This is summer’s height, when the warmer longer days and late nights make it possible to spend more time outside, eat our meals in the garden, go for picnics and long evening walks, and generally make the most of this beautiful season. The world has turned green again as warm rains, sunshine and the increase in daylight bring rapid growth. This is the season of flowers, when it can seem like all of nature is in celebration of itself and its own wild beauty.
Take time off from your normal routines and get outside as often as you can. Give yourself to total appreciation of the natural world and the utter beauty and perfection of flowers. Fall in love with flowers, plants and trees. Fall in love with the Earth and the awesome perfection, wonder and beauty of the natural world.
This is a time of high manifestation and fertility. All energy is cyclic and is ever-flowing. Whatever we release into the flow determines what happens next and will eventually return to us – as all things are connected. Become aware of the powerful natural forces that are at work within you and around you, the powerful and subtle life force that is constantly forming and reforming depending on what we bring to the flow through our thoughts and feelings and actions. Strengthen your allegiance to the Earth. Find and act on all the ways that you can help nature regenerate and grow. The future is in our hands now, in this moment.
Summer is the time to go on long trips to visit special places, to camp out, walk the land and connect to the Earth. Find trees to sit with and get to know, seek out native plants wherever you go, learn from them, learn about them and above all celebrate them. They are easy to identify this time of year as they come into flower. Carry a field guide around with you. Learn about their medicinal properties. You will be amazed what they can do and wonder how we have come to leave them behind! Share what you know about them to others. Talk to people about the importance of our native plants to the bees and the natural ecology of our land. See yourself as an ambassador for the Earth.
Everything we do makes a difference and adds to the growing awareness of the interconnected whole.
Nature slows us down, helps us to soften and restore our natural balance.
At this time of year when we are often very busy it is essential to make time for walking in the green world, soaking up the beauty and letting ourselves simply be. When we remember to extend our senses we find there is so much more going on in the world around us than we realised.
Walking gets everything moving, not just on a physical level. It creates fluidity in the mind and frees up our thinking. Our inner intelligence also becomes engaged as our heart interprets the natural world around us and we become so much more alive to our whole selves.
As you walk become aware of your body and move in a way that is loose and flexible. Sense the Earth’s power travel up from the depths of her and enter your body, so that you feel the Earth’s strength running through you, and you feel it as your strength.
Lie on the Earth at every opportunity. Thank gravity and marvel at the Earth’s perfection and beauty. Sit in natural hollows, out of the wind, find favourite trees to sit with or sit with your back against the Earth’s living rock. Relax and breathe with the Earth so you can feel her power and feel yourself to be part of the vital life force of the land. Remember to look for places on your walks where you can take off your shoes and walk in direct contact with the ground or get your feet into natural water. See how invigorated and changed you are by this.
Betony, Comfrey, Crab Apple Blossom, Dandelion, Elderflowers, Hawthorn, Lady’s Mantle, Mallow, Mullein, Nettle, Red Clover, Rose, Self Heal, St John’s Wort, Valerian, Vervain, Yarrow
Self heal (Prunella vulgaris) is rich in rosmarinic acid – a powerful antioxidant
Vervain (Verbena officinalis) is a digestive stimulant widely used in traditional medicine in North America
With so many flowers at this time of the year, make yourself a flower essence kit, which is always at the ready to take out with you. In a dedicated bag wrap a small glass dish in a scarf or piece of cloth, a small glass bottle of spring water, one or two small dropper bottles half full of brandy, a small plastic jug, labels, a note book and a few crayons.
Flower essences are a simple way to tap into the essential energy of a plant.
They can be used to energetically support a tincture or herb you are taking, or to help bring about an emotional shift to aid healing. They can also be made from non-edible plants, (especially if they keep calling to you).
Cleavers, Comfrey, Elderflower, Red Clover, Self Heal, St John’s Wort, Hawthorn, Mallow, Hops, Rose petals, Mint, Mullein, Yarrow
This is the prime time for foraging for medicinal herbs just as they are coming into flower. Keep an eye open as you walk for where these plants grow in profusion.
The ones I list here are the ones covered by this book but of course there are hundreds more.
Herbs are best picked and used fresh. They can also be picked for drying or tincture making. Gather herbs around midday on a dry sunny day. Don’t gather when the plants are wet.
Make a herb foraging map for your locality so that you can return to the same places again next year and you know where to find a herb if you need it. If you don’t have time to make a map then at least jot down the where you found the plants in your herb journal and take photos.
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This is an extract from Glennie Kindred’s Letting in the Wild Edges, which inspires us to celebrate the bounties of our wild native plants and find a richer relationship with the natural world around us.
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Letting in the Wild Edges
by Glennie Kindred
Sacred Earth Celebration
by Glennie Kindred
Glennie Kindred is the author of twelve books on Earth wisdom, native plants and trees and celebrating the Earth’s cycles, and is a highly respected teacher and much loved expert on natural lore and Earth traditions.
