Blazing Star Herbal School: March Edition 2020
Greetings everyone,
Happy first day of Spring!
I hope you are all healthy and safe as we all adjust to these changing times. I'd like to start this newsletter with this deep and timely poem by local wise woman, and occasional Baba Yaga Dori Midnight.
WASH YOUR HANDS
by Dori Midnight
We are human beings re-learning to wash hands.
Washing your hands is an act of love
Washing your hands is an act of care
Washing your hands is an act that can relieve the hypervigilant body
Washing our hands helps us get back to ourselves washing what doesn't work.
Wash your hands
as if you were washing the only cup of tea left of the ones your great grandmother carried across the ocean, as if you were washing the hair of a beloved who is dying, as if you were washing Grace Lee Boggs feet, Beyonce, Jesus , your dear aunt, Audre Lorde, Mary Oliver -- you get the idea.
As if this water was poured out of a jug your best friend just took three miles from a spring to climb a mountain to get to.
As if water was a precious resource
made of time and miracle
They say you have to wash your hands and cough on your elbow.
Rest more, stay home, drink water, have a little soup they say.
To what I would add: burn some plants that your ancestors burned when fear was felt in the air,
Boil some scented leaves in a pot on your stove until your windows tarnish.
Open your windows
Eat a piece of garlic everyday. Tie a tooth around your neck.
Breathe.
My friends, it's always been the truth, these things.
It's past time to make them.
It is always true that we must move with care and intent, asking
Instead, you want to crash elbows? With everyone we meet.
It's always true that there are people who live with just one lung, with immune systems that don't work very well, or maybe they work too much, fighting themselves. It's already true that people are hogging the things that the most vulnerable need.
It's about time maybe it would be a good idea to fly less on planes and not go to work when we're sick.
It's about time when maybe it would be a good idea to know who in our neighborhood has cancer, who has a new baby, who is old, with children in another state, who has extra water, who has a root cellar, who is a nurse, who has a garden full of elcampane and nettles.
It is high time that temporarily non-disabled people should think about people living with chronic diseases and disabled, where young people should think of the elderly.
It's about time to stop using synthetic perfumes to not smell like a body, to pretend we're not dying. It's about time to remember that those own fragrances make a lot of us sick.
It's about time not to take it personally when someone doesn't want to hug you.
It's about time to slow down and feel how scared we are.
We are already scared, we are already living in the time of the fires.
When fear arises,
and it will come,
let me bathe your whole body instead of staying firmly snuggled up on your shoulders.
If your heart squeezes,
Contract
and expand.
Science says: Compassion strengthens the immune system
We already know, but capitalism gives us amnesia
and deceives us into thinking what protects us
but it's the way we house the thing.
The way we do the thing.
We have forgotten the traditions of amulets,
we use the accumulation of hand disinfectant and masks.
we found someone to blame.
We think that will help.
Do you want to blame something?
Blame capitalism. Blame the patriarchy. Blame white supremacy.
It's about time to remember to hang garlic on our doors
to dip our tissues in thyme tea
rub salt on our feet
to pray the rosary, kiss mezuzah, purify with an egg.
In the middle of the night,
when you wake up with terror in your belly,
it's time to think about stardust and geological time
Secoya trees and dance parties and mushrooms that remedy toxic soil.
is the time
To take care of others
to pray on water
to rinse the fear
every time we wash our hands
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And to hear it recited in Dori's own voice click here and for more about Dori's work in the world here is a link to her website
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I want this newsletter to be uplifting and empowering! Full of self care ideas, herbal recipes to help you build your immune system and lungs, as well as links to inspiring readings to help fill your days. There will also be updates about the Spring 2020 happenings at Blazing Star Herbal School. I am giving away my "Spring Awakening PDF" -see details below on how to receive.
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"Strange times indeed! My best advice as always is stay calm! nourish the nervous system if you need to (oats, skullcap, tulsi), read poetry and novels (audiobooks if you prefer), take naps, drink nourishing herbal infusions often, avoid sugar, take long walks outside, hug trees, put your hands in the dirt, walk barefoot if its not too cold!, plant seeds (literally and spiritually), garden or plan your garden, eat wildfoods as they start coming in (collect pine needles on your next walk make tea and vinegar, and remember to practice ethical harvesting where needed), eat fermented foods (really important for your immune system in the gut), take vitamin D, wash hands well and often with soap and water (avoid chemical hand sanitizers only use in an emergency), Moisturize (make lotion), take hot showers/baths, light candles, keep your body moving (avoid stagnation) yoga videos, exercise apps (not my thing but Zoe swears by them), spring clean (inside and out), try a kitcheri cleanse, build immunity with Elder, Astragalus, Reishi (most medicinal mushrooms), Make popcorn and make your own healthy sprinkles! Be creative, Write poems, songs, Reach out to friends and community members (how many communities are you part of?), Experiment in the kitchen, learn a new skill, Write letters, Learn to Pray, Take and herbal steam, Do what you can to strengthen our communities, practice kindness and gratitude, thank the elements appropriately (water, fire, air, earth) love and don't forget to wash your hands again! and if you are a virgo make lists!! and LOVE ONE ANOTHER ❤️ Finally, if you have an herbal product or a book that you would like to be reviewed in the coming months please send it my way! Also feel free to reach out and let us know if there is a particular class you are hoping for or an announcement to be made. Like with all small businesses this quarantine really effects my livelihood, so please sign up for classes/ health consults/coaching!
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COMPETITION
Have you ever wanted to design a t-shirt. We will be hosting a competition to design a BSHS Apprenticeship 20th Cycle/Circle Anniversary in 2020. The prize will be a year of herbal health coaching! This is just the heads up, details will be announced on social media in Feb! While it will be open to the public I think past apprentices will have a heads up because they know me, and my aesthetic.
GIVE AWAY! GIVE AWAY! GIVE AWAY! GIVE AWAY! GIVE AWAY!
Spring Awakening! for Body and Soul
If you a feeling a little stuck or under inspired when it comes to your nourishment and self care this offering is for you! 56 pages of Seasonal recipes, poems, photos and inspiration to get your blood moving again!
7 nourishing soup recipes
7 nutrient rich spring bowl
7 restoring juice recipes
7 mineral rich herb teas
7 Wild Spring Herb profiles
14 Spring Awakening personal habits
In order to receive this PDF please email me at blazingstarclinic@gmail.com and I will get it right out to you! (I am not savvy enough to add it here as a download)