Have you heard what people are saying?
The only authority in 2024 is YOU!
As I move into 2024 I’m coming across person after person saying the same thing. “Connect to source as a means of navigating the years ahead.” From herbal guidance, like messages I received from Mugwort, to astrologers (talking about Pluto’s transit into Aquarius), to people channelling guides and ET’s, to CEO’s and business people or those involved in technology or business development.
Everyone is saying it’s going to be a wild ride, so hold on to your hat’s and really figure out how to tune into your own inner guidance.
What anyone else is doing right now doesn’t really matter, because we all need to be listening to what best serves us on a daily or hourly basis. So what are some ways to connect with our own inner guidance.
These are some of the methods I use on a regular basis.
Meditation
Meditation is essential in the times we are in, so try to give this important practice the priority it deserves. There are so many techniques available, simply find a practice that resonates with you and works with your lifestyle and schedule and try to practice it daily. There are wonderful meditation apps, you tubes, teachers and techniques galore to explore. Some will just help you relax and some will be a method towards self-realisation or enlightenment, however they all have some benefit and its better so do any meditation practice than none at all.
Feel your feelings.
To be human is to have feelings, SO MANY feelings! The more we can really sit with our feelings and emotions the easier it is to navigate them and move through them without resorting to destructive habits to avoid them (hello, food, sex, shopping, Netflix, alcohol, drugs etc) or blaming or shaming other or ourselves, or shutting down and avoiding them altogether.
Just sit with the feeling. I like to name it, then once you have identified what it is, you can just repeat the name of the emotion rather than the story you have running in your head about it. For example if someone has insulted you and its made you feel angry, you can interrupt the inner dialog that goes ‘I can’t believe they said that! who do they think they are, they can’t talk, they are …” etc etc. and replace it with ‘I am feeling hurt and angry, I am feeling hurt and angry’ then sit with those feeling. When you disable the ‘story’ and identify the ‘feeling’ its’ easier to just be with the feeling, because the purpose of the story is to perpetuate the feeling, endlessly in a loop. So once you are just working with the feeling without the story you can come into your body. Where is this emotion in your body? Eg stomach, throat, chest or even all around you or beside you. What does it feel like, Eg heavy, tight, sharp, like a volcano, like lightening, like a black snake etc.
Go into the feeling, allow it full expression, with no judgment, no censoring, no holding back, give that feeling full permission to be. All the while investigating it with more and more curiosity. Where is it now, now what does it feel like. Keep breathing. Ask it questions, what does it need? How old is it? Do you need to release it? Is it serving you?
Trust your intuition as you transform or release these emotions until they are no longer there. If I have worked with and released or transformed a strong emotion I like to bring in golden light to the area and fill the space with light.
Automatic writing
Another way of getting in touch with your inner guidance is through automatic writing. Simply set a timer for 5 minutes and ask your soul or higher self a question then start writing with no thought or filter. Just write whatever comes out onto the page. This is good to do as a daily practice, as the more you do it the easier it becomes and the more you learn to trust and work with the information you receive.
Plant awareness and communication
Working with plant spirit energies is about learning to feel the sensations you receive from the plant. The sensations will bring up an emotional response that can guide you in your relationship. The sensations are the doorway by which we enter into the realm of the spirit. When working with plant energies we need an attitude of humble reverence and respect as we reach out with our intention, calling them to us, and asking for their assistance.
Observe the plant with all your senses
Find a quiet place in nature and begin to work with plants in the following way: Allow your focus to shift to a particular plant. Something about it will attract you. It could be a physical attraction, you find it beautiful in some way. It could be an emotional pull, or a flash or recognition or knowing, like meeting an old friend. Approach the plant and ask if you can work together. You could offer a small gift as a physical symbol of your good will.
Sight
Start by spending time with the plant and observing it, becoming aware of what that observation brings up in you. Is it a plant that likes the sun or the shade? Sun loving plants tend to be warming and drying, like sage and rosemary, whereas plants that like moist shady environments, like mints, Gotu kola and lemon balm tend to be more cooling.
Observe which plants tend to grow near each other, so you will know who to look for when you come across similar groups of plants. For example, dock and nettle often grow near each other and dock can be used to treat nettle stings.
By observing the colour of plants and flowers you may get insight into the chakra’s they might have an affinity with. This gives you insight into some of the issues a person needing this plant might be working with.
Sounds and intuition
Do plants swish or rustle, or make no sound at all? Energetically, each plant will play its own tune (telepathically), which if you are lucky to be gifted with it, you can ‘hear’ with your heart or inner listening. It could be a tune, a song or a message. This is spoken about regularly in literature from indigenous people.
Touch
Come closer and touch the plant. Is the plant soft or prickly? Observe your emotional response. Do you want to rub it on your body because it is so soft and nurturing like lambs ear (Stachys byzantine) or do you need to wear gloves to hold it because it stings like nettle? What do these qualities bring to mind, both in terms of actions and emotions?
Smell
Hold it to your nose and inhale its aroma. Smell can give you an immediate indication of whether a plant contains volatile oils. Smelling plants can trigger many associations, emotions and memories both from this life and past lives. Smells have an immediate effect on your physical, mental and emotional state.
Meditate with the plant
When you have finished observing the plant with your physical senses take several deep breaths and relax your body, get comfortable in your space. Allow your mental chatter to pass through your mind without any attachment to it. Bring your awareness to your heart and allow a sensation of love and gratitude to arise there. If it helps, you can think of a loved one to get the sensation started, then allow it to expand to include all beings and all of nature.
From this space ask with a feeling of reverence for the assistance of the plant spirits. Be aware of your connection with the plant via your breath. Know that every breath you take in has been breathed out by the plants around you. It is an exchange of more than just gases. It is also an exchange of energy and frequency. It is evidence of your absolute interconnectedness.
You may want to either close your eyes and go into a meditative or relaxed state, or hold the plant in your gaze with a soft focus. Observe any of the following things that might arise.
Feelings – you may experience a sudden strong emotion that was not there before and that seems to be triggered by asking the plant for communication.
Knowing – knowing can be a thought, a feeling or both. You just suddenly ‘know’ something from a very deep place. There is no doubt or confusion. It is an absolute knowing
Thoughts – You might get thoughts that pop into your mind that have a quality to them that you know is not your own. There might be a very clear instruction or a single word or some gentle reassurance. You may even be lovingly chastised in some way for inadvertently harming or offending the plant devas.
Images – You might go into a state of daydreaming with your eyes open or closed. From this state you may see images that lead you on a journey or you may see a being that has come to give you a message or make a connection.
Sensations – You might simply begin to feel strong sensations in your body like heat or cold, buzzing, tingling or prickling. You might feel pulling or spinning sensations in certain parts of your body. These are the sensations associated with the activation of your chakras and meridians.
As you tune into the plant energies, the energy in your body begins to shift in response; moving into a state of higher frequency as you move into higher bodies or planes. Allow any experience to unfold without judgment.
You may want to keep a journal of your experiences, as it is very common for synchronicities and experiences to keep unfolding over days, weeks or years.
Imagination is the doorway
When people begin working with plants in this way, they try not to use their imagination for fear that they might ‘make things up’. It’s actually vitally important that you allow your imagination free reign in this process, because you are working with energy and it is your imagination that will give this energy form and meaning. The experience you have will be a combined experience coming from the energy field and imagination of both you and the plant.
Your imagination is the door you need to walk through to have access to non-physical experience. You will know if something is ‘real’ or significant because you will be affected by it. Physically, mentally or emotionally you will have an effect. This will be all the proof needed.
It can feel awkward when you first start working with plant energies (and for others it feels like coming home) but the more familiar you become with this process, the more comfortable you’ll feel discerning the plants energies and trusting their messages. The more you work with plant energies the more natural and intuitive it becomes.
It can be good to write down your experiences as messages and information from plants may reveal themselves more and more fully over days, weeks, months or even years.
The wildcraft series
This week on the wildcraft series were are exploring how to harvest and dry mugwort (video included) and also how to make a Mugwort smudge stick (video included). I also have a Monograph available on both common Mugwort and Chinese Mugwort. (some of you might already have this monograph if you did ‘The Herb Session’ with me a few years ago.)
Coming up: Next week I will be showing you how to make moxa sticks and infused oil.
I would like to acknowledge the Kabbi Kabbi/Gubbi Gubbi peoples on who’s lands I live and work. I acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded and pray this truth be acknowledged and respected by all who live, work and govern these lands.
I love this post! It’s a great reminder when life gets busy to add the little things back in as they make all the difference. 💙