Black Forest Chai Recipe, Cave Poetry, and Important Apothecary Changes (Action Required)

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Cave Poetry

Razor sharp is the air this morning. 

Indicative of a true winter's day, the sky is solemn and brooding. 

All warmth is withheld, and joy must be sought  created, or remembered.  

I take solace in welcoming the cave time. 

In the darkness is fertile possibility.

In the silence comes the ancestral answers.

In the smell of the heady, dank earth,

we are granted the chance to take back our body.

In our cave time we adorn!

We draw red ochre on the walls

of our igneous hideouts

We butter our lips with roses and fat.

Smoke curls through time

Scenting our blankets and cloaks.

Libations in blood colored liquids are poured

Invoking dreams and visions.

The light comes to us from within our forest bodies, 

our bellies of love and water,

our breasts of milk and sweetness,

our minds of flowers and kaleidoscope minerals.

The Goddesses visit us in our cavern.

They give us gifts of dances and beauty and order.

They command from us our greatness, our fearless femininity.

As the world outside our cave

turns to ice

and incubates the seeds

We gestate our creative forces

and conjure powerful destinations

We render ghee from butter,

we render love from pain

we render forgiveness from anger

and we turn our inner blossoms

into seeds with wings

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Dearest Reader

Thank you for coming along these plant journeys. I know that even though you're here, reading something I have typed, this is really *your* journey. Your way of reconnecting to the earth beneath your feet, to the trees in your own forest, and to the senses tingling and talking throughout your body. 

I'm incredibly grateful to be somehow a part of that for you. 

I give gratitude for you and your divine nature. 

There are a few changes around here in an effort to serve you better, if you are a reader, patron, or ally, please be sure to read this thoroughly. 

As you may know it has been an extraordinary year for me.

I'm entering my second year of offering my Pleasure Medicine Apothecary Membership/Home study course (the Lady's Slipper Ring) and I have grown and learned a lot from the journey. 

I have made an impressive collection of herbals through the process, which I am very proud of. Below is my Botanical Aromatherapy Perfume Archive for the year (Oct 2011 - Oct 2012) It now rests on my abundance/gratitude altar. 

What I've noticed, is that there are two groups that I serve, and while there is quite a bit of overlap, there is also some divide. 

Some of you come for this:

and some of you come for this: 

And sometimes I just want to talk about this:

or this:

Does that make sense? 

So, to serve you better, take these actions: 

1) If you want to connect mostly about plants, nature, and earth based musings, please continue to be a part of this blog, and the Plant Journeys facebook page. You will still receive Apothecary offerings and updates on a semi-regular basis, but it will remain primarily a plants, life, and food-based forum for me.

2) If you're mostly here for my Artisan Herbals, Lady's Slipper Ring annual membership, pain killer salve, elixirs and products, or because you're into beautiful apothecary musings and sexy pictures of red wine and freshly poured magic potions, then the NEW Amrita Apothecary facebook Page is the click to like to stay connected to all of my creative endeavors and product offerings. In the future - THIS is where I will be posting first come first serve offerings such as night owl discounts, early bird specials, and OOAK leftovers from special projects. So, if you love my products, this is the place to be. If you're not interested in hearing about my offerings, this is not the place to be.

In this way, I sincerely hope to continue serving you in the ways more specific to the reasons you visit me, and in the ways that connect you with nature and your body most directly.

In gratitude and beauty blessings,

Ananda

PS - Thank you to everyone who has enrolled in this year's Ladys' Slipper Ring! I am diving deep to upgrade the home study content, going far into the forest to dig you rich roots, and working tirelessly on ideas for your coming herbal treasures. It's going to be a delicious ride. 

If any of you were hoping to come along, it's not (but almost!) too late! I have TWO SPACES LEFT  - but they will only be here until November 12, when I will lock the doors on the program until September 2013. 

For more information, go HERE

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BLACK FOREST CHAI

An intense herbal brew for your days hiding in the Cave.

Into a pot on the stove or wood stove, add 2 to 3 quarts filtered or well water. 

Add: 

~ 1, One inch sized root of Osha, dried.

~ One tablespoon Smoked black tea, such as Lapsang Souchong, or a roasted Mate

~ 1 tablespoon  Licorice root

~ 1 tablespoon Cardamom seeds

~ 1-2 tablespoons Ginger, fresh minced

~ 1-2 Springs freshly gathered conifer twigs with needles (spruce, fir, or pine)

~ 1 handful fresh Black Birch twigs cut into 1 inch bits

~ 5-10 Juniper berries

~ One inch piece dried mushroom (chaga, reishi, or shitake) if desired

~ grated Nutmeg to taste

~ Black Peppercorns as desired

~ 1 Handful of your favorite nuts; walnuts, almonds, or hazelnuts work well)

Directions: Gently simmer all ingredients for 30-45 minutes (longer will make it stronger). When ready, ladle out cupfuls as you desire, into your favorite mug. Add cream and honey and herbal elixirs as desired. Enjoy.

xo

Credits: 

Inspirations for Black Forest Chai come from the following:

My Hickory Nut Adventures and Wild Woman's Forest Brew 

My Sweet Friend, Herbalist Darcey Blue, who successfully got me addicted to smoked tea.

Kiva Rose's Wild Woodlands Morning Brew Recipe mmm

And of course, my body, who says - "Give me quiet, give me tea." 

And I must obey. 

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What Nourishes You Most Deeply? Are You Listening? (Four keys and four herbs for October transitions)

I Know The Way You Can Get 

I know the way you can get 

When you have not had a drink of Love: 

 Your face hardens, Your sweet muscles cramp. 

Children become concerned 

About a strange look that appears in your eyes 

Which even begins to worry your own mirror 

And nose. 

Squirrels and birds sense your sadness

And call an important conference in a tall tree. 

They decide which secret code to chant 

To help your mind and soul. 

 --Hafiz, excerpt

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Did your heat come on this morning? Did you feed the wood stove?

Mine came on for the first time of the season. I smelled the metallic air when I woke, and I knew to grab socks and a sweater.

There was a misty haze of cold dew along the fields, and a quietness of busy people slightly more withdrawn.

The poetry of the horizon speaks of geese pushing time and of leaves blushing red and setting sail.

There is much work of medicine and magic to be done, still.
I feel the stirring of our ancestors asking more of us, and the longing of the Earth for more response-ability.

I watch the squirrel heed these laws every time he digs to bury a nut.

Nature calls us to heed rhythms.

Are you listening? What do you hear?

Four Keys and Four Herbs for October Transitions:

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Temperature:
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How is the temperature in your body? Do you wake feeling cold, hot, or uncomfortably mixed? What do you do support your comfort?


Ginger
Ginger root helps to warm our circulation and regulate our 'triple heater', making temperature adaptation easier for our bodies. Instead of hot cocoa, try a cup of gently simmered fresh ginger root, with a little bit of honey. Or, make ginger root hot cocoa :)


Daylight and Moonlight:
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How is your rest & activity feeling? Are you sleepier or more energized than you were in the summer?

Seaweed
Seaweed is mineral rich giving our bodies the ability to be fully awake, and fully asleep, at the appropriate times. Seaweed is also brimming with both lunar and solar energies .... as it is fed by the sun and nourished by the moon and her watery tides. As perhaps the fastest growing vegetation in the world, seaweed feeds our wholeness and ability to be strong during periods of growth and change.


Your muse:
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How is your creative self? Engaged, disowned, tired, longing or restless? Your sense of divine connectedness to your life and your daily expressions of self? Your time for self care and reflection, meditation, or nourishing touch?

Cardamom
Cardamom is just sensual. It's sweet and spicy, gentle and strong, loving and clear. Cardamom in my warm milk, on my warm apple compote, or in a spicy soup, cardamom just makes me feel inspired. I often combine it with my other favorite muse herbs like Damiana and Kava Kava, but on her own she can re-awaken the imagination and playful self. When our senses and our mind are both playing, we can experience intense creative satiation.


Your footing:
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Do you feel steady, sure footed, and solid? Or frail and precarious? Are you the river, or are you the glass bottle floating down the river, headed for rapids? What is the message in your glass bottle, waiting to be freed, so that you may flow?

Burdock
Burdock to me is a water root. Dug from the wet earth and cooked in soups we are centered deeply in our water-bone humanness. We become grounded, centered, yet not stagnant. Burdock root nourishes our ability to be stable in our bodies, in our truth-speaking, and in our hearts.

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Perhaps you open my newsletter or blog expecting to be more formally taught about herbs.

By now you've probably realized that isn't entirely how I roll.

I could teach you about just herbs, but if you don't have the willingness to listen to your body, herbs aren't going to do much.


I don't teach answers, I teach questions.

I give possibility and options and resources and catalysts .... the answers belong to you. Answers can change over time.

And our bodies are part of nature. In listening to nature, we hear our bodies. In listening to our bodies, we hear nature.

In being honest about our senses, intuitions, impulses, and callings, we access a deep and perhaps ancestral strength that can empower our lives in profound and meaningful ways.

My wish for you is to continually have access to, and connection with, your true source.

May you have a blessed day, dear one.

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Ready to embark on an intentional journey of self discovery and pleasure medicine?

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Healing wounds and transforming habits does not have to be painful. There are better ways to claim our wholeness and connect to our inner knowing. 

Join us - a small, select group of magical women - on a year long spiral journey of enchanted, sensual, intuitive joy! 

You deserve it.

To learn more, go HERE  

Not sure what it might feel like? Find out what graduating members are saying:

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Testimonials:

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~ The Unburdened Basket ~

"The Lady’s Slipper Ring entered my life during a time of loss and much change.  As an older woman, I was confident in my beliefs and values though occasionally struggled with aligning them in all aspects of my life.  I have always been a frugal person and seldom indulged in things that I considered unnecessary.  And I am a craft-woman’s nightmare: I am the consumer who appreciates the product but then goes home and makes it myself.

I seemed an unlikely candidate for the LSR but with so much change in my life, I felt a bit untethered and felt that I needed to nourish, to care for myself during this difficult time. So I signed up and almost immediately started regretting my indulgence (where do we learn such thinking?)

Until I received the first month’s materials and herbal goodies… The content is thoughtful and challenging; each month I was asked to consider just how empowered I am on the inside.  Are my beliefs and actions aligned? What do I truly know to be true about myself? How do I perceive my place in this complex world?    How much do I trust myself, my values, my intuition?  In addition, multiple resources are offered for future pondering.  Working through each month’s topic was just that – work. Some topics were easier than others; all of them contributed to a deeper appreciation of my gifts and me.

My reward each month came in a small box that fit perfectly into my mailbox. Even in my best DIY attempts, I doubt that I could replicate the unique creams, balms, oils, elixirs and perfumes. Ananda’s unique approach to scents and taste delighted me each month.  She truly offers an artisan approach to her creations, and I quickly developed a ritual of sitting, sniffing, tasting, and massaging the products immediately upon their arrival.

Ananda’s wisdom and love are expressed throughout the LSR program.  I am moving forward with renewed energy and know that I will continue to return to the content on those days when defeat seems to be looming.  During this past year of incredible change in my life, the LSR proved to be a very wise investment in myself.  A luxury for so many women…self-care is seldom on our To-Do list.  

The Lady's Slipper Ring is a wonderful reminder of why it needs to be at the top of our lists.

Thanks,

Sue"

The Withered Herb 

Enroll in the Lady's Slipper Ring HERE!

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The Power of Choice, the Power of Decision

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"I am not the type to "splurge" on self-care but somehow I just knew from the second I heard about it that Ananda's Lady's Slipper Ring would be a powerful investment for me. 

By taking this year long course I have transformed a lot of my self-care habits and shifted my priorities to taking better care of myself. I love the new relationship I have formed with nourishment and self-care and I love the end result of being less stressed and finding more joy in my every day life. 

Plus, just getting that incredible package of treasures each month was a beautiful experience within itself. Ananda makes some of the best herbal products I've ever experienced! Self-care and nourishment are some of our most powerful tools for health and longevity, I am really grateful that I prioritized these qualities in my life through the Lady's Slipper Ring."

~Rosalee de la Forȇt

Methow Valley Herbs 

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Beauty Blessings,

Ananda

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Plant Journeys

Amrita Apothecary

Shop On PoppySwap 

Lady's Slipper Ring ~ Luxurious Herbal Self-Care Membership!

If you haven't had a chance to check out my Private Apothecary Membership - don't wait! Enrollment ends soon!

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EVERY month you get: Luscious herbal skin delights at your doorstep, rich and engaging support content replete with self-care practices, activities, suggested reading, a checklist, and a recipe.

Plus a personal email exchange every month too.

We're already nourishing ourselves with goodies and pleasure-filled action!

For all the Juicy Details CLICK HERE

I can't wait to send your treasures!!!

Love,

Ananda

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What women are already saying:


"I have just joined the ring and all I can say is WOW! I am excited and thrilled to be a part of this! Each month is packed full of simple, rewarding things to do to make you feel better about yourself and open yourself up to the true potential you really have. It's like a big hug delivered to your mailbox, followed by a gentle massage and a light, loving caress. Each month you'll receive suggestions and tasks to do that open up your mind and heart without being overwhelming. I'm already in love with this amazing journey of self worth and herbal love. If you are feeling a bit down, lost, misguided or burnt out, the Lady's Slipper Ring is perfect for you!" 

-Kristine Brown of Dancing in a Field of Tansy

"Women friends, i have something really important to share with you. my friend Ananda Wilson, a true goddess, is offering this amazing program, the Lady's Slipper Ring, that includes not only her phenomenal luscious herbal goods, but the most amazing, heartfelt, deep self care program- perfect for those of us who are busy, give a lot of ourselves, and need extra support and practical tools for giving ourselves the care we need and we DESERVE! I've signed up for my membership and already am astounded and moved and so thrilled by the materials provided and the luscious goodies already sent out. She only has a few more spots to join in!!!

You deserve this. Really. If need be, Skip your latte each day to find the extra $$ you need to make this happen for yourself. Tell the universe that you LOVE yourself, respect yourself and treat yourself like the goddess you are!" 

-Darcey Blue French of Blue Turtle Botanicals

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WOMEN: When we step into our beauty, truth, and power, the world shifts. It's simple. Love yourself. Lady's Slipper Ring guides you gently and consistently with conscious, pleasure based healing with powerful results. 

TO JOIN