From the Heart of Mullein

This morning was yet another one of these glorious late spring sunny mornings that truly feel like we are in the heart of summer in early July (though it is only May). I can’t wait to get outside each morning and see what is happening in the garden.

Today’s gift was the first blossoms from the herb Mullein. In Plant Spirit Medicine, Mullein is an herb that helps those of us of the Earth element find our ground. This plant has a deep taproot, growing deep into the Earth’s soil, and helping this very tall plant hold itself strong in the world. It provides a good lesson to me: I am always striving to reach high, to touch the sun, to exceed all possibilities. Yet if my feet are not firmly rooted deep in the Great Mother, my reach will exceed my grasp. Or yet another (funny) way to put it: my mind & spirit are very prone to write checks that my body is unable to cash. Mullein helps me balance all three, finding enough resources for all. Only when I am deeply grounded in the Earth am I truly able to reach for the sky.

Mullein has also been providing some other much needed help for me lately. When I started this alternative healing work eight years ago, I had this deluded idea that all my life issues would magically resolve and I would be able to present myself to the world like this bright shiny perfect penny of a healer. Not so. I struggle with life issues just like every one else.

The latest work is to look at a recurring theme about feeling unworthy - a legacy from the alcoholism of my family. At 56, with several years of therapy and other healing under my belt, I like to think I have done all the necessary work I need to do around these themes. Alas, that too is a delusion.

Sometimes, old feelings of low self-worth arise, out of some unseen rat hole, and I feel stupid, worthless, useless; many of you no doubt know this place. In these times, Mullein comes in like a loving mother, wrapping me around in her beautiful herb-green, flannel-leaf blankets. She reminds me that I am a child of this Earth, that I have a place, and some fine taproots, and I am surrounded by all the love I could ever imagine. She affirms to me that I am a worthy and beloved child of Spirit. In those moments, Mullein is my mother, and she brings me home to my authentic self. With her comfort and support, I take a few deep breaths, find my ground once again, and move into the world with confidence and grace.

This is the work of the Plants. And this is the work of the shamanic healer.

Janet