On My Way to UAC in Denver

Getting ready for my trip to the United Astrology Conference "Rockin'the Universe: The 2008-2012 Cycles of Transformation", in Denver, Colo. This is going to be a huge one. Then when I return, I have a booth at "All Things Herbal" in Sebastopol, Sunday, June 15. Currently working on a new line of products - flower essence blends specifically tied to working on Pluto issues. You know Pluto - the one they just demoted from planet to planetoid? Interesting that just before Pluto entered Capricorn, where he may well see the transformation if not the total demise of corporations, some group of 'scientists' decides he's no longer a planet. As if that would change the power of the god of death and transformation. Ha! Anyone who has undergone a Pluto transit (who hasn't?) knows the power of Pluto. You may not have known that's what it was, but if an astrologer looked at your chart, you may have learned about it in retrospect. Among the values of astrology is finding out when these things are about to occur or are occurring so you know what to do to make the most of it. Then, when your world turns upside down you have a little objectivity about it. One of the services I provide is plant-based products to assist you on your path of transformation. In the spirit of Evolutionary Astrology, I am developing a Pluto Essences Line. More than one - twelve to be exact, to address the issues particular to the house placement of Pluto.

Calendula - 2008 Herb of the Year

Here's an example of a page from my website wisewomenofthewest.com The website also features my hand-made herbal products, astrological services that I provide, and information on subjects, such as the healing qualities of sea weed and black cumin seed.

Every year the International Herb Association chooses an Herb of the Year. This year it's Calendula officinalis. Calendula has so many uses, both culinary and medicinal. It has been used to color and flavor soups, cheese and butter - thus the name "pot marigold". Traditionally the dried leaves were used as a saffron substitute.

Medicinally, Calendula officinalis is anti-inflammatory, astringent, anti-fungal, and it promotes wound healing. Calendula may be used safely whenever there is inflammation on the skin whether due to infection or physical damage. It may be applied for any external bleeding, bruising or sprains. It is of benefit for slow-healing wounds and is an ideal first-aid treatment for minor burns. Since it is in the Asteraceae family, it may be an allergen for those with that kind of sensitivity.

Taken from: Medical Herbalism: The Science and Practice of Herbal Medicine, by David Hoffmann.

Calendula is featured in two easy to find and informative magazines: The Herb Companion which has a great article. Here are some of the recipes:

calendula cornmeal crisps
banana cake with calendula
maple cream cheese frosting
egg salad with calendula and chives

The other great magazine is: The Herb Quarterly

A great little book that is all about calendula by Mindy Green is: Calendula, one of the series by Keats Publishing, Inc. 1998. One from the series is called: A Keats Good Herb Guide.
Some great recipes from the book:

simple calendula rice
calendula cheese ball
calendula salad dressing
calendula ice cream
calendula cardamom custard
orange whipped cream

Fatima the Spinner and the Tent

For all those who still wonder what they will be when they grow up or if they will ever find their calling or their mate, I offer this Sufi story. I first heard it during a Jupiter return many years ago. Caroline Casey on the "Visionary Activist" show on KPFA read it. The story was so inspiring and relevant to my life, that I have taken it on as "my story". Interestingly, after hearing this, I actually did go to "The Farthest West" (Morocco), Alexandria (Egypt), Crete and Istanbul. I have yet to go to Java or China, but who knows?

Once in a city in the Farthest West there lived a girl called Fatima. She was the daughter of a prosperous spinner. One day her father said to her: ‘Come, daughter; we are going on a journey, for I have business in the islands of the Middle Sea. Perhaps you may find some handsome youth in a good situation whom you could take as husband.’


They set off and travelled from island to island, the father doing his trading while Fatima dreamt of the husband who might soon be hers. One day, however, they were on the way to Crete when a storm blew up, and the ship was wrecked. Fatima, only half-conscious, was cast up on the seashore near Alexandria. Her father was dead, and she was utterly destitute.

She could only remember dimly her life until then, for her experience of the shipwreck, and her exposure in the sea, had utterly exhausted her.

While she was wandering on the sands, a family of cloth-makers found her. Although they were poor, they took her into their humble home and taught her their craft. Thus it was that she made a second life for herself, and within a year or two she was happy and reconciled to her lot. But one day, when she was on the seashore for some reason, a band of slave-traders landed and carried her, along with other captives, away with them.

Although she bitterly lamented her lot, Fatima found no sympathy from the slavers, who took her to Istanbul and sold her as a slave.

Her world had collapsed for the second time. Now it chanced that there were few buyers at the market. One of them was a man who was looking for slaves to work in this wood yard, where he made masts for ships. When he saw the dejection of the unfortunate Fatima, he decided to buy her, thinking that in this way, at least, he might be able to give her a slightly better life than if she were bought by someone else.

He took Fatima to his home, intending to make her a serving-maid for his wife. When he arrived at the house, however, he found that he had lost all his money in a cargo which had been captured by pirates. He could not afford workers, so he, Fatima and his wife were left alone to work at the heavy labour of making masts.

Fatima, grateful to her employer for rescuing her, worked so hard and so well that he gave her her freedom, and she became his trusted helper. Thus it was that she became comparatively happy in her third career.

One day he said to her: ‘Fatima, I want you to go with a cargo of ships’ masts to Java, as my agent, and be sure that you sell them at a profit.’

She set off, but when the ship was off the coast of China a typhoon wrecked it, and Fatima found herself again cast up on the seashore of a strange land. Once again she wept bitterly, for she felt that nothing in her life was working in accordance with expectation. Whenever things seemed to be going well, something came and destroyed all her hopes.

‘Why is it,' she cried out, for the third time, ’that whenever I try to do something it comes to grief: Why should so many unfortunate things happen to me?’ But there was no answer. So she picked herself up from the sand, and started to walk inland.
Now it so happened that nobody in China had heard of Fatima, or knew anything about her troubles. But there was a legend that a certain stranger, a woman, would one day arrive there, and that she would be able to make a tent for the Emperor. And, since was as yet nobody in China who could make tents, everyone looked upon the fulfillment of this prediction with the liveliest anticipation.

In order to make sure that this stranger, when she arrived, would not be missed, successive Emperors of China had followed the custom of sending heralds, once a year, to all the towns and villages of the land, asking for any foreign woman to be produced at Court.

When Fatima stumbled into a town by the Chinese seashore, it was one such occasion. The people spoke to her through an interpreter, and explained that she would have to go to see the Emperor.
‘Lady,’ said the Emperor, when Fatima was brought before him, ‘can you make a tent?’
‘I think so,’ said Fatima.
She asked for rope, but there was none to be had. So, remembering her time as a spinner, she collected flax and made ropes. Then she asked for stout cloth, but the Chinese had none of the kind which she needed. So, drawing on her experience with the weavers of Alexandria, she made some stout tent cloth. Then she found that she needed tent-poles, but there were none in China. So Fatima, remembering how she had been trained by the wood-fashioner of Istanbul, cunningly made stout tent-poles. When these were ready, she racked her brains for the memory of all the tents she had seen in her travels: and lo, a tent was made.

When this wonder was revealed to the Emperor of China, he offered Fatima the fulfillment of any wish she cared to name. She chose to settle in China, where she married a handsome prince, and where she remained in happiness, surrounded by her children, until the end of her days.

It was through these adventures that Fatima realized that what had appeared to be an unpleasant experience at the time, turned out to be an essential part of the making of her ultimate happiness.

From Tales of the Dervishes, by Indries Shah

Seven Rose Heart Chakra Rubs and Chocolate Mermaids

Once again, time has been flying by and I have not posted. Was busy getting ready for a craft fair at the Harvest for the Hungry benefit Plant Sale . Ended up doing very well. The top seller of the day being my "seven rose heart chakra rubs" see website:
www.wisewomenofthewest.com.
I also went for a day trip to the U.C. Davis Botanical Gardens with the Sonoma County Master Gardeners.
In two weeks, I'm off to the UAC in Denver, The United Astrology Conference titled: "Rockin' the Universe: The 2008-2012 Cycles of Transformation". This is a huge conference with 5 days of sessions for a total of 18, with 15 different speakers presenting for each session. It reminds me of the AAA (American Anthropological Association) conferences I used to go to back in another lifetime. That feels like a million years ago. These days, it's astrology and plant spirit healing for me. Then, May 30th, I'll reach one of the big ones when I turn "60"!!! Never thought I'd live this long (wasn't sure I wanted to), but so far so good. Even though I just had surgery on my eyelid today and had to wear an eye patch (I asked the doctor to put on a black one so I could fulfill my pirate fantasy), I am in very good shape for the shape I'm in. Two weeks later, I will be doing the "All Things Herbal" herb/craft show Father's Day in Sebastopol in association with the Sebastopol Farmer's Market. This is sponsored by the Sonoma County Herb Association.

The summer is shaping up. No big trips planned although I'm open to the possibility. I am also working on a line of flower essence blends that will focus on Pluto issues. 'Got a download' to do this, in conjunction with the Evolutionary Astrology training program. And now we are full circle. The seven rose heart chakra rubs were made in response to a similar 'download'. I get messages to make something and often I don't even know what it's for. I follow instructions. Then I package it and offer it for sale at my booth. Fine, great. But when people ask me "What's it for?" They want an answer. I have several. Doesn't my mission statement include "handmade herbal products with a story"? Lately, I have not been afraid to give more of the story. To include the part about getting downloads from Spirit. No one flinches. In fact, they seem relieved. The Universe sighs....Ah ...."thank you for acknowledging us". It's getting more okay to say stuff like this because people are hungry for it. The reality we have agreed on is becoming too limiting. People crave enchantment, magic, mystery. "The Quest" is a strong archetype in our psyches and we really don't want to think we have all the answers. "Years ago", as my relatives used to say, there was a very popular movie "What's It All About Alfie?" with a title song that went with it. I don't remember much about the movie except bits of the song. The point is - we need to believe, imagine, fantasize in order to continue to want to get up every day. Why else would fantasy be such a popular genre for books and film? This is one reason why I don't connect much to doomsday scenarios. True, we have done horrendus things to the planet and we are beginning to reap the consequences. It was our rational minds that got us into this fix and as Einstein said “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” For fear of sounding like my late Mother, who often called herself "an ostrich living with her head in the sand", bless her heart, I will say this, I prefer miracles. I prefer to ask God/Goddess/Spirit/All that is, to help us. Caroline Casey says the gods are very willing to help us - all we have to do is ask.

West Meets East

Just finished reading an interesting article in Saudi Aramco World called "East Meets West in Venice", which is about the trade relations between Venice and the Middle East beginning in the eighth century. Camel caravans from all over the middle east, would come to Alexandria, Egypt and merchandise would be loaded onto boats, which sailed all over the Mediterranean. Once again, I see examples of the many ways Europe has interacted with the Middle East and how little was written about this in the history books I grew up with. Did I say "how little"? I should have said "nothing". (By the way, the magazine mentioned above is available through a free subscription and you can access all their articles and back issues through the website). It is a magazine whose stated goal is to increase cross-cultural understanding by broadening knowledge of the cultures, history, and geography of the Arab and Muslim worlds and their connections to the West. I have been reading it for several years and have never detected any political or ideological agenda. It is very informative.

One issue that stands out was on the
roots of Blues music in America. If you follow the link you can listen to recordings of the athaan (Islamic call to prayer) and a traditional African-American song that are remarkably similar.

While the article about Venice is titled East Meets West..... I think the issue is rather that we in "the West", especially in America, have no idea of "the East". We have been living in a glass bubble of isolation. In general, we have no idea of what goes on in the rest of the world, we know almost nothing about history, and we don't seem to care. Until 9/11, few people even knew a thing about Islam or the Middle East. Because of our ignorance and apathy, the media was able to feed us what they wanted us to eat. We were led along like sheep, controlled by our "leaders". In the "richest country in the world", we have gone to sleep.

My time in Zaire, Africa in the Peace Corps was a wake-up call for me. My students walked several hours to school. If they brought food with them, they ate. There was no food on campus. They stayed on campus for many hours a day. If they were fortunate enough to live on campus in a dormitory, they shared one room with 4 to 6 others. They had no water or electricity most of the time. There were few books or magazines available. No media to speak of. Yet, their desire for knowledge was so great and the value they put on learning was so high, that when they did get a book, they memorized it. They knew all the States in the U.S., their capital cities, their major geographical features. Before I went there, I had never heard of Zaire. When I got my acceptance letter from Peace Corps, I had to go to an atlas to see where it was. It is now called by its historical name of Congo. My students taught themselves languages with one book, just in case they got a chance to speak to someone from that country. They all spoke at least 4 or 5 languages. Having worked in university libraries in the States, I knew how few students ever even went into the library, let alone checked out books and read them. Forget memorizing. It shamed me to realize that although we have so many resources at our fingertips, most people are complacent, lazy and uninterested in knowing anything beyond what is on T.V. People who only read the newspaper, consider themselves "readers".

California used to be known as having the best educational system in the States. This is no longer true. Most people blame government - Local, State, or Federal. That is not right. If you must blame someone or something, blame the fact that we as a culture do not actually value education. What we value is making money and God knows that has nothing to do with education. In fact, having advanced degrees often works against you in the job market. I can't tell you how many jobs I didn't get because I was "over-qualified". Yet, when I went through a bad time in my life and tried to get general assistance as a temporary measure, I was told I had too much education and thus was not destitute enough because I could get a high paying job. I have never had a high paying job. Meanwhile a family member, with one year of junior college, is making millions. Even though years ago, one of my goals was to be a university professor, and I started a doctoral program, I soon realized that all I would be doing was contributing to the problem - educating more people who would be unemployable in our current system or "under-employed" people with advanced degrees working at the post office. I did teach at the university level through extension programs where people took classes they were really interested in - for fun. That was delightful.

Or you can blame the students who don't care and are not interested in learning. Learning has nothing to do with teachers, resources, buildings, or even diet for that matter. For those who value knowledge and learnng, nothing can stop them. They don't do it because they think they will make more money. They do it because they are curious, interested, inspired. I saw this first hand in Zaire. They had a burning desire to know about the world, not just their neighborhood. For most of them, there would be no advantage in having an education except to enrich their own mind. How to motivate people to open their minds and ask questions, that is the challenge.

Coursing the Chart

I have started working with clients toward certification as a Flower Essence Practitioner. The essences are powerful and transformative. I also use astrology to help in identifying the issues and setting intentions. People are often not aware of core issues - if they were, they probably wouldn't need to call on a practitioner in the first place. There might just be a sense that something is wrong and they want you to tell them what it is. Well, that is not what I do. Rather, I witness the other person's process, offering the tools that I have experience with. Among those tools is Astrology. Whether you have a "live reading" or a personalized report (see my website
www.wisewomenofthewest.com
to order a report from a famous astrologer) astrology can provide insight into answering the question of why we are here and what we are here to do. As I see it, ultimately, we are all on a path toward greater coherence. How we get there depends on our "map". The chart is the map. (Ever wonder why boat maps are called charts?) The navigational symbol on a map is called a "compass rose".
For an article about it see origin of the compass rose . And what you may well ask, does this have to do with.....? Well, the study of history will reveal the relatedness of things. The early scientists who invented the navigational tools, were also astronomer/astrologers. No separation. Imagine that!

The word resonance has been coming up a lot for me recently. It feels good. It feels right. To become resonant with the Divine as it manifests in the natural world. Ahhhh Vibrating together - coherent. These words are definitely striking a chord. Pam Montgomery's book Plant Spirit Healing with a foreward by Stephen Harrod Buhner who wrote: The Secret Teachings of Plants and Sacred Plant Medicine, two magical books on the plant messengers and our relationship to plants. The information that the heart is the primary organ of perception and actually comes into being before the brain, is marvelous. Ya Hu

Teachings from Buttercup

Last weekend I attended a workshop by Pam Montgomery author of Plant Spirit Healing: A Guide to Working with Plant Consciousness given at California School of Herbal Studies in Forestville, California. Each of us in the workshop were selected by a plant, in my case, Buttercup. An unassuming little flower that I also saw recently in Mexico. One that most people recognize, no matter how little they know about plants. You are walking along and there she is. Her spirit has been with me for a couple of days and nights now. With petals that are both shiny, reflecting light, and irridescent, giving off light, she is like a tiny mirror. Happily bobbing on delicate stems, she appears to be dancing in the wind. Her message for me was that one of the greatest things we can do is to show other people how beautiful they are. Reflect the light of others. I later went to the reference book for the Flower Essence Society, the Flower Essence Repertory, by Patricia Kaminski and Richard Katz, which said, the positive qualities of buttercup are: "radiant inner light, unattached to outer recognition or fame". I was not surprised because I have often found when working with plants. They tell you what they are for. These days we can be caught up in the "Hollywood" mentality which is all around us. We all want recognition, fame and (admit it) fortune. But Nature gives us everything, everyday, for "nothing". All She wants or needs is our gratitude. That is the one thing we need to do in return. Give thanks. Spiritual traditions all over the world, share this concept of giving thanks. Whether it be to God or to Nature, it is to the Creation. Gratitude puts our heart in coherence with the Universe, connecting us. And this is what we must do to heal ourselves and the planet. Every day and Now.