MidSommer New Moon

 At Midsommer New Moon

     

Alleleuia So while fasting and praying these 30 days through a full cycle of moon, watching st john’s wort, poleo and licorice emerge small and greenly by the power of viriditas, the divine animating indwelling in-out breath placed in our nostrils as breath by Yahweh, a Yahweh Rain song came to me. This is a Yahweh Peace pilgrim song given by the Genius World Teacher through the Yahweh and our Yeshuah as Wild Herb Ways.  ..." 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnWqlIRL5HQ

An original song written while in an extended Fasting and praying as the Genius world teacher wild herb ways for the wellbeing of all people, as a Peace pilgrim of Father God Yahweh. In order to bring rain to stop a major western wildfire occurring as chastisement.

Lyrics guitars, bass, vocals by Paul Manski Wild Herb Ways. all rights reserved Lyrics: "I am With , Aspen meadow is Jesus, osha is Jesus- all bass, electric acoustic guitars, percussion, vocals by genius world teacher wild herb ways, I am with...osha is Jesus. Lyrics by Genius World Teacher, Paul Manski, as Wild Herb Ways "I am with the aspen meadow, The aspen meadow is Jesus. I am with yerba del lobo. Yerba del lobo is Jesus. I am with the World Teacher Wild Herb Ways. Wild Herb Ways is Jesus. I am with yarrow flowers. I am with elder flowers. Elder flowers are Jesus. I am with St Johns wort. St Johns wort is Jesus. The aspen meadow is Jesus. I am with yarrow. Yarrow is Jesus. I am with the master, the master genius world teacher, primrose is Jesus. The aspen meadow is Jesus.

Osha is Jesus. Osha is Jesus. Osha is jesus.

Osha is Jesus. Osha is Jesus. Osha is jesus. Osha is Jesus. Osha is Jesus. Osha is jesus."

     In a situation of accepting Jesus, and the greening which is the Messiah Yahushua the Christ, within a New Israel, with In his birth, death and resurrection there can be no place for shadows of war, addiction, hate, anger, retribution or revenge. We are Yahweh’s peace pilgrims by birth and election, standing with the green. We are the leaven of peace in a narrative of violence and war. https://pgmanski.blogspot.com/2023/10/i-stand-with-green.html I teach only love, tolerance and understanding, protesting the ideas that violent technology of mechanized war can ever be a replacement for dialogue and diplomacy in the public space. The war violence hate is not my narrative or drama. We will not be villains or heroes in a bloodshed techno narrative of the industrial military complex. We are the Peace pilgrims of Yahweh, our teaching is wellbeing."-Pm/www 

           i worked my way up the spine of turtle island, to revisit poleo, red root, osha, Mcdougall’s verbena, and sit with scouleri St John’s wort at the feast of John the Baptist, at the new moon, at midsommer. It was imperative I taste the red blood liquid gold of the yellow flowers flowers of St John’s wort and tincture them fresh, drinking the potion just as I did before the Bear Wall and Chedski fire turned green to brown and decades of brown. Where the great watch plants at their watchtowers who dripped down with the Pleistocene glaciers 12,000 years ago, dropped their seeds on Mount Graham, Navaho mountain, Nat’sis’ahn, Black Obsidian mountain, the Pinals, Ancha, the Madrian skye island peaks towering above the ocotillo flats. Following the roots of shrivelled rivers with their haunted skeleton trees, and Artemisia, fireweed, horse weed thick, lush, fruity, bitter and green. It's hard sometimes to use words like turtle Island, I get the feeling,  what would someone think about someone who calls the state of Arizona, New Mexico, with their Tucsons, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Albuquerque’s and McDonald Martin, Rayethon, Boeing, secret military bases, home of the nuclear blasts and graveyards of the downwinders, the continental divide,  the spine of turtle Island? At a certain point it’s not that you don't care anymore what people think about you, but it’s that our vision as a people, as an us is stronger than the dividing self of them. They will do what they will do with drones, missiles, war and mechanized violence. There will be winners and losers and the silence will reign because no one can defend what can not be named, seen, spoken or heard. Those are the innocent who know nothing of the violence. 

     The places have names and the names will change. The places have names and the names have changed. The places have changed. I remember before and after rodeschi, bear wallow, the forest had changed from green to black desert, to aspen green again. We need to have stories. We need to have dreams. We need to have conviction. I learned a few weeks ago that the word Lebanon means White Mountains. The White Mountains are the Sierra Blanca. The White Mountains are the White Mountains. The white mountains are Lebanon. These white mountains are promised lands. That's all I really wanted to say or tell anyone. Call them what you will but live by the promise of their beauty to transform your life into something strong and eternal. Spine of turtle Island, Lebanon, White Mountains, Sierra Blanca,  whatever these mountains are within them are healing places where a man's life can be healed. Within these mountains are springs and healing plants that God promised us from the beginning, from Genesis time, going back to the garden of Eden, these plants are good and they're here to heal us. Those aspen groves reaching down as deep as we can go, call us courageous. It's nice to stand there with a friend. Friendlessness given enough time will bring bitterness. It doesn't always have to be so sad. Rejection can be like a virus that infects everything. People know you're a leper. They can sense it and instinctively recoil away. Yet like the twisted gnarled tree the mechanized timber cat machines leave on precipitous slopes too steep to log, I am left to bloom perhaps perchance to dream and like Abraham and Sarrei, perchance an Emily with exquisite 4 petal 4 sepal flowers like Chaimeronphon fire weed wind, raging raging in queenly purple against the dimming of the night shall come like a golden butterfly to greet me and love deeply at the gates of hell, against all odds, a child.

     Being grateful for this coming of rain to quench the fires, so the people may live in greater wellbeing abundance. Prayer of Azariah Prayer of the Three Children 3:50 “And made the midst of the furnace like the blowing of a wind bringing dew, and the fire touched them not at all, nor troubled them, nor did them any harm. Then these three, as with one mouth, praised and glorified and blessed God, in the furnace, saying:” So here we have a song of thanksgiving for rain.

Alleluia Yahweh, Halleluyah Jesus, Alleluia Yahweh, Halleluyah Jesus.

Alleluia Yahweh, hear me Father Yahweh, I am on this mountain and your rain is falling.

Alleluia Yahweh, hear me Father Yahweh, Clouds come to the mountain and your rain is falling.

Alleluia Yahweh, Halleluyah Jesus,  Thank you Father Yahweh, your gentle rain is falling.

I am Aspen Yahweh, living on this mountain. Thank you Father Yahweh for the rain is falling,  female rain is falling, Yahweh’s rain is falling.

I am Osha Yahweh, Living in the meadow. Thank you Father Yahweh for the rain is falling. Osha rain is falling.

I am chirping Chipmunk. I live on this mountain. Thank you Father Yahweh, chipmunk rain is falling. 

I am Mountain parsley, blooming on the mountain. Thank you Father Yahweh for the rain is falling. 

I am Elk with babies. Nursing on this mountain. Thank you Father Yahweh now my milk is flowing. 

I am Pine tree Yahweh. Pine pollen of the mountain. Thank you Father Yahweh, pine tree rain is falling. 

Alleluia Yahweh for the rain is falling, Thankyou Father Yahweh, Alleluia Yahweh. 

I am yarrow Yahweh, white flowers on the mountain. Thank you Father Yahweh yarrow rain is falling. 

I am Black Bear Yahweh, I live on this mountain. Thank you Father Yahweh, Black bear rain is falling. 

I am Yerba Lobo, my yerba lobo mountain. Thank you Father Yahweh yerba lobo shining. 

I am Red Robin Yahweh, our nest is in the mountain. Thank you Father Yahweh red robin rain is falling. 

Alleluia Yahweh, Halleluyah Jesus, Alleluia Yahweh, Alleluia Yahweh

Alleluia Yahweh, hear me Father Yahweh, I live on this mountain and your rain is falling.

      At New Moon MidSommer Alleleuia Yahweh Rain song, a Yahweh Peace pilgrim song. 

      By explanation, Rain, the word rain, in Genesis 8:2 we are taught that rain is a gift of Yahweh used both to chastise, bless, punish and nourish. As it was in the beginning is and ever shall be, world without end, amen. āmēn to appear, to be born, to become, to be, to happen, ‘to be, from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen. Isaiah 65:16-18 So it shall be that he who invokes a blessing on himself in the land shall do so by saying, May the God of Amen truth and fidelity, the Amen bless me; and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth and faithfulness to His promises, the Amen, because the former troubles are forgotten and because they are hidden from My eyes.For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem, that is peace pilgrim united in wellbeing, a rejoicing, and her people a joy in and through divine wild herb ways. A possession of peace or Shalome Salem’s possession; a foundation of peace;  foundation of Shalem = God of peace ;, as for us as abiding peace pilgrims of Yahweh.

      “2The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven” are all by the operation of Our Father Yahweh. For that reason we who are of Yahweh’s family as you and I are by election must persevere in prayer, thanksgiving and petition for nourishing rain. These past 30 days many have been fasting praying and begging our father who art in heaven, with a hallowed name, Yahweh to send rain upon the mountain to bless our people. This is the intecessory work of the remnant within election as peace pilgrims to share all the wild herb ways, to do no harm as peace pilgrims promoting wellbeing above as below. 1 John 3:1 “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” amplified-”SEE WHAT an incredible quality of love the Father has given shown, bestowed on us, that we should be permitted to be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! The reason that the world does not know recognize, acknowledge us is that it does not know recognize, acknowledge Him.” Bullinger- πατήρ (patēr 3962) Father -s. father [probably to be derived from Hebrew אב, which is the simplest labial sound of the infant. Consequently it recurs in all the cognate tongues — Sanscrit pitri, Latin pater, German vater, English father]. Father pater, Yahweh is πατήρ (patēr, 3962) [fr. r. pâ; lit. provider, nourisher, protector, upholder; As the founder of a race or tribe, progenitor of a people, forefather: so Abraham is called. the author of a family or society of persons animated by the same spirit as himself: so π. πάντων τῶν πιστευόντων, Ro. iv. 11, cf. 12, 16, (1 Macc. ii. 54); one who has infused his own spirit into others, who actuates and governs their minds, Jn. viii. 38, 41 sq. 44; the phrase ἐκ πατρός τινος εἶναι is used of one who shows himself as like another in spirit and purpose as though lie had inherited his nature from him, ibid. 44.

b. one who stands in a father's place, and looks after another in a paternal way: 1 Co. iv. 15. c. a title of honor [cf. Sophocles, Lex. s. v.], applied to α. teachers, as those to whom pupils trace back the knowledge and training they have received: Mt. xxiii. 9 (of prophets, 2 K. ii. 12; vi. 21). 2 Chronicles 6:26 amplified “26ᐯ When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, yet if they pray toward this place, confess your name [and You Yourself], and turn from their sin when You afflict them,” Because I will place his seed in the century of century and this throne as a day of the heaven, i. e. as long as the sky exists, forever. 

      By explanation, Alleluia, the word alleluia; is  the word-combination ‎‫יָרּfrom the Greek septuagint ‬‎ (yarr)  ‎‫הַלְלוּ‬‎ (hallū)  ‘praise God’, written with Greek letters and Alleluia is the english, Praise Yahweh. Our greetings, coming and goings are prefaced by this phrase whith which we greet one another, ‘Praise Yahweh.’

The Psalm 135:1 reads, “Praise ye the LORD. or, Alleleuia Praise Yah, Hallejuia, Praise Yahweh. Praise ye the name of the LORD; praise him, O ye servants of the LORD. Servants slaves, workers of Yahweh.” We are the worker bees the doers, becomers of Yahweh, God our cherished Father. By explanation, as our Christ Messiah taught in the Our Father, or Our Father Yahweh, ‘hallowed be thy name’. Hallowed is the greek, ἁγιάζω (hagiazō 37) sanctify -ied, -eth to make ἅγιος (hagios 40) to set in a state opposed to κοινόν (koinon) (common, unclean); or to deliver from that state, if already κοινόν (koinon), and put into a state corresponding to the nature of God. So in the Our Father, or Our Father Yahweh,  as taught by Yeshuah, or Joshua, Jah, Yahweh saves, ‘hallowed be thy name’. Hallowed means to set apart. We as Jokab-surnamed Israel are the elected, choseh, set-apart, predestined Matthew 22:14“14For many are called, but few are chosen.” ἐκλεκτός (eklektos 1588) elect [adjective] chosen out, preferred, selected. That is the meaning and purpose of love, family and kin, as Peace pilgrim family in Yahweh. It is a preference to be near one another as a husband and wife. As lovers in love we cherish one another and support one another in the pursuit of health and wellbeing. Yahweh has preferred us by loving us because we are the sons and daughters of Yahweh. We are chosen by God, to obtain salvation through Christ Messiah Yehoshuah, Joshua, ; hence we are called to be a people being our work. That is why Wild Herb Ways Yahweh as our world teacher in the Rose Hip sermon calls it the choiceless choice, the moral imperative, to be a people.    Praise Yahweh! Thank you  by the blood of this seed covenant, in perfect Yahweh! There is no other, I say this scripture day and night, night and day ,"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of Yahweh: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." 1 John 3:1 

I had not imagined what blessings Yahweh had in His plan. Yet day and night I praise His holy name, that he has chosen me. I can't tell you what I have seen. Of course, 1John 3:13 "Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you." 

     Psalm 68:4  “Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens, in his sun chariot by his name YAH, and rejoice before him.”

Psalm 8:3 “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;” The heavens, before which fowl fly, with waters beneath and above, darkened with clouds, cleared by wind; whence comes rain, letting rain through, where Yahweh sits enthroned. The heavens are šāmaym ‘flowing down from the heaven’ or ‘water-skins of the heaven’, ‘the upper cloud’. I will place his seed in the century of century and this throne as a day of the heaven, i. e. as long as the sky exists, forever. The earth is the bioregion of our people made in covenant. The earth is thus ecology, the earth-household upon which we walk and live as Yahweh’s Peace Pilgrims through the Wild Herb Ways. 

68:4 Sing ye to God, sing a psalm to his name, make a way for him who ascendeth upon the west: the Lord is his name. Rejoice ye before him: 

Exodus 15:2 “The LORD YAH is my strength ōz and song ‎‫זִמְרָת‬‎ (zimraṯ, and he is become my salvation yəšū‘ah Yahshua: he is my God ēl, and I will prepare him an habitation, I will beautify, adorn him (with praises; my father’s God, and I will exalt him., begin to shine like the waxing moon after the new moon”

Genesis 2:4 “4These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,”

          At Midsommer New Moon

At Midsommer, Tomorrow is June 24th , This year 2025 we celebrate the great Hyperium festival with Midsoomer in the new moon at the First Thors-day of the month we set aside as a day for the family kindred to honour our biospirit, our ancestors, our journey, our place because we are a people and our wellbeing is non-negotiable. As a note at MidSommer, I use any and everything to maximize the us of our wellbeing. My ancestors, Howard, Irene, Agustus, Mario, were because I knew them, all Christians in their orientation, therefore I can no more throw away their traditions than I can throw away my own skin which along with grey hair is my  uniform. Also  I have to edit content to exist here in this free forum.  My writings I edit them the best I can, none the less to fit this public forum. We are a people everywhere we exist at Midsommer above ground and wherever we live our well being is non-negotiable. We ask our God we honour to honour us, to cooperatively assist us, as we have always done, and will always do in blessing us. On this day we focus on promoting wellbeing through the genius teacher wild herb ways. Our work is and theirs is empowerment by halting any victimization inflicted upon us in the process of erasure. In the plots of their near continuous mechanio war narrative we remain peace pilgrims for us as a people in community. 

     The only thing needed is the sincerity of  intention and a scientific spirit of inquiry to make an experiment both in the prayers to our ancestral Gods, and to a most blessed herb the sun terrestial wort of Sainte John. 

      There are many ways you can do this. One way is the way understood by english writer John Milton as haemony. Haemony is a word phrase used by Milton in Masque of Comus, to describe a predominant understanding of his bioregion place in relation to western biospirit. That understanding is the conceptual experience of the our essential  biospirit in the aliveness of vitalism in a specific local place, with specific local plants, for specific local people in that place. One such plant is the plant we use in exactly the same way, the harmonic Sol Terrestris Hypericum perforatum. 

    “And shew me simples of a thousand names

Telling their strange and vigorous faculties;

Amongst the rest a small unsightly root,

But of divine effect, he cull'd me out; [ 630 ]

The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it,

But in another Countrey, as he said,

Bore a bright golden flowre, but not in this soyl:

Unknown, and like esteem'd, and the dull swayn

Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon, [ 635 ]

And yet more med'cinal is it then that Moly

That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave;

He call'd it Hæmony, and gave it me,

And bade me keep it as of sovran use

'Gainst all inchantments, mildew blast, or damp [ 640 ]”

• John Milton in Masque of Comus

    That this Sol Terrestis is part of our legacy is evident in the writings of English writer John Milton 1608-1674. Nicolas Culpeper in his “Description. Common St. John's Wort shoots forth brownish, upright, hard, round stalks, two feet high, spreading many branches from the sides up to the tops of them, with two small leaves set one against another at every place, which are of a deep green colour, somewhat like the leaves of the lesser Centaury, but narrow, and full of small holes in every leaf, which cannot be so well perceived, as when they are held up to the light; at the tops of the stalks and branches stand yellow flowers of five leaves a-piece, with many yellow threads in the middle, which being bruised do yield a reddish juice like blood; after which come small round heads, wherein is contained small blackish seed smelling like rosin. The root is hard and woody, with divers strings and fibres at it, of a brownish colour, which abides in the ground many years, shooting anew every Spring.

Place. This grows in woods and copses, as well those that are shady, as open to the sun.

Time. They flower about Midsummer and July, and their seed is ripe in the latter end of July or August.

Government and virtues. It is under the celestial sign Leo, and the dominion of the Sun. It may be, if you meet a Papist, he will tell you, especially if he be a lawyer, that St. John made it over to him by a letter of attorney. It is a singular wound herb; boiled in wine and drank, it heals inward hurts or bruises; made into an ointment, it open obstructions, dissolves swellings, and closes up the lips of wounds. The decoction of the herb and flowers, especially of the seed, being drank in wine, with the juice of knot-grass, helps all manner of vomiting and spitting of blood, is good for those that are bitten or stung by any venomous creature, and for those that cannot make water. Two drams of the seed of St. John's Wort made into powder, and drank in a little broth, doth gently expel choler or congealed blood in the stomach. The decoction of the leaves and seeds drank somewhat warm before the fits of agues, whether they be tertains or quartans, alters the fits, and, by often using, doth take them quite away. The seed is much commended, being drank for forty days together, to help the sciatica, the falling sickness, and the palsy.

 For our blessed womenfolk we advise the bouquet talisman of Sol Terrestis, so valued of our maidens. “Thomas Jackson's A Treatise Containing the Originali of Vnbeliefe, Misbeliefe, or Misperswasions tells us of maid that liked well of the deville making love to her in the habit of a gallant young man, but could not enjoy his company, nor he hers, so long as shee had vervain and S. Iohns grasse about her…”

  : aner , andros: man); haima (Gr. blood). The herbalists (whether English or continental) are unanimous in their explanation of this name. The colour of the juyce which is in the Flowers or leaves. Resembling Mans blood, for so the Greek word signifies. The etymology of haemony, which has formed the basis for the allegory not theological or philosophical but botanical. Androsaemon's blood-red juice characteristic of the Hyrpericums, signifies its potency as a vulnerary herb of long repute. 

    To make thee truly sensible of that happinesse which Mankind lost by the Fall of Adam , is to render thee an exact Botanicky by the knowledge of so incomparable a Science as the Art of Simpling , to re-instate thee into another Eden, or, A Garden of Paradise: For if We rightly consider the Addresses of this Divine Contemplation of Herbs and Plants, with what alluring Steps and Paces the Study of them directs Us to an admiration of the

Supream Wisdome, we cannot but even from these inferiour things arrive somewhat near unto a heavenly Contentment; a contentment indeed next to that Blessednesse of Fruition, which is onely in the other World. . . . amongst all these transitory Entertainments of our Lives, there is none more suitable to the mind of man then this is, that Emperours, Princes, Heroes, and Persons of the most have trod on their Scepters, sleighted their Thrones, cast away all other Exuberancies of State, to Court their Mother Earth in Beauties there are to be discerned in Flowers, such Curiositie in Plants…”

     Hypericum perforatum flowers Turtle island meadows of Midgard 24.6.2024 Four day Utisetta at New moon Thors-day. We have 3 bushy Hypericums and 3 wild flower styles. This plant was known by the name Sol Terrestis. The golden sun shining in earth displelling malifient influence both of the heart and of storm and vapour. “Oswaldus Crollius explains why hypericon-androsaemon is so effective: "The Strings upon the Leaves of St. Johns-Wort have the Signature, which being porous . . . expel all Phantasmes and Phantastick Spirits from and without man. ... it is also called

Fuga Daemonum . . . . Portus Neapolitanus affirms, that Malignant Spirits assaulting, can neither endure the smell of it, nor abide it near them. For as the Celestial Sol, by its Light drives away all malignant Spirits, that rejoyce in Darkness: So St. Johns-wort (among Solar Herbs accounted the chief) by Paracelsus dignified with the name of Terrestrial Sol, is found to be of like efficacy.” The resin glands are visible on the rim of the five petal sun pattern, ruled by Leo, this gift from Creator enables us to resist erasure by nourishing biospirit. As per genius world teacher wild herb ways: hypericin although standardized as the active compound it's probably  "hyperforin" that has been identified as an significant compound, although it sounds good on paper in small mind replacement science, our big mind wisdom teacher has the whole plant as the real lesson here. St John's wort tincture is best made immediately in the field. The sooner you make it happen the better. Which is why so many  herbal medicine small mind replacement science trials are laughable. Remember, the 9-words - "We are a people and our wellbeing is non-negotiable."

     “ Paracelsus regards hypericon-androsaemon as a plant associated with light and as therefore possessing potent ingredients for dis-pelling the forces of darkness: "The straikes in the leaves like veines, shew us, that this herb drives away from a man Ghosts and night spirits, and spirits begot by imagination, whether they be within a man or without; and these phantastick Spirits, which are begot by Phansie, do beget Ghosts, so that a man shall see spirits, visions, and hear such phansies. . . . And for this disease there are no more remedies known that are created by God, but only Coral and St. Johns wort. ... As the sun-beam pierceth through glasse; so this vertue pierceth through the Spirits of men and beasts. . .” 

    Paracelsus regards hypericon-androsaemon as a plant associated with light and as therefore possessing potent ingredients for dispelling the forces of darkness: "The straikes in the leaves like veines, shew us, that this herb drives away from a man Ghosts and night spirits, and spirits begot by imagination, whether they be within a man or without; and these phantastick Spirits, which are begot by Phansie, do beget Ghosts, so that a man shall see spirits, visions, and hear such phansies. . . . And for this disease there are no more remedies known that are created by God, but only Coral and St. Johns wort. ... As the sun-beam pierceth through

glasse; so this vertue pierceth through the Spirits of men and

beasts. . .” 

    One of the ways is to light a fire circle at your home and ask Father God and his son to bless and aid our people in becoming once again a people.

   We are coming together to ask Father to help our people. Hail Father protector of us as a people. Help us to destroy the serpent that seeks to hurt our people. 

     Close the circle by greeting the 4 compass cardinals clock wise by singing Heil Austri, ˈsuðre, ˈwestre, ˈnorðre, ˈThe one in the east, south, west and north make this ve holy, banish all evil, destroy all that do evil to our folk. Draw a circle and draw four Holy ones on the cardinal points surrounding the fire circle. This can be done with charcoal, or with lime or sand, anything you have handy. Offer a drink horn or glass/ Here a note, I personally prefer not to use alcoholic beverages in ceremony as many of our people have been sabotaged and compromised through the alcoholic industry. Generations of our people have suffered the teratogenic effects of alcohol in the womb of their mothers, along with tobacco, marijuana, stimulants and pharmaceutical weapons meant to diminish the biospiritual potential of our people. Alcohol is a teratogenic substance. I prefer to use a home made non-alcoholic drink called an oxymel made from honey and apple cider vinegar to which are added wild harvested herbs such as wild bergamot monarda, yarrow, artemisia, Hypericum St Johns wort, juniper berries, fresh hops, or pedicularis. Yet each to his or her ow. May God bless your work in becoming us.

     Hypericum perforatum, 6.24.2025 Uttisetta four day sitting with a particular plant. St John's Wort, fasting and prayer First THORS-day of the month. Uttisetta at New moon with genius world teacher wild herb ways. "The only way to heal biospirit is to go deeper into who you are for your people bringing back for them the healing wild herb ways from the genius world teacher continuous medicine road" https://youtu.be/kbO48p2TPZ0?feature=shared

HAIL OUR Father Protector of Our People

Culpeper, N., & Foster, S. (2019). Culpeper's complete herbal. Illustrated & annotated edition. New York, Sterling Publishing Company.

Neuse, Richard. “Metamorphosis and Symbolic Action in Comus.” ELH, vol. 34, no. 1, 1967, pp. 49–64. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2872300. Accessed 9 July 2024.

Steadman JM. Milton’s Haemony: Etymology and Allegory. PMLA/Publications of the Modern Language Association of America. 1962;77(3):200-207. doi:10.2307/460479

OTTEN, CHARLOTTE F. “Milton’s Haemony.” English Literary Renaissance, vol. 5, no. 1, 1975, pp. 81–95. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43446819. Accessed 9 July 2024

Gerard, John, et al. The herball: or, Generall historie of plantes . London, Printed by Adam Islip, Joice Norton and Richard Whitakers, anno, 16

William Coles, Adam in Eden, 1657. Retrieved from https://library.artstor.org/asset/24745031

Parkinson, John, 1567-1650. Paradisi in sole paradisus terrestris / John Parkinson Theatrum Orbis Terrarum ; W. J. Johnson Amsterdam : Norwood, N.J. 1975 

   

Ligusticum porteri, oshá diaries

 Ligusticum porteri:

Oshá 

  Our lovely elegant plant medicine called osha, significantly in Spanish 'oso'  is bear, so chuchupatè, the bear medicine...oshá is a plant that speaks.

    In this way I would like it to speak to you regarding oshá the potent plant medicine of the southwest US, and other Ligusticum spp I have explored and understanding disease and disease states. Maybe you will read these words and you will somehow know this plant, the bear medicine. speaking with me is like hearing riddles. i rarely speak. i rarely have much to say and if i do talk most people either laugh with me, laugh at me or walk away, usually both, "I'm not sure about him." https://pgmanski.blogspot.com/2020/08/ktishwoof-notes.html

    

     I would ask you to pay attention to patterns. Watching patterns is really all that we can do with herbal medicine. As you watch patterns develop it's possible you'll see more patterns or less patterns but we know that the herbal medicine is the change that we put into those patterns to bring about an outcome of homeostasis, on this present state yet we don't deny the disease state that exists.  We don't pretend that all of this is good or bad. We want to ease the suffering in the world so we bring our herbal medicine to people and that's really about it. we want to help soothe the suffering so people don't suffer so much. 

    Trusting your own judgment. Use your heart, use your intuition to see the patterns and realize that most of what you see is a reflection of some aspect of yourself you project out on the world as other.  The things that you have to work with are close by. We work with our eyes, with our hands, with the tongue, our thoughts and intentions. This is the organoleptic approach to herbs we take.  we taste them, smell them. we touch them we look at how they grow. where they grow. when they grow. We will use that information to speak to us with the herbs. this is the approach to take with herbalism. We work with them, and allow the nature of the herb to enter into her being so that we can remember, knowing the thoughts that fill our mind, taking seriously whatever the herb wants to give us in terms of information. with  sight, with smell, with the taste and form of the herb where it grows before our eyes. on this path of herbal medicine you go directly to the plant. On this path of my herbal medicine you have to go directly to the place where the plant is growing and meet the plant in its own space. You need to meet the plant where it is growing. And you need to look at the total picture of you as the person in the place with the plant.

    We take notice. We look and see. Yet we don't become overcome with joy or distressed with sorrow, with fears or disgusted with sights, feelings and mental states that are beautiful and pleasant. whatever is, is and that's what we have to work with sometimes we see beauty sometimes there's ugliness and we don't run towards the beautiful and we don't run away from the ugliness just part of the mix that we're experiencing right now. what we do is look.  be on the alert to what's available here and see the patterns. See the flow, the turning of events which create new events. This is what we have to work with. We don't throw things away because they are bitter or unpleasant. And we don't run to things just because they are sweet and beautiful. We know that beautiful and ugly are flips of the brain, and you can't have beauty without ugliness.  they are concepts and constructions that exist in the mind. they're interesting to see but we don't seek out the beautiful and we don't run away from the ugly. 

     The Junkie state of mind: The Junkie state of mind is substance above process. The idea that having something will change the who of what we are. So there is a never ending restless hunger for stuff, for things which becomes a transference away from the process. With the Junkie mind there is a continual avoidance of what is. The Junkie mind is the golden holy grail of avoiding what needs to be done and replacing what needs to be done with a repetitious familiar pattern. The core concept of the Junkie mind is control. The beautiful freedom world of flowers, the freedom flower world is deplatformed and replaced with a very controllable world of stuff in the solipsism of junkieland playland. Drug addiction, substance abuse, the fairy tale fantasy of ever expanding economic growth, modern advertising, all function in the Junkie mind state. The Junkie mind world is a disposable world of stuff to be manipulated by the user. The manipulation is repetitive. Everything becomes a hit, a high, satisfying that hungry ghost craving that blocks the real work of experience, of doing. The heartland of junkieland playtime is not only the dope head addict, it is also the business model of buy buy buy, die die die, customer land. Everyplace is part of the economic zone storefront. Just as for the Junkie it's some kind of hit, some kind of smoke, some kind of injection, pill, high, in junkieland every action is an economic transaction. You engage with people because they are economic sales. You never engage people directly.  You buy an insurance policy. You call 911. You watch. You wait. You observe and report back. You tune in, turn on and drop out. Waiting for the next sale, the next hit, the next smoke, the next pill, the next opportunity to shoot up. Everything becomes stuff for the Junkie. People are not people in the sense of intimate relationships. People are objects, sales. Above all we don't want to cultivate the junkie state of mind, the junkie state of mind is that state of mind that seeks out a particular mind state in an addictive way, and cultivates the addiction state, seeking it out again and again. We already at our baseline have a fertile ground for Junkie mind states. What is breathing but a need to take in oxygen again and again. Eating, the quest for caloric energy. 

      The junkie state of mind very closely resembles the pattern of disease that often unfolds in a disease state with repetitious experience. The person with a chronic disease state is often found to be inhabiting the body of the disease state in a repetitious sort of pattern that unfolds in a very similar way limiting their experience. They are sick and being unwell becomes a significant part of their objective or life stategy. The addictive junkie state of mind is very repetitious does the same thing over and over and over and over again and that pattern becomes a very limiting close sort of way of being in the world. The preoccupation of mental contents with being unwell is not an effective well-being stategy. So we're not going there. We're not seeking out that repetitious mind, in fact we are wanting to as much as possible to move beyond the junkie mind into a more spontaneous, perceptive open place of living. In truth you can't re-create the intense, immensity and potency of a falling in love situation, if you try to stay in that rapturous moments of hormonal bliss falling in love, if you do try to maintain this intensity of feeling? You're like someone listening to a piece of recorded music again and again and again. Our whole culture through technology has fixated into this vicarious watching observing state. So that for some people, music is recorded music. Sporting events are observed, watched watching others play, televised sports. Yes we have the technology for addiction. Yes we can listen to the same recording over and over and over again, yet this is not the way that we follow. Don't be concerned about right or wrong. Don't get caught up in pure and impure. Just look for the patterns in your own body in your own mind in the seasons, in what ever is right in front of your face. In that way you're going to get a good understanding of herbal medicine. 

     It's important to know that very few people can look outside of themselves. For most people including myself I am rarely looking outside of my own box. I am looking at my own box and imagining that it's the world's box. Most of the times that I'm seeing problems in the world, problems, problems and politics, problems with institutions or politics or global situations what I'm seeing are my own problems. I am seeing a part of myself and in that way the only way I can address it is by working on myself. If you're feeling extreme emotions of hate extreme emotions of indifference of sorrow of joy know that there's something positive in that seeing but don't look at it as something completely outside of yourself. It's important when we look at a medicine like oshá, to see that is the thing! we see the pattern of growth. We feel the taste upon our tongue. We smell it. we watch where it grows, in these aspen forests. We encounter an other. We encounter something different than our personal view box. For that reason the journey is important. Not a virtual journey, we make an actual journey, going somewhere.

      When you see a forest of chard blackened  trees standing. When you see the tall ponderosa pine forest reduced to tall standing burn chard towers of of wood. When you are in an old recent fire, know that not only is this a place where there was a fire. Know that not only did these trees live a good life and are beautiful both in their lushness of green, and beautiful as pillars of charcoal standing in the blue sky. Good and bad, living and dead, green and burnt-black: know that these things are just concepts that fly through our minds like the sound of a crack! as the wind blows down a burnt-tree. When the tree hits the ground it doesn't matter if you were there to witness it or not, it doesn't matter whether you heard the crack! with the tree crashing down, or felt the breeze from the gust of wind high in the ponderosa pine tree tops. The important thing is to grasp the pattern of oshá, the burning forest lush growth of Springtime flowers like explosions of light in the blue sky with hummingbirds and bees. this is the pattern and know that this pattern is not just a pattern in this particular forest, on this particular mountain, on this particular day, the pattern that you see is your pattern. you're seeing the pattern of yourself in this moment.  the remedy, the los remedios that you need are right here in front of you, not far away, but right there. so listen feel taste touch because this is where the medicine is, and this is the path that we follow with oshá. as an example see yourself looking in a mirror. see your face and reflection in the mirror.  then remove yourself from the mirror and continue to look into the mirror.  See what is directly behind you in the reflection because this is where you are. You were looking at yourself. by removing yourself but knowing all the while that this pattern this flow of energy is you in the mirror without the image in the mirror.

     

So oshá is bear medicine, sash or bear, medicina del oso, medicine of the bear. Not only medicine of the bear, also Medicina del lobo, medicine of the wolf. In conversations with a rancher and plant person who lives and ranches near an area with wolves and the bear, she told me about the same action of the bear in meeting the plant in spring time pawing, digging the ground in spring, with the wolves who meet up with the oshá in spring. The wolves of the area in the same way as the bear, meet the plant in early spring, paw the ground around the plant , exposing the frsgrant potent roots and then rub and roll their bodies on the dug exposed roots, rolling and rubbing on the plant that they just dig up, captivated by its powerful, potent fragrance, raptured by its ability to awaken and arouse, the bear and wolf, oso y lobo, know the plant oshá.

The osha bear medicine is a powerful medicine for waking up, for coming awake,  for becoming renewed in the spirit of the springtime. There is a deep connection with Ligusticum porteri, bear and wolf, across all the plant/people/place interface of the sky islands and montane southwest where Ligusticum porteri lives as low as 6500 feet in Nuevo Mexico but in general from 8000-11,000 feet. Strictly a mountain plant. It is found near or within groves of aspen, conifers, ponderosa pine, fir and oak. 

    The definition of herbal medicine is change. Herbs bring change. Herbs as we take them into our bodies create change, create meaningful patterns that engender well-being in the bodies inherent move towards homeostasis. In this way A person who works with herbs for any amount of time sees that the herbs as they take into the body work in a cyclic way in the same way that change comes in many forms, we have linear change with the progression towards a goal and we have cyclic change that flips back-and-forth from one opposite to another. The cyclic change is the change of date tonight, of spring to winter, of hot to cold, of love to indifference. As we see the patterns of herbs as they move through the body the herbalist knows that the herbs will bring change in certain predicted ways in certain patterns of change this is how we know the herbs. 

Geographic range: L. porteri is distributed throughout the Rocky Mountain range, spanning Montana and Wyoming in the north, through Colorado, Nevada and Utah, to New Mexico, Arizona and Mexico Chihuahua and Sonora.

    Bear root is a perennial plant that greens out in the spring, grows its seed in the summer and then turns brown and dies back in the fall. And in this waking up in spring, maturing in the summer and sleeping in the fall and winter we have our own path we take of waking, of growing and sleeping,  this is the medicine, this is the lesson of oshá. It was considered part of  Umbelliferae family, now renamed as Apiaceae family, carrot/parsley family.   Known as the carrot/parsley family. The seeds and flowers have an umbellifer, as in our word umbrella look about them hanging down in clusters.  

     

The importance of the bear and the bear stories of Osu, osha, in Ligusticum porteri. One of the peoples who have lived with osha  in the Southwest are the Utes, and the Utes of stories of the bear which are important for understanding Ligusticum porteri. One of the stories of the Utes who live in southern Utah near Blanding, UT, is two brothers were out and about in the spring time hunting and gathering and they saw a bear in the standing upright and clawing, marking a the tree, making a loud scratching sound and digging around for roots. The bear talked to these two brothers and taught them how to dance, and sing the bear dance. The Bear asked the two brothers to go back to their people and teach them the bear dance. To do the bear dance in the springtime when lightning and thunder renew the earth once again after a long winter. When the energy of sleep awakens symbolized by late winter storms with snow, rain and lightning, this is the time the root energy is activated and moves from below to the surface, new life of spring emerging.  The bear taught how to gather together with others and celebrate the energy of the spring the new life that comes the greening of the plants. Up to the present day the Ute people have kept this connection with the spring bear dance at Sleeping Ute Mountain. It said that the dance is held in March when the first thunder and lightning signal the awakening of the mountains of spring. The dance opens with the rubbing of a notched stick making a sound that is said to be this the sound of the bear scratching on the tree in the spring time. Dancing movement is a way of connecting to the flow of the energy of the earth, of the lightning in the spring time,  and mobilizing connecting this event in a personal way with the group. In the bear dance the cat man makes sure that any woman's request to dance is honored, the bear dance is a woman's choice and when the woman will ask a man to dance,  that request can't be turned down. In the traditions of the Southwest there are stories of the bear woman that she-bear and this has been carried on into the present time. The woman who marries a bear, and gives birth to the bear children. There's a strong female presence in bear and in the renewal of spring, and there is an honoring of this female prerogative in the place, and in the fertility of the place, that happens in the spring time.        

    In the folk tradition osha is considered a plant protection and this is also mentioned in an old ethnographic study on the Pirates In "Southern Paiute Shamanism" by Isabel T. Kelly published in 1939, she mentions Ligusticum called, paxu'rani was applied for snake bite and the roots rubbed on moccasins and carried as a talisman to avoid snakebite and for protection. It is a tonic not only for the body, but also has uses for the psyche: the heart and mind. 

    Of course you do not need to look in books to find powerful plant energetics of oshá .

    All you need to do is to taste the plant, listen to the song and smell the power that is in the plant. This is the same power that is in us and all living things. We see the plant rising up in the spring sending it's energy upward from the roots. Then in autumn the same energy returns to the roots. And in this lesson is our own balance and restoring quality that we seek, that we use, that we understand and relate to in this plant medicine. All of the great plant medicines like redroot have the same story, the same song, the same action of rising in the spring. I have been following red root, Ceanothus spp plant story all over this turtle island. Here is a redroot Ceanothus plant story from the Pacific northwest. You will find redroot Ceanothus plant story being told everyday, in every day on this Turtle Island. Are you listening? Then the energy in the fall returns to the roots. This is how we harvest are plant medicines. We follow them and let them guide us through their changes. Herbal medicine is the practice of change bringing change into our own bodies with these plants. Herbal medicine is change. And this is how we relate to the plants on our own journey through our own lives. https://youtu.be/KYLQFUkNrro?feature=shared

      The Navajo also dwell in the area of Ligusticum porteri. They have stories that can only be told when the bear is sleeping and they determine that time from the lightning in the fall during winter and then when energy from zig-zag lightening returns, the lightning in the spring this is the time when the healing generative energy of the earth returns. 

   

Now I as I look osha  with only a few green leaves remaining. I make sure that I scatter and plant the seeds around osha covering them with soil. There is a chill of coldness in the air, most of the aspen leaves have turned from green to yellow and fallen and those that remain are yellow, thin and remind us of change, cycles and patterns. With the clouds running across the sky and another full moon it has the feeling of energy going back to the roots. This is the time to gather osha up on these high laying down mountain plateaus.

I am reminded of the bear with osha the long nights of winter. 

    Plants of Protection: Like yerba Santa, Eriodictyon angustifolium, osha is a plant of protection. As I mentioned earlier it is used both for an actual rattlesnake bite and also rubbed on the body on the soles of the feet, moccasins and or tied on the shoes to ward off rattlesnakes when traveling through areas where one is likely to meet a rattlesnake. Question may be why would one need protection? And why protection from a plant? How can a plant protect me? Protect me from what? This is an important question because as we approach herbs and plants from a bioregional herbal perspective it becomes clear that not only do herbs nourish, not only do herbs have medicinal qualities for specific conditions, herbs also are teachers and friends who help us connect to our deepest needs. Not only do herbs nourish in the sense of nourishing the body, of addressing imbalances, deficiencies and usefulness in a disease state, herbs & herbal medicine and or preparations also enter into the spirit in the greater health of a person, the soul. In the sense of plants, as I explored earlier, plant/medicine and medicine plants: there is also the aspect of nourishing the greater body nourishing the mind, the heart, the spirit in a bioregional sense. As we live and take roots in a place it becomes important to visit the same place time and time and time again when gathering plants during all times of the year. To not only see the plants in it's dried or prepared form but to see the living plant in all its phases. In this sense one is completing oneself within the bioregion by taking notice of the plant, not only taking notice of the medicinal properties or energetics of the plant but also taking notice of the plant itself and what it can give. Taking notice of our own body and mind and how it changes when we visit a place in the spring time, as opposed to visiting the same place in the fall or winter. Listening to the plant itself and spending time with the plant develops the aesthetic sense of communication with the plant, and helps to acknowledge the connection to the natural world. Realizing that when we are in this natural world our thoughts and emotions and feelings change. 

     One herbalist, who I am indebted for his tremendous knowledge and willingness to share that knowledge is Michael Cottingham, living and actively teaching near Silver City, New Mexico. Michael Cottingham is an herbalist in the timeless vitalist western school of herbalism, all of his teaching is direct, face to face in the oral tradition, and like many herbalists has a small online footprint believing that herbalism is best taught directly face to face. Michael often says in his teaching, "The definition of herbal medicine and importance of herbalism is to initiate change. Herbs are substances that we take into her body to produce change." For that reason Michael Cottingham in his face to face plant teaching usually teaches the single plant tincture approach. The single plant approach uses one or two core central herbs, with a supporting herb and a dispersing messenger herb like ginger, in constructing an herbal formula. Illness disease and states of sickness are those times when we need to take the herbs into our body to produce the change, to unblock the flow of energy so that the basic wisdom of the body, of homeostasis is renewed maintained and nourished. Michael Cottingham coming from a vitalist approach teaches that healing of disease is intrinsic to the body. Herbs activate the healing process to unfold. Through herbs the body's own resilient healing biospirit is activated to positive change. A lot of this information and knowledge has less to do with reading or studying and more to do with just spending time with the plants where they grow. Because as human beings we are intimately connected with the plant both in the present moment now and throughout our history. https://youtu.be/8TqOp5LC_W0?feature=shared

      A crucial and important part of herbal study is the actual tasting of plants, this is called the organoleptic approach so that we engage our senses touch taste smell with the plant to develop a sense of the energetics of the plant in the human body. So as herbalists we spend time looking, seeing, touching the plant and tasting the plant in various locations to find out the medicinal properties of the plant. One particular plant can vary greatly in its medicinal qualities through different seasons of the year. One specific plant can vary greatly in its energetic and medicinal qualities with regard to where it's growing, what type of year it's been in terms of wetness and warmth. Based on this hands on one organoleptic approach to plant medicine we begin to understand that specific plants can be vastly different depending on where they're growing and what time of the year we encounter them. 

   Within this folk tradition, because of this, we have plants that have developed a reputation within the historical context of bioregional  herbalism of nourishing  and protecting the spirit.

Oso,  la Medicina del osa, medicine of the bear, Ligusticum porteri is one of these plants. Sometime the plant due to its scent and physical nature, or due to the power of smell can remind us instantly and immediately of a greater whole, a  greater reality. Can awakening us a sense of a larger context in which we are acting. Especially if we have sought the plants out ourselves,  in their own environments, spending time with them in the spring, summer, winter and autumn. They can be reminders. They can remind us that we have power and resilience to overcome the current situation and this can be a strength.  This can be the plants role as a talisman, a charm to ward off evil. Evil whether  rattlesnakes or sorcery which may or may not of been used against us. And here let's remember that sorcery and witchcraft has to do with peoples view of us, their intentions for us versus our own need to develop and grow. Sorcery is an attempt to place a concept of self upon us that does not correlate with our inner nature and current situation. Often times a self concept can be an implanted thought.  That places us in a limitation which is no longer valid. When we are in a time of stress or turmoil or crisis, the plant can function to remind us of our resilience in the face of crisis by placing us in a larger context. This contextual shift is part of the work of plants. Much of our anxiety stress and issues have to do with the purely human realm, and although we spend much of our time in this place, the numinous depths of our being go much deeper than that. The healing energy of the plants can summon a reminder that we are bigger than the situation we face.

     Plant energetics: our organoleptic journey with the plants is to engage the plants with our senses. We touch the plant and journey to the place where the plant is growing . we examine the forest and the cool moistness.  We allow our tongue to wrap around the roots and use our nose to smell the strong aromatics. 

   Oshá is strongly stimulating and uplifting with its potent aromatic compounds. It's potency in many ways resides in the throat and in the lungs. It could easily be called a lung medicine because when we take in the plant oshá  we feel it's power in our respiratory system. Oshá opens up the deepest areas of the long at the area of gas exchange in the alveoli. It's potent nature naturally seeks the lungs. as the potent medicine reaches the lungs it moves out from the lungs in the sense of upward and out. So the motion of oshá  is to move upward and out, to seek forward and open up as it moves and exits. oshá is expanding. 

    Oshá  also asks to remove the fluid from lungs, the mucus the moist wet congestion that inhabits this moist place that we call the lung. so you may feel yourself coughing up phlegm and mucus and wanted to spit it on the ground. If your lungs are congested you'll find yourself coughing with the moist waste. A wet cough and coughing up the phlegm and as you're coughing up the phlegm you will taste the licorice warmth and taste of oshá  in the phlegm in the mucus, that you're spitting up.

    Osha is warm- warming it is heating. it is expansive, expansive moving upward and outward. it produces sweating in the body. you will feel your body heating up, warming up, and you will specially feel this heat in the throat in the lungs. so taking the oshá  into a body at the earliest date of feeling sick can bring the change necessary to allow the body to heal itself back from a disease state. oshá works best for those disease states that are infectious that go from person to person usually starting into the throat. at the first sign of a scratchy throat with congestion building in the throat you want to bring osha into the equation. Once the infectious state reaches the throat it has a tendency then to descend into the moist lungs and inhabit the lungs,  continuing this disease state which can escalate into something with the cough, a moist wet cough sore throat. It is at this point that oshá  brings its medicine of change into the body because it's going to heat the body. it's going to expel the mucus, the energy is going to be warm heating rising and expelling. There's going to be sweating so the body will be removing, shooting out, from the core to the extremities this is the action of oshá. https://youtu.be/7y6Lrd1m-EI?feature=shared

      Understanding Disease states and herbal healing: on a very basic level we have the inside and the outside. Life occurs within a protected space. In plants and animals we have the cell membrane or the cell wall this is the outer layer of inside and outside. The organism is continually answering the question what is inside what is outside? What is me what is not me? What is self? vs what is other? In acute situations we have sudden onset.  The skin, is a very large organ set up to determine the boundaries of self versus other. The skin is selectively porous allowing certain things to enter the body and certain things to leave the body in a sense it seals or covers the body and determines in many ways what is inside and what is outside. Breaks in the skin are problematic in that things from the outside can enter the body so that something like a cut or wound can allow an entranceway into the body. Immediately after the body detects, is aware that it's skin has been broken or compromised, begins the process of redoing the cover healing the wound and blocking the entrance way of other into self. The body mobilizes the reconstruction of skin, the re-creation of the pattern of the epidermis to cover the outside and restore the boundary between self and other this is the regrowth of skin after a puncture or wound injury. 

    The concept of a bounded whole is important to grasp because it in many ways captures the nature of dynamic interface between self and other which is continually occurring at the level of the skin which is the cover of the body. There is a vital intelligence at this level of choice and determination of self and other at the boundary of the body. 

     With the skin understood as that boundary between self and other in the human body, we also have openings in the skin which can be problematic for the entrance of disease states. The eyes, the ears, the nose, mouth, the genitals, and the anus. Because the mouth and nose function both in the sense of breathing and also eating we have a dynamic interface which could become the entranceway for disease in the mouth and nose. Day and night continually throughout the day throughout our period of being alive we are always breathing normally from 12 to 20 breaths per minute we are opening our mouth, taking in the outside air. we are breathing through our nose and mouth and taking the outside into the inside. Likewise with food we normally each and every day that we are alive eat. We place food into our mouth. we chew it. it's mixed with saliva. it is swallowed it passes the throat into the esophagus, the stomach, through the large and small intestines and then is removed. So the mouth is continuously involved in and necessary exchange yet also in someways a dangerous exchange between the inside and outside of the human body. We have to breathe. we have to eat yet in the movement of air and food and water through our nose and mouth as we eat and breath, and nourish there is the possibility of problems in the nose and throat with regard to outside entities entering and compromising the boundary between self and other.

     Each person due to their unique situation has inherited a kind of tendency towards disease, a pattern of illness in connection with the body systems. In certain persons there's a pattern of disease that can occur with the entranceway being the throat the nose and the mouth. This can manifest with sinus congestion, a blockage in the nose, ears, throat. It can also manifest with this type of person in the throat where the throat becomes inflamed & swollen, the glands of the throat, the lymph system become stuck in that area. And if the disease process is not interrupted the issue of compromised throat, can just descend into the lungs. The lungs as we understand them are very moist, wet and warm. They can become easily the breeding grounds of all types of illness if there is not adequate movement in the lungs, if there is stagnation in the lungs, if the circulation of energy does not continually move there can be issues in the lungs. this situation often manifests with the accumulation of fluid, of mucus of waste products and the body attempting to rid itself of the foreign bodies produces more mucus and attempting to expel the music mucus you have a cough. attempting to expel The mucus and clear the air ways there can arise a cough which itself can irritate the throat which itself can produce further irritation and further problems if the body is unable to circulate the energy in the lungs to expel the waste products that are building up there. https://youtu.be/R4bqKPN2BP4?feature=shared

      Oshá is the perfect medicine for the person who has a pattern of illness with regard to the throat sinus nose and ears. Oshá  can be that change that prevents the body from moving the energy downward into the lungs. Oshá  can be that agent of change which enables the body to resist illness, fight off the tendency for the throat to be that entrance way into things like influenza, lung  congestion, stagnant blocked lung energy, pneumonia, pleurisy and be the agent of change to bring the body towards that equilibrium of homeostasis. The body in equilibrium and wellness has a flow of energy which is movement. The body in sickness is blocked and the nature of the body is often in that same paradigm of self and other so the body attempts to block off the illness which can further bring stagnation and more blockage more issues. 

     Oshá is that outside agent that we call herbalism. The oshá  is the change the body needs in this condition of blocked energy. When the energy becomes blocked, and locked in the throat with soreness with inflamation, with redness, tenderness and pain, oshá  can be that agent of change. Remember that the definition of herbs of herbal medicine is change, herbs are agents of change that we use consciously, that we select and use to bring into the body, to lead the body away from the disease state into health. 

     In terms of sickness and health, and disease states we have or inherited tendency towards disease which we inherited from our mother, our father, grandparents, our great parents and even further in terms of our racial, cultural, national trans-personal history. Because this portion of our being is inherited it's not something that we can move away from deny or even affirm. it's just something that's there that's in the background that we have to deal with. these inherited patterns of illness and disease are where you are going to break down in terms of living in terms of time, through time. There is a way of looking at the world which is intensely hopeful and positive in terms of never growing old, of never dying, of never breaking down and in fact this is a delusional state because as human beings we can look around and you know that each person that is alive will die. no one anywhere at anytime  has maintained health throughout their life or else they would still be living. We all will break down and as herbalists it's important to see the pattern of where this breakdown will occur based on the inherited factor, the environmental factor, and takesteps to  minimize illness, maximize function, vitality and health. 

    By continuing with the concept of an inside and outside and maintaining the integrity of the bounded whole, we have the concept of nonself invading the body in such a way as to cause discomfort illness and disease. As human beings we of course have developed the sense and perception of self versus non-self, and self awareness as part of our being in the world. We don't function in an undifferentiated state. we function best when we are aware of our boundaries, when we are aware of our limitations, and when we are aware of the self and nonself, of ourselves in the environment. Before I was talking about the idea of the mouth nose throat ears as being a possibility for the entranceway of disease states into the body because of our breathing eating and drinking which occurs continuously as part of our process of living. So to go back again to the pattern of illness that occurs in the throat, the idea of a scratchy sore inflamed throat and that movement of illness and inflamation and blocked stuck condition into the lungs, in the allopathic medical model of illness we may want to examine throat in terms of a throat culture for bacteria. When we look at the throat we see that the throat is both a passageway for air in terms of respiration and breathing, and also a pathway for food nourishment and water to enter the body. So in terms of a inflamed sore scratchy throat we have to ask what is it that occurred that allowed the situation of homeostasis fluidity motion and exchange to break down into an illness pathological state? In the sense of a bounded whole with fluid porous  boundaries that  allow the healthful movement, exchange of both waste products and nourishing products across the barrier, we have to ask what is it that occurred that caused the inflammation, the blockage, the scratchiness, the irritation?

    One of the most important elements of health is to feel safe. As human beings we continually seek feedback from the social environment. We are seeking affirmation. We are also alert to negation. Just as our bodies are in a feedback loop which leads to action. So that when we are thirsty we seek out fluids and seek out water. When we feel hunger we want to seek nourishment. our body is saying eat. when we breathe we are seeking air. when we're running and moving we breathe deeply to satisfy our need for air. we can't hold our breath. We have to be in flow. we are in the process of exchange, things coming and going in and out of the bounded whole. When we are tired and sleepy we lay down to sleep, we rest our body. Our body is continually in this feedback loop where things arise and we meet their needs we take action, skillful appropriate action based on that feedback loop of listening and then acting on that information. 

     As social beings we are no different. We don't exit that feedback loop just because other people are involved. We are social beings so we are involved in a very involved dance of feedback, contact, of gestures of body language which enter upon us. We actively seek out approval, positive regard, and affirmation from the environment around us which not only is the physical environment but is the social environment. So what happens when we as a person receive negative feedback from the social environments.? And it doesn't matter if that is an intentional communication directed towards us. it is the element of perception. The question is not so much what is the environment  saying, what is the social environment saying? it's more about what are we hearing? What are we perceiving? What is the social milieu saying to us based on our perception? 

     When we have an injury to our skin, that breaks the protective layer of the skin, as in a wound or abrasion it's very easy to get a reality based evidence-based feedback from others of what is occurring. We have the broken skin. we have the bleeding. we have a wound that others can see. We also may have pain. Ouch. Something hurts. Something is wrong. "Oh look I injured my skin I have an open wound." and not only from ourselves do we get this feedback loop we can refer to others. We can say to someone look I scraped my elbow. And they can offer, "yeah I see it's red. why don't  you put a Band-Aid on it? cover it up." We get confirmation from our own perceptions and from others that something has occurred. we can agree and recognize what it is and therefore we know that the body is addressing the wound. we ourselves can do something to address the wound, we can maybe wash it in water, place a Band-Aid on it, put some sort of healing salve on it. We not only can have injuries to our skin, to our bodies in the sense of the boundary has been broken, we can have also injuries to our psyche. As human beings we have a need for feedback in that feedback loop we need to receive messages of positive regard of affirmation. This perception that everything is well is the positive feedback that we need that says we are OK we can make it, we can continue our journey. The idea of a psyche-wound, of a psychic injury to our intangible body is the concept of spiritual attack. 

    All around us there are people who are well-nourished in the physical sense, their bodies are fed. the air they breathe is clean,  they drink clean water -all these physical needs are being met. Yet there is a sense of malaise, there is a sense that something is not right that they have been set back. The protective layer between us as persons, the sense of belonging, that feedback loop has been compromised and it is in this position that we enter into elements like stress or degradation of the living experience so that the person does not florish but retreats. In the history of our interaction with plants that we call herbalism we have plants that have a reputation for restoring not only the body but restoring the protective layer of the communal self, with restoring the spirit. Several of these plants within our tradition have a deep connection with the lungs. A deep connection with breathing, with the intaking and out taking of air. I because our relationship with the breath is something that is a continuous movement in and out and in a sense is what unites us with the world around us in the sense of vision or hearing it's almost like a sense breathing is, breathing is a continual activity. it's a bridge between the inside and the outside and this activity is connected with the lungs. Oshá is one of those plants that is a talisman, that is a powerful herb of protection and also a powerful lung medicine. People come to oshá  when a serious situation is occurring, things like snakebite or insect bite, spiritual attack, pneumonia bronchitis, influenza. There is nothing more frightening than a serious bout with pneumonia, where you are drowning in your own fluids, where you feel yourself suffocating with mucus and into this picture is our plant ally oshá. The appearance of Ligusticum porteri  is like the delicate lobes of the lung. the flowers with their umbrella like appearance resemble the lungs and it's fragrance, the aromatics of oshá is confident reassuring, uplifting and strengthening. It is this history of spiritual protection and the ability of oshá  to work in the lungs, in the breathing, in difficult conditions that have made it such a powerful plants Ally. 

     

When you approach oshá it is like going to an altar, it is like approaching the lover or friend and it is an experience which deepens your commitment to the herbal healing wellness and strength journey. We come to oshá when all else fails when everything is dark and oshá  is the light, is the dream, and it is the power that we need to move our steps to this next place for healing to occur.