This month we have been looking at how to move heavy emotions and to restore the sense of movement and balance that should be our natural state. When we reach a point of overwhelm or stagnation, and particularly when we have stayed in this state for too long, the challenge is that it becomes difficult to know where to begin. Sometimes we feel hopeless or too identified with the emotions to see a solution, or a particular cause. We know we want to feel better, but we don’t know where to begin. This is a moment when our plant and crystal allies can be of deep service to us. Though we may think of them as medicines and tools to use, it is helpful to remember that they are also our elders on this planet. Though their consciousness is different than ours, these are generous beings with their own intelligence, and in many instances they are more than willing to pick us up and return us to clarity when we are down. The two allies we will discuss below are good examples of this. Both are central to the emotional healing practices found within Curanderismo, and as such are both potent and easy to engage, even when our energy for ritual feels limited.
Rosemary
In my time of studying folk herbalism with Atava Garcia Swiecicki, of Ancestral Apothecary, she often would emphasize that the plants we need most for our personal healing tend to be found right in our own backyards and neighborhoods. There is a synchronicity that happens between us and the plant world wherein we are drawn towards living near what we need, or they are drawn towards growing where needed. It makes sense when we consider plants as a kind of collective consciousness rather than individual beings. A deep dive into the science of botany will reveal how plants communicate, sharing information and resources between them. Plants survive and thrive in our ever changing world by communicating, sharing resources, and even transforming the environments in which they live. They produce a language of sound, chemicals, and other subtle methods, beneath our conscious perception. They perceive their environments and make decisions intentionally, including where to move. Perhaps, though we are coming to understand this in one way, we are still just scratching the surface their consciousness and interaction with us. I mention this because Rosemary is a very good example of a powerful healing plant that has become so common to us, growing easily and abundantly as hedges and garden staples for example, that we may not even notice it. Rosemary is definitely all around us, if not in the wild, then within cultivated gardens, schools, and neighborhood parks. It is common in our food, easy to find fresh, dried, or within salt. Yet, even if the sight of it is common to us, it’s scent is transportive, giving us an immediately sharp and sweet fragrance that at once awakens us, like a cleansing breath of fresh air. As I write this, I’m thinking that Bay, Lavender, and Sage are similarly present, medicine plants hiding in plain sight. Perhaps this is no accident. Aromatic herbs are potent and work quickly to shift how we feel, as well as how our auric field presents itself.
Rosemary is well known as a cleansing and protection plant. It came to Mexican Curanderismo from Europe, as part of the blending of cultures and medicines that came after colonization. It has a long legacy in Europe as an herb with many folk and magical applications, from cleansing to love and fertility. Its name derives from the Latin words ros and marinas, meaning “dew of the sea.” This is because of its ancient association with the fertility cult of Aphrodite. In Europe, twigs of rosemary are still traditionally woven into the bridal wreath to bring blessings of love and fertility to a marriage. Yet, its use in Curanderismo has more to do with its physical properties as a stimulant of circulation. Rosemary wakes up our energies and our blood flow. This increases clarity of mind, and can shake us out of the fog of emotion and energetic stagnation. It is traditionally used in morning baths, or in any bath meant to cleanse energetically and restore balance and clarity. The scent of the fresh herb when touched, or within the essential oil can have a similar effect, entering the system quickly for an immediate shift.
Rosemary has strong associations with purification and protection, even in rituals of exorcism. It is easily dried and can be burned to cleanse a space of negative influence, or to consecrate before ritual. It has a long history as a natural incense used for this purpose, as well as in mixtures to increase love and lust. There is folklore about using a sprig of the fresh plant to ward against nightmares, when placed under the pillow, against harm in general when placed under the bed, and against thieves, intruders, and illness when hung on the porch or outside the door. An old custom which remains strong today is to grow Rosemary at the entrance to one’s garden or front door, on both sides as protection from negative energies, or people, intruding. When someone walks through this gateway, if they are not warded away, they are cleansed of the heavier energies they have been carrying, before bringing them into the home. Next time you are walking around your neighborhood, take a look around to see how often you notice hedges or smaller Rosemary plants growing on both sides of an entrance to garden or home. It’s interesting to wonder if this was once done intentionally, or if it has become an unconscious cultural impulse. I have noticed this Rosemary gateway to be very common in Mexican American neighborhoods.
In terms of its curative legacy, rituals of bathing with, burning, and carrying Rosemary are common. It is said that wearing Rosemary improves memory, or “remembrance” if you recall Ophelia’s famous speech in Hamlet. The scent of the wood, or its infusion into bathwater helps to preserve youthfulness, which may be another way of describing its ability to clear what weighs us down. When our clarity is returned, we are able to look again with the fresh eyes of youth, and our internal count that governs aging slows.
Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs describes an old remedy for depression that involves making a powder of dried leaves, wrapping them in linen, and binding this around the right arm to lighten the emotions. As mentioned above, Rosemary is one of the herbs beloved in Curanderismo, particularly for its emotional cleansing and clarity stimulating effects. Herbal steaming and bathing in an infusion of Rosemary, while using the fresh plant to scrub the body is a potent treatment that is easy to do at home. Rosemary is also a common ingredient in Limpias and within herb bundles used for cleansing in the Temescal, the Mexican version of the more widely known sweat lodge ceremony. Cooking with Rosemary is also an excellent way to bring it into everyday life. As the spirit of the Rosemary plant has lended itself to accessibility and become a common feature in our modern lives, perhaps the hint is to keep it near and use it abundantly. Within our everyday interactions with people, media, and the pace of living we collect a lot of heavy emotions. Here is a plant that seems to want to provide us with an easy form of protection, cleansing, and the renewal of emotional health and clarity.
Suggestions for working with Rosemary from magical folklore:
Women’s power is said to thrive in the presence of living Rosemary. Plant it around your home and garden, especially at the gateways.
It is traditional to use an infusion of Rosemary to wash hands before a healing, to clear and empower oneself before helping another. It’s also possible to use water and Rosemary essential oil for this.
Make a tea for psychic energy replenishment when physically depleted. Since this is not a common flavor for tea, it helps to add lemon balm, peppermint, and honey.
Make an infusion of Rosemary, Lemon Balm and Spearmint to pour into a psychic replenishment bath. Essential oils can be added too. These uplifting herbs together will be a great treatment for Depression.
If you need to repair your aura and desire to stimulate psychic perception, try creating a psychic bath by blending the essential oil of Rosemary with the essential oil of Mastic. This will help you to increase psychic impressions and to retain the experiences as well. If you have an oil burner, you can also put these scents in the air while you meditate or dream.
Here is a great spell a deep home cleansing, from The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells: “For house cleansing and curse breaking in the home, add nine drops of rosemary essential oil into a glass of rainwater. Add to this nine drops of uncrossing oil if you have it. Sir and place in the window for three days. On the fourth day, sprinkle throughout the home wherever you perceive dark spots, corners, or uncomfortable areas of energy. On the same day add rosemary essential oil and uncrossing oil to your bath.”
Remember, when you are bathing with Rosemary to move energy that is stagnant, you will want to make a strong infusion. Use 1-2 cups of dried herbs, or 3 cups of fresh to 6 cups of water. Boil the water in a large stainless steel or clay pot, then turn off the heat and add the herbs. Cover and let them steep for 30 minutes or so. You can add the tea to your bath while straining out the herbs, or leave the herbs in to rub onto your skin and strain them out with a mesh strainer, before draining the water. If your nervous system has become frazzled and you need extra relaxation, you can add lavender essential oil. The scent pairs very well with Rosemary.
Mahogany Obsidian
I have written previously about Obsidian, the powerful black stone which is so central to the sacred arts of Nahualismo, but not about its variations. To begin with, we should remember how Obsidian is formed. When the molten lava of an erupting volcano meets the water, or air, and suddenly cools, it becomes the shiny volcanic glass we know as Obsidian. Its energetic strength is formed in the intense meeting of elements, and because of this uncanny transformation, the Indigenous traditions of Mexico say that it is the dream of the volcano to become Obsidian. This is a powerful phenomenon, and the substance it creates is unique. When the glass forms into the deep black we’re most familiar with, then it is associated with the potent force known as the Black Tezcatlipoca, and with the arts of the mirror and other sacred healing tools, which provide access into the unknown and the unconscious realms where we can observe what is hidden, extract harmful influences, and reprogram our deepest patterns of thinking and dreaming. When the volcanic rock is more silica-rich and contains undulating parts of oxidized Hematite or Magnetite, it forms in shades of brick red, mahogany, and brown, interspersed with the shiny black. This is known as Mahogany Obsidian, or sometimes as Red Obsidian, and it is associated with the Red Tezcatlipoca, the force that rules physical healing, shedding what needs to be released, and renewal. Like Black Obsidian, Mahogany Obsidian is a deeply protective stone, but it’s area of specialty is different.
Mahogany Obsidian focuses its healing and protective gifts on areas of personal wounding and negative influence. It is an excellent protector of the auric field, particularly when psychic intrusions are limiting one’s self concept and feelings of agency in life. This stone can help to heal the long term effects of emotional, sexual, and physical abuse, and dissipate the sense of shame, fear, and insecurity that these harmful experiences leave behind. In The Book of Stones, it is suggested that Mahogany Obsidian has a special relationship with he second chakra that rules sexual energy. This is a very important area within the energetic system to clear from wounds and intrusions, because it not only affects our relationship to personal sexuality, but to the creative energies we have within that allow us to create in our lives. If this area is blocked, we are limited. Our energy is not able to easily root us into the earth, the place where we live and which allows for energetic renewal. It is also not able to fully rise through the rest of our energy centers. This affects our ability to dream with lucidity and intention, to awaken our more mystical abilities, to manifest what we intend to create, and to rise the feathered serpent or kundalini energy that allows us to awaken to our full potential. If our energy is trapped in this region, we continue to feel unsafe and limited in power, possibly repeating cycles of abuse, toxicity, lack, and trauma. The sexual energy tonalcayo (chakra) is also the place of addiction, a subversion or squandering of our creative impulse. Mahogany Obsidian is a potent aid for those experiencing addiction and Depression. It can help us to understand and cleanse these harmful influences from inside and outside of us, acting as a healing catalyst and a psychic shield, while reinvigorating our sensuality and energetic flow. In this manner, Mahogany Obsidian can be understood to have a strong cleansing and rebalancing effect on our whole energetic system, rooted primarily in the restoration of the first three chakras (or totonalcayos).
It is important to note that Obsidian works by pulling these problematic issues to the surface of our awareness. We do need to be ready to meet these painful influences within us and to heal. Yet, Mahogany Obsidian is a bit more gentle in its approach than the pure black form. It can be worn as jewelry and when used this way it is an excellent protection talisman and manifestation aid, helping one to reclaim the inner power and energetic movement needed to create abundance instead of scarcity, creating feelings of empowerment instead of unworthiness.
Mahogany Obsidian can also be used to remove energy cords that form between people in intimate relationships. When these relationships have been toxic, violating boundaries and draining vital energy, this stone is a strong ally for breaking the link and restoring sovereignty. It is an excellent protection against psychic attacks by those who intend to wield control or cause harm, as well as against those who may not intend harm, but allow their energy to operate unconsciously in a negative or aggressive manner, causing harm nonetheless. Mahogany Obsidian is an effective tool to use when one’s energetic system has become wounded by personal and ancestral traumas, and is no longer holding off harmful intrusions or creating in a grounded and self-supporting way. It can help in accessing one’s ability to shed what has been and continues to be harmful, and when guiding others in this kind of healing process
Suggestions for working with Rosemary and Mahogany Obsidian together:
When flooded with heavy emotions, the key is to take the action that you are able to take, in order to begin to turn things towards a better direction. Take a Rosemary herbal bath. Buy some essential oil to add to your hair or base oil and smell it throughout the day. Wear some Mahogany Obsidian jewelry or carry a stone in a medicine bag. Begin in these simple ways and let them grow. Listen to your allies, and rebuild your clarity and strength, knowing movement is the primary principle of our Cosmos.
May you renew yourself and dream your life in beauty and clarity. May you be who you are most meant to be.
With love,
the eleventh house
-This blog was written by Melusina Gomez. For more information about her work and healing practices please visit www.metzmecatl.com