Making Peace with Dandelion

 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 clover and moss.  The dandelion was common and we must not be common.

What a load of patriarchal shit.

Dandelion, my friends, is a gift from the Goddess, Herself. And, we poison it.

If I were Her, I would be pissed. Stop poisoning them. We are killing her gift.

It can be eaten fresh, which means it is food.

Free food.  Everywhere, for everyone

Manna from Heaven

It is also medicine

Free of charge

To all

It can be made into a tea, an infusion, a decoction, a tincture, eaten fresh, eaten dried.

Free food, free medicine

If you pull up the root, use the root!  It is a gift when it comes out intact and glorious and yellow brown.  

Use this gift.  

Let go of the stigma of shame we place on those places with Dandelion in the cracks.  

It is a gift from the Goddess, Herself and ought to be honored as such.

Clover and moss have a purpose too.  Though I don't know yet what treasures they hold.

We have to stop poisoning our homes or yards, our air, our water.  We are like negligent children who care more about their own toys than making a better choice. * It is time to grow up.  Story time is over.  

Herbalism blends with this Clean Movement, eating clean, buying clean, not sure if people are acting clean (check for Dandelions!) It blends with spirituality, which blends with clean choices, not green choices.  What does clean even mean?  You want dirt, clean dirt on those vegetables.  Take care of the oceans, recognizing the significance of Climate change, peace love and hippy dippy stuff, I love that so much.  So serious, and challenging, and don't you dare give up.  

Save the Planet, 

See the Goddess in the soil, 

Give Peace a Chance, 

Don't forget to tend your Garden.

I have to add another thought, about this ugliness I wrote of before...we all feel this way, we slip into judgement.  But we don't have to stop calling ourselves on it.  

 I apologized today to the Goddess for not seeing the gift of Dandelion.  I used the Confession of Sins that I learned in my youth.  I love the poetry and how it encompasses so much:

We confess that we have sinned against You in Thought, Word and Deed, by What We have done, by What We have Left Undone.  We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors or our planet as ourselves. We have not honored this gift we have been given. We are truly Sorry and We Humbly Repent.  Have Mercy on Us and Forgive Us. By the Grace (Glory) of the Father (As above), Son (our Divine Potential) and the Holy Spirit (Goddess, Mother) 

Amen

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