keep it opaque? Is the waiting the hardest part? Whatever emerges from this explorations of enigma, let’s lean into the darkness together. On The Water Element Within And Throughout We are waves whose stillness is non-being We are alive because of this, that we have no rest. - Abu-Talib Kalim Water navigates the unknown with the innate understanding that it must flow forward regardless, soft and yielding with patient puissance yet holding the strength to penetrate mountains and earth. Water speaks to movement, current, adaptability, flow. She is pluripotent possibility, a multidirectional wonder. As the Mother of Wood, Water carries the seeds of deep potential. In her poised quiescence as a reflective pool, she gathers the moonglow on her surface and stews the yin juices of mystery, a womb for creation to crawl out of. In her yang expression, she plunges forward with the wrath of a flood or the renewing geyser of a sulfury spring. One minute, she’s show-ponying around like a lacy icicle, then she changes into vaporous mist, just like that! Water is the Great Equalizer, soaring to heavens and sinking to depths. Known to pal around with the hoi polloi of the underbelly, she has an affinity for things that lurk in the dark - shadow, obscurity, the sullied, the occult. The Tao Te Ching muses that “water goes to the darkest places and is therefore closest to Tao,” much like accidental TechnoTaoist Philip K Dick was fond of saying that “the symbols of the divine show up in our world initially at the trash stratum.” Both tell an alchemical tale about divine intelligence lying in the periphery where no one dare to look, about investigating areas of discomfort and neglect, and how descent transforms into regeneration in the quest for equilibrium. As soon as one gets to the bottom, one finds itself at the top. Water is mercurial, spontaneity with equanimity. For Water within us, think of sap and lubrication - bone marrow, cerebrospinal fluid, semen, and blood. For these are the fluid matrices that yoke together the serpentine mysteries of DNA with the spiraling, fluid power of life. This realm is presided over by the Kidneys and Bladder, our conduits of the Watercourse Way, who control the quantity and quality of fluid reserves and bring equilibrium to the body temple en masse. On The Kidneys and Bladder “How is it that the kidneys correspond to wisdom? The kidneys are the essence of the element Water, and wisdom proceeds unceasingly without any doubt or uncertainty. Water likewise moves forward without uncertainty.” - Discussions of the White Tiger Hall As the Water element throughout the cosmos brings reserves, raw power, and a will to move forward undaunted whilst tapped into a mystical current of flow, the Water element within imparts fathomless resources and the discretion to use them justly, moving in sync with the will of the universe. Our conduits of force, flow, and fluidity are the Kidneys and Bladder, who together house a magnificent reservoir of energetic Qi able to feed every cell in the body with the life giving force of Water. Situated on the left and right of our alchemical cauldron and stoked by the Mingmen fire, the Kidneys are considered the ‘root of the body’ that furnish our form and spirit with vigor and nourishment. Water is life, as the old adage goes, and the Kidneys dominate growth, development, and reproduction, the holy trinity of ontogenesis, the divine blueprint unfurling. Emblematic of the power of opposites, the Kidneys keep the Waterways in balance with one Kidney encompassing the Yin functions of the body - cooling, regulating, nourishing - and the other presiding over the Yang functions of warming, activating, circulating, and drying. Not just an irksome bag that natters in our ear that we have to pee, like, NOW, the Bladder’s sacred task is Controller of Water Storage, assessing the quantity and quality of reserves for our fluid matrix. The importance of this duty cannot be underscored… too little water flowing out and suddenly you’re a Stay Puft Marshmallow, too much and WHOOP, you’ve got hypovolemic anemia, are blacking out in a Home Depot parking lot from low blood pressure, and then find out you need monthly IV rehydration because your autoimmune condition causes chronic dehydration (true story, happened to me). Like the Sun and Moon who bless all of creation with the sacred paradox of illumination and darkness, the Kidneys and Bladder provide the architecture of blood, bringing counterbalance, equipoise, and purity. ____________________________ On Jing “I am creativity without any determined end. I burst into an infinite variety of forms. It is I who colors the entire Earth green after winter. It is I who&nbsp;fit the sky with birds and the oceans with fish. When I say&nbsp;create, I mean transformation.” - Alejandro Jodorowsky As the reservoirs of our life force and pluripotent potentiality, the Kidneys are a subterranean sanctum that stores the seed potential of our inherited constitution. This primordial dark matter is known as Jing 精, loosely translated as ‘essence’ but best understood as the alchemical marriage of DNA and sexual energy, serpentine stockpiles of lifeforce that provide the blueprint for the material basis of the human body and the nest egg for fueling all that we long to gestate in this lifetime. Along with Shen - spirit - and Qi - energy - Jing is one of the Three Treasures of the East Asian Medical Arts, and it is the will of this work to nurture, protect, cultivate, and sustain it. Jing is water in the well, our inheritance from our last life and all the others before it, intimately embroiled with DNA but utterly beyond it… some may say that it’s our epigenetic ancestral life force. But Jing isn’t JUST the ephemeral cosmic serpent of DNA, it’s spirit materialized in density and substance, informing the robustness of our blood and flesh. It’s what makes things juicy, as Jing is the substructure of the sexiest elixirs of life - blood, semen, marrow, menstrum, the elixir rubeus. Jing is swoony like that. Jing is utilized anytime we tap into our reserves, and it is the work of the Water organs to allocate these reserves appropriately so that we don’t just burn out and fade away. Though aging is quite literally the process of loosing Jing, it can also be egregiously squandered through the delights of a life well-lived in reckless abandon - spilling seed, chasing darkness, worshipping adrenaline, Bacchanalian benders, and the 2020 equivalent of slaving in the late capitalist bardo - overworking, making money, getting turnt. But fret not! As sure as Jing can leaked and lost, it can also be strengthened and sequestered, and as the Secretary of the Jing Preservation Society, I’m here to teach you how. On Strengthening and Sequestering Jing To tend to the Jing is to know when to go out, when to stay in, get things done. Don’t take it from me, take it from the immortal David Bowie, who, as a prolific Capricorn that perfected the art of reverse aging, clearly knew a few things about the dichotomy of licentiousness and longevity. For in the Cult of Jing Cultivation, temperance, my dudes, is everything. Strengthening and sequestering Jing is a dance between want and will, and you can think of the Ten of Wands as your talismanic dance partner. In the medicine of the tarot, the Ten of Wands speaks to the oppression of ceaseless toil, to our gestative powers being thwarted by actions that aren’t rooted in source and spirit. When we don’t pause to access the depth of our spiritual resources, (a ritual that encompasses the entire spirit of Winter and the modus operandi of Water), power only comes from exhausting the will, burning the candle at both ends. This, my friends, is the death knell of Jing. Water never uses blunt force, it makes its way shimmying with the great current of Tao, full of the nourishment of a rich womb. When we move from the current coursing through our bones and the empty center at the core, we carry the weight of our life with equanimity, the load lightened by the Spiritus Mundi. Jing Cultivation 101: Utilize your resources appropriately, draw only enough as necessary to elegantly complete the task at hand. Follow your instincts instead of reacting to fears - this conserves and consolidates qi, and nudges your body out of sympathetic arousal into a receptive state where you can lean into the whispers of the tao. Reflection is everything - allow the spirit of Water to illuminate you, listen to the messages in your aching bones. As Debra Kaatz says in the Taoist Tales of Acupuncture Points, “it is said that those who can reach the very marrow of their bones become secure in the absolute core of who they are. It is the marrow that produces the new cells we constantly need through life. In this way the bones contain our vital structure giving protection and a framework for all movement.” Practical Jing Magic If I learned anything from the rogue esotericists researching the intersection of entheogenic jungle medicine and neurobiology, it’s that DNA is alive and we can communicate with it (thank you, Jeremy Narby). As Jing is a succulent substantive substrate of DNA, it shares its plasticity, pluripotence, prescience. Much like we effect the unfurling of our epigenetic codes by lowering our allostatic stress load, Jing is similarly susceptible to the conservation and condensation of our energies and efforts. Though we are born with a finite cache of Jing influenced by the combined essences and epigenetic ambiance of our ancestors, what we do with it is well within the realm of our influence. Some of us endured birth trauma, were born premature with a slew of inherited autoimmune issues, and then survived 90’s club culture, punk rock, premature exposure to existentialist literature, and stimulant-induced nervous breakdowns (not pointing any fingers except at myself), and as such took the deficit of Jing they were born with and then ran the rest into the ground. If this sounds familiar, you may be hard up for Jing, my friend! Jing deficiency can manifest as premature aging, adrenal exhaustion, joint degeneration, back and knee pain, going prematurely grey, infertility, loose teeth, weak eyesight, neurodegenerative conditions, and a poor memory. As Jing is seed energy, you can nourish it by increasing nuts and seeds, whose fertile benedictions replenish the stores of Jing-zhooshing minerals often missing from our fallow, post-industrial diets. As Water is black and fathomless, Jing can be nourished by blue and black foods. Think black beans, black sesame seeds, black rice, blueberries, blackberries, seaweed, spirulina, eggplant, fermented miso, and kelp. Never missing a cue to drop a bone broth rec, I’ll go on record saying it’s THE Jing tonic nonpareil. Jing gets leaked hither and thither with flagrant sexuality, so if you’ve a hard time restraining your carnal urges (and why should you?!) I recommend tantra, semen retention, ingasming, edging. For those of us tore up from the floor up, Jing tonic herbs and acupunctureare the Jing jam. Orbs of Jing: Seducing Your Kidneys With Herbs As I write this, we are standing in the cosmic crosswalk of Chinese New Year, a new moon in Aquarius, and the emergence of the White Metal Rat from the gutters of Water season, (all of which I celebrated around a bonfire with my fierce cabal of Acu Witches and these precious chocolate victuals). Truly, it’s the perfect time to flatter your Jing with an orbicular orgy of her prized unguents, pad her proverbial coffers with Taoist panache and Venusian flare. How to, you ask? Process the following in a Cuisinart, and roll into luscious gooey orbs, of course: 1 cup Coconut Butter, warmed up to a sultry melt on the stove. 3/4 cup Raw Cacao Powder Black to appease the Jing, Cacao is a sacred cerebral excitant that boosts anandamide, the proverbial ‘bliss chemical’, serotonin, our body’s natural anti-depressant, theobromide, caffeine’s more genteel euphoric cousin, and magnesium, a powerful heart tonic and smooth muscle relaxant. Cacao strengthens the life force by increasing adaptability, the criterion of empyrean endurance. 4 tbsp Raw Honey 1 Vanilla Bean, split lengthwise and scooped. Ambrosial, sensual, scooped-out bone marrow of the Vanilla pod. Jing by association. A blend of Jing-nourishing, Kidney-seducing, aphrodisiac herbs to stoke the Mingmen fires of creation: 12g Schisandra Berry A Venusian beauty tonic of rosy rubescense, Schisandra supplements the body's original qi and yin essences, glamouring those who ingest her with soft, moist, radiant skin, and the celestial glow of a demigoddess. A famed herb for glamoring magic, she is the Queen of the Jing Locking Herbs, increasing sexual fluids and sensations, restraining your lush yin fluids to impart a numinous glow that magnifies your radiance and luminescence. 12g He Shou Wu Primordial mountain magic made manifest, this herb of the Taoist mountain shamans literally translates to Black Haired Mr He, as it’s said to reverse the effects of aging and return grey hair to a lush black. Rich in zinc, it builds essence and blood, legendary for returning the aged to their rollicking youth and inspiring raving mad mountain Taoists to birth broods of children way past their child-bearing years. Regenerates nerves, brain cells and endocrine glands, said to impart lusciously long locks of hair. 12g Cistanche A gentler Yang Jing tonic than some rollicking rogues of the Taoist canon (I’m looking at you, Deer Antler), Cistanche strengthens will and endurance, and nourishes without draining or depleting. A suitable suitor for Schisandra, he also rebuilds the Kidneys, nourishes blood, and increases flow to the sex organs, whilst also being neuroprotective (hella science on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, read up!). 18g Yin Yang Huo&nbsp; Known on the streets as Horny Goat Weed, this Manna of the He-Goat is revered for its ability to slow the effects of aging, increase libido and nerve regeneration, and inspire Bacchanalian rumpus betwixt grazing licentious goats. I recommend rolling your orbs in Black Sesame Seeds, as Jing LOVES the&nbsp;blackness of the void who birthed all of creation from her primordial&nbsp;loins. You can also add magical intentions for the year of the Metal Rat&nbsp;by incorporating sigils into your chocolate fete: Stir the shape of your sigil into&nbsp;your ingredients whilst mixing, settling into a trance. Draw the sigil upon your&nbsp;cooking vessels, or paint it upon yourself or a lover in edible body chocolate to&nbsp;be licked off in ecstatic reverie. If you’d like to turn your chocolate into edible&nbsp;paint, simply add extra coconut butter and warm on the stove until liquid. If this&nbsp;was the year of the Black Metal Rat, I would obviously recommend a symphonic&nbsp;black metal soundtrack of Dimmu Borgir to enchant your orbs, but my&nbsp;Mixtapes of the Tao: Metal Edition should do just fine. The year of the White Metal Rat and Jing share a few things in common, as they promise renewal and expansion if we are careful to proceed in our endeavors with stealth strength. Nocturnal creatures that scurry out of the darkness, they speak to the power of investment and subterranean riches, providing the sacred architecture for physical and mental endurance. Elemental Acupressure: Ming Men ‘Gate of Life’ 命門 “The Gate of Life is the mansion of Water and Fire, the house of Yin and Yang, the sea of Essence and Qi, and the nest of life and death. If the Gate of Life is depleted and damaged, the five solid organs and six hollow organs will lose their attachment, resulting in the imbalance of Yin and Yang and causing diseases.” - Classical Physician Zhang Jing Yue The illustrious fire that blazes betwixt the Kidneys, the Ming Men or ‘Gate of Life’ provides the fuel for our metabolic and psychospiritual processes. The Yang Fire to the Yin Water of the Kidney’s life force, the Ming Men shores up your anatomy with the reserves to live a life of flourishing purpose. Never missing a hot op to speak to the pedigree of words, the phrase Ming Men is also translated as ‘Gateway of Destiny’ and ‘Life’s Unique Purpose’, which speak to the magic that unfurls with the unification of Yin Water’s gestative capacities and Yin Fire’s spark of liberation. Water is about manifesting potential, after all. In The Taoist Tales of the Acupuncture Points, author and badass homesteader Debra Kaatz shows us that&nbsp;“Ming is drawn as a written order over a mouth and a seal. It is like a decree agreed between Heaven and Earth directing man… However, it is also a gateway, for Men means a doorway or gate. How we use the potential we are born with depends on how far we can open this gate during our lifetime. When we open this gate, we are given more life force so a quality of life returns.” To locate on your own body: Ming Men is is located in the center of the spine, just below the 2nd lumbar vertebrae. Hot tip ➞ find the curve of your natural waist where it pinches ever so slightly inward, then join the thumbs together on the midline. The thumbs will generally intersect with the spinous process of L2, and LIKE WHOA, this point is usually tender. My favorite acupressure technique for stimulating Ming Men comes from Chen Xiyi’s Red Phoenix Calisthenics, and involves rolling the knuckles over the areas left and right of Life Gate 36 times (36=9, the Taoist number of completion, containing all things and all permutations). It is said that by performing this sacred kneading that Qi can be absorbed into the bones. Mixtapes of the Tao: Winter // Water In the latest installment of Mixtapes of the Tao, I appease Ol’ Man Winter and his consort Ol’ Man River (they get down) with an aqueous dossier of sonic alchemy to invoke the yin manifesting mystery of Water. Sometime back in the late 90’s, my BFF and I realized that all the best songs were about rivers and oceans, but in concluding my research I wonder aloud… was there ever a more poignant rumination on living the Watercourse Way than the Talking Heads’ anarcha-taoist masterpiece ‘Once In a Lifetime?!’ Discuss, mon chéri. Side note→ my exercise regimen is putting on Stop Making Sense and following all the dance moves in my living room (Tina Weymouth is my style icon and accidental halloween costume now and forever). Water dissolving and water removing There is water at the bottom of the ocean Under the water, carry the water Remove the water at the bottom of the ocean! Water dissolving and water removing… Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down Letting the days go by, water flowing underground Into the blue again, into silent water Under the rocks and stones, there is water underground Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down Letting the days go by, water flowing underground Into the blue again, after the money's gone Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground Follow the trigram for Water to the Spotify Mixtape&nbsp;☵ &nbsp;Rage on, naiads! On The Zhi Spirit The Zhi is one of the Wu Shen - the five spiritual powers that direct our fate - and the animating spirit of the Kidneys and Water element. To know the Zhi is to know the might and moxie of willpower, the resolute way that a river never reverses its course. The willpower encoded in the Zhi is both the willfulness to manifest your destiny, but also the will to be pulled towards certain things and adversed to others. Whereas we often speak of willpower like a force that struggles against the odds and the current of nature, the will of the Kidneys arises like the negentropic force of a geyser, shooting up from a fissure in the bowels of the earth like a hydrothermal explosion. It’s a spontaneously arising will, like an interpretive dance to your favorite song, and you are being led by that space deep beyond your loins where the heart of the universe articulates your movements for you. The Zhi is the will to live, and it’s here to ensure that our course is Tao.&nbsp; Through its wisdom, wiles, urges, and instinctual drives, it grants us the ability to participate in life with gusto. Because I’m hard for Greek mythology, I think of the Zhi like the Three Fates, spinning the thread of fate and cutting it when the pilot light goes out. If we are in right relationship with our Zhi, we take right action in response to the demands of life, with healthy instinctual responses that keep us in flow. These responses are both gleaned from the wisdom we have accrued in this lifetime, and also the genetic imprint of our lineage, and the choices they made to survive and thrive. Overactive nervous systems fail to concentrate the will in an appropriate manor, leaking it hither and thither. The ever-wise Élisabeth Rochat says of the Zhi - “If what one aspires to is opposed to the natural order, the will turns its power against life, exhausting vitality with passions and debasing it with inappropriate desires. If what we aspire to is in keeping with to our original nature, the will is a constant reminder of what is right and drives us toward the fulfillment of our destiny.” Honor The Zhi and Rage Against the Machine Though I NEVER throw down a diagnosis without taking tongue and pulse, I am damn near certain that Late Capitalism suffers from a Zhi imbalance. Repression of instinctual impulses, internet porn, uncorked ambition, work addiction, bragging about tiredness, fearing the ever-elusive ‘other’, X Games, caffeine, steroids, Adderall, Modafinil, bio-hacking, nootropics… the collective weight points towards a culture driven by the will and not the heart, and we’re careening towards a breakdown. Conversely, a lack of motivation, what my teacher Lorie Dechar calls ‘emotional impotence’ (LOVE that turn of phrase), an inability to face your fears, and poor follow-through can also point to Zhi dysfunction. Élisabeth Rochat de la Vallée likes to say that “Water is linked to the origin and beginnings of life, as are the lower labyrinths of the Kidneys. Therefore, it is the nature of Water to be in constant relationship with origin.” As the spirit of our embodied Water element, the superpower of the Zhi lies in its ability to be an Emissary Of Origin, to take in its whispers and turn them into right action. Of course, in the hyper-yang crucible of Late Capitalism, we haven’t the time or space to lean into any whispers, for the wheel screeches incessantly in our ears. In these very last moments of Winter, the rumbles of the Zhi spirit can still be heard if you listen closely. As we transition from water to wood season at the crowing of the Spring equinox, we’ll start to feel the earth. move. under our feet. But for now: honor embryonic water, the magic of the womb. Suspend yourself in a liquid matrix of placental stillness. Dive into and embrace the darkest of dark inner spaces. Create a sacred vessel for unstructured time, clear your schedule on the perpetch. Face a lingering fear. Get more rest. Spend time with water. Honor your ancestors, for the willpower of their own Zhi ensured the continuous flowing of life that percolated trans-generationally to culminate in your being. The Dance of Will and&nbsp;Energy One of the virtues of a healthy embodied Water element is a vast reservoir of tenacity. Think of the intrepid will it takes to flow freely forward with a cavalier spirit in spite of obstacles, or the determination of the seed to break its shell and burst outward undaunted. We all hold a kernel of this gallantry in the nest of our Kidneys and adrenals, but flip the coin and you encounter the other face of Water, one that’s plagued with the grey creases of adrenal-fueled bravura, where the fundamental drives of the body have been distorted and the candle burns relentlessly. The dance between our Zhi - willpower - and Qi - energy - is a delicate one, for a strong will can mask deficiencies of energy (until the proverbial piper gets paid, of course). When my patients refer to themselves as having a ‘superhuman amount of energy’, or being a person that ‘never gets tired,’ they may actually be exploiting their natural resources and ignoring the rhythms of their body. This is not always the case (no supreme truth says I), but it is an invitation to investigate how we plod our course through the day, and from where the motivation to plod springs forth. This is made all the more salient by my refusal to exploit eastern medicine as a tool for maximizing our output in a capitalist labor market by increasing motivation and productivity. Below is a series of contemplative prompts from Five Element Acupuncturist Lonny Jarrett that I consider a core practice in the work of refusing to industrialize the rhythms and cycles of the body. I often give this exercise to patients when we are working on adrenal fatigue, burnout, autoimmune diseases, and stress. What are the ways you tend to use willpower to push past your limits? What is the motivation that drives you to use your will in this way? What price do you pay for overusing your will? In what situations have you used willpower in a way that empowered you? On Fear and Freeze It makes sense at this moment in the cosmic pivot to speak about fear. The election cycle (ie, scary monsters and super creeps), living underinsured in the COVID-19 fever dream, pitting neighbor v. neighbor in an N95 face mask face off, the spectacular Herzogian terror of an indifferent universe impervious to our needs… the collective dismay sinks like an anvil, everything seems to be pulled towards the bowels of the earth. People seem strange, when you’re a stranger, streets are uneven, when you’re down. The Huang Di Nei Jing, the sacred writ of Chinese medicine, speaks to how emotional energy has vectors, predictability, and movement. Fear, unsurprisingly, causes qi to sink. To understand how fear relates to the Kidneys and Water element, think of the last time you felt fearful. Not the spectral fear you feel on the daily lurking in the recesses of your psyche and soma, but the type of fear that descends like a bolt of ice from the heavens in response to an immediate threat. Fear, like water, plunges to the depths. Our bodies collapse into survival mode, our spine curls inward to protect our vital organs, a cold shock pulses through our fingers and toes, and our energy quite literally drops into our lower loins, the spaces that speak to fundamental safety. You might even pee your pants (look, we’ve all done it). More poisonous than a pestilence, fear keeps us frozen and unable to accept change, inhibiting us from manifesting the seeds of our potential. Cold and frost delay growth, and it’s no surprise that the Powers That Be and their horsemen of the slow apocalypse forevermore referred to as the Lamestream Media hurl ice bolts of fear when orthodoxy is threatened. If you find yourself living in perpetual fear of your health, your Water element may be out of balance and require tending. In the now, resist the inward pull of the tides, remain upright, risk assess like a boss. Trust in your body’s innate curative processes, stay home, say no, protect the vulnerable, surrender to the unknown. The mission of the moment: How can I feel safe enough to emerge into the world? That’s the story of how Water engenders Wood, and the conversation the entirety of the cosmos is having as we transition into spring at the vernal equinox. Take notes. Water Medicine: Shou Wu Chih Longevity Tonic “The root of the 50-year-old plant is called “mountain slave:” taken for a year, it will preserve the black color of the hair. The root of the 100-year-old plant is called “mountain brother:” taken for a year, it will bring a glowing complexion and a cheerful disposition. The root of the 150-year-old plant is called “mountain uncle:” taken for a year, it will rejuvenate the teeth. The root of the 200-year-old plant is called “mountain father:” taken for a year it will banish old age and give the power to run like a deer. The root of the 300-year-old plant is called “mountain spirit:” taken for a year, one becomes an earthly immortal” - Li Shizhen’s famous Materia Medica of 1578, Bencao Gang Mu Shou Wu Chih is the classic longevity tonic of cimmerian apothecaries, a murky, amber elixir sitting soddenly on dusty old shelves, winking at you coyly with esoteric splendor. &nbsp;Anchored by the magnanimous moxie of He Shou Wu - Chinese Fleeceflower Root - it finesses one’s savoir-faire by nourishing the blood and essence, warming the stomach, boosting the spleen and strengthening the tendons and bones. One could use this medicinally for any of the wanton Water element maladies that may befall you, such as arthritic aches &amp; pains, lackluster sexual joie de vivre, adrenal fatigue, low sperm count, aching bones, coldness, shock, trauma, and emotional frigidity. One could also knock a few back before meals as an aromatic aperitif, as it’s excellent for &nbsp;anemia and poor digestion. There’s a fabulously gallant fable culled from the annals of Chinese herbal esoterica that immortalizes the braggadocio of He Shou Wu. Its history dates back to 800 AD, and it has still remained a colloquial anecdote in both Chinese households and herbal circles. Old Mr. He was an impotent curmudgeon (I’ve always thought of him as a grizzled Chinese Kris Kristofferson), a dastardly drunk who was prone to honky-tonk all night and pass out alone under the stars. One portentous Sunday-morning-coming-down, he found himself nursing a Haggard-sized hangover in the fields, staring up at a bodacious vine twisting and twining itself into the cursed heavens. Its bedeviled root reminded Mr. He of two lovers intertwined, and sensing a message from Lady Nature, he decided he would grind the root into a powder so that he could sustain himself while he rotted in the woods. Within months, Mr. He had a raging libido and the vim &amp; vinegar of a teenager. Within a year, his snow-white hair turned back to pitch-black, earning He Shou Wu its name: ‘Mr. He’s Black Hair.’ Raw herbs for Shou Wu Chih can be procured at your local East Asian Apothecary – I love the licentious sprawl and epic tea selection at Wing Hop Fung in downtown Los Angeles. If you prefer to peruse the ether, you’d be much obliged to check out Spring Wind Dispensary, Fat Turtle Herbs, NuHerbs and Mayway. For this tincture, you will need the following accoutrements: He Shou Wu/Fleeceflower (Rx. Polygoni Multiflori) 50 gDang Gui (Rx. Angelicae Sinensis) 50 gHuang Jing (Rhz. Polygonati) 40 gSheng Di Huang (Rx. Rehmanniae) 20 gChuan Xiong (Rhz. Chuanxiong) 15 gBai Zhi (Rx. Angelicae Dahurica) 14 gSha Ren/Cardamom Pods (Fr. Amomi) 4 gFo Shou (Fr. Citri Sacrodactyli) 5 gDing Xiang/Cloves (Fl. Caryophylli) 2 g 1 Liter Prairie Organic Vodka 1 gallon glass jar, for infusing your medicinals Muddle your medicinals with your vodka in a sterilized glass vessel with a secure lid. Age for at least one month in a deliciously dingy crevasse of your liking. Take one shot of this affable alembic daily, or mix with warm water, freshly squeezed lemon and raw honey for a hot toddy. Water’s Grand Exit Any fool can get into an ocean &nbsp; But it takes a Goddess &nbsp; To get out of one. What’s true of oceans is true, of course, Of labyrinths and poems. When you start swimming &nbsp; Through riptide of rhythms and the metaphor’s seaweed You need to be a good swimmer or a born Goddess To get back out of them Look at the sea otters bobbing wildly Out in the middle of the poem They look so eager and peaceful playing out there where the &nbsp; &nbsp; water hardly moves You might get out through all the waves and rocks Into the middle of the poem to touch them But when you’ve tried the blessed water long Enough to want to start backward That’s when the fun starts Unless you’re a poet or an otter or something supernatural You’ll drown, dear. You’ll drown Any Greek can get you into a labyrinth But it takes a hero to get out of one What’s true of labyrinths is true of course Of love and memory. When you start remembering. -- Jack Spicer 水 https://botanarchy.cargo.site/05 Tue, 07 Apr 2020 16:17:34 +0000 The Botanarchy Journal https://botanarchy.cargo.site/05 <img width="600" height="640" width_o="600" height_o="640" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d20661b3780f828b21bddae01a593d985edb855ed2d6a8902d66f3ef45d50516/wood2.jpg" data-mid="66050730" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/d20661b3780f828b21bddae01a593d985edb855ed2d6a8902d66f3ef45d50516/wood2.jpg" /> <img width="600" height="604" width_o="600" height_o="604" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3b5d346d31fe094969c3a7fd8e1b8196d28c5f0bc830a00d393e03b5641ad6dc/wood.jpg" data-mid="66050729" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/3b5d346d31fe094969c3a7fd8e1b8196d28c5f0bc830a00d393e03b5641ad6dc/wood.jpg" /> <img width="600" height="603" width_o="600" height_o="603" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d0dc8d0139dca84e1c2dbe69ba2a7492dc39fed88c1b75db945fa89fd7ae93ad/48782591122_8aa01db1b9_o.jpg" data-mid="66229889" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/d0dc8d0139dca84e1c2dbe69ba2a7492dc39fed88c1b75db945fa89fd7ae93ad/48782591122_8aa01db1b9_o.jpg" /> 1/3 Japanese Tsuba by Georg Oeder, 1916 The Wood Element&nbsp; 木 In Eastern medicine and philosophy, our bodies are a process… the gentle unfurling of destiny through an elemental dance, a perpetual phase shift of the five elements mixing and melding, refining and defining, transforming and transposing. Our mortal forms are truly nothing more than alembic vessels that metamorphose this sacred magic in sync with the tao, the cadence of transformation mirroring that of the cosmos at large. Spring is the season of the Wood element, whose medicine is all about forward momentum, reaching upwards and outwards toward empyrean expansiveness. Wood is a pioneering spirit, pushing through the soft, yielding, mossy detritus of earth toward individuation in the process of becoming. It initiates growth and rebirth, gestating in the primordial mycelial web of earths womb until it leaps through a crack towards the light. Wood surges, pulsates with the moxie of a pubescent boy, longing to explore its environment and to strive, push, ramble, reform, shape. When it falls out of balance, it can be a bit contentious, obstinate, recalcitrant. It’s nature’s phallus, after all. Wood loathes to be restrained. If stifled, it’s prone to ennui and rage, like our inner teenagers listening to Minor Threat in the back of the bus, disgruntled and exasperated, exploding silently with sparks of exasperated lightning. Wood needs vision, plans, direction. If chagrin is inching in on you and you feel contained and bound up, express yourself and discharge energy. Engage your enemies in an interpretive dance battle. Invite your lover on a dérive, a spontaneous drift through the urban sprawl. Ensconce an entire wall in a vision board worthy of Matthew McConaughey’s lair in True Detective season one. Do things without overthinking. Write new laws. Draft a manifesto… there are so few manifestos these days. There’s a palpable, potent magic in the instability of emergence that occurs during a seasonal phase shift. Winds are vectors of change, and if we can harness their diaphanous oscillations, they help us switch directions. There is a concept in Chinese medicine called ‘grasping the wind’, which is a process of engaging with change in way that is both assertive AND yielding, reminding us that the medicine of duality contains both stillness and action, as Nature is a switch who doms and subs with the best of ‘em. Who or what are you becoming? ’Tis the season to determine your direction and take action. Be assertive, wield your wand, push and strive in the ways you know best, but perhaps this time you bend with the wind and make a little space in there for something novel and numinous to emerge. If all else fails, consult the holy spray of Gary Snyder: We look to the future with pleasure we need no fossil fuelget power withingrow strong on less. Grasp the tools and move in rhythm side by side flash gleams of wit and silent knowledge eye to eye sit still like cats or snakes or stones as whole and holding asthe blue black sky. gentle and innocent as wolvesas tricky as a price. At work and in our place: in the serviceof the wildernessof lifeof deathof the Mother’s breasts! --Gary Snyder, Turtle Island On Free and Easy Wandering Wood loathes to be restrained. If stifled, it’s prone to ennui and rage, like our inner teenagers listening to Minor Threat in the back of class, disgruntled and exasperated, exploding silently with sparks of exasperated lightning. The antidote to restraint is flow, the footloose and fancy-free kind. In Chinese medicine, freedom and flow have their very own archetype - The Free and Easy Wanderer - Taoist masters with a light heart and open mind, who traversed the wilds in cadence with the rhythm of nature, meandering and flowing spontaneously like a bubbling spring. Spring is the perfect time to practice free and easy wandering, a gentle practice that aligns our hearts and bodies with the uncomplicated, unfettered movements of nature, to shake loose the stagnations of winter and free the qi to support the expansiveness of spring. As the Taoists and punk idols of yore would say, culture is bondage. Let nature teach you some new dance moves. A tiptoe through the tulips, a spontaneous drift through the urban sprawl, a foraging fete in the mossy badlands - loosen the shackles of patterned movement, don’t force it, relax completely into boundlessness, and throw your goals to the wind. On Visioning Despite being a rambling man, Wood thinks ‘decisiveness’ is a sexy word (ah, the paradoxes of nature) - so make some decisions, why don’t you! Wood needs vision, plans, direction. It longs for a vector of intentionality to know where to grow and what to do with its budding, nascent energy. It is up to us to give it a sacred container, softly supportive with room for holy chaos, else it will ramble rambunctiously across the garden bed with the gusto of wild mint forever and ever. If you’re a vision board’er and list maker, well friends, THIS is the season for you. Ensconce an entire wall in a vision board worthy of Matthew McConaughey’s lair in True Detective season one. Draft a manifesto… there are so few manifestos these days. Pinterest like you’ve never Pinterested before. The cosmos is on your side, we are all unfurling and uncurling toe-to-toe with the fern frond, everything is going upwards despite the force of gravity. On Greening Like Chinese alchemists devoted to decoding the universal flow, with focused observation of the inner and outer worlds we, too, can easily see the season’s resonances, processes, and correspondences. The season of Spring and the Wood element are governed by the Liver, and the season’s color, unsurprisingly, is green. Liver energy is at its peak in Spring, and the energy of the Liver is to keep things moving freely and sprightly, detoxifying that which doesn’t serve, coursing the flow of qi and the flow of our lives via the blueprint of our unconscious minds. Gently support the detoxification pathways of the liver by indulging in an abundance of green. Be it pea shoots, wheat grass, parsley, celery, wild lettuce, fennel fronds, farmers market salads, or fresh green juices, chlorophyll is the alchemical ally of the liver, gently removing toxins from the body and engendering ease and transformation. The liver is also our body’s hormonal furnace, breaking down excess hormones and shuffling them with grace and ease to greener pastures. My favorite way to boost the liver’s hormonal detoxification pathways is by increasing dark leafy greens, high fiber grains, and cruciferous vegetables. Cruciferous veggies, like collard greens, Swiss chard, kale, mustard greens, and brussels sprouts, are high in a compound called Indol 3 carbonyl, which, like a wizened Pac Man, helps the body gobble up egregiously excess estrogens that aren’t being utilized by the body for homeostasis. I recommend eating at least one serving of green vegetables at every meal, making sure you are also eating enough fiber to shuttle debris out through the bowel. If you have hypothyroid issues, cruciferous should be avoided - or at the very least steamed or sautéed - as raw cruciferous can suppress thyroid hormones. Bitter and sour flavors are decongesting and cleansing for the liver, increasing the bile secretions which help our bodies breakdown fats and aid digestion. Adding lemon juice to warm water, or knocking back a few shots of raw apple cider vinegar, are ways to introduce the sour flavor into our predominately sweet Western palate. As most of us know, anything done in excess weakens the liver, causing it to rebel (here’s looking at you, freshman year of college!). Keep it simple, with small uncomplicated meals spaced frequently throughout the day, avoiding the cumbersome alembics of alcohol, caffeine, fried foods, and complicated meals, opting instead for a palate of Marie Kondo- inspired minimalism, embracing the nimble elegance of mother nature in her verdant prime. Rites Of Spring: A Quarantine Bath Ritual of Rebirth As the liminal lassitude of quarantine engulfs us like the legs of lover’s past, it feels increasing difficult to orient oneself to where we are in time and space, for all balefires of ‘normalcy’ have been extinguished by the loss of our daily litanies of work and play. One way that we can empower a sense of time and place is by syncing our breath with the breath of Nature, waking up to the cyclical magic unfolding around us, that continues to show-pony about in its Sunday best despite all warning from the CDC. Spring in the Taoist traditions corresponds to the Wood element, and Her energy is one of bursting, birthing, sprouting, hatching. The medicine of the moment is all about forward momentum, reaching upwards and outwards toward empyrean expansiveness. Though we may be feeling the collective ennui of Spring’s thwarted momentum as we repose indefinitely in the bardo of our homes (if we are privileged enough to have one), we can choose to use this moment as a sacred incubator to hatch a new aspect of self or a new way of being, perhaps one so audacious we never dared to even THINK IT before the arrival of this strange intermission in the grindhouse slasher film called Late Capitalism. Do you long for the courage to&nbsp; walk away from things that don’t suit you and start anew? Is this the right time to talk to your family about your gender-fluidity? Do you wish you could make contact with a sacredness so eternal it eclipses this moment of existential dread? Is there an aspect of yourself that is dying to emerge, but you haven’t the foggiest notion how to give it room to breathe in the context of your current life? Your ally in audacity is the god Protogonos, a dazzling, golden-winged, hermaphroditic deity, the Primordial Being hatched from the serpent-entwined Cosmic Egg. Worshipped in the Orphic cults of Hellenistic Greece, Protogonos was the uroboric lightbringer, emerging from Chaos bursting with golden life. His name means “bring to light,” “manifest,” and "make appear,” the seed of all magic. To Carl Jung, he represented the generative force of all nature: “He is the magnificence of all renewed suns, He is the joy at every birth, He is the blooming flowers, He is the velvety butterfly’s wing, He is the scent of blooming gardens that fills the nights.” Before I was your humble Anarcha Taoist Physician, I was a Witch of the Tao, writing seasonal rituals to reclaim the cycles crushed by the monoculture of hetero-capitalist patriarchy. This is a rite I wrote in another life, a Spring equinox practice that I re-finessed as a Quarantine Bath Ritual of Rebirth. Whether you long to resurrect qualities lacking from your present state of existence, or need to be reminded of your innate power and divinity, i.e. bro-down with your inner hermaphroditic, golden-winged Protogonos, this is THE perfect time in the cosmic wheel to tap into generative powers and hatch your own cosmic egg. The Vernal Equinox, dank with the scent of its own blooming gardens, reared its leafy, crowned head this year on March 19th. This is traditionally a time to mark the coming of Spring and the bursting feracity of the land through ritualistic rebirth and the honoring of fertility gods &amp; goddesses. Beyond the orphic thaumaturgy of the Hellenists, the ancients en masse would celebrate the fruitfulness &amp; fecundity of this time of year through the worship of a talismanic egg, decorated and offered as gifts to bring blessings of abundance in the coming year. Easter is the progeny of all this pagan gaiety, albeit an impossibly wan re-appropriation of ancient fertility worship that is conspicuously lacking in the sex and sorcery of its progenitors. Using a bathtub and a little moxie, you can launch into a&nbsp; meditative exploration of emerging from Chaos re-born, dissolving into primordial nothingness and re-constellating inside a Cosmic Egg containing the raw DNA of a new, intentional universe peppered with the things you need most now going forward. Because how the heck else would you herald the coming of Spring whilst stuck in quarantine?&nbsp; Materials Bathtub, gussied with sacred unguents: The bath should mimic the primordial waters of Earth from which the Orphic Egg was hatched, a cosmic slop of crude energy in a vast, untethered nothingness. So maybe ditch the florid &amp; fancy accoutrements and rosy bath beads for some Dead Sea salts or volcanic clay. A bathroom altar: Prepare your temple space in the bathing chamber by arranging an altar that evokes the qualities you long to bring forth. For example, I am suffering from a loss of adventure, so my inner Protogonos is a mushroom forager in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, and my altar has a walking stick, a field guide, an Opinel mushroom knife, and a stack o’ Gary Snyder books. Candles: To glow with the formative seed of creation, conjuring Protogonos as the personification of light Matches: To light the candles, obvi. Myrrh: If you have it on hand, show the world you’re not fucking around by burning this sacred fumigant used by the Orphic cults to honor and invoke Protogonos. Soundtrack: Totally optional, as I imagine there was no Lizzo at the dawn of creation (#sadfactsofscience). But if it vibes with you, find yourself a suitable soundtrack of swampy, nebulous depth, and broadcast it loudly in the bathroom temple to mimic the amorphous drone of primeval chaos. Better yet! Use songs that invoke the quality you are bringing forth in this ritual. Procedure Consecrate your bathroom &amp; body temple by smudging a censer of Myrrh, the sacred fumigant of Protogonos. Envision the tendrils of the etheric smoke blurring the lines of your current reality. Before submerging yourself in the primordial waters, kneel in reverence at the foot of the bath, and incant The Orphic Hymn to Protogonos, invoking him with spontaneous ecstatic movement: To Protogonos O mighty Protogonos, hear my prayer, twofold, egg-born, and wandering through the air; bull-roarer, glorying in thy golden wings, from whom the race of Gods and mortal springs. Erikapaios, celebrated power, ineffable, occult, all-shining flower! ‘Tis thine from darksome mists to pure the sight, all-spreading splendour, pure and holy light; hence, Phanes, called the glory of the sky, on waving pinions through the world you fly. Priepos, dark-eyed splendour, thee I sing, genial, all-prudent, ever blessed king. With joyful aspect on these rites divine and holy consecration propitious shine! Immersing yourself in the black waters of Chaos, using all the meditative powers your can muster to coax forth a deep trance. The most powerful trance states spontaneously devolve into an exploration of body without form, trudging through the ethereal molasses of the waters as unconjugated debris. Let chaos inhabit your form, and evoke itself through you with ecstatic contortions that defy reality, obliterating this world and its prohibitive natural laws. Or whatever! From this emptiness, begin to imagine your body morphing into an egg… the egg form ensconcing your body in nebulous tendrils, suspending you as an embryo in dark, chthonic solution. Allow yourself to become strangely buoyant, and bob in the water as if taken sway by the undulations beneath you. Imagine yourself taking shape for the very first time inside the egg, hatching the aspects of self that will suit you most going forward in this new reality. Really feel into the person you are becoming… Are you more confident? Industrious? Finding a way to put your unique skills to use in the new paradigm we are ensconced in? Are you more patient? Worry less? Do you wear 4 inch heels and an ascot, unabashed? Invoke this new form, feel it overtake you. When you feel complete, break through your egg, feeling through the blackness for the matchbook on your altar. Light each candle one by one, the explosion of light jolting you into form, like Protogonos breaking through the Orphic Egg as an all-shining flower with golden wings. When you feel fully present and thoroughly new, step out of the waters and bask in the glow of your sparkling newness. Rites Of Spring: Cosmic Egg Qigong If you feel like a wilted violet and are struggling to wake up your nascent magic and align with the potent gestational power of Spring, WELCOME FRIEND! Cosmic Egg Qigong is here for you, so dust off that yoni egg and gather up that fertile mojo into your Ovarian Palace. Possessing an Ovarian Palace and yoni egg are completely optional - fertility is for all, regardless of reproductive capacities! 1. If using, work in your yoni egg (gently, and with reverence), and sit quietly with the eyes closed in a comfortable seated position, with the hands in Yoni Mudra, forming a downward triangle over the proverbial ovaries. 2. Begin by doing a few rounds of Ujjayi throat breathing, rasping the breath over the throat, making an ocean-like sound with your tongue resting on your palate, mouth closed and lips soft. 3. Focus your loving attention on the ovaries until you feel their energy expand and become warm. 4. As you breathe in, gently contract the opening to the yoni using your kegel muscles, and as you breathe out relax the muscles. Use your mind, breath, and muscles to do this gently. This motion draws qi and energy into the Ovarian Palace, allowing more and more qi to gather here with each out breath. 5. Continue pumping qi into the Ovarian Palace using your pelvic floor muscles, and begin to collect the warm energy in your ovaries like a vessel filling with honey. 6. As this energy builds, you can start to allow the Ovarian Qi to flow down to the perineum, and then gently pump this qi up the back of the body to the brain. 7. Spiral this potent qi inside the brain to allow it to charge up all the master glands. Spiral 9 times counter clockwise and then 9 times clockwise, breathing normally. Don’t feel the need to be too exact about this. Experiment with the energy in a way that feels natural and organic. 8. When you feel the energy potently spiraling, on an out-breath, allow the qi to flow back down the front midline, and either send it around the orbit again, or finish by gathering and storing the qi into the womb. 9. Breathe deeply, smiling unconditional love into the Ovarian Palace. Remember, you are Nature, mother of all, mistress of elements, daughter of time. Rites Of Spring: Re-Mythification- An Inner Alchemy Practice for Creating Our Own Cosmogony&nbsp; It’s the spring holidays, and as per usual, I'm struggling to find a seat at the table with ol’ patriarch Abraham, his stodgy tribesman, and their subpar wine. As an advocate for womxn’s health, I witness the myriad ways the central myths of our culture wind their way into our unconscious beliefs about our bodies, poisoning our well and damaging our physical and mental health in ways big and small. Whether it shows up in our sexual health, the prioritization of our needs, the right to advocate for ourselves, our reproductive freedoms, or our gender expressions, these myths are internalized, and as a result, shift how we use, tend to, and conceive of our bodies. My work in the treatment room has as much to do with rewriting the stories of our bodies as it does creating treatment plans for navigating a PCOS diagnosis or an autoimmune condition. This woman’s work (#katebush) includes unkinking the noxious knots of internalized myth so that we free up space in the body for the authentic self to emerge, allowing the authentic self to be seen AND revered, and finding ways to meet its needs and support its unfurling. One of the ways I encourage women to do this is by identifying the core myths that shape their culture and identity, stripping them down, hoisting their legs up in stirrups, and shining a light into their innermost core. If there is a fundamental discord between your ability to thrive in your body and a foundational myth of your culture, perhaps it’s time for that myth to shapeshift into one that supports and nurtures your expression of womanhood. Or perhaps it's time for a new myth written FOR you and BY you to emerge from its ashes. Re-mythification can wipe the poison smear of patriarchy off the body temple, and serve as a healing, reparative act of rewilding for the soul. This is a series of exploratory questions posed by Five Element Acupuncturist and scholar Lonny Jarrett in his transcendent tao-informed tome ‘Nourishing Destiny.' I find them to be the perfect departure into the the practice of mythopoesis, forging myth and meaning in the crucible of your own imagination. What are the foundational myths of your culture? What are the meanings you have created in your own life? Are the meanings you see being created in any way related thematically to the myths of your culture? To what extent do these myths empower or diminish your mental and physical health? The next step in this exploration might be writing yourself a creation myth, one that condenses your world view into a narrative that supports and enshrines your unique emanation of the Tao. Yes, of course you could look to the rituals and rites of pre-Abrahamic pagan cultures that worshipped the goddess and revered the witch, but I’m a staunch advocate of creating your own meaning from the stew you’re sitting in (hello, chaos magic). It’s innovative, radical, topical, postmodern and ancient all at once. Also, in assuming the role of the myth-maker, you don’t serve religion, religion serves you. <img width="1500" height="1500" width_o="1500" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f80d4d3e91f9297fd4e6b449c3cd9afad4c04ba3599fe749a5a66b829b2845cf/elana-dykewomon.jpeg" data-mid="66060045" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f80d4d3e91f9297fd4e6b449c3cd9afad4c04ba3599fe749a5a66b829b2845cf/elana-dykewomon.jpeg" /> For inspiration, the photo above is a lesbian creation myth written by elana dykewomon (read it! It’s fierce as fuck!) from the radical feminist quarterly WomanSpirit, Summer Solstice 1976 edition (boundless gratitude to the LA Art Book Fair and Family Books for this rarified treasure, long-sought and much cherished). This piece is the embodiment of re-mythification, the quintessence of mythopoesis. Moses is quoted in the bible as saying “do not let a sorceress live”. Show Moses a good time! Write a creation myth! Live as if it’s the absolute truth! Create rituals with your sisters that mirror its meaning and intent! Be hungry, be curious, and if your blood sugar is low, eat the mthrfckng apple from the tree of knowledge, and don’t apologize, ever. Rites Of Spring: Dream Divining with Botanical Allies For those who desire nothing more than to cultivate inner knowing with a coven of the wisest &amp; wiliest plant teachers known to man, the logical place to start is by spelunking the caves of one’s own unconscious. Dream divination, known as Oneiromancy by the ancient Greeks, allows us to peer into the depths, to know ourselves, and to establish a symbolic vocabulary that helps us forage through the morass of daily life with the prophetic poise of a wise crone. The functional prophetess should be able to navigate the dreamlands by one’s own compass, retrieving useful information for both oneself and others. The requisite accoutrements include traveling with fierce intentionality, a basic understanding of one’s personal mythos, and, of course, a well-maintained dream journal. Dream allies are your fiercest comrades in the Land of Nod, unlocking doors and mediating communion betwixt you and the motley crew of etheric entities that reside in your unconscious. The dream allies listed below are a brief ethnobotanical survey of cherished pan-cultural Oneirogens, and should be treated as such. If anyone wishes to approach the allies, it should be done in good health, only when deemed appropriate by a hearty sign-off from your healthcare provider, and definitely not whilst pregnant or breastfeeding. Each of these plants are unique creatures with wildly variant properties, and a myriad spectrum of moxie from stem to stamen. Therapeutic dosages, though listed below, should be the jurisdiction of your herbal purveyor, as they know the persnickety potency of each herb they grow and peddle. And also, my dears, DO check your state laws, as many of the most prized herbs for healing and gnosis are psychoactive at certain dosages, misunderstood by an ignorant hegemony, and therefore may be illegal for consumption in your state (don’t worry, you are still protected under the law to poison yourself slowly on Diet Coke and factory-farmed meat). The Dream Herb: Calea Zacatechichi My most favorite dreaming ally is Calea Zacatechichi, known as the ‘Dream Herb’ by the Chontal people of Oaxaca. Indigenous to Latin America, she is often used by shamans and medicine folk to produce psychotropic benders of prophecy and mirth, producing crystal visions worthy of a witched-out Stevie Nicks divinatory diatribe. Like a liminal Charlie Rose, you can ask her all matter of thorny questions, which she will graciously answer in bouts of epic visions and narrative. This is a journeying herb, and her liminal landscape is one of heroes and villains, mythic motifs, and prodigious peregrinations. Though she’s often symbolic with an astounding archetypal imagination, many times her answers are so literal and linear that you will be re-reading your dream journal months later with slack-jawed astonishment. She’s very forthcoming with her brujeria, and I’ve never had her turn me down. The traditional method of smoking Calea in tandem with a strong infusion of her brew will produce catnaps with bursts of intense visions, whereas an infusion of the herb lends itself well to epic dream recall, intensity, lucidity, and bounteous hypnagogic imagery. My basic method is to brew a strong pot of Calea tea and steep it for 15 minutes, whilst cradling it in my hand and meditating upon my query.&nbsp; Occasionally, I’ll bundle up my herbs in a homemade teabag, and tie it with a tiny tag upon which my divinatory question has been scrawled. Bitter to the point of near un-drinkability, a few stirs of honey will add an air of gentility to the whole ordeal, though it may still inevitably taste like someone has vomited battery acid in your mouth. Do not let that deter you, dear seekers! In traditional Chinese medicine, bitterness quiets a wily heart spirit, and the quality detracts not from Calea’s lovely, generous spirit. Seeing as she is traditionally used by shamanic healers to solve village health quandaries, I think she is an especially robust guide for clarity in healing work. Dosage: Begin with 1-2 grams steeped in hot water for about 10 minutes, strained, and drank before bed. Calea is a relationship, and this dose may need to be adjusted to find your sweet spot. I have come to find that 5 grams works well for me, and I steep her with garden mint and honey to quell some of the bitterness. Mugwort: Artemisia Vulgaris With fragrant silvery spires that glow incandescent white in the moonlight, Artemisia herself harkens to both the poetic dreamscapes of the moon and the subconscious hinterlands of the mind. A muse to both Old Gods and mere mortals alike, Mugwort is the sacred weed of Artemis (or Diana, if you’re a rapacious, re-appropriating Roman), a humble herb that grows freely (like the wild Botanarchist she is) amongst freeway meridians, sidewalk cracks, and areas of blight, disregard, and disarray. Foraging for her is the delight of urban hunters, left to get their jollies amongst paved-over pastures and sagacious sprawl. Though herself humble &amp; hoary, Mugwort has the pedigree of a bona fide goddess in disguise. In an appropriately foxy compendium of sex &amp; death meeting myth &amp; medicine, her patron goddess Artemis was said to have bestowed all of her herbal knowledge upon Chiron, a centaur (hot!), who then passed it on to the martyred necromancer Asclepius (even hotter!). Asclepius then compiled the sacred medicinal arcana into the Materia Medicas of Ancient Greece, and taught ancient mortals the art of healing magic before being offed by Zeus for raising folks from the dead for money (even necromancer’s gotta eat!). Primordial seekers used to make holy pilgrimages to the Mugwort-laden Temples of Asclepius to practice dream divination, asking Asclepius for guidance to heal the sick and infirmed. Shall you not find yourself amongst the enshrined elite anytime soon, a clairvoyant cup of Mugwort tea drunk before bed produces visionary dreams, can enhance recall, and is often used by those who practice the art of lucid dreaming. Mugwort achieves this magical melee due to a chemical cocktail of constituents that prevent us from reaching a deep sleep, trapping us instead in the twilight hours of vivid dreamtime purgatory. That said, she may leave you a tad torn and frayed if used on the regular.&nbsp; With anything, do your legwork before starting any herbal regimen, making sure you are in suitable shape for such dalliances. And never take Mugwort internally if you are pregnant (or any of the dream allies, really), as it may stimulate uterine contractions at certain dosages. I’m partial to a few heaping teaspoons steeped in hot water for a good 10 minutes, then strained and served with a spot of raw honeycomb. She’s also quite divine whence mixed with equal parts Rosehips and Lemon Balm. Dosage: 1 tbsp steeped in hot water for at least ten minutes.&nbsp; Ubulawu Dream Root: Silene Capensis Known by her kin as the ‘Herb of the White Path’, Silene Capensis is a South African dream herb famed for bearing gossamer visions heavy on shimmering colors and luminescent white symbolism. Though I haven’t met the White Lady in my dreams as of late, I will give Silene deep respect for increasing dream intensity AND recall, a sibylline cocktail of Orphic bliss. Learning to work with Silene bears infinite rewards for the psychonaut, offering diviners Delphic intimations of their personal arcanum, connecting the dots between personal myth and ancestral legacy. When approached with the proper intentionality (as entheogens always should be), she brings communion with the ancestors, and can deliver you messages from those departed. I did tremendous work with her over the course of a moon cycle, using Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Way of the Tarot as a tactile counterpart to my work in the ethers, the two overlapping to form a deep symbology that I still draw upon often. In addition to her pedigree as a dreamtime ally, she is used prodigiously in ceremony in the South African river valleys for catharsis and ritualistic purging, similar to the ayahuasca rites of Central and South America. Dissimilarly, Silene is not a psychedelic plant, and vomiting only occurs intentionally in behemoth doses during highly nuanced ceremonies. When taken as a dream ally, she is gentle and kind, with nary a disrupt of psyche or stomach in sight. The most astounding facet of Silene’s brouhaha might just be that a frothy brew of her twisted tendrils is ingested upon RISING from slumbers, with absolutely NO impact on waking life- all of the illusory vagaries happen between the sheets! Those with a penchant for Cthulhu and the Lovecraftian Deep Ones will inevitably love Silene, as her spirit form is a magical, alien sea snake that lives in the deepest waters of the river, straddling the boundaries betwixt this world and the next. When I use this herb, I devote at least a week to her majesty, allowing the alkaloids to build up in my system over time. I drink the foam that rises from a macerated infusion of the herb in hot water on an empty stomach upon rising. I am one to abstain from drinking coffee whilst taking counsel from Silene, and those with more sensitive constitutions may want to follow suit. It is also customary to abstain from eating meat while working with this plant. Some notice enhanced dreaming after one day with her counsel, but I have found that my body responds to her magic a few nights after we have begun communing. Inquisitive parties simply MUST read ‘Root, Dream &amp; Myth: The Use of the Oneirongenic Plant Silene Capensis,’ a tremendous exploration of her mystic myth, published in Eleusis: Journal of Psychoactive Plants &amp; Compounds, Vol. 4.&nbsp; Dosage: Start by mixing 1/2 teaspoon of the powdered root mixed in 1/2 cup water with a wooded spoon until foamy and frothy (depending on how fine your herb is, this could take upwards of a few minutes). I suggest drinking it first thing in the morning, at least an hour before eating. I recommend doing this for about a week until judgement is passed. If dreams are elusive, you can begin increasing the dose steadily. Egyptian Blue Lotus: Nelumbo Nucifera If we’re in the business of discarding tombs both real and imagined (which I am), Blue Lotus would be an excellent ferry ‘cross the river Styx. Carrying in its serpentine, cerulean DNA a shamanic cocktail of disintegration (apomorphine) and communion (nuciferine), she truly is Hermetic gnosis manifest- a vehicle for the ecstatic alchemical separation of body and spirit, a botanical simulacrum of simultaneous ‘solve et coagula’. In tandem, the alkaloid Nuciferine serves to ‘strip off the garment’ of the lotus eater, while the euphoric tendrils of apomorphine liberate the akh, the luminous sun of our inner being. The resulting effects are both calming and euphoric, creating a numinous dreamtime space for vivid dreams and tranquil sleep.&nbsp; As the sacred flower of the pharaohs, her plant manna was used ritualistically by the ancient Egyptian noblesse to produce shamanic ecstasy and hypnotic trance in magical rites, mostly involving the gruesome twosome of sex and death. Chinese botanists (my favorite kind, this side of Luther Burbank), were convinced the lotus had the ability to transcend the limitations of time, as they believed she flowered and bore fruit simultaneously. Like all flowers of the Philistines, Blue Lotus has her very own God presiding over those bodacious blooms. Nefertum is the Egyptian god of the lotus and perfumery, an archetype of rejuvenation and anointment. As an avatar of Nefertum, ingesting the blue lotus into your temple (lotophagus, as the Greeks say, cause Ancient Greek makes me swoon) is akin to the ribald Dionysian rite of enthusiasmos, a state of being quite literally ‘filled by the gods.’ Though her plant magic is hallowed and divine, the true reason I fell in love with the lotus is the story of how she’s pollinated (truly the hottest piece of erotica this side of Anais Nin). Sacred scarabs are lured into the dark waters by the lotus at dusk, no match for its irresistibly miasmic pineapple musk. They intoxicatedly feast on the central petals, so engorged with lotus liquor they fail to notice when the flower closes over them. The anthers then ripen and shed their pollen over the trapped beetles, whilst the flower descends back into the black waters of the Nile, for a night of Bacchanalian revelry in an underwater boudoir of velvet pollen, beating wings, nectar victuals and ecstatic sex. As Ra rises over the horizon, the enshrined altar re-emerges above the water, and the beetles are set free to do the walk of shame across the banks of the Nile. Though we may long to morph into a lotus beetle and drink deep the nectar of the lotus straight from the boudoir itself, in this lifetime, ritualistic victuals of lotus wine will have to suffice. You can make your own sacrament with a decent bottle of Rosé, a few ounces of Nelumbo Nucifera, and a few shakes of a lamb’s tail. Simply take 20 grams or so of lotus, crack open your bottle, skim a few chugs off the top, and soak your petals in the juices for three days. You’ll want to re-cork your vessel and store it in the fridge until it’s time to commune. Like most lovely things, she’s a bitter pill, and her unguents may need to be cut with a little raw honey to sweeten the deal. For dreamwork, the blue lotus is typically taken as a tea before bed, with a recommended dose of 5 grams steeped in boiling water and then allowed to cool before drinking it directly. In comparison to the ribald rites of the ancients, when taken in these manifestations the effects are mild, sedative, dreamy and mellow. Dosage: 5 grams steeped in boiling water. Rites Of Spring: Asclepieia - Divining Your Own Medicine Through Dreams “The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul, which opens to that primeval cosmic night that was soul long before there was conscious ego and will be soul far beyond what a conscious ego could ever reach.” -Carl Jung In Taoist cosmology, Spring corresponds to the Wood element, and is the season of movement emerging from stillness, where the Liver is most active and its spirit the Hun ascends to the stars to to help us find our path and orient ourselves in the direction of our Tao. The Hun act as an intermediary between our waking and sleeping states, and though they perform this sacred function all year round, some feel that their dreams come alive in Spring… that the waking of the planet wakes something deep inside of them, and they can suddenly attune to the rustles of the nethermost refuge of their being. The question to ruminate upon during the time of year whilst buds burth forth from the dark is “what is happening beneath the surface?” It is the perfect time to seek communion with the phantasmata of the liminal realms, to mine the fertile intimations of the unconscious for hypnagogic gold. One can do this by engaging in the sacred rite of dream divination, known to the ancient Greeks as Oneiromancy, which might just be the most direct method of communication with the inner healer or Divine Physician. For those who seek to heal by the cipher of their personal mythologies, dreamwork is a presumptuous playground of obsequious archetypes and sordid vignettes pregnant with symbology &amp; suggestion. Starting in the 5th century BCE, primordial pilgrims of ancient Greece made holy pilgrimages to the Mugwort-laden Temples of Asclepius to practice dream divination, petitioning Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, for guidance to heal the sick and infirmed. These healing sanctuaries, called Asclepieia, were chambers of Oneironautic intrigue, where physician-priests and master dream interpreters would lead supplicants through an array of rites to prep the seekers for a healing intercession from Asclepius in the dream realm. The Asclepian dream incubation rites began with a series of ritualistic purifications called Katharsis, which included a number of cleansing baths and purgations designed to purify the body of emotional detritus through art, as well as a cleansing fast that lasted a number of days. After purging oneself of the&nbsp; wanton compulsions cloaking the ego in creature comforts and psychic ephemera shrouding intellectual illumination, supplicants would make offerings to Asclepius in the form of anatomical votives in silver and gold of the body part they wished to heal, and then were admitted into the Abaton, or dream incubation chamber, for one or more nights. Because Asclepius gained his medical knowledge and healing prowess from a snake that licked his ears clean, whispering to him surreptitious sacred wisdom, the floor of the Abaton was aglow with throngs of non-venomous snakes that slithered over patients as they slept, imbuing them with the serpentine medicine of wisdom, healing, and resurrection. The god of medicine might visit patients in their dreams healing them immediately in the spectral state, or shroud his healing admonitions in allegory and metaphor. Physician-priests would interpret the symbols gleaned from the nether realms, then prescribe a suitable therapeutic remedy to restore the patient to health. Though we are far in Euclidian space and time from the snake-soaked dream temples of yore, with a bit of moxie and a robust imagination you can create your own Asclepieia in the comfort of your own bedroom, and seek counsel with your inner physician to gain insight into a health concern that may be plaguing you. With the help of a cherished Chontal dream herb - Calea Zacatechichi - you can ensnare a divinatory dream, and perhaps even a visitation from Asclepius himself, or one of his totem animals - the dog, the rooster, or the snake. Method Oneironauts should begin the dream incubation rite by ruminating upon a health query they wish to illuminate. This could be something as flagrantly utilitarian as “what could be triggering my migraine headaches,” as perfectly prosaic as “what do I need to do in order to heal my longterm depression,” or as kinky &amp; abstract as “what ancestral wounds have I carried over into this lifetime.” You are your own Divine Physician, and will emphatically know what bears scrutiny in the spectral slumberlands. Perform the requisite rites of Katharsis. Engage in a few days of fasting prior to your divinatory ritual, perhaps cutting out all stimulating foods such as sugar, alcohol, caffeine, and meat. If you are entirely too bacchanalian to forgo such illusory comforts, any type of ritualized restriction approached with dedication and zeal will infuse your rite with a fierce vector of intentionality. Fasting allows the mandalas of the medicine to permeate your inner being without the radio static of the Standard American Diet. Imagine getting blasted by a vapid earful of ashen Eagles jams from the upstairs apartment while you’re having a serious space age bro-down with some transcendental Sun Ra. It’s essentially just like that. Oil and vinegar don’t mix, as they say. Draw yourself a purification bath, or better yet, jump in a sacred hot spring or frigid ocean at dawn. Victuals you may add to your bath brew to enhance its cleansing mojo include sea salt, palo santo, rosemary, sage, or anything dank and pungent whose stinging aromatics have the visceral effect of scattering malignant energies. Prepare your Abaton, or dream incubation chamber. The only limit to its majestic splendor is the sagacious sprawl of your own imagination. Some lofty ideas for you to pilfer include the following: Sleep on a mat upon the floor, ensconced in a mandala of mugwort. Waft thuribles of pineal-propelling Frankincense within your bedchamber before retiring.&nbsp; Draw sigils and sketches of the body parts you wish to heal, placing them upon the walls of your Abaton. Beseech your local vermiculturist for a flat of composting worms, and scatter them throughout your DIY Asclepieia to hearken to the Asclepian Snakes of yore. Allow them to crawl over you as you slumber, imbuing their serpentine alembics and infusing your subconscious with snake medicine. Return the worms unharmed to your garden in the morning, to sow your dream magic deep within the earth. Or, if you happen to be blessed with your own herpetologic muse, allow it to slither freely in your chamber during your hypnagogic tango. Really do it up- magic is fond of romantic gestures and relishes in a hot &amp; bothered courtship. Concoct your herbal ally. My basic method is to brew a strong pot of Calea tea and steep it for 15 minutes in my ritual chalice, while cradling it in my hand and meditating upon my health query.&nbsp; Occasionally, I’ll bundle up my herbs in a homemade teabag, and tie it with a tiny tag upon which my divinatory question has been scrawled. Then, I stir in a little honey, imagining the tendrils of tea lacing the brew with my mojo. Raising the chalice above and thanking Calea Zacatechichi and Asclepius for their wisdom and guidance, I imbibe my limbic elixir, and retire to my dream chamber with a journal nearby to record my visions. Confiscate the dream hacks of intrepid lucid dreamers to aid you on your journey. Incant the mantra “I wish to awaken fully from my dreams and remember them upon waking” ad infinitum as you nod off. Stay open, pay attention. Magic communicates in glyphs and symbols, so be prepared to be a little stymied at first by the befuddling patois of your subconscious. Write down EVERYTHING immediately upon waking, whether that happens at 3 am or 10 am. Your dream-therapy might be glaringly apparent at first glance, or you may need to step back and give the dream space and time to unfold. If your unconscious is being a little coy, re-read your dream journal a week later to see what sort of illuminated shards glimmer within the words. Thank Asclepius and your guides with classical panache, by tossing gold into a sacred fountain. If strapped for sacredness, throw a penny in the LA river. This last step is the most important. HEED THE MESSAGE(S). Your unconscious has undressed before you, honor her candor by doing the work she revealed to you in the dream, no matter how absurd, risqué, or ho-hum it may be. Asclepian dream cures were often vexingly outlandish at first glance, full of “bizarre measures such as the eating of figs mixed with ashes from the god’s alter, naked marathons in freezing rain, abstinence from bathing for weeks, and bodily suspension upside down for long periods of time” (culled from Emma Goldstein’s “Asclepius: Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies”). Do not let their peculiar puissance detract from their latent medicine. Though eating ashes from the god’s alter may sound mega goth, charred herbs and substances are often hemostatic in nature with the ability to stop or slow bleeding, and possess a myriad of diverse medical benefits including settling an upset stomach and stopping diarrhea. Do first, scoff later. Live by the mandate of the divine sage Leonard Cohen: “Many hurt men wondered, many struck men bled, magic never faltered, magic always led.” Dream deep, sweetest seekers! _____________________________ Rites of Spring: Tree Gong In celebration and solidarity with the Vernal Equinox, here’s a qigong practice I like to call Tree Gong (sorry/not sorry). This energetic alignment allows one to symphonize with Spring and ensconce oneself in the coursing qi of the Wood Element, all whilst hugging a tree (YES). ‘Cause I’m an Anarcha Taoist that’s all about collaboration and reciprocity, this practice is a cosmic embrace, a loop of love and repair between human and tree for synergistic symbiosis. Go ahead, share your qi with a tree! There’s more than enough to go around. Scarcity is a trick of capitalism. (So are shoes - this practice is best done barefoot). Find a tree that calls to you, one with robust roots pillaging the sidewalk, leafy plumes cascading asunder, succulent sap with sticky sweet unguents, whatever your pleasure. If you pick a Joshua Tree, well, that’s on you. Approach the tree as you would a lover, slowly with grace and reverence. As you find yourself in the tree’s embrace, ask permission for an exchange of energy. Most trees do this freely and with wild abandon (hello, oxygen), but consent is key, always and forever. With a clear YES, hug your tree consort, breathing the tree qi deep into your bones. They might take a cue from you, and breath your qi deep into their xylem and phloem. Anything is possible in the qi matrix. Ground your feet into the earth, bringing your awareness to acupuncture point Kidney 1 'Bubbling Spring’, the tender valley on the sole of the foot, just below the ball in the center of the crevasse. This is the wood point of the kidney meridian that gives our energy strength, a forward thrust, and fresh vision. Bubbling Spring is where energy can be received and released back into the tender womb of the earth. F e e l &nbsp;t h i s. Inhale the earth’s qi from Bubbling Spring up the back of your spine to the crown of your head, to acupuncture point Du 20 'The Meeting of Grand Unity'. As Debra Katz says, this is a place of council where all the meridians can come together and be united to work together for the maximum harmony and balance. Here is held the balance between yin and yang, the light and dark, heaven and earth. Exhale down the tree, sensing and visualizing the qi spiraling its way deep within the tree and out through its roots.&nbsp; Reverse directions, inhaling qi up the tree, allowing it to percolate over the tree to the crown of your head at The Meeting of Grand Unity, falling down the front of your body and exhaling through the roots of your foot into the earth. Repeat this orbit at least 9 times, but truly, the consanguine embrace can continue forever. When you feel cosmically nourished, gently let go of your embrace, listening for messages from the tree and beyond. Magnolias are very talkative, Oaks tell dad jokes, Aspens are downright demure. But don’t take it from me, taste and sense and hear for yourself. Bow to your tree in gratitude, leaving an offering. I like ash, as it nourishes the soil, but anything given with love and awe will do just fine. Happy Equinox, o verdant ones! 木 https://botanarchy.cargo.site/06 Tue, 07 Apr 2020 17:56:01 +0000 The Botanarchy Journal https://botanarchy.cargo.site/06 <img width="600" height="599" width_o="600" height_o="599" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dfe1fd389ccdc7bad711829c9b377bcdd47dc4e44efddc0757b9e62766ee2af4/48782059273_8e7c88aa0a_o.jpg" data-mid="66231605" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/dfe1fd389ccdc7bad711829c9b377bcdd47dc4e44efddc0757b9e62766ee2af4/48782059273_8e7c88aa0a_o.jpg" /> 1/2—Japanese Tsuba, 1916 <img width="600" height="614" width_o="600" height_o="614" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7de2f3c52eb2a70ff3b592f6d95b09d383eeba5b2e6e42e5ae8806219d331fa3/48782059258_eb3fec7f45_o.jpg" data-mid="66231592" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/7de2f3c52eb2a70ff3b592f6d95b09d383eeba5b2e6e42e5ae8806219d331fa3/48782059258_eb3fec7f45_o.jpg" /> 2/2—Japanese Tsuba, 1916 Blood 血 Spitting blood clears up reality and dream alike -Sunao Ditch The Tampon And Re-Wild Your Period “Contact with menstrual blood turns new wine sour, crops touched by it become barren, grafts die, seed in gardens are dried up, the fruit of trees fall off, the edge of steel and the gleam of ivory are dulled, hives of bees die, even bronze and iron are at once seized by rust, and a horrible smell fills the air; to taste it drives dogs mad and infects their bites with an incurable poison.” –Pliny The Elder, Natural History: A Selection Western civilization’s lust for blood has never extended beyond the fetishization of death and gore, shunning the cyclical bloodletting central to the sacred feminine and scorning it as polluted miasma. As such, menstruation is the ultimate taboo. In our culture of ‘no-period’ birth control pills and pharmaceutical cycle suppression, menstrual cycles have become something of an evolutionary anomaly. This is due in part to the stigma of inconvenience and impurity that pervades the way we talk about menstruation, if we dare to talk about menstruation at all. For those of us that prefer to remain feral, oldfangled, and bodaciously bloodied, the options for corralling our crimson flow might seem, at first glance, scanty and stodgy. We have inherited a musty marketplace from the corporate patriarchy dominated by bleached tampons and déclassé disposable pads. Although these moldy oldies are considered the status quo of the $3-billion-a-year feminine care industry, there is no definitive research assuring their long-term use is actually good for our health. One could bleed for thousands of moons without ever encountering the hefty dossier of menstrual products that exist outside the Tampax box. Along with keeping Proctor &amp; Gamble and the military-industrial complex from oozing its slime into your vagina, these alternative menstrual products support womxn-owned businesses, ecological welfare, gynecological health, and the re-claiming of the feminine experience, bringing the stench of blood back into the homestead. According to The Guardian: “On any given day, millions of American women are menstruating – and more than half of them are using tampons. What many of those women don’t know is that there is no research that unequivocally declares these feminine hygiene products safe, and independent studies by women’s health organizations have found chemicals of concern like dioxin, carcinogens and reproductive toxins present in tampons and pads. The multi-billion dollar feminine hygiene industry likes to say that the amounts of those toxins in a single tampon is very low. But the average woman who uses tampons will use over 16,800 during the course of her lifetime – and there is almost no data on the health effects of the cumulative use of tampons over a woman’s lifetime.” Though I disdain the rampant sensationalism of ‘toxins’ and the fear-mongering and shaming (often targeted at women) that comes with such proclamations, I strongly believe that the overuse of conventional tampons poses a serious threat to women’s health. In addition to increasing the risk of Toxic Shock Syndrome by encouraging the bacteria to grow when left inside the vagina for an extended period of time, tampons can also stick to the vaginal walls, especially when blood flow is light, causing tiny abrasions when they are removed that create an environment for bacteria to proliferate. Conventional products also leave behind fibers that can irritate tissue and further cause bladder and vaginal infections, and they absorb the natural fluids and friendly bacteria that enable the vagina to self-regulate. I’ve had a slew of patients that have resolved reproductive health issues ranging from menstrual migraines to pain during intercourse simply by stopping the use of conventional tampons. Through the years of bloodshed, my vagina has hosted such luminaries as organic cotton tampons, the Diva Cup, and Glad Rags, although these days I remain eternally faithful to my menstrual sponge from Holy Sponge. The righteous gals of Holy Sponge are menstrual priestesses, who ceremoniously ensconce their sponges in ritual moon kits that include two sustainably-harvested sea sponges, organic tea tree oil to disinfect the sponges at the end of each cycle, a cotton bag to hold them tight between uses, and hand-foraged herbs for smudging and bathing. If enshrouding the pliant ostia and oscula of a supple sea creature in your holiest of caverns isn’t romantical enough to woo you away from the tampon forever, here’s a gaggle of other reasons to heed the call to re-wild your period: + No peeing on the dastardly dangling string. + No drying out the tissues of the vagina. + Bloodied, discarded sponges can double as offerings to Cthulhu during a frenzied rite. + Sponges are supple and soft, and infinitely more cozy than the brittle bullet of a conventional tampon. + With proper care, sponges can be re-used for up to a year of cycling. + Sponges are naturally spawning, and replenish themselves when harvested ethically. + Sponges are hermaphroditic, and symbolize the divine union of opposites. + Sponges are biodegradable, and will return unto the chthonian depths imbued with the seeds of your blood magic. + Sponges can be worn during sex if your partner is sheepish about earning their red wings. Once you decide to break your covenant with the tampon, you will have roughly ½ cup of menstrual blood each mooncycle at your disposal. If you are certain you are free from any bothersome blood-born pathogens, you can begin to explore extending the livelihood of your menstruum through these utilitarian blood rites. Should you decide to re-purpose your menstrual blood like a truly pragmatic bleeder, you will want to store your scarlet sorcery in sterilized jars in the refrigerator, much like a good Rosé. Here are a few re-animation rites you can use to get the most out of your monthly menses: Harvest Your Stem Cells at the Menstrual Blood Bank Menstrual blood contains stem cells that have the prodigious property of being able to morph into various other kinds of cells such as cardiac, neural, bone, fat and cartilage, a miraculous feat of incredible protean prowess. Truly the elixir immortelle, menstrual stem cells have similar regenerative capabilities as the stem cells in umbilical cord blood and bone marrow, AND pack the added punch of further incensing the neo-conservative right (because, you know, PERIODS). Cell banking is an emergent technology that cryo-preserves your menstrual blood in a medical setting, for future potential use treating life-threatening diseases such as stroke, heart disease, diabetes, neurodegenerative disease, and ischemic wounds. Clinical trials utilizing stem cells are encouraging and abounding, and are only limited by the religion-poisoned, obstinate worldview of a cringing old-guard patriarchy. To quote the scripture of Oingo Boingo, “From my heart and from my hand, why don’t people understand, my intentions?! Oooh…weird science!” Concoct Magical Elixirs The same pluri-potent puissance that is the driving force behind the magic of stem cells can be harnessed in ritual to enchant your brews. Known in alchemy as the ‘Elixir Rubeus,’ menstrual blood possesses a fluid intelligence that has been used by surreptitious sorcerers for aeons to bewitch potions and consecrate talismans. Use a dollop or dram in your kitchen magic (it is particularly strong during the full moon) to open your heart, ignite your will, gestate the seeds of your creative endeavors, fertilize your desires, and commune with your carnal, animalistic self. There is, of course, etiquette and propriety involved in the handing out and ingestion of such rarified kitchen alchemy. Be a classy witch- use your discretion and always exercise good taste. Take Notes for your Acupuncturist Traditional Chinese Medicine has a rich and storied tradition of diagnosing systemic patterns in the body through observance of the menstrual cycle. Your blood sends you messages in passenger pigeons of clots and cramps. A well-trained Chinese Medical Physician can interpret the augury of bloodstains and mood swings, and use this knowledge to inform herbal formulas and acupuncture point prescriptions, even for issues not related to your menses! We LOVE when our patients show a pioneering spirit, and take detailed notes on the color, thickness, quantity, and flow of their blood. It helps us craft the best possible treatment protocol to address your unique health needs. Before rinsing your sponge out in the sink, take a moment to ruminate on the nature of your flow, scribbling a few notes before sending it off in a proper Viking funeral down the drain. No pen and paper handy in that urinal? You can use ‘My Moontime Period Tracker’, my favorite cycle-tracking app that allows you to imbue your ebb and flow with sacred sorcery by teaching you how to interpret your cycle signals, take hold of your fertility, and tether your magic to the flow of the moon. Fertilize Your Garden Menstrual blood is ripe with the fecund seeds of sex, growth, and death (a garden’s best friends), and is an amazing source of natural nitrogen. With a little research and a few precautions, it can be added to compost as an alternative to synthetic fertilizer. Combine it with a little bone meal for the most heavy metal garden sludge the Dark Gods could ever muster. I wouldn’t necessarily do this if I was currently in the throes of taking antibiotics, pharmaceuticals, or synthetic hormones, as these compounds could taint the vibe of your organic brew. Add it To Homemade Ink Create a rubicund mirepoix of beetroots, blackberries, and menstrual blood wrung from your sea sponge to make DIY ink, dripping with the hexxxy hue of bloodied rubies. You can reserve this ink for love spells (boring), or use it for graffiti hexes marking agents of the patriarchy with flaming scarlet letters, or create sigils encoding the magic of destruction. “The great mother whom we call Innana gave a gift to woman that is not known among men, and this is the secret of blood. The flow at the dark of the moon, the healing blood of the moon’s birth - to men, this is flux and distemper, bother and pain. They imagine we suffer and consider themselves lucky. We do not disabuse them.In the red tent, the truth is known. In the red tent, where days pass like a gentle stream, as the gift of Innana courses through us, cleansing the body of last month’s death, preparing the body to receive the new month’s life, women give thanks — for repose and restoration, for the knowledge that life comes from between our legs, and that life costs blood.” – Anita Diamant, The Red Tent Vaginal Steaming: DIY Healthcare for Body Autonomy + Reproductive Health Be it by hook, crook, Depo-Provera, or deodorized douche, the all-pervasive monotheistic religious hegemony has spent the last 2000 years convincing women that life sprang from Adam’s Rib, selling us on the lie that the vagina is a bothersome vessel for pain, shame, stench, bewilderment, male pleasure, and vulnerability. Scared silly by the sacred sorcery of the womb, our topsy-turvy culture has tried to stifle its innate ecstatic capabilities, obstructing its shamanic power by handing our health over to doctors, pharmaceutical companies, advertising agencies, corporations, and various trained henchmen of the uninformed patriarchy. Before the culture of the yearly Pap smear, women had a slew of secrets for protecting and enshrining our palaces. We communed with the moon, and tracked our cycle in the ebbs and flows of its shadow. We listened to the language of our sacred secretions, knowing which herbs to take to fight infection, stop bleeding, treat infection, and prevent or promote pregnancy. We tethered our circadian rhythms to ritual, using ecstatic rites to harness the guttural and sacred power of our cycles, evoking power and transformation for both ourselves and our kinfolk. As the sole gatekeepers of ancient medical arcana, we were self-governing gynecologists in our own right. Throwing brevity out the window, I could wax poetic for miles on the suppression of shamanistic ecstasy and the rise of the patriarchal hegemony (if that gets you all weak in the knees, do consult the Oracle Of Terence McKenna, stat), but I’ll let you fall down that rabbit hole on your own accord. Rather than lamenting the loss of the sacred feminine, I’ll offer up my most hallowed rite for celebrating body autonomy, an old school ritual of reclaiming and rejoicing in your womb. Vaginal steaming, known as Chai-Yok in traditional Korean medicine, has been used for centuries to cleanse, strengthen, fortify, and sanctify the Palace of Blood. I use it frequently, to stave off a lifetime of reliance upon institutionalized healthcare and gynecological practices that shut down the body’s innate intelligence. A staple of midwifery and folk medicine in regions as diverse as Asia, Egypt, and South America, V-Steaming is now offered for $40-$120 a pop at MILF-y spas in most metropolitan locales. The perfect anecdote to wily gynecological issues that hover in the periphery, both persnickety and pernicious, steaming brings oxygenation and heat to the womb, dispelling cold and stagnation in the body whilst cleansing, nourishing, and healing the oft-ignored tissues of the reproductive system. Squatting over a steaming cauldron of herbs has benefits both meditative AND medicinal. Practical and primordial, the bewitching vapors bring energy and exaltation to the dark, sibylline corridors of our body and our nature, places where patterns get stuck and troubles tend to stagnate. Steaming is an effective pain reliever that moves blood, aids in tissue repair, strengthens the female sexual organs, ignites sex drive, prevents and heals infection, and reduces inflammation. The ritual itself is a high falutin’ heathen hootenanny, fit for both guttural goddesses and citified gentility alike. If you are curious about how to address urogenital health at home along with your current healthcare regime, steaming could inject a hearty dose of joie de vivre into your Blood Palace and aid in the following conditions: • Infertility • Postpartum Health • Uterine Fibroids • PMS • Menstrual Cramps • Irregular Menstruation (long, short, or absent monthly menses) • Blood Clots (or dark, brown, scanty blood during menses) • Pain During Intercourse • Uterine/Bladder Weakness and Prolapse • Miscarriage • Ovarian Cysts • PCOS • Constipation • Vaginal Dryness • Endometriosis • Hemorrhoids • Bladder and Yeast Infections • Ingrown hairs on the bikini line • Scarring and adhesion from childbirth, hysterectomies, and laparoscopies • Sensation of cold in the abdomen • Sexual Trauma Though gentle and painless, steaming should be avoided if you are pregnant (or after ovulation if you are currently engaged in conceiving), bleeding heavily, use an IUD, have an acute infection (systemic or local), or have vaginal sores, blisters, or open wounds. If your current state of health &amp; robustness is ever in question, DO consult with a suitable health care purveyor before engaging in any shenanigans. Body awareness is tantamount to body autonomy, so always be mindful and well informed. Keeping with the times, I must incant the following mantra, making it loud and clear to the powers that be that everything I offer here is for educational purposes only: This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Consult a qualified health care professional if you think you may have a medical condition. The benefit to steaming at home outside of the confines of a bougie spa, is that you can get down &amp; dirty with the purely ritualistic aspect of cleansing your nethers atop a makeshift throne of chairs and blankets. Liberated from an infinite loop of stodgy spa jamz, you can undulate to black metal or Brian Eno, and shake, scream, chant, trance, and seidr to your little heart’s content. You can anoint yourself as Priestess of the Blood Palace, and consecrate your sex organs through a shamanic journey into your own womb. Use the steam to track sensation in your nebulous sexual matter. What arrows and wounds can you remove and heal? What would you like to plant in your sanguine shrine to gestate and grow? V-Steaming nearly BEGS you to invoke your favorite fertility goddess. Perhaps honor Coatlicue, the Aztec goddess who gave birth to the moon and stars. You can give birth to your own moon and stars, dissolving into primordial nothingness and re-constellating inside a Cosmic Egg containing the raw DNA of your new, intentional universe. Sitting regal atop your throne, you can chose to worship your womb and release old trauma, imagining the steam is the magic milk of the goddess Isis, imparting divinity and healing like it did for the witch cults of ancient Egypt. Perhaps invoke the priestess physician Sekhmet in a purification rite to drive out and destroy malignant forces. Or, adorn yourself in feathers fit for shamanic flight, retrieving information from the netherworlds about a womb-related health quandary that you long to address. Maybe you’d like to turn this into a protective rite, to ensure that various institutional ignoramuses keep their grubby paws off of your vagina (here’s lookin’ at you, SCOTUS!), and stop treating your body as the property of their dubious enterprises. The possibilities are as infinite as your own sense of adventure. In my experience, ‘magic is effective together with medicine, medicine is effective together with magic.’ That’s real talk pulled straight from an ancient Egyptian papyrus on healing, a culture revered for their sophisticated, efficacious, and nuanced medical care. Whatever you fancy for your nethers, throw in a flourish of intention and will, deepening the medicine by allowing the steam to impregnate you with the seeds of your desired self. Herbal Allies Traditionally, herbs were chosen by village folk healers and midwives based on their magical and medicinal properties, taking into account what was in season and the specific needs of their patient. The basic recipe calls for 1 cup of dried herbs to 8 cups of purified water, and if you fancy a forage, do make sure the herbs haven’t been sprayed with any god-awful malarkey. In my practice, I specifically tailor my herbal formula to what condition I am working with (pregnancy? cramping? pain?), adding my mojo to a base of mostly Mugwort and Wormwood. My favorite recipe includes equal parts of the following constituents: Mugwort: Sacred to both Hecate, patroness of herbalists and midwives, and Artemis, the moon huntress who presides over women in labor, Mugwort is a uterine stimulant that can restore a woman’s natural moon cycle with a wave of her weedy wand. Bar none for regulating the menses, she simultaneously eases menstrual bleeding in cases of excessive blood loss, whilst stimulating menstrual discharge in cases of scanty flow and amenorrhea. A natural antibiotic &amp; antifungal, Mugwort protects the uterus from ulcers and tumors, eases painful menstruation, prevents miscarriage, and expels cold and stagnation from the womb. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, we light bundles of dried Mugwort over acupuncture points to expel cold and warm the meridians, healing a myriad of conditions by leading to a smoother flow of blood and qi. Wormwood: Antifungal and antibacterial, this cherished herb of Poets and Priestesses alike rids the body of toxins, cools the blood, heals wounds, relieves spasms, and strengthens sexual desire. Rosemary: A tonic, astringent, diaphoretic, and stimulant, Rosemary increases circulation to the reproductive organs, relaxes nerves, eases muscular pain, stimulates the immune system, purifies the reproductive tract, and prevents infection. Lavender: Known as the Swiss Army Knife of Herbs, Lavender cools inflammation, is antiseptic, aromatic, and antispasmodic, and particularly shines for chronic infections, relieving muscle spasms &amp; cramping, regenerating cells, preventing scarring, and lifting the spirits. Rose Petals: Sacred to Aphrodite, this female tonic is an anti-inflammatory and aphrodisiac. Cooling, gentle and astringent to the tissues of the genitals, Rose increases menstruation, heals skin, balances hormones, and calms tension. Marshmallow Root: Not necessary for all V-steamers, but excellent to sprinkle in if you’re having a bout of vaginal dryness. Marshmallow relieves irritation by coating skin surfaces, and is a gem for those that experience a sensation of ‘rawness’ in the nethers, or burning with urination. Supplies 1 cup of dried herbs, or 1 quart of fresh herbs. Though I love the dickens outta them, essential oils should NOT be used for steaming, as they could easily irritate sensitive genital tissues. 8 cups of purified water, boiled. Large pot with lid, suitable to hold your steaming herbal brew. A crockpot is excellent to transfer your boiling water into, as it retains heat for longer periods of time. Two wooden chairs that you will balance your sweet cheeks betwixt. For routine steaming, you can cajole a carpenter friend with a scroll saw into making you a special steaming chair, with a hollowed out center for the steam to rise through. Or, if you’re a fancy pants, you can invest in a right &amp; proper U-shaped medical chair, like this hot little number from Amazon. Blankets to ensconce yourself in once seated. Warm clothes to cover your neck and feet. These ensure that the healing ringlets of heat get trapped deep within the body, where they can work their magic and mojo. Suitable ritual adornments for your magical fête. A nearby bed to retire to après steaming. When To Steam Most women will benefit from a hearty steam 1-5 days before their period arrives. For those looking to enhance fertility, I love these V-Steam guidelines from the CNY Fertility Center: 1. If you are in a natural cycle, steam once within a few days after your period, and then once just before ovulation but before intercourse. 2. If you are taking Clomid, steam once when you first start your Clomid medication, and then once just before ovulation but before intercourse/IUI. A side effect of Clomid may be a decrease in cervical mucous. The steam will help increase this mucous. 3. If you are doing an injectable IUI cycle, steam once when you first begin your stimulation drugs, and then once in the morning before your IUI procedure. Steaming before your IUI procedure helps to liquefy the cervical mucous and creates a lubricated path for the insertion of the catheter through the cervix. 4. If you are doing an IVF cycle, steam once when you first begin your stimulation drugs, and then once in the morning before your transfer. Steaming before your transfer procedure helps to create a lubricated path for the insertion of the catheter through the cervix. 5. If you are doing a donor egg cycle, steam once while your donor is stimulating and then once in the morning before your transfer. How To Steam 1. Arrange your steam shrine in a quiet place where you can get down and dirty. Suit up in your ritual garb (keeping your neck and feet covered), being sure to remain pantsless or sans-culottes, as they say in France. Create your throne by placing two wooden chairs far enough apart for the gentle tendrils of steam to penetrate your nethers, with a nice spot between them to place your bowl of herbs (you may want to use a placemat if you have dainty hardwood floors). If you’re using a crockpot, plug it in now so that it’s nice and toasty when it’s time to pour your brew. Kick up the jams, consecrate your herbs with your intention, and work your magic and mojo. 2. Drape a warm blanket over your chair, so that you don’t have to fuss about once it’s time to steam. 3. Place your purified water and herbs in a covered pot, and bring to a soft, rolling boil for roughly 5 minutes. This is a stellar time for incantations, or a cathartic Bacchanalian dance party. 4. Turn off the heat, and steep your brew for another five minutes with the lid on. You can wrap the pot in a dishtowel to further hold in the heat if you so desire. When ready, place it next to your steam shrine. 5. Pour half of the water into your bowl or crockpot, waving your hand about 10 inches over the water to ensure the steam is not hot enough to burn your precious parts. 6. Finally, sit atop your throne, tilting your pelvis and posture for maximum steam action. This requires some show-ponying around, and will be different for every pelvis. Ensconce your low body in the blanket, making sure no steam is escaping through the pesky crevasses. Should the steam be too much for you, you can control the temperature by venting the blanket as you so desire. This should be pleasantly intense, but not painful or burn-y in the slightest. Be very mindful, especially if you’re in an altered state or meditative trance. 7. Allow yourself to stew in the vexing vapors for about 10-12 minutes, or until the heat wanes to tepid and/or ho-hum. 8. Dispose of your wan waters, and replenish with the remaining herbal infusion from the stewing pot. If need be, reheat the brew until steaming. Then, be a dear and repeat steps 5-7. 9. Retire to the bedchamber, and seal the rite under a pile of warm blankets, relaxing and rejoicing in your resilient, rejuvenated womb. 10. Be mindful of your vagina in the days and weeks to come, being sure to check in with the state of affairs hither and thither. You should expect changes in your vaginal discharge and menstruation, signaling that cleansing and healing is transpiring. Many women won’t blink an eye at the ritual of a monthly wax, but rarely ever invest in their vaginas outside of a vajazzle or a finessing. Seeing as our reproductive rights and body autonomy are under savage attack on nearly all fronts these days, it is more important now than ever that we reacquaint ourselves with our biology, and reclaim our unalienable health by shifting to a paradigm of self-care. Your reproductive health is your birthright, learn to lasso it’s capricious curves! 血 https://botanarchy.cargo.site/07 Wed, 08 Apr 2020 19:37:10 +0000 The Botanarchy Journal https://botanarchy.cargo.site/07 <img width="600" height="627" width_o="600" height_o="627" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d6d29cfb770f42655715855fe0364393a517f35b760488b2fa950186d3307408/48782059713_1e899bbe0c_o.jpg" data-mid="66213967" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/d6d29cfb770f42655715855fe0364393a517f35b760488b2fa950186d3307408/48782059713_1e899bbe0c_o.jpg" /><img width="600" height="603" width_o="600" height_o="603" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/85dffa2bb88d990a2a075f06cc8cd6b01e95edc14b85fad1a8c85a109d1497ab/48782059668_b8a72a5b0f_o.jpg" data-mid="66213996" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/85dffa2bb88d990a2a075f06cc8cd6b01e95edc14b85fad1a8c85a109d1497ab/48782059668_b8a72a5b0f_o.jpg" />1/2 Japanese Tsuba by Georg Oeder, 1916 Jing 精 “Nature is not our enemy, to be raped and conquered. Nature is ourselves, to be cherished and explored.” – Terence McKenna How To Become a Mushroom Forager I often get asked how I got into the business of traipsing through the underbrush and scavenging in the sediment. Did I get all learned up in fancy college? How do I keep from dying valiantly by the miasmal dagger of a rogue toadstool? How can one discern the Shitakes from the shinola? Here’s a guide for the slapdash forager, the swarthy swashbucklers after my own heart, armed with nothing but a rusty pocketknife, mud-soaked boots, and the gallant heart of a hunter. 1. Frolic in the forest. Hone your mushroom mind. This is a sublime state of mushroom gnosis, where the detritus comes alive with crowning caps, and the lichen lean in to whisper sweet nuthin’s in your ear. Never forget that you are a hunter-gatherer. You have a second sight that comes alive when beckoned, enabling you to spot your prey in the vast sprawl of primeval morass. We have to process a staggering mess of stimuli these days, dulling our best senses and thwarting spontaneous shamanic illumination at every twist and turn. Visualize the mushroom, and let it guide you where it will. Suddenly you will slip into a state both lucid and liminal, a primal summoning of your nomadic lust. This is the quintessence of foraging. I swoon at the very thought of it. 2. Research your feculent fortune. Because you aren’t a super-sentient forest crone living in a hollowed out toadstool conversing with the deer &amp; the dryads, you have no idea what you just dug up. After your hunting spree in the witchwood, you’ll want to take your precious toadstools home and identify them like a bona fide mycophile. Bust out the bifocals. Make a spore print, if you wanna show pony around. Check your specimens against your guidebooks, or use the vast swamp of myco-porn on the Internet. Become CONSUMED by minutia- it’s the only thing that will keep you topside of the soil. Here’s a smattering of my favorite resources for the budding forager: The Fifth Kingdom: The crème de la crème of mycological textbooks. Wood Decay Fungi: Keys, photographs, and descriptions of macroscopic fungi utilizing wood as a substrate in&nbsp;the Northeast United States. MushroomExpert.com: Featuring my most favorite mushrooming tool, “What’s This Thing In My Yard?” MykoWeb: The main attraction at MykoWeb is The Fungi of California. It contains photographs over 600 species of mushrooms and other fungi found in California, with over 480 of the species with descriptions. There are currently over 5400 total photographs of the mushrooms. Included are links to other online descriptions, and photos of the species treated plus references to common field guides. Hubba hubba! 3. Join your local Mycological Society. Mycological Societies hold local forays, invite guest lecturers, provide cookies, and typically have a handful of resident nut job mycologists who are just chomping at the bit to help you classify your mushrooms. Bring in your haul! High five your brethren! Best of all, you will enjoy the company of sympathetic folk who know their way around an artfully-placed mycological pun, and swoon at the curves of a bodacious Bolete. Find your local chapter online at the North American Mycological Association. 4. Get learned up on your trees. Fungi and their arboreal blood brothers are inextricably linked in labyrinths of mycorrhizal matrimony. Morels love Ash, Amanitas love Aspen, and so goes the symbiotic Saturnalia of the forest floor. Knowing which fungi are sweet on which trees can often be the key to identifying ambiguous mushroom mysterions. Mushroom Expert has a fabulous catalogue of North American trees with their frequently associated mushroom kinfolk. 5. Amass your library. You simply must invest in the following tomes, of biblical importance in my homestead: Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora All that the Rain Promises and More: A Hip Pocket Guide to Western Mushrooms by David Arora The Complete Mushroom Hunter: An Illustrated Guide to Finding, Harvesting, and Enjoying Wild Mushrooms by Gary Lincoff 6. Go to mushroom camp. SOMA Wild Mushroom Camp is held every January by the Sonoma County Mycological Association in the redwood-studded wilds of Occidental, California. It’s three days of woodland reverie, featuring forays, mushroom cuisine, and workshops on mushroom identification, cooking, dyeing, paper-making, medicine-making, photography, cultivation, and more. As my love of mushrooms approaches religious ferocity, this was just about the quintessence of happiness for me. We ate homemade mushroom chocolates, and traipsed through the fandangled forest like Hansel and Gretel, with overflowing baskets and the folksy wisdom of our fearless leader, Gary Lincoff&nbsp; (he was that year’s guest speaker). Before the foray, I chastised my boyfriend for his behemoth basket with a cool “let’s not get cocky here, kid.” Much to my surprise, we filled the entire basket, and were chastising ourselves for our paltry accoutrements (we are from the parched mushroom wasteland of Los Angeles, after all). By the end of the foray, I had of reams of Russulas and heaps of Amanitas shoved down my cleavage, and was bartering mushroom real estate with my fellow frolickers. We ate wild mushroom pizza for WEEKS. Then we went back to camp, identified our burly bounty, ate a wild boar, drank some homemade wine, met some folks changing the world with emergent mushroom technology, and listened to Lincoff wax poetic late into the eve on foraging psychotropic mushrooms. 7. Mushroam with Daniel Winkler. The Indiana Jones of wild Cordyceps, Daniel Winkler leads medicinal mushroom forays into Tibet and the Bolivian Amazon, as well as the glamorous hinterlands of the Pacific Northwest. Altogether badass, his field guides to edible mushrooms are also top-notch, and he’s doing wonders for rural communities whose economies are based on mushroom-medicine. 8. Don’t be a hero. The mushroom spirit is a capricious mistress who eats chumps like us for breakfast. Mushrooms, by their very nature, are destroyers. Therein lies their mystery and moxie. There are plentiful reasons they have the nom de guerres ‘Destroying Angel’ and ‘Death Cap’…they allow us to walk between worlds, yet they often slam the door behind them. There is nothing glamorous about sacrificing children whilst being ravaged by Satan in a robust bout of Amanita psychosis (well, maybe there is…but it ain’t worth the gamble when you get right down to it), or having your liver decompose in mere hours in a necromantic tango with the Deadly Galerina. Every year she claims new souls, and even the most reverent and skilled are not above her diabolical law. Experts die at the behest of these sorcerous specters every year - do be a dearheart, and DON’T BECOME ONE OF THEM. 9. Semper Fi! I have a knife and a field guide on me at all times (an Opinel and The Field Guide to Edible Mushrooms of California, should you ask). You never know what sort of illuminated treasures lie in wait within the cracks and crevasses of urban decay. You have promised your heart to the wildwood now, and must always be prepared for her succulent surprises. On Ladybug Sex Whilst wading waist-high in the Tule River this past weekend, knee deep in a pilgrimage of ancient longings and primitive passions, I lost myself in an accidental ritual to the Hamadryads. Trudging upstream with my best gal by my side and a heart full of oakmoss &amp; pine resin, we clamored up rocks on paths that winter shut down months ago. Hiking with wild visions of my love and I exploding in arboreal awesomeness, the forest suddenly spasmed alive into a hallucinatory vortex of beating wings. &nbsp;Lickety-split, I was ensconced in orgies of ladybugs, consecrating every inch of the forest floor whilst making a boudoir of my face. They dripped from every branch and clung to every leaf in concupiscent splendor, copulating, humming, in a resplendent chorus of &nbsp;“Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes!”, consummating every prayer ever invoked to panoplies of Gods both alive and dead. <img width="540" height="554" width_o="540" height_o="554" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/464733ff61922d7ffdb858d136d082a38504acc9c5f18a827db8799541d99942/Botanarchy.jpeg" data-mid="66220489" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/540/i/464733ff61922d7ffdb858d136d082a38504acc9c5f18a827db8799541d99942/Botanarchy.jpeg" /> With an indolent salute to lackadaisical repose, Ladybugs engage in Diapause - the insect version of hibernation - for up to nine months at a time. Like Victorian ladies-in-wait, they dream away the wintry months, conserving their resources to boost reproduction once the temperature warms to a sultry 55 degrees. The insect equivalent of the ‘disco nap’, this intrepid bout of Qi cultivation serves to facilitate epic balling. Cause once Ladybug sexytime commences, it’s a full dance card of four-hour tantric orgies and major STD’s. Seriously though. If both the male and the female have not mated recently, they will sex it up for about 275 minutes. If their libidinous desires have recently been quenched, they’ll have a paltry 176-minute rendezvous. The male grips the female from behind and holds on tight, conjoined in ecstatic confluence for their entire tete-a-tete. Ladybugs are uber promiscuous (not slut-shaming, just stating facts here), and have ponderous amounts of exotic STD’s infecting 90% of some populations (more STD’s than any other insect BY FAR). Epically, enviously, licentious, they have no shame…they will mate on your hands, your face, discarded boughs of White Pine, ashen logs of lichen and rot, piles of fecund dead foliage, graves of dirt and fruiting fungal bodies (lucky them). Female Ladybugs can store a male’s sperm for 2-3 months, swathing the heavenly elixir in their loins until Aphids blow in on the breeze, and egg-laying time is nigh. It’s enough to make me collapse in a swoon, and be left for dead on the forest floor for the remainder of my days. A Botanarchy Rite Of Rewilding “I am afraid of cities. But you musn’t leave them. If you go too far, you come up against the vegetation belt. Vegetation has crawled for miles toward the cities. It is waiting. Once the city is dead, the vegetation will cover it, will climb over the stones, grip them, search them, make them burst with its long black pincers; it will blind the holes and let its green paws hang over everything.” -Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea Botanarchy as a concept marks the end of the repression and exploitation of natural and human resources at the hands of hierarchical structures, patriarchal paradigms, and opportunistic, parasitic industry. It is the crack in the concrete where the Dandelion crawls through, the stone wall of the cathedral choked in moss, the anima mundi of Swamp Thing. It is the reckoning of vegetative consciousness, of emancipated, green chaos dancing upon the ruins of a toppled society. Botanarchists are agents of rewilding, the biological conservation movement based on re-introducing predatory, carnivorous species back into the wilderness to restore and protect the environment. An homage to the cabalistic power of plants, Botanarchists bow down before their profound provocations of healing and gnosis. The work we engage in is the marriage of traditional witchcraft, folk medicine, and anarcha-feminist collectives from the 1960’s and 1970’s. The purpose of Botanarchy is to support the liberation of the oppressed - those enslaved by autocratic structures that do not value their personhood, any structure that exploits people and the planet for profit - and bring about changes that allow ALL sentient beings to live and thrive. The core of my work is based on Ecofeminist theory, and advocates replacing despotic power systems with a feminized, earth-based system valuing collectivity and connectivity. It hearkens to what Terrence McKenna deemed ’the archaic revival.’ It acknowledges a relationship between patriarchal oppression and the destruction of nature in the name of progress and profit, and looks towards how we can counter the violence inherent in these processes. “It’s clearly a crisis of two things: of consciousness and conditioning. We have the technological power, the engineering skills to save our planet, to cure disease, to feed the hungry, to end war; But we lack the intellectual vision, the ability to change our minds. We must decondition ourselves from 10,000 years of bad behavior. And, it’s not easy.” – Terence McKenna I offer up this ritual as a tool for self-sovereignty and empowerment, as an exploration of earth-based consciousness, or a magical weapon to target structures destroying human liberty and the planet. It has been performed on a number of occasions with much aplomb, to target the military-industrial complex, corporate plutocracy, rampant consumerism, the prison-industrial complex, destructive industry, and big pharma. Statement of Intent It is our will to liberate the natural world from its parasitic relationship with destructive technology by invoking Botanarchy, and unleash it as a predatory species to re-wild the ecosystem and reinstate the reign of earth-based consciousness. Materials Soundtrack: Phillip Glass’ Koyaanisqatsi. This is the score to Glass’ film of the same name, a rumination on the Hopi concept of ‘Life Out of Balance’ or ‘Life Disintegrating.’ Koyaanisqatsi is also the mantra of Botanarchy. It is the battle cry of the forest, alluding to three Hopi prophecies harkening to the destruction and disintegration of the natural world at the behest of ‘progress.’ It calls upon the need for a reckoning to bring balance back to the earth in the wake of the wreckage. The tracks ‘Prophecies’ and ‘Koyaanisqatsi’ work exceptionally well back to back for the duration of the rite, followed by a ribald dance party to Blue Oyster Cult’s ‘Dancin’ In The Ruins.’ Supplies: Foraged plant material &amp; forest debris used to restrain, choke, batter, whip, assault, and beat parasitic industry into submission. An expedition of Botanarchists can be dispatched prior to the rite to collect vines, cactus paddles, leaf whips, switches, bark, and dirt for this purpose. Procedure The ritual should be performed in the evening, in a temple in the Witchwood. It is also entirely suitable to perform this in public, or in a gussied-up living room of your choice. Invocants will arrange themselves into two separate camps: Those who will invoke unrestrained industrialization, and those who will invoke Botanarchy. Industrialists will begin naked, standing, in the center of the temple. Botanarchists will begin nude, on their knees, in the periphery, armed with their arsenal of vegetation. A Priestess of Botanarchy will fumigate the temple with Incense and cue Phillip Glass’ Koyaanisqatsi. Industrialists will invoke the oppressive sprawl of noxious industry, summoning it forth in spews of caustic aggression. If they choose to, Industrialists can invoke a particular archetype, godform, or agent of industry that resonates with them personally, representing the unfettered dominance of patriarchal hegemony. They many choose to invoke a structure they want to see destroyed, i.e. a coal plant, Monsanto, the Northwest Pipeline, etc. In the vegetation belt, Botanarchists will invoke Botanarchy, crawling, twining, and sprouting forth vegetative consciousness. They can chant the mantra Koyaanisqatsi (‘Life Disintegrating’) silently or lightly, if the spirit moves them. As the industrial tumult boils to a crescendo, Botanarchists will crawl towards the city armed with their pincers, vines, paddles, switches, and stumps. The plants will strip, restrain, batter, whip and overtake Industrialists with their vegetative weapons. Botanarchists should whip the Industrialists into submission, silencing them with any and everything at their disposal. Chanting of Koyaanisqatsi may become audibly louder at this point. Eventually, the Botanarchists will bring the Industrialists to their knees, enshrining them in plant matter. With the city now in dust, Botanarchists entwine themselves over the wreckage, covering it with their mossy debris. All will chant Koyaanisqatsi along with the score until the temple falls silent. Banish with an ecstatic naked dance party to Blue Oyster Cult’s ‘Dancin’ In The Ruins’. _______ Remember, magic is a weapon. It is the end of complacency, a vector of will shooting in an infinite trajectory toward what you envision. It is a skillful adjunct to radical activism, a hand-forged sword to brandish in the face of oppression along with its bedfellows collectivity, education, and mobilization. Use it well. “The witch has been created by the land to speak and act for it.” -Peter Grey, Apocalyptic Witchcraft 精 https://botanarchy.cargo.site/08 Wed, 08 Apr 2020 21:13:02 +0000 The Botanarchy Journal https://botanarchy.cargo.site/08 <img width="600" height="613" width_o="600" height_o="613" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/adbd4462227c65d3ed5a9947ab2fe9b886566ec9ed29580b8c4cb1208e706ab8/48782420606_6697ed5893_o.jpg" data-mid="66221447" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/adbd4462227c65d3ed5a9947ab2fe9b886566ec9ed29580b8c4cb1208e706ab8/48782420606_6697ed5893_o.jpg" /> <img width="600" height="599" src="//freight.cargo.site/w/450/i/c6861815dfb159885bb534952a52ae3ddffcd6a2a5aa15b09165b424cdcab8e3/48782059133_0192b71d6e_o.jpg" data-src="//freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c6861815dfb159885bb534952a52ae3ddffcd6a2a5aa15b09165b424cdcab8e3/48782059133_0192b71d6e_o.jpg"> Japanese Tsuba by Georg Oeder, 1916 Qi&nbsp;氣 "Before the world was, before the multitude of things, the primordial universe was a vast undifferentiated ocean of potential - a boundless 'no thing' known as wuji. This eternal cosmos, the origin of all events, beings, and things, is infused with a subtle, pervasive invisible resource - Qi. Deep within this endless, seamless pool of no actualities and infinite possibilities stirrs an impulse, which excoted the 'no thing' to differentiate and become 'something'. Suddenly light emerged in contrast to darkness. Emptiness and material were born and permeated with the ever-present Qi. First, in its becoming there were cosmic gases, stars, and planets. Much, much later came the living beings. Even now the stars, the planets, the elements, the plants, the creatures, and outselves; all of these move within and are penetrated and influenced by that original field of Qi. Qi is what causes the planets to maintain their orbits around the sun. It is the Qi that causes each snowflake to be unique and the Qi that shifts the moon phases and the tides. Qi sustains our health and the Qi is the force behind intelligence and emotions. Qi is the vitalith that causes the evolution of a tiny embryo of dividing cells to mature into the full-size human. The longing of the Qi of the earth to reach up and merge with the Qi of heaven drives a small sprout out of the seed - upward in spite of the force of gravity to become a great tree. Qi is known from the expressions that it embodies: the process of healing, the creativity that generates poetry and art, the transformation of tadpoles into frogs and caterpillars into butterflies. Qi is life force, energy, and consciousness - it is the essence behind all effects, influences, and events as well as elements, materials, and objects." - Chang Yi Hsiang A Paen To Penicillin: An Antibiotics User Guide It feels dirty and debaucherous publicly admitting that as a holistic health practitioner, I took the devil’s juice, I sipped the nectar of the underworld, I drew a pentagram in the crossroads and traded my corporeal soul and $25 dollars at CVS with Old Bones Jones for a chance at beating tonsillitis and decimating my microbiome. I hadn’t needed antibiotics for years, but when I returned from an international flight late last year with a lymph node swollen to the size of golfball and a fever of 102, I did not have the luxury of treating this diligently on my own in a time frame that worked with my bonkers schedule. I needed to jump back into the saddle pronto because I have a lot of people that depend on me, as do you, likely. We are mothers and creators and radicals and care takers and tenders. There is no rest for the wicked. One of the most frequently asked questions in my practice is “should I go on antibiotics?” While the answer is highly individualized, and most of us acupuncturists have a slew of herbal warriors with the potency and panache to kick most pathogens to the curb, herbs are not always the most elegant solution. I take the time with each of my patients to talk about their options and how to gracefully navigate each choice. After all the cards are all on the table, I let them decide, shame free and without remorse. Because that is how medicine is practiced in a feminist model of choice and autonomy. En masse, there are steps you can take to make either choice empowering, and walk away from the whole experience feeling lusty, potent, and virile. Step one is consider waiting. If you are not in any clear and present danger, and you are under the tutelage of an esteemed herbalist or functional doctor, this is a solid approach. As my patients often remind me, beating your first infection with herbs and food is an initiation. You learn that everything you were ever taught about your body is wrong, that you are filled with adamantine strength and protean prowess if given the right tools and conditions. This approach forces you to be tender, scale back, and feel what it's like to nurture yourself back to life. You might have to de-escalate your schedule. Phew! What a relief! Or maybe your worst nightmare. But once you succeed in your pursuit of the plague, you have tools in your back pocket for any time that ol’ pestilence comes a’knocking at your door. Sometimes you take the herbs and do the sleep and kick the stress, and you STILL get sicker. Step two is don’t fear the reaper. Those of us that have eschewed a life of Big Pharma get VERY riled up at the thought of taking antibiotics. Is it a betrayal of our values? Is it lazy, irresponsible, avoidant? AM I UNDOING 10 YEARS OF SEEDING MY GUT WITH KOMBUCHA, ARTISANAL SAUERKRAUT, AND AFFIRMATIONS THAT I RADIATE HEALTH FROM THE INSIDE OUT? Taking pharmaceuticals is NOT giving up your power and conceding to the military-industrial complex. You are not a shill of big pharma, you are not a horsewoman of the apocalypse, you are not complicit in the mass destruction of all beneficial microbial life, and, most importantly, you are not a butterfly. You are an almighty warrior priestess whose microbiome is an iron-clad vault of perpetual poetry in motion. Your microbiome is constantly evolving, and if you are not using antibiotics on the regular, it will adapt. The number one factor that determines what microbes live in your gut (and which ones die off) is your daily diet. Make a point to eat a low sugar diet free of unprocessed foods and seed your gut with prebiotics from fibrous greens. Drink a little bone broth, why dontcha! And of course, take probiotics along with your meds (albeit at least two hours apart from them), and keep taking probiotics for a minimum of 6 months (though truly we should be taking them all the time). I like two weeks of a very herculean CFU probie like Designs For Health ProbioMed 250, followed by my standard probiotic, Megasporebiotic from Microbiome Labs. If you are prone to yeast infections, you might want to do probiotic suppositories while you are downing your antibiotics. If you are concerned about the impact of antibiotics on your liver, you can take Antronex from Standard Process at 1 3xday during your course, continuing for a few weeks after. It also helps manage the dreaded ‘die-off effect’ that can happen with antibiotics like Amoxicillin. Step three is don’t shame yourself for not being strong enough to fight the infection by non-pharmaceutical means. Shame is the enemy of health! It’s a tool of the oppressors! Shame keeps us trapped and small and holds us back from evolving and growing. I will never shame you! You did what you had to do. We are all just trying to survive. I love you. Qi Finessing:&nbsp; Chinese Herbal Bone Broth Never does a week go by in our household where the scraps of our epicurean labors aren’t heaped in a giant enamelware pot and stewed for hours while we mill about the house. We’re fanatical about our bone-collecting, surreptitiously slipping chicken carcasses into napkins under the table, asking waiters to box up our goat bones after indulging in a hearty pot of Birria De Chivo Goat Stew. The result of our rampant scrap-mongering is a rich, profoundly nourishing bone broth, imbued with golden melted life-force, exceedingly nourishing to the illustrious Three Treasures of Chinese Medicine: Jing, our Essence, the source of life, the basis for all growth, development, and sexuality. Qi, our energy, giving us the ability to activate and move our bodies, whilst protecting us against external and internal pathogenic factors. Shen, our inner light, the vitality behind Jing and Qi, the mental and spiritual force that shapes our personality and spirit. Bone Broth- or ‘stock’, depending our your particular cultural milieu- is a pan-cultural old world panacea, utilitarian kitchen alchemy transforming vegetable scraps and bones into pure nutritional gold. Heaps of vegetables, herbs, and leftover bones are pragmatically piled in a pot, and left to simmer slowly for long periods of time, extracting every morsel of function and flavor. The resulting infusion is a gently potent brew, teeming with trenchant, bio-available nutrition, easy to digest and suitable for all matter of medicine, both preventative AND curative. A complex, rich mosaic of variegated flavors, it is also an opulent addition to stews, soups, sauces, poaching liquid, grains, beans, and porridge, transforming blasé cooking water into a savory swill. It nourishes our tendons, ligaments, skin, bones, and blood, keeping us limber and spry, with an assassin-worthy immune system. As a grounding force in our otherwise hypersonic, twenty-first century lives, it forces us to spend a few hours a week at home, tending to our hearth fire. If I seem a little in love with it, it’s because I am. I get to melt bones in a giant pot, like a surly wizard necromancer. Many moons ago, before I was religious about my bone broth, I was stricken by a persnickety set of symptoms that left me vacillating between a sprightly 20-something yoga athlete and a knobby, decrepit old crone. One day, I would be handstanding like nobody’s business, and the next day, I could barely touch my toes, plagued with spells of tightness, pain, and numbness, accompanied by bouts of sleep seizures that made me feel ancient, neurotic, and utterly powerless. After getting diagnosed with a vague autoimmune disease, delivered with a despondent, helpless send-off from the Western Medical Hegemony, my homegrown recovery was rooted in cutting out all inflammatory foods (gluten, sugar, ungainly processed rubbish), and going the way of old man Hippocrates by using food as my medicine. Through Traditional Chinese Medicine and the wisdom of thee Weston A. Price Foundation, I discovered the ancient magic of bone broth, and have never looked back. Years later, I am symptom free (though on occasion, I go to town on Chocolate Stout and homemade bread), and enjoying all sorts of bendy melee on the regular. And really, despite seeing tons of under-the-weather patients daily, have developed a super-human resistance to colds and flu. I make my cauldron of bone broth weekly, and drink a cup a day, increasing in times of debauchery, disorder, or debilitation. I suggest this to everyone that walks through my door, as I’ve seen countless miracles in managing all matter of chronic disease. If broth seems too good to be true, it’s because it is. Our leery, infirmed culture has taught us to be inherently disdainful of anything that seems ‘too good to be true’, a silly idiom I’ve always despised for shading the world in a Saturnine hue, thwarting the everyday magic of simple things, and propagating the ‘snake-oil’ mythos that impedes the advancement of traditional medicines. I much prefer the wisdom of wise old Yeats, who knew that “The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” Why is bone broth so beautiful? The venerable Dr. Mercola of The Mercola Institute drops some science: Helps heal and seal your gut, and promotes healthy digestion: The gelatin found in bone broth is a hydrophilic colloid. It attracts and holds liquids, including digestive juices, thereby supporting proper digestion. Inhibits infection caused by cold and flu viruses: A study published over a decade ago found that chicken soup indeed has medicinal qualities, significantly mitigating infection. Reduces joint pain and inflammation, courtesy of chondroitin sulphates, glucosamine, and other compounds extracted from the boiled down cartilage. (Aside: glucosamine and chondroitin are usually sold over the counter as fancy supplements for arthritis). Fights inflammation: Amino acids such as glycine, proline, and arginine all have anti-inflammatory effects. Arginine, for example, has been found to be particularly beneficial for the treatment of sepsis (whole-body inflammation). Glycine also has calming effects, which may help you sleep better. Promotes strong, healthy bones: As mentioned above, bone broth contains high amounts of calcium, magnesium, and other nutrients that play an important role in healthy bone formation. Promotes healthy hair and nail growth, thanks to the ample gelatin in the broth. What You’ll Need Large Stainless Steel Stock Pot or Crock Pot Roughly two pounds of organic chicken, beef, lamb, or fish bones, procured from a local butcher, or culled from recent feastings and stored in the freezer until needed. If you plan on making a habit out of your stock making shenanigans (which you should!), I suggest finding a sympathetic meat peddler to bro-down with in your hood. You can peruse sustainably raised local livestock on Local Harvest, or check out the CrossFit gyms in your area, as many CSA’s are starting to offer gym delivery. &nbsp; ¼ cup vinegar: Of paramount importance, for extracting the minerals from the bones into your broth. A Mirepoix, consisting of 1 coarsely chopped onion, 2 carrots, and 2 sticks of celery. Other coarsely chopped vegetables and assorted kitchen detritus: Perhaps the most admiral facet of broth is its commonsensical use of otherwise discarded cooking debris, with a peasant zeal otherwise reserved for Bruce Springsteen. Yellowing parsley, disfigured carrots, celery tops, blood-red chard stalks, onion skins, the graveyard of your heroic juicing efforts, haunted specters from the crisper… they all get their day in the sun. Your ingredients will be subject to the capricious nature of your weekly eating habits, producing a protean olio that is romantically un-reproducible from one week to the next. We keep a jar in the freezer that we fill with our forsaken vegetable fragments just for this purpose. My mainstays for flavor are 1 bunch of parsley, 2 quartered potatoes, a few hearty sprigs of rosemary and thyme from the garden, and a few cloves of garlic. 1 tsp black peppercorns Fresh, cold water I love to add a smidgen of Chinese herbs to my brew, to enhance and direct the healing vectors of my broth. 2-3 ounces of each herb should do the trick, always being intuitive with your needs and working with what you have on hand, like the cunning egalitarian Kitchen Witch that you are. These folks are mainstays in my cabinet, and on any given Sunday, I may sprinkle a smattering of the following into my cauldron: A handful of Dang Shen/Codonopsis Root: To help strengthen the qi, counter mental and physical fatigue, build blood, and nourish body fluids. Perhaps 5-10 slices of Huang Qi/Astragalus Root: To boost the immune system and strengthen qi, ensconcing one in protective energy that helps prevent illness due to external influences. Certainly always a knuckle or so of Sheng Jiang/Fresh Ginger Root: To stoke the digestive fires and stimulate the circulatory system. A pinch of Xi Yang Shen/American Ginseng Root: Boosting gentler Ginseng tendrils than the Chinese or Korean varietals, an admirable addition to combat fatigue and stress, whilst improving athletic and mental performance. Dong Quai/Chinese Angelica Root: The ultimate femme tonic, invaluable for strengthening the blood, nourishing the reproductive organs, regulating menstruation, and alleviating period pain. Shan Yao/Chinese Wild Yam: A lovely anti-inflammatory that tonifies qi, nourishes yin, and strengthens the spleen, lungs, and kidneys, particularly puissant after a long-term illness. A sprinkling of Shan Zhu Yu/Dogwood Fruit: An excellent astringent herb and reproductive tonic that strengthens the liver and kidneys, while securing leakage of vital essence. 6 or so strands of dried Dong Chong Xia Cao/Cordyceps Mushroom: My most favorite herb in the Chinese pharmacopeia, Cordyceps is hailed on the street as the Himalayan Viagra for its revered ability to increase stamina, sex drive, virility, strength, brainpower, athletic prowess &amp; focus. It’s a favorite of Chinese Olympians, so you know it’s top shelf. How To 1. Break your precious bones up into smaller pieces (ideally about 3 inches long), with kitchen scissors or a fun weapon. This will increase the surface area of bone exposed to the water, giving you a higher nutrient yield. 2. If using beef bones, you’ll want to roast your bones until browned at 400 degrees F for roughly 60-90 minutes to add richness. 3. Place the bones in your stockpot or crockpot, along with your vegetables, scraps, peppercorns, and Chinese herbs. Cover with cold water, adding a few fingers for good measure. Add your splash of vinegar and cover with a lid. 4. Slowly bring your stock to a boil, then reduce to low and simmer gently for 6-48 hours (yes, I know 48 hours is a very daunting commitment in our breakneck world). I love to use a crockpot, because you can just pile all your business in, turn on high until boiling, reduce to low, and then promptly forget about it whilst retiring to your bedchamber for the evening. It’s so egalitarian, I can hardly stand it. If using a stockpot, you can use the following guidelines (and your own pending commitments) to gauge cooking time: 6-48 hours for chicken bones, and 12-72 hours for beef and other meats. 5. Give your bone broth the occasional shout-out during simmering, checking to see that there is always a fair amount of water covering your accoutrements. 6. At some point, you will inevitably notice a thick, insalubrious scum rising to the top of your broth. Many folks will trick you into thinking you MUST skim this off routinely, to clarify the product and make a finer tasting brew. To this I say, “ain’t nobody got time for that!” The whole skimming off the top thing is sadly overrated, as testing has shown that this “scum”, while unsightly, contains nothing harmful. If you wanna be fancy, go right ahead. Otherwise, fret not! 7. When you’re ready to call it quits, remove your bones with a slotted spoon, discard, and strain the rest through a colander into a large bowl. If you’re feeling spry, you can strain again through a sieve or cheesecloth to achieve an extra-fancy, clear broth. Chill your luscious potion of collagen and gelatin in the fridge, until the fat congeals and rises to the top. If you want a liquid broth for cooking purposes, you can skim the fat off and store the remaining liquid in the fridge for roundabout a week’s time. However, if you want your broth to drink like a rich toddy of hot buttered rum, I say leave the fat on (we do), and enjoy your broth like molten velvet bone mojo. 氣 https://botanarchy.cargo.site/09 Wed, 08 Apr 2020 21:43:22 +0000 The Botanarchy Journal https://botanarchy.cargo.site/09 <img width="600" height="662" width_o="600" height_o="662" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/11b6cdec6b20b155ec5ce7295af20d8a966ed883eacdf3a641f7aabae28e0bbd/48782058988_5850ddbe30_o.jpg" data-mid="66233069" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/11b6cdec6b20b155ec5ce7295af20d8a966ed883eacdf3a641f7aabae28e0bbd/48782058988_5850ddbe30_o.jpg" /><img width="600" height="615" width_o="600" height_o="615" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a13ce96d604e5d592e5f8f44737ba7a59bf6fc44de2df0502c731a0b04f36eb5/48782420551_5701824508_o.jpg" data-mid="66233134" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/a13ce96d604e5d592e5f8f44737ba7a59bf6fc44de2df0502c731a0b04f36eb5/48782420551_5701824508_o.jpg" /><img width="600" height="628" width_o="600" height_o="628" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1e9a4a4c8bc0d5e2c9e26acb9f7f97a4ec84c0fdf240ab59e679eb7f64de1bef/48782420456_1cecc3b3af_o.jpg" data-mid="66233052" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/1e9a4a4c8bc0d5e2c9e26acb9f7f97a4ec84c0fdf240ab59e679eb7f64de1bef/48782420456_1cecc3b3af_o.jpg" />Shen 神 The soul of ancient Chinese medicine is the concept that the entirety of the cosmos is contained within us, and that we each have our own divine rhythm that is an emanation of the heart of the universe. The seat of this magic is our heart, and the motive force of the heart is what we call the shen spirit, the cosmic light of the universe that brings inspiration, awareness, and compassion to everything we grace. Our hearts are on a mission to connect us with our divine path, and our self-love nourishes this mission, giving it purpose and movement through a constant barrage of trauma and disappointment. Self-Love Rituals Guided by Chinese Medicine One of the gifts of this medicine is the remembrance that love needs no vessel other than the self, for we are in ecstatic communion with the universe. The infamous yin yang symbol - also known as the taijitu or ‘supreme polarity’ - is not just the darling of mall jewelry the world over, but also a symbolic reminder that we don’t need to be in partnership to be whole, that the self is both already complete and ever-evolving. In the yin yang symbol, opposites exist in complete harmony, two swirling teardrop shapes that fit within each other to form a perfect circle that is one, containing all the polarities of the universe. We don’t need to be in love, we already ARE love, and the seed of the other is always contained within us - the sphere of white within the swirling black, the dark void writhing in the luminous white. Shen-Gazing The shen, our heart spirit, is the light that illuminates the heart, bubbling over from its cauldron to shine out from our eyes. Shen-Gazing is a simple practice you can do anytime you need to connect with your inner luminescence, or meld with the transcendent values of the heart. It cultivates self-love, reminds us of our innate divinity, and helps bridge the connection between the heart and the world at large. There is no proper way to do this, and no correct amount of time to devote; simply allow yourself to witness and explore. This is the perfect opening practice for the two other rituals listed below, and also my favorite way to prepare for a date with a paramour.&nbsp; Light a candle, and sit comfortably in front of a mirror. Gaze into your own eyes, making contact with the spark that animates you from within, the true self that lies in the depths of your being untouched by the world. Stay gazing, greeting this spark as if it were divine, feeling the light within your eyes&nbsp; grow as bold as the light of the heavenly cosmos. Don't break your own gaze - breathe, soften, stay present to the light of the shen. Merge and meld, and merge and meld, until you feel the subtle glow permeate your whole being. Inner Smile Meditation This is a practice culled from the Taoist tantric arts. It melts the contraction of negative emotional energy, and helps in accepting oneself unconditionally. It is a supreme reminder that happiness and love are a choice,and that we can drop into their slipstream whenever we chose. Sit comfortably with your spine straight, such that you are a poised conduit of energy from the earth below to the heavens above. Take a few deep, cleansing breaths to release any judgment, stories, or stickiness that may have taken root in the body. Close your eyes and rest your tongue gently on the roof of your mouth, so that your throat stays relaxed and your breath can flow freely. Smile gently and honestly, deliciously yet genuinely, beginning with a sly turn-up of the lips and allowing it to blossom as it will. If you are vexed and jaded like the best of us, this may not come easy to you. Fret not! Pluck some grinning memories from the vaults until you have coaxed a suitably sublime smile onto your face. Allow the smiling energy to spread multi-directionally, bringing the energy to the spot between your eyebrows - the third eye - the energetic locus that allows us to cut through illusion, access deeper truths, and see beyond the limitations of ego and language. Let your forehead relax, and allow the smiling energy to accumulate at the third eye point, bubbling over like an over-poured glass of champagne. Allow the smiling energy to overflow down your face, relaxing the cheeks, nose, mouth, and all the facial muscles. Let it flow downwards through your neck, into the chambers of your heart. Smile into your heart, filling it with compassion and joy, its cosmic companions and original bedfellows. From here, you can direct the smiling energy to each of your internal organs, or any crawl space or crevasse in your body that has wilted or waned. Allow the glowing tumescence of the smile to dissolve all stagnation and constraint, giving special attention to any spot in your body in need of healing. Finally, direct your smiling energy to the point about 2 inches below your navel; This is your life gate, the internal alchemical furnace where we store and churn our energy and magic. In closing, you can open your eyes, release your smile, keep it, give it away… whatever feels in alignment with your needs and energy. Self-Love Acupressure Acupressure is needle-less acupuncture by the mojo and moxie of one’s own hands, a simple yet comprehensive self-care system for radiant health, balance, and well-being. Through the practice of stimulating acupuncture points on specific organ meridians, we can cultivate and harness life force energy, revitalizing the internal organs, glands, nervous system, and the bones. This foundational practice of gentle self-massage increases our capacity to skillfully cultivate, circulate, and sublimate energy throughout the body. One can access the boundless love contained within the heart by activating points on the body that awaken and enliven the heart spirit, or shen. I will walk you through how to locate these points below. Finding an acupuncture points is a lot like finding the reflex point on your knee that gives that quintessential kick. You want to sink your fingers into the skin until you find that sweet spot, sliding your finger over that valley or mountain peak until it elicits an emotional or physical AHA! If the point you discover feels at all tender and stagnant, you will massage the point in a counter-clockwise direction, breaking up the stasis and freeing up the qi. If the acupuncture point feels lithe and empty, draw energy into the body by massaging in a clockwise motion. Your hands are instruments of magic - put some devotion potion in there. I like to use a dab of Rose Geranium essential oil in tandem with these points, as it is a heart-opening ally with a sexy Venusian flair. Ren 17 “Chest Center” 膻中 Location: Midway between the nipples in the center of the breastbone. Locate the point by drawing a straight line between the two nipples, stopping at the cleft in the center of the breastbone, massaging and stimulating the area in 4-5 second intervals. Ren 17 rests on the body’s central axis right in the center of our being, and as such, it opens the chest helping us to love and breathe deeply. As breathers, we are well aware that breath is life, and this point helps reinforce the connection between our Lungs and our Heart. When palpated, Ren 17 can provide a deep emotional release, and if you feel frantic and scattered like a box of lightning and chaos, this point helps resolve anxiety and panic attacks, quell heart palpitations, and regulate erratic breathing.&nbsp; Heart 7 “Spirit Gate” 神門 Location: On the wrist wrinkle of the inner crease of the wrist, just below the palm, at on the pinky-finger end beside the ropey tendon. Locate the point by turning your hand over so the palm is facing up, then apply downward pressure to the spot at the pinky corner of the wrist, just next to the tendon, massaging and stimulating the area in 4-5 second intervals. Heart 7 can help merge the divide between the heart and the mind, center us in our heart, and access the wisdom of the shen. I love using this point when I need to think and act with my heart, come home to roost in the infinite wisdom inside me, and tap into freedom of expression as governed by my true purpose. This point is also great for nourishing a weary heart in those of us suffering from burn-out. Pericardium 6 “Inner Barrier” 內關 Location: Three finger breadths above the wrist on the inner forearm in the space between the two tendons. Locate the point by turning your hand over so the palm is facing up, then apply downward pressure between the two tendons, massaging and stimulating the area in 4-5 second intervals. The Pericardium is the ‘Heart Protector’ meridian, and as such, is likened to the keeper of the castle gate who discerns who or what is allowed to enter or leave the inner domain of the heart. Acupressure on Pericardium 6 helps inspire healthy boundaries in relationships and beyond, and like a spry acupuncture adaptogen, it can be used to open our hearts when they have closed in reaction to past pains, and to shore up our heart’s castle walls when we are the walking wounded. It is an excellent point to calm a restless heart and quiet the mind. DIY Love Magic: Body-Cultured Raw Yogurt Before Valentine’s Day was co-opted by squaresville Judeo-Christian materialists with a penchant for stale chocolate and ugly thongs, February 14th was part of Lupercalia, a carnal hootenanny of Ancient Roman proportions, harkening the Great God Pan with all sorts of lascivious melee. Lupercalia, the ‘Wolf Festival’, honored the She-Wolf who suckled the orphaned infants Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome. Like a regular afternoon at Botanarchy folks would run through the streets buck naked, whipping each other bawdily with improvised lashes, adorning themselves in goatskins, and petitioning the Gods and Goddesses for love &amp; fertility.&nbsp; Whilst on the topic of Valentine’s Days both real and imaginal, this is my favorite egalitarian love ritual or gift for a lover that hearkens to the magic of the She-Wolves of Ancient Rome: culture a jar of homemade yogurt by the heat of your own body! Raw milk + yogurt starter + mason jar + snuggling + ecstatic love = ultimate romance. Method You will need the following: one quart raw milk, yogurt starter (easily procurable at your local health food store), thermometer, saucepan, clean mason jar with tight-fitting lid (at least one quart), snuggle buddy. For best results, perform the following in the nude, right before bed, on a sympathetic moon: Gently heat your milk in a saucepan over a low flame until it reaches a balmy 180 degrees. Try your damnedest to maintain this temperature for about five minutes, making sure you DO NOT BOIL (this is important for keeping all of the lusciously lively beneficial bacteria alive &amp; kicking). This would be an excellent time to stir your pot of milk, weaving incantations of magic into your love yogurt. Turn off the heat, and allow the milk to cool to about 108-112 degrees. Add the yogurt starter to your clean mason jar. My starter takes about 1-2 teaspoons per quart of milk, but as these are living beings with varying potency, yours may be a little different. Follow the directions on your packet for best results. Languidly add a few tablespoons of milk, mixing lubriciously to make a smooth paste. Continue adding your milk in a slow stream until the jar is bursting with mirthful milky goodness, and cap tightly once you’ve sealed your intention into the jar. Sequester yourself in bed with your amorous accomplice, and incubate your yogurt overnight by the warmth of your steamy flesh. My Magic Man and I cradled ours between the sheets for a good eight hours, and as the sun crowned over our bedstead, we had a perfectly-cultured jar of ambrosial alchemy, cultured in our curves. Refrigerate as you would pedestrian store bought yogurt, and spoon feed when the mood strikes. The Nectar of Nefertum: Egyptian Blue Lotus Wine “I rise like Nefertum, who is the lotus at the nostrils of Ra when he comes forth from the horizon each day.” - The Egyptian Book of the Dead “Branches they bore of that enchanted stem, Laden with flower and fruit, whereof they gave To each, but whoso did receive of them, And taste, to him the gushing of the wave Far far away did seem to mourn and rave On alien shores; and if his fellow spake, His voice was thin, as voices from the grave; And deep-asleep he seem’d, yet all awake, And music in his ears his beating heart did make.” - ‘The Lotos-Eaters,’ Lord Alfred Tennyson Some newfangled Egyptologists (I’m looking at you, Jeremy Naydler! Here’s a high five while we’re at it!) are assailing the staunch anthropological old-guard with some pretty highfallutin hypotheses. These rogue scholars pluckily postulate that the collective papyri forming the Egyptian Book of the Dead are not merely a funery handbook of spells and incantations for dead folks hankering to make a graceful transition to greener pastures. Instead, they’ve laid claim that this ancient, cadaverous tome should be read as a manual for the art of ‘practicing dying’ by us lucky folks topside of the soil. I can, and do, emphatically believe these incendiary historians, and not just because I practice dying most every day with desolate relish. Ancient Egypt stinks to high heaven of Shamanistic inclinations... Animal-headed deities, a shamanistic Priesthood highly esteemed within the stratified society, hieroglyphs &amp; papyri showing profound knowledge of plant lore and altered states of consciousness, psychoactive ritual cocktails that may have included mandrakes and poppies, transmutation rites, guiding the souls of the dead hither and thither…it’s all there. Like Naydler postulates in Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts: The Mystical Tradition of Ancient Egypt, I’m high on believing the secret of the Egyptian Mysteries could very well lay in the concept of the body itself as a kind of tomb, enclosing godlike candy that has the potential to escape from the earthly realm entirely and dwell amongst the stars. Naydler writes: “The akh is that part of our inner being that can be considered divine. It has the potential to escape entirely from earthly and even cosmic limitations, and it is through the akh that we can receive divine wisdom and insight. Only once the ba (what we would consider the soul, or consciousness) is seen to be independent of the body, then it is possible to come to know the akh, which was seen by the Egyptians as luminous and associated with the sun, and which, after death or through the ritual of the mysteries, found its place among the stars.“ If we’re in the business of discarding tombs both real and imagined (which I am), Nymphaea Caerulea, the Sacred Blue Water Lily of the Nile, would be an excellent ferry cross the river Styx. Carrying in its serpentine, cerulean DNA a shamanic cocktail of disintegration (apomorphine) and communion (nuciferine), she truly is Hermetic gnosis manifest - a vehicle for the ecstatic alchemical separation of body and spirit, a botanical simulacrum of simultaneous ‘solve et coagula.’ Nuciferine serves to ‘strip off the garment’ of the lotus eater, while the euphoric tendrils of apomorphine liberate the akh, the luminous sun of our inner being. As the sacred flower of the pharaohs, her plant manna was used ritualistically by the ancient Egyptian noblesse to produce shamanic ecstasy and hypnotic trance in magical rites, mostly involving the gruesome twosome of sex and death. Chinese botanists (my favorite kind, this side of Luther Burbank), were convinced the lotus had the ability to transcend the limitations of time, as they believed she flowered and bore fruit simultaneously. As a ritual libation, I’ve been ensconced in a wanton love affaire with Nymphaea Caerulea ever since ingesting a hydrosol distilled from her cerulean buds at a workshop with John Steele on Shamanism and Fragrance in Ancient Egypt. All this epically erotic entheogenic Ethnobotany gets me terribly hot and bothered, but the REAL reason I fell in love with the lotus is because of how she’s pollinated. It’s truly the hottest piece of pornography this side of Georges Bataille. Sacred scarabs are lured into the dark waters by the lily at dusk, no match for its irresistibly miasmic pineapple musk. They intoxicatedly feast on the central petals, so engorged with lily liquor they fail to notice when the flower closes over them. The anthers then ripen and shed their pollen over the trapped beetles, whilst the flower descends back into the black waters of the Nile for a night of Bacchanalian revelry in an underwater boudoir of velvet pollen, beating wings, nectar victuals and ecstatic sex. As Ra rises over the horizon, the enshrined altar re-emerges above the water, and the beetles are set free to do the walk of shame across the banks of the Nile. The first time I heard this story, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. I was simply bereft at being relegated to a lifetime of banal trysts in church pews and Burger King bathrooms. Not content to suffer beyond this lifetime with the paltry constraints of human biology, I vow that my love and I will incarnate as bandit beetles next time we spin around this rusty wheel. I promise to ensconce us in orgies of Saturnalian stamens and sub-aquatic romps in flowery coffers, of pollinated perversions and death rites in the ether. In this lifetime, ritualistic victuals of lotus wine will have to suffice. You can make your own sacraments with a decent bottle of Rosé, a few ounces of Nymphaea Caerulea, and a few shakes of a lamb’s tail. Simply take 20 grams or so of lotus, crack open your bottle, skim a few chugs off the top, and soak your petals in the juices for three days to three weeks. You’ll want to re-cork your vessel and store it in the fridge until it’s time to commune. Like most lovely things, she’s a bitter pill, and her unguents may need to be cut with a little raw honey to sweeten the deal. I spent some time enchanting my brew for use in oracular ritual and tomb-discarding tumult. It’s always good to be on the same page as your elixirs. Like all noblesse flowers of the Philistines, Nymphaea has her very own God presiding over those bodacious blooms. Nefertum is the Egyptian god of the lotus and perfumery, an archetype of rejuvenation and anointment. As an avatar of Nefertum, ingesting the lotus into your temple (lotophagus, as the Greeks say, cause Ancient Greek makes me swoon) is akin to the ribald Dionysian rite of enthusiasmos, a state of being quite literally ‘filled by the gods.’ So make like Alan Watts and leave ‘your skin-encapsulated ego’ behind. 神