~ Spirit of The Sacred Center ~

Self & Spirit

Completing the journey around the wheel we arrive in the Spirit of the Sacred Center.

We call on the healing wisdom of our hearts and ask the powerful energy of Love to call us home. May we always be held in the arms of this compassionate and loving family. May we find peace in our souls, surrounded by Spirit, fully received and loved unconditionally in all moments. We give gratitude to all of the medicine we have received around the wheel, and all of the allies that have brought us healing and support. May the medicine and love we receive be given out in all directions to those who need it.

We have finally arrived at the sacred center, where we stand at the center of the wheel by the council fire. We are held by all directions, surrounded in healing energy from all of our plant allies and elders... The center is where we always reside, continually receiving support and love.

The center of the wheel is where the Self resides with Spirit. Held in love and union with the Divine. Filled with the bright light and flame that we are. Purified and transforming continually as the wheel turns. 

At the council fire we call our elders, loving ancestors, lineages, medicine, and allies to us. The council of all beings gathers around us ready to support with their wisdom and medicine. They hold a safe container for us to heal and pray. In the center we allow ourselves to fully unfold and receive from all directions. It is also a powerful place to send out our blessings and energy in all directions…

Journey to the Center of the Wheel. 

Imagine yourself standing at a sacred fire, at the center of a stone circle, in a landscape that feels both familiar and safe to you. It feels like returning home, and you care greeted there with love and appreciation. You don’t have to do or be anything here… just feel how much you are appreciated by the loving spirits that surround you. Look around and see the plants that surround you. The trees, the animals, and landscape in the distance. 

Spend a few minutes feeling the warmth of the council fire, and when you are ready make some offerings of blessing herbs to the fire. Feel all four directions and elements surrounding you in the landscape, glowing with energy. The strong earth in the North is front of you. The winds of the East blow to your right, with the warmth and heat of the South behind you. To your left, the cooling waters of the West. Feel the strength and energy of each of the directions pouring towards you. You may see them as different colours of energy, streaming into the center of the fire and filling your body with healing light. 

Call your plant allies from each direction, and see them arrive around the wheel. Feel the allies you have made, and allow them to surround you with their presence and healing energy. Let their love and wisdom radiate around you, received into your heart and body. Take some time to turn to each direction, sending the spirits there love and gratitude. Make offerings of love from your heart… Flowers, or blessing herbs to each direction… Thanking the plants there, and welcoming in medicine you are needing.

Spend some time resting there at the center of the wheel, letting yourself receive the healing energy of the plants that surround you. Feel them growing underneath you, wrapping around your arms and legs with healing energy, softly pressing against your skin. Surrounding your body with flowers and green. Allow the image and presence of the wheel to fade into your heart. Send gratitude to the spirits of the sacred wheel… and let yourself feel embraced and protected.

Welcome ~ The Sacred Center of the Wheel

Receiving From All Directions…

As we complete the journey around the wheel I hope you feel the energies from each of the directions surrounding you… The grounding and nourishing presence of the earthy North plants. The expansive and clearing energies of the air plants of the East. The passionate fiery plants of the South… and the realxing dreamy plants of the water in the West. Let the allies and elements fill you with their healing energy. Feel the plant allies that have brought us so much medicine and support. Know you can call on the powerful energyes of the elements through the plants anytime you connect to them. 

As you continue to get to know new plants, feel the elemental energies in them emerge. As you feel the elements in each plant, you’ll be able to understand their medicine, magic, and energy more easily. This is how I got to know the spirits of the plants so many years ago… and it has helped me deeply over the years to connect to their medicine and personality. 

If you didn't get a change to create medicine blends for each direction, you may want to do that now! Think about what you are wanting to call in from each element for yourself, or for a loved one… or your community. Call in the energies of that element that you are wanting to invite, and choose plants from thet element that you feel connected to. 

Audio ~ Gathering Your Medicines

Self –care Practice
& Planning

At the center of the wheel we focus on receiving what we need, and in many ways the wheel itself is a place of self care and self healing…. as you are receiving the medicine of the plants, the healing powers of the elemental energies, and the many spirits who support us. This month I invite you to create a plan for your self care using the plants you have connected to around the wheel. Feeling into the practices and therapies that come with each of the directions.

I invite you to spend five minutes now with your eyes closed, feeling what support you are most needing right now. Are there places in your heart, mind, and body you can feel asking for care taking? Breathe slowly and place your hands on your body. Listen to what you are needing right now, or in your life at the moment. Write down anything that arrises, allowing images to come into your mind… Ask your body what it is needing, including any plants. Spend as long as you need listening and asking the voices within you to ask for what they are needing. 

Think about what plants have nurtured you most this year, even those you have just spent time with outside… those you have journeyed with, dreamed with, held to your body, harvested, drunk, bathed with, planted, and tended to. The plants you have most appreciated and felt moved by this year. Let their images come into your mind and heart. Place a hand on your heart and send some love out to them. 

Now write down any practices that are healing, restorative, and nourishing to you that you need right now. Next to that list write down a few plants that also would feel very healing and restorative to work with now. How are you wanting to receive them? This is the beginning of your self care plan… Now think about any systems of your body, organs, or tissues you want to tend to. See if there are any overlaps of the plants you were feeling drawn to. 

Choose one tea (a blend of plants is fine) to drink a quart a day of (a couple mugs full). Choose a tincture blend, or simple, and start there… just one tea and one tincture to take daily. You can add more in later, but to start with you want to make sure your plan is simple enough you will actually do it. This is also helpful when recommending herbs to others since it takes some getting used to to actually incorporate them into our lives and routines. The plants are most effective when we take them regularly for a good period of time. This is when we really feel their effects on our whole being. 

Use the guide below for creating a self care worksheet if you like! 

Video ~ Self Care Practice & Planning

Self-care Worksheet
& Calendar

Let yourself receive…

There is a wonderful practice I love to do to plan some self care and healing practices for myself, while also journeying around the wheel. Take a pice of paper or use a page in your journal and draw a circle with 8 sections (like slices of a pie). 

Now look over your list you created when you were listening to what you are needing right now the most. Considering healing practices from each element and direction. In each slice of the pie, write down what you want to give yourself as a self care practice this coming week. My wheel has meditationn, naps in the grass, picnics, yoga, swimming, and painting on my list. 

What I love about this wheel is it isn’t a linear list of things you need to do. There is no pressure to it. And you can feel all of these practices pointing towards the center, feeding you. Surrounded in things that make you feel good. Lists are too much pressure. More lists of things to do is definitely not self care… so I hope this wheel speaks to you more. 

In the morning, look at the wheel and choose one healing practice to do every day. This allows spintinaety and freedom to choose what you are most feeling like or have time for that day. I hang my self care wheel on the wall or bathroom  mirror so I see it daily. 

Teaching Self - Dosing

Co-Creation Between Practitioner and Client

Herbalism takes effort at home, where we have to brew teas and add tinctures to water, pour herbs in our tubs and rub oils on our body… herbalism takes more effort than popping a pill! Createng self care practices takes time and patience with ourselves. It took me years before I was able to incorporatete plants into my life daily. It was just not a habit I could adopt quickly. 

One way to help support yourself and others in their self care plan is to give them the challenge of trying a plant for a few days to find the right dose for their body. Have them try a small dose, and slowly increase the amount they drink (maybe the concentration as well, though I love weaker teas personally because I’m so sensitive energetically to them).  Consider taking the plants as an expirement where you are collecting information and observing how they feel in your body. You can ask your client to write down any changes they notes, which will be especially strong if they spend time listening to their body’s reaction to the plants. 

Experimentation is fun, and less of a thing you have to make yourself do. Consider the process of self dosing as a fun process of exploring what feels really good to your body. 

Teach the person you are recommending a plant medicine to how to listen to their taste buds and mouth first when drinking an herbal medicine. Let them know it should taste mild and pleaant, and if it doesn’t they can dilute it down with water until their body enjoys drinking it. Your body’s reactions are importtant to listen to… and the process of self dosing (deviding how much and how concentrated you wan t a tea to be) builds a sense of trust between you and the plants. 

Video ~ Teaching Self Dosing

First Steps of Healing

Listening ~ Nourishing ~ Restoring

Video ~ First Steps of Healing

Returning
to the Wheel

Letting yourself rest and receive…