2023: A journey into herbalism

I have some gifts from the yard I want to share with you. I broke off a small bit of the pear tree, so I brought it inside and placed it on my desk.  We are studying alter making today in class.  I jumped ahead!  I also found the crystal with a tree of life wrapped in wire around it.  It was on a broken chain, so I believe it was left for me to find.  It was in the soil that I dug up from the back yard.  I was sifting through the soil, removing rocks to use in the patio.   I am so grateful I am receiving. This journey has me opening my awareness to small blessings, that I would have previously overlooked.  I admit, sometimes, it can be too much, too fast.  I realize that I am not in a race, that I can savor these experiences, the small gifts, the birdsong, the tiny flower, the breeze on my skin.  So much to take for granted, to rush through.   My confidence is growing along with my awareness.  Like any journey, it is not always forward.  Sometimes, I trip and fall down a psychological,

 I just got a very clear message that I need to write more openly about what has been happening for me, through me, to me since I started this course.  I hope by the end of this essay, you will hear what I hear. That sounds ever loving crazy, I would have said just a few months ago.  But listen, I have a story to share with you. Since I wandered closer to herbalism, maybe a year or more ago, I have heard about Dandelion, but not in the same way I knew about dandelion.  Yes, capital letter intended.  You see, I have a preconceived notion about dandelion and likely, so do you.   It is a weed, we say with a hiss.  Demonized dandelion.  Bane of lawns everywhere.  There is also a stigma about the dandelion - it symbolizes laziness, a moral lacking, someone less. Add a cracked sidewalk and a plastic bag rolling by like a modern day tumbleweed. A dandelion free lawn was held as the highest standard.  Think golf courses, palatial estates, the White House.  Other such criminal weeds include clo