Bear House, Rio del Oso, the Bear river

     Today I spent the day along bear river, Rio del Oso, Bear House. At the Bear House we have different medicines than say at the Deer House, or the Elk house. Each of the different houses will offer different medicines. I'd like to share with you some of my insights from this house. This little known river begins and ends in the same place which is very unusual with rivers. Because it begins and ends in the same place, it isn't well know. Yet it is famous, the plants like Aralia racemosa sing loudly here. In the spring Lycopus americanus makes it clear this is Bear House. Of course the plants along the Rio del Oso are tended and planted by the Bears. I've noticed there can be big differences with medicine plants planted by the bear versus those plant by the Deer at Deer House. The Poleo here is more sweet because the bears enjoy it this way. The deer, their poleo is more like a Salvia, slightly bitter, resembling acorns from Gambel oaks.

     Most rivers begin in the mountains and then go into the valley. Often times rivers begin as small streams in the high high country, meet other streams in a downward flow. This is called a downward moving river.  This river is different because it remains in the mountains and really doesn't go anywhere. In fact if you try to follow this river you'll find yourself going in circles because this river begins and ends at the same place. The reason this river remains in the mountains is to preserve the essential teaching of Bear House. 

      Rio del Oso, unlike many rivers that referred to something that is no longer there, this river actually has bears and today I could see, they're wandering along the river. The bear was walking through the poleo, the Mentha arvensis, our beloved native mint,

     The bear was close enough that I could smell his footsteps sweet, musky, tangy fragrance and warmth. The smell was slightly sour like an apple after you've eaten it, and several hours later  you press your lips on another's and you can still taste the Apple faintly as your tongue touches hers. I could see the bear was walking deliberately with somewhere to go slowly but each step was measured and was carefully placed through the poleo, unlike the river which goes in circles and begins and ends in the same place and really goes nowhere. It would be wrong to say the river goes nowhere, the river is moving in it's own way and seems satisfied to to be a meandering river. 

     Also along the Rio del Oso is oregano del campo, monarda. When the bears establish medicine gardens along this river they often place monarda as an indicator species. The bears prefer to work with monarda to balance their tendency towards stagnation. Monarda is a mover, it moves and uplifts and energizes, especially the lungs. Moisture is always an issue in wet moist damp places and monarda mobilizes and fortifies the lungs. Bears have a tendency to sleep a lot so you'll often find these warm, quickening herbs along the Rio del Oso.

and oregano de la sierra, another monarda. You'll find the bears work with these two types of monarda all along the Rio del Oso. The bears do their teachings with plants they grow along the river. It's best to spend time with this plant and look at differences between these two monardas. 

    It would be right to say that both of these are mints. They are said to be in the Mint family,  Lamiaceae or Labiate, in general warming, aromatic plants. It would also be right to say that they are not mints. These plants are like trees and if you look at them closely you can see them waving in the wind just as you would see a white fir waving in the wind, it matters little to the wind whether the oregano de la Sierra 

or oregano de campo move, or don't move in the wind.  Wind is a bit much like the Rio del Oso,  neither moving or coming or going, like the river the wind begins and ends in the same place. The only way to know if the wind is blowing is to look at oregano del campo and oregano de la sierra and see if it is moving. There is a difference between something moving and something going some where. Oregano del campo and oregano de la sierra are rooted in the ground, they move though they arrive and depart from the same place. Even so they create movement in the body, in the digestive system and in the lungs, they produce warmth and perspiration on the skin.

They are moving yet they rarely travel. The Rio del oso likewise moves yet the river remains within it's banks. 

   

     Poleo and monads of all kinds, appear along the river. You may wonder who it is that plants these wonderful flowers and medicines that grow on the river, that grow along the river that begins and ends in the same place? Well it's clear that these flowers don't grow on their own and I can tell you because I've watched the Bears planting these flowers along the river as they walk through the Poleo, oregano del campo, and oregano de la sierra, ox-eye daisy, yerbal del lobo.

The Bears carry bags of seeds in a little pouch around their neck. You can see the Bears gently tapping the seeds with their back paws and putting a little bit of dirt on top of them so that they can grow.
    I noticed the same thing with small medicine deer at Deer House. There the deer are in charge. There the deer plant the seeds and order the seasons. At the Deer House the deer are the keepers. Here at Rio del Oso, the bear do the planting. This is a bear's garden, the other a deer garden. It's important to know whether you are in Deer House or Rio del Oso.

      It is extremely common during the summer rainy season, when the bears are walking through their patches of polio, to meet plant teachers who inhabit these places. Some of the plant teachers are plants, others are places, still others are persons. These are the plant teachers that hold the world together with the depth of their understanding. Sometimes the plant teachers are rocky black lava rock cliffs, in those places you approach those teachers. You study and listen to rocky skree slopes. You may stay there learning from the rocks. This is called studying rocks. At other times and other places you may meet teachers that are trees. So in that situation you would greet the tree. You study and listen to tree lectures, songs and do tree learning. This is called studying trees.
    All the plant teachers  come to this Bear river precisely to gather insight into the nature of poleo. Poleo and the oreganos, campo and sierra, are known as Harmony inducing plants. These plants when they are seen almost immediately produce a sense of harmony. These then are balancing plants and they balance the lives of the world around them whether those lives are rocks, trees, birds, the elk, the bear, the deer, or the plant medicine teachers who gather together on the banks of this and other rivers.
      Gathering together is the real work of making medicine. Gathering with rocks is rock gathering. Gathering with trees is tree gathering. We are always gathering together and finding ways to do this medicine work. 

     Often when you find a plant teacher walking along the bear River you also will find an apprentice. Sometimes a rock teacher may have a plant apprentice. Often lava rocks are teaching Aralia, they seek each other out for learning, sometimes just companionship. Sometimes a tree, an aspen for instance may have a plant apprentice. The Aspen may be teaching Alta misa or giving insight to bane berry, Actea rubra. Sometimes a bear may be instructing a turkey. A stellar jay may be working with a Ponderosa pine. These different relationships of student and apprentice are important on the plant medicine road.

     These apprentice students are often teachers in their own right and sometimes it's not clear who is the teacher and who is the student. These days the herbal apprentices are mainly making flower essences. In the past they primarily made teas with water. Regardless of who is the teacher and who is the apprentice there's no question that deep study and learning is going on along this bear River.

     As we walk along the Rio del Oso, the Bear River within the Bear house, the medicine gathered there is distinctly bear medicine. The relationships between the plants there are organized by the bear gardeners, who also send out their animal friends. This experimental, experiential relationship of student and apprentice at the Bear House quickens herbal learning. Often times questions arise on how to enter into a deeper understanding of herbalism. The plant schools set up along the Rio del Oso are recommended for this study. Multiple schools of long standing are available for students wishing to deepen their understanding of herbal medicine.