You know, as in woo-woo.
As in, this is so woo-woo. How can something this woo-woo work? You are so woo. I, and maybe you too, are used to hearing this about the realm of energy healing and the role of the healer in the areas where we do not have scientific evidence to explain our experiences. We have handed over nearly all power to the rational mind to define healing. Being woo implies ungroundedness, flightiness and a distinct lacking of substance and presence. Not smart. Not real. Not effective. Distinctly off-center. Maybe a little cra-cra. And yet this energy medicine is as old as time, bringing awareness to our aliveness. Our core wound today is that many of us are cut off from our indigenousness. We have lost our connection to our multi-dimensional selves, our awareness of ourselves as beings of soul and consciousness in bodies on a living planet to which we are intimately and ultimately connected. Energy healing teaches me that the physical illness is a communication from my body about an imbalance that may have its roots in the emotional, mental or spiritual plane. The physical manifestation of dis-ease means things have gotten pretty dense. That's woo. The etymology of words can bring to light information that has been lost to our conscious minds. When I study etymology, I often understand what has been lost because the essential energy carries through somehow. Consider the basis of woo or wu. In the earliest recorded history of ancient China, during the Shang dynasty, wu referred to a female healer, shaman, herbalist. The Wu brought the harmonizing and unifying power of the cosmos into embodied presence on earth. The Wu climbed to the mountains to gather herbs to heal and comfort the sick and dying. The Wu danced, chanted and sounded healing into being. Look it up. But before you do that, go outside and breathe. With your bare feet, breathe your way through your feet all the way to the crystal at the earth's center and anchor there. With that connection in place, travel on your breath all the way out to your very own star in the cosmos. From the warmth of the earth to the light of the star, ride your breath back to rest in the center of your heart. Yep, I am woo. And so are you. With gratitude to Asia Suler, One Willow Apothecary, for inspiration.
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from Asheville NC
I am blessed to have spent the past weekend learning from herbalist and healer Phyllis D Light (yes that is her true name that she has had for her whole life. And her mom was a Bright, and her niece married a Ray. Yep.). Phyllis is a healer in the living tradition of southern appalachian and folk medicine, a primarily oral tradition which combines the healing practices of indigenous north american people, the folk medicine of the british isles especially ireland, the spiritual and folks healing traditions of western and northern africa and greek medicine as brought by the spanish and french colonizers. In energy medicine we spend a good deal of time talking about and teaching GROUNDING, meaning fostering our human connection to earth. We breathe deep to sense that connection. We put our feet on the ground to sense, imagine, visualize, feel or otherwise cultivate our innate and necessary connection to our home. One of the tenets of southern appalachian folk medicine is this: We are made of the clay of the earth, and we must go back to the clay for our healing. Why the clay? Well, it's deep. It's not the topsoil (as important and necessary as that is, for sure!). The clay is where the minerals are. Our body is where the minerals are. Have we lost our balance? Ask any herbalist or nutritionist about our food and what we need, and they will nearly all say we and the soil are mineral-deficient due to over-cultivation of so much of our agricultural land. So go deeper.... The plants that go to the clay have long taproots. And then there are the trees. Some of the plants we visited in this context include Poke, all the Docks, Kudzu, Dandelion, Lady's Slipper (which grows deeper by the year, and can live 60-70 years!), Red Clover (12 feet of taproot!), Mullein, Comfrey, Boneset, Smilax. And then there are the trees. So if you like go take a walk and look around you for the plants and trees whose roots reach deep to the clay. You don't have to pull one up to see. You don't have to -- although you can -- make a medicine to take in to your body. Breathe, put your feet on the ground, and feel the healing from your lived connection to the clay. www.phyllisdlight.com With love and blessings, Elizabeth |
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