Herbal Allies- Part 2

So I have finally chosen my plant allies for the coming year. I am starting with 3 but may add more. So these are the 3 plants I want to get to know on a deeper level. It took me awhile to choose these and they may change as I go. Who knows!?! I tried to pick plants that are safe to use while nursing as well.

Over the next year I will study, use and sit with these plants and try to learn as much as I can about them on a physical as well as energetic level. I think the 3 will keep me very busy learning and discovering new things! I am excited to have finally chosen them after much contemplation. Or did they choose me?

I will also be writing my own sort of of monographs of my own on each and adding to it on a regular basis for each one here on my blog. I hope to be able too include a lot of new experiences and observations in the coming year while I am learning about these 3 new plant allies!


1-Rose~ I think I wrote in an earlier post I have used rose a lot for bodycare but not much at all for medicine so I would like to explore the healing aspects deeper. I also would just like to use rose more in my daily life. I feel drawn to it as of lately and crave it's presence. I plan to use it in food, medicine and bodycare/aromatherapy. I find it uplifting, sensuous and gently healing. Like an old familiar friend. I want to learn her secrets and revel in her beauty.

2- Blue Vervain~Feeling called to work with this plant. I'm not entirely sure why but the reasons will become clear eventually I am sure! I very much like the fact that it is a galactagogue since I will be a nursing mom soon. I have not used blue vervain much at all so it's a new plant for me to learn about!

3-Elder~ I am having a love affair with elder. Shhh, don't tell anyone! Though I know i am not the only one. lol. This plant is pretty elusive to someone coming from the southwest, so I am absolutely thrilled they grow here in New England. Other than using elderberry syrup I don't have all that much experience using this plant but I have been extremely drawn to it since discovering it! My mission this coming year is to find as many as I can growing in the wild and use it generously! I am very drawn to learning about the many uses of elder. I feel like it is calling me to soak up all of it's healing energies and wisdom.

I am trying hard not to include more plants with my "ally" list as I am trying to keep things low key right now for simplicity's sake! If it were up to me I'd easily have 10!

Choosing an Herbal Ally

One of the courses I am starting this winter is a new course with some very talented herbalist friends of mine over at Brighids Well Herbs , which starts November 1st. (The course is called "The Magic and Medicine of Plants" and is a 12 month long online intensive- check it out if you are at all interested, it's going to be alot of fun!)

Anyway I was asked to pick a plant ally before the start of class. I am finding it a little daunting as my allies have always tended to pick ME in the past. ...Datura, violet, fairy duster, evening primrose, dandelion, mesquite... I have not been doing much foraging or plant gathering in a long while either so I am finding it a little more difficult. As well as being unfamiliar with alot of my regions plants (I have studied mainly desert plants for 10 years!)

So what is an herbal ally you ask?

In my experience it has been a plant I choose to connect with over a long period of time to study, it is one to use regularly and in many different ways and get to know on a more intimate level than just learning about what it does medicinally but also energetically too. I have devoted journals to my allies in the past and have really learned a lot and much in an intuitive way too. It really is amazing how you can connect with plants like this. An ally is a plant that will teach you as much about yourself as it will about the medicine IMHO so it should be chosen carefully!

The herbs I am currently drawn to aren't calling me in ways I have previously been called in to study a specific plant either. I guess you could say I am a little stumped over this. Though I am confident the right plant will present itself I am a little confused currently. I did have a run in with horsetail last week which drew me in a little so that is a possibility but it doesn't really excite me like my past allies. I also was introduced to Egyptian Blue Lotus this summer by another local herbalist. It is a wonderful would like to learn more about, at least from the one experience I had using it! I am interested in learning and using it more but I am just not sure it's the one..I have been enjoying rose, chamomile, peppermint and lavender this whole pregnancy (My go to pregnancy herbs) but they just seem so common. Though maybe I should stick to something common? Hmmm...

In past courses I have been more hit over the head out in nature doing field work when an ally has chosen me. Feeling a bit of a disconnect right now. So I am working on this. I know it is probably just from being out of the loop with my herbal studies, working with plants and just liing amid the plant world in general! (I'm feeling sooo out of the loop!) I am really SOOO glad I am getting back into the groove now though! I need this!

Maybe I will have to get out my herbal tarot deck and see what is calling me that way?

Anyway I will update here when I finally choose! : ) But this is where I'm at today!