Brown Betty Teapot

It's funny what happens when you are in a situation like this quarantine. For me, I have reverted to my past. starting with using our 
Brown Betty everyday. Both set of grandparents always had tea. Everything stopped and we sat together for a short time. Not only was the grade of tea important but the container and cup. Going to the grocery store or the organic farm with gloves and masks seems strange. Walking into my local stores and seeing so many empty shelves feels odd. So as I read or listen to the news and try to process our world turned upside down, I turn to my Brown Betty. The ritual of making tea, the time together, and remembering those who have passed, seem comforting. Suddenly old recipes come to mind, my grandparents' use of condensed or evaporated milk, the memories of people who survived much worse for longer arise. My daughter and I are finding comfort in going through the family cookbooks where we find notes written in a late relatives hand. And these thoughts all came about because today, once again, I used our Brown Betty. ❤️

Shaking Off Negativity

Peace and Tranquility

I suppose that I sometimes have difficulty shaking off the day. Especially when I run into people who are very negative. This past week I ran into one of those people and she was very hard to speak to. I realize that if I embrace the Four Agreements, I should just step away and not take her issues personally.  I finally was able to do that. Then today I went outside and transplanted my elder tree. Digging helps stress. I am sweaty and my muscles feel used, but most importantly I feel peaceful.

Amethyst

Amethyst's name from Greek meaning, "Not Intoxicated" and it is a violet variety of quartz. It helps to bring calmness and clarity as well as assist you with your intuition and feelings. Below is an excerpt from my book, "I Know a Woman, Greenfire Wise Woman Craft".
Amethyst-
Color- Purple
Chakra- Crown
Healing Use - Spirituality, contentment, heart, stomach, skin, teeth, skeletal, digestion, nervous system
Metaphysical Use-Dreams, Overcoming Alcoholism, peace, love, protection against thieves, courage, and happiness
Energy - Receptive, Jupiter, Neptune, Water, Bacchus, Dionysus, Diana

Motherwort

Motherwort - (Leonurus cardiaca) happens to be one of my favorite herbal allies. I first met her when I went to visit my teacher, Susun Weed. It is a perennial herb that is a member of the mint family. Just as it's Latin name implies, motherwort gives you a Lion's heart. It is suggested that it helps with palpitations and lowers cholesterol. This herb is wonderful to keep around for those times when we are given a shock or are under tremendous stress because it helps us cope without making a person dopey or drowsy. It has been used to help with menstrual cramping and menopausal complaints including hot flashes. Young women starting their cycles find it helpful with the emotional changes that follow. There are varying opinions in regards to whether motherwort should be used during pregnancy and as with all herbs you should speak with your health care practitioner prior to ingesting.

Clear Quartz Crystal

Clear quartz crystal is the most versatile of crystals because it can be used in place of other colored crystals. It enhances and amplifies whatever work you are doing so it is important to be responsible; only working for the highest good.
Below is a description of clear quartz's properties from my book, "I Know a Woman Greenfire Wise Woman Craft".

Clear Quartz, Witch’s Mirror

Clear

Crown

Body-mind connection, heals negativity, crown chakra, use on any chakra

Protection, healing, psychism, and power

Projective and Receptive, Sun, Moon, Fire, Water, and The Great Mother

Astragalus

Astragalus or Milk Vetch, is an herb used in Chinese Medicine and is known as Huang Qi. It was not an herb I had originally studied in Wise Woman Craft. A friend of mine introduced it to me and it has been an ally for many years now.  I used the herb to help me with chronic sinus infections and migraines.  I found that it took a year for my sinuses to completely clear and infections were moving out for that entire time.  I use it to boost my daughter's immune system when she is going to school and I find it keeps the flu or stomach virus away. If she does get something it is never as severe as what her friends seem to contract.  It has been found effective in treating cancer, diabetes, digestion problems,  stomach ulcers, and high blood pressure.  Astragalus can have interactions with blood thinners, high blood pressure and diabetes medications, and immune system suppressors. Do not take astragalus if you have a fever as it can raise the fever.  

The Art of "Momming"

"Mother is the name of God in the lips and hearts of little children" -
William Makepeace Thackeray.

Have you ever been "mommed"? Not in the negative way when your mother used to nag you about something you didn't want to talk about, but in the loving way. I remember a movie by Ray Bradbury called, "Electric Grandmother". The grandma was played by Maureen Stapleton. It was about a family who loses their mother. They go to a factory and design the grandma. She takes care of their needs and when they have grown she goes into storage. Many years later when the siblings are all elderly themselves, they go to the storage facility and retrieve her to bring her back to care for them again. Of late I have thought about her, looking back so very long ago and remembering the warmth of childhood, to a time when I was "mommed" enough.

As I start to enter menopause, I am more reflective. I remember both good and bad pasts. Lives that seem so very far away from me now. But this reflective aspect of my life also brings with it memories of my mom. Now I no longer receive hugs from my mother or my grandmother. Nor do they make cookies for me or tuck me in at night. I look back at my youth and wish my mother had been more loving for a longer period of time; not getting so busy as to push me aside. I realize there is a pain in my heart for a childhood cut short by responsibility and untreated parental depression. I ask myself, "Had she been more attentive would I have turned right instead of left when....." And the question always goes unanswered. But nonetheless, I am left feeling not loved enough, not "mommed" enough.

As I look deeper into myself and my relationship with food, it is most often associated with the past, with love, with mothers, grandmothers, and aunts; for we were always in the kitchen, cooking and serving the men. Practicing the Buddhist meditation taught by Pema Chodron I ask my pain what it is that makes my relationship with food so unhealthy - the answer came back, "your pain from your mother". It is my pain that makes me a better mother, it is my pain that makes me choose careers that can be worked around children and their needs, it is my pain that makes me make unhealthy choices sometimes because I was not "mommed" enough.

Several of the Greenfire Women are women who were not "mommed" enough either. Whether through early deaths of our mothers, substance abuse, neglect, or untreated depression, we just were not loved enough. Perhaps that is why we seek out the face of the Divine in feminine form; perhaps that is why we stay in touch even after they have finished training with me; perhaps we help fill that hole - that gap from not being "mommed" enough.

Due to these revelations, I have decided that I must treat myself better. Going to the doctor or dentist, buying new makeup or creams, exercising, doing things that make me happy, in essence, "momming" myself. Along with this self-care routine, I have decided to eat healthier lunches and have started to purchase lunch from a Greenfire Woman who has started her own business, Pandora's Products. Tears came to my eyes the other day when I received a text from her, "do you have enough to eat?" This is not something I have heard in so long, no one has asked and no one has cared. I had just been "mommed".

As I went through my weeks I realized we "mom" each other in a circle of women. I stopped by my friend's tattoo shop, Ink Sanctuary, and we sat to talk for a long time. The energy in the shop was wonderful and I felt really good catching up with her. I was so proud of what she had created and glad to call her my friend - again I had just been "mommed".

So perhaps our mothers in their humanity didn't come close to the mark as mothers. Perhaps some of them just downright failed as mothers. We cannot go back, we can only go forward and seek out love from other women as surrogate moms. The Art of Momming is simple. It requires sending a card when a friend needs it or inviting them over for tea - as my neighbor did the other day. Sometimes it means listening without judgement or giving a hug. Other times it means asking, "Did you have enough to eat?"