april 2022 herbal meditation: pink camellia flower essence

pink camellia flower essence

ingredients: camellia flower essence, water, and vegetable glycerin. no alcohol.

supports us with: opening your heart, understanding your place in the whole, giving and receiving what you need without force, and soaking in the lushness of life. a potion for those of us who often find ourselves “doing too much.”

recommended use: take 4 DROPS orally up to 4 times a day. add to your water / beverages, or take on it’s own.

contraindications: none (unless you have a glycerin allergy). very safe for humans and pets.

potion inspired by: an anti-capitalist spirit

made on april 12, 2022, during the jupiter x neptune conjunction in pisces 🌊

april herbal meditation talk

Themes: Taurus Season, normalizing working less, and earthly pleasures

The April herbal gift for sumistreet patrons is a pink camellia flower essence.

Enjoy this herbal meditation talk about the process— as a mini voice note, or read it below.

If you’d like to start receiving monthly gifts in May, become a patron by April 30!

---

The week I made this potion was one of the most daydreamy and pleasure-filled weeks I’ve experienced in a long time. I felt unbound by the usual stress of living in capitalism, which I’ve come to understand is different than the work of being a human (being a partner, self-growth, being a dog parent, etc).

As I age, I’ve become more intimate with the responsibilities of every day life administration. The “let’s see where the day takes me” of my 20s is long over. And TBH I wouldn’t want that. I’m one of those people who is religious about their daily rituals and need for structure. At the same time, I have an anticapitalist spirit. I love to rest, have unscheduled meaningful conversations, tend to my homebody activities and be off the apps, look at green things, and take delight in being alive. Being rushed is not a vibe for me. (If you’ve got Mars in Taurus, that might just be how we’re setup.) I equally enjoy my creative work and relaxation. When I’m doing it well, I feel nourished and satisfied. When I’m doing too much, I feel agitated and scarcity mindset takes over.

I recently saw an IG commercial saying that if you want to be self-employed, be prepared to work 140 hours a week. No??? I just can’t let that be my truth lol. Two years into the pandemic, I often wonder if working 30+ hours a week could be anything less than an extractive, slow death for people. Of course it’s not lost on me that working far longer than that is most people’s reality, both in the U.S. and in many parts of the world. #ClassWar2022. I also know that in the sphere of politicized nonprofit/artists/academic middle class people that I’m a part of, we’re often rewarded for overworking (ex. making more money, growing your business, furthering your career, being seen as “excellent”). If you’re listening to this and you can choose your work schedule, or are in a position where you have power over how much time other people have to work, I’m curious how you’re unlearning this 40 hour work week culture. (And I want to clarify that I’m speaking to the people for whom this isn’t in alignment with what you need. I know some folks may live full, satisfying lives doing this! I’ve just seen the cost that this pace of work that we normalize has had on me and those around me.) I wish I saw more of us actively figuring out how to work less, be more present in our relationships and communities, and redistribute resources and wealth so more people can live well (beyond funding us to work more). And I’m speaking of work in the sense of a job.

When I see the Nap Ministry’s messages go viral, or memes about glamorizing the life of little homemaking mice over the 9-5 grind, I feel hopeful. It seems counterintuitive that the path to economic justice would look like workaholism.

Not to be that person who talks about their dog every 5 seconds (literally am that person), but Karuna really shows me how to reach a flow state when it comes to living out my days. She wakes up ready to get her personal + community work done (an hour long walk of greeting the neighborhood, gathering new information —pee smells— and finding the right spot to do her business). Then she has brunch at 10am, after organizing me to feed her if I’m taking too long because I got distracted by my phone. All this morning work is then proceeded by hours of luxurious sunbathing, window gazing, and napping around the house. Her day at a glance feels closer to the right-sized job to life ratio than what most of us know.

The week I made this potion, a flower essence, I felt like I had a Karuna mindset. (Normally it would take an enormous amount of deprogramming for me to reach this flow state, but what can I say….the astro weather was just hitting.) I watched the day of the bees and ants who visited the pink camellia bush that is blooming in our yard. It was planted by our landlords and has gorgeous pink blossoms, a fave snack of the neighborhood deer. I started by doing a plant meditation (see last month’s ritual) and just noticing the bush. Bees were stuffing their faces into the flower centers and ants were moving quickly along the branches. Actually watching the many daily activities of the bugs, I felt like I was getting a glimpse into a whole city. Everyone was getting what they needed. Sitting on our stoop, right under the tree, there were fallen pink flowers all around me. I felt transported by the lushness and centered by an immediate gratitude. After carefully placing a few of the camellia flowers in a bowl of water and letting them sit in the sun on the hood of my car, I made a garland with the camellias. What is it about making a flower garland in the middle of the day that makes you feel like you’re really fucking the system?? I hope y’all feel all of the above energy in your potion this month!

A couple quick things about flower essences for those who are less familiar. A flower essence is vibrational, energetic medicine. That means it doesn’t work on a physiological level like other herbal medicine, though some say that it can support physical health via emotional support. Water plus sun is thought to capture these healing gifts of the flower (remember that Toni Morrison quote about water having perfect memory?). The flowers are then removed from the water and the water is mixed with brandy or another preserving liquid — I used glycerin — to create the mother essence. Drops of this mother essence are added to 1 oz bottles, which are a mixture of water and glycerin. You orally take a few drops at a time (not dropperfuls, like with tinctures). This is definitely “highly sensitive person” medicine. For some, an emotional shift is immediate, for others it’s more subtle, and ofc there are folks who feel nothing. No judgment! I think you’ll enjoy the ritual and intention of the potion, wherever you fall on the spectrum. Find a more thorough explanation of flower essences here.

To flower essence practitioners, different flowers offer a unique quality of emotional and spiritual support. After many plant meditations, eating my morning oatmeal with the camellia bush, and taking this flower essence daily, I believe camellia flowers support us with the following:

💗 opening your heart

🌳 understanding your place in the whole

♻️ giving and receiving what you need without force

🌺 soaking in the lushness of life

This potion was made on April 12, 2022, during the Jupiter x Neptune conjunction in Pisces aka delicious astro weather that only happens once in our lifetimes. It showed me how I really can live more when I do less. I hope it’s good Taurus season medicine for you and is an invitation to live by the Karuna rules!