Currently, throughout the U.S. and the world, we are experiencing a health crisis. Not only bodily health but mental/emotional health and spiritual health as well. These things are interlinked closer than one may think at first. Which comes first, the physical ailment or the mental disturbance or the emotional suppression? Or is the cause even deeper in the form of spiritual forgetting? In this blog post, I am going to address the most underlying crisis of them all which I believe is the spiritual crisis.
Spirituality can be defined in many ways but basically, it’s a view of how we see ourselves in the grander scheme of the all-encompassing universe. We have lost track of our place and are wandering lost, disconnected from source and spirit, so much so that we don’t even know what those things are exactly. This disconnection leads to a reliance on outside stimuli such as food, sex, movies, drama, etc. to help fill the void. But instead of filling the emptiness we only create more emptiness which leads to addictions of all sorts. Just pick your personal favorite for we all have them. Addictions come from a lack of connection.... a lack of connection from each other, from the earth, from ourselves, and underlying it all, a lack of connection to a spiritual sense of being. Our souls are screaming for connection and we will sit in front of the computer and our phones desperately seeking this nourishing connection through social media only coming away from it more malnourished and desperate.
This desperation leads to self-destructiveness which manifests physically as autoimmune diseases of all sorts. Autoimmune diseases are on the rise which includes cancer, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, etc. Autoimmune disease is basically the body attacking itself as if it is other than itself. An act of confusion, division, illusion, and forgetting. What we need as a society right now is the opposite; more harmony, more connection, more truth and more of a remembrance of our true nature as spirit.
So how do we regain this connection to ourselves and something bigger than ourselves? Well, there lots of ways...meditation, yoga, dance, art, certain plants, eye to eye conversation with other humans, but I think everyone knows what gets them there and it is as unique and different as there are people. Just ask yourself, what makes you feel good....I mean really good like your soul and spirit are brimming with joy and you feel aliveness in every fiber of your being. Do that!
The universe is always helping us discover our spiritual essence and is craving for our full participation in this grand unfolding. One way the universe is reaching out to us is through the plant world. There are certain plants that can help us rediscover the spirit within and without. They are scattered throughout the globe and usually revered by humans for many thousands of years. They help us to gain insight into our place in the cosmos, what it means to be human and helps us open up our energy fields to feel more kindness and compassion for ourselves and others.
For every illness, there is always a cure, and many times this cure is a simple plant or combination of plants. It is interesting to me that we are in such a crisis of health and at the same time we have the availability of every known medicinal herb from around the world. It is almost as if these plants are coming out of their hiding places and offering themselves up to humans at this time to help us heal, grow and thrive. The wisdom traditions from all around the world and their healing practices are also now widely available such as Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine. These practices go back thousands of years but their teachings have never been more relevant as they are today. They teach us the importance of the connection to nature and spirit and outline the plants that help with that.
Here at Alchemy Elixirs, we use those plants with a long history of use which has been allied to us as humans for thousands of years. Our biology knows and craves these plants, for these are the ones that can help us remember who we truly are. They help the cells of the body and mind communicate in harmony with each other to form a common unity. So instead of our organism being built up of warring tribes, it starts to become a community which shares information from one part to another, helps in cooperation instead of hurting in competition. If the major diseases of our time are created from a division and lack of communication, then a community is the cure. In this community lies communication which leads to understanding and in understanding lies compassion. We are only able to create harm, confusion, and chaos with a lack of understanding and compassion. At this time on earth, we are needing more compassion not only for others but for ourselves as well. This compassion is what these plants can bring to us and is the gift of the plant world. They are here to give and all we have to do is be open to receive.
In the next blog post, we will explore those particular plants that are important for our health at this time.