Chamomile Sunrise
What does it mean to “hold space”? For another person? For healing? For an idea? A dream? For yourself?
Here in the Northern Hemisphere the days are getting longer and warmer and Spring is officially underway. I am an early riser and throughout the winter my meditation practice is largely by candlelight as I find it far too jarring to turn on the lights. Now, as I sit, light slowly spreads across the sky followed by the soft, golden hues of the rising sun.
It’s truly magical watching the treetops light up and feeling the first rays infuse my body with comforting warmth.
The sun brings far more than just light though.
Life affirming certainty, and fierce serenity are the first words that arise from deep within my soul.
I follow the rhythm of the moon cycles in my daily practice, but I always remember that it is the sun that the moon reflects, and it is the sun that radiates the light, the energy, the life force that supports life and nourishes life in all of its forms. The sun lights us up, fuels us and radiates a vibration that fills my being, informs me and helps me grow.
Last moon cycle I journeyed with White Pine (WISDOM) who brought me deeply into my body, rooting and grounding me and also pulling me up toward the light and elevating my perspective so that I could see myself and my Earthly experiences more clearly.
In meditation I remember “becoming” the tree and looking down from the sun-lit canopy, I could see storm clouds swirling around below, right around my belly area. A preview appearance from Chamomile for sure, as I could feel the familiar feeling of mild anxiety, worry and stress, twirling around in my stomach.
It’s not that Chamomile creates the stress, far from it! She brings awareness to all the ways we internalize and embody the stress we feel in our own lives and in the greater collective.
Chamomile holds a calm and stable presence in the center of it all so that we can observe our personal and collective storm clouds swirling around us without embodying it. So that we can see them for what they are—our traumas, our shadows, our fears—and allow our warmth and light, our inner sun, to patiently and gently hold space for us as we move through them.
And in the way that the plant spirits do, Chamomile is continuing the healing support that White Pine began with the slow unwinding of my nervous system that has been in a conditioned “fight or flight’ state for most of my life.
Honestly, it’s a rare soul that has not been touched by the deep productivity programming of our consumer culture and the ongoing pandemic has magnified the constant stress of needing to DO something, anything, to support myself, my family and the Earth.
Chamomile has a long history of use for calming the nerves, aiding restful sleep and easing upset stomachs—a soothing nervine gently supporting us to rest, digest and heal. And isn’t that the medicine we all need right now?
Chamomile is holding space for us all to release the collective trauma and the duality dramas that have been held in our bodies and the Earth body for so long.
And my body is really feeling it.
I ache all over but I am not sick.
I’m exhausted but I’m not doing anything.
My body, our bodies, are doing so much to try to return to the rhythms and cycles of Nature and the deep connection to the Earth that we have strayed so far from. And that we continue to separate from further as we meddle with Nature, with our bodies, scientifically insisting that we can control it all with our toxic interventions and yet oblivious of how everything is interconnected within the living body of our planet.
Like a beautiful, radiant inner sun, Chamomile says that it is enough to simply BE.
To listen deeply to what our bodies need and are asking for...loudly!
Eat when we are hungry, drink fresh water when we are thirsty, sleep when we are tired, cry when we are sad, wail in our grief and loss, jump and shout when we need to blow off steam, dance and sing with the child within, and offer gratitude with every breath for it all.
You know how to do this. Your body is the Earth. It is so wise.
We can choose, we always have a choice, to reach for a cup of soothing Chamomile tea for our frayed nerves, rather than choosing to reach for various stimulants, distractions and numbing agents—sugar, caffeine, nicotine, FaceBook, drugs, whatever—to artificially fuel us into DOING more, and more, and more...
Matricaria. From the womb of the mother Earth infused with the light of the father Sun, our spark, our soul, we are moving towards complete harmony with Nature, with the Universe.
We are the children of Earth. Made of the Earth and illuminated by the Divine light of the Universe.
Like the sun I stand in my power. I speak my truth. I connect with and stay in my body even when it hurts. I feel everything and I unconditionally accept and have compassion for it all.
Chamomile is helping me to remember how to be. Helping me remember that Life is always conspiring in my favor...even when it doesn’t feel like it. Life is always conspiring to help me grow. And I radiate that knowing out to all.
This is the sacred art of space holding.
For ourselves, for our children, for humanity, for our planet Earth, and for all living beings. This is our most important job now.
It’s a lot. I know. I can feel it all over my body, and I’m sure you are feeling the intensities in your own ways as well. And so… I will leave you with my new mantra: “More tea! Always more tea. And preferably Chamomile!”
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Also in Plant Spirit Deep Dives
Wintering: Coming Back to Life
Over the years, the Soulflowers have lovingly helped me to understand change to be the natural order of things. They have helped me to trust completely in the inherent intelligence of Nature and the necessity of all the seasons to support life, sustainably.
We are cyclical beings. Life (life force energy) is never lost—it is only constantly changed, transformed.
Finding Grace
“All suffering comes from resistance to the truth of who you are. All suffering comes from resistance to What Is.” Milk Thistle adds.
Let that truth bomb sink in.
