Purple loosestrife Lythrum salicaria

 Purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria -Lythraceae (Loosestrife family)

I am continuing on with herbal plant study in the Northeast encountering a lot of plants I remember vaguely from childhood, growing up but had never explored from a folk herbal, medicinal standpoint. It is exciting exploring the plants and big river mountain hill biosystem in a slower paced plant friendly manner. I'm settling into a different pace. The rivers big boundaries between small areas that you don't get in the west. Of course there are rivers in the west yet they are few and far between. So in the west I did a lot of driving from the desert to the mountains to access the plants. That automobile narrative mindset itself was a disconcerting kind of experience because it's beyond human and plants.You are traveling at super human speed, 60 70 mph, and in a sense it disempowers the space. Plants live attached anchored to a distinct terrain. On two legs we move about the space. The difference between plants and people is a similar to the difference between people and cardinals, then between cardinals and eagles. Yet when people become car-people they lack the sensorial richness to support that additional mobility. Driving a car although at first it seems like an expanding experience soon becomes more of a subtraction. We don't have the senses to support an automobile mindset. Our eyes, fingers, ears hands and tongue are two legged eyes, two legged fingers, two legged tongues. I found the more I lived an automobile life the more it decreased my physical vitality. It alters experience of the space and ultimately how I experience the plants.

https://youtu.be/duqNGed-TCo

Another issue was the prolonged drought that began sometimes around the 1980's. On the Yellowstone fires it was obvious that-the trees had-been stressed by an extended drought. I remember the area around Lander Wyoming, cutting firewood with Steve Norwood and seeing probably thousands of acres of lodgepole that were killed by pine bark beetles. In my move to the Arizona strip studying the plants it became obvious there too, extended drought had altered the demographics of mountainous plants. Plants from both the Maderian Sky Islands to the lower desert were affected by sustained drought, not only were the plants different, the plants were affected by the extended long-term drought and the people who live within the drought were also equally changed. Both the plants and people adapted to scarcity. There were twice as many people living in Arizona then when I first arrived. That doubling in population was uncomfortable, places became unrecognizable. For the most part the new arrivals were dominant culture people by choice. They were not coming to Arizona for herbal medicine. They were searching for and created an automobile air conditioned paradise or automobile air conditioned nightmare, depending on your perspective.

For me it's an experiment, to deepen my relationship with the medicinal plants. The area I am living has right outside my door access to hundreds of miles to rails to trails bicycle paths. I grew up here so many plants I remember seeing as a child. They kinda feel like my plants. They are close by. I am going to make the best of it. So I am using the bicycle routes to meet new plants. Purple loosestrife is one such plant.

Purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria -Lythraceae (Loosestrife family)

Loosestrife is another endemic naturalized herb, ubiquitously abundant throughout the eastern US with a long written history of medicinal use first documented by the Greeks and Romans and later documented by european herbalists. Of course for any medical condition check first always with paid licensed medical professionals, the CDC and our excellent highly respected health system.

It grows here in open full sun meadows. It is 3-4 feet high, with sessile (grasping directly the central stalk) lanceolate (lance shaped, pointed leafs. Flowers are brilliant pink purple, visible from a distance, 6 sepals on an elevated flower spike. It grows from palustrine wetlands to dry disturbed meadows. Significantly, when harvesting Purple loosestrife avoid contaminated polluted industrial sites as Lythrum salicaria readily absorbs chemical pollutants.

Many plants once they are labeled, "invasive" are considered unclean and shunned for use. It's a gifted blessing that such a pedigreed invasive, abundant weed herb, herb weed comes along. The commonplace, in your face, growing out of sidewalk cracks healing vibe. I was pleasantly shocked rocked that ancient Greek texts extol its virtues as an important healing plant.

Purple loosestrife, as an astringent herb with demulcent qualities, lends itself well to traditional use for both childhood and adult diarrhea/ loose stools. In addition-it was used as a gargle/swish/spit mouth rinse and for gum and teeth issues. In addition to astringent qualities it also has antimicrobial qualities,

"Dioscorides wrote in De Materia Medica (c. ~70 AD):

“The herb is tart and strong in taste, of an astringent and refrigerant nature, good for stanching both outward and inward bleeding; sap extracted from the leaves and drunk stops blood-spitting and dysentery, and sour wine in which the leaves have been boiled when taken internally will have the same effect; and if the plant is set afore it gives off a pungent vapor and smoke that drives away serpents; and flies cannot stay in a room where this smoke is.”

Taste: Bitter, slight sour, slightly salty, astringent

It can also be used to treat heavy periods and inter-menstrual bleeding. It was used in europe for outbreaks of dysentery, said to work for diarrhea in children and babies. also in TCM, traditional Chines medicine: "TCM considers it to be cold, bitter and astringent and it’s associated with the Liver, Small Intestine, and Lungs and classically used to treat dysentery."

Piwowarski & Kiss write, "The review of historical sources from ancient times till 20th century revealed an outstanding position of L. salicaria in traditional medicine. The main applications indicated were gastrointestinal tract ailments (mainly dysentery and diarrhea) as well as different skin and mucosa affections. The current phytochemical studies have shown that polyphenols (C-glucosidic ellagitannins and C-glucosidic flavonoids) as well as heteropolysaccharides are dominating constituents, which probably determine the observed pharmacological effects. The extracts and some isolated compounds were shown to possess antidiarrheal, antimicrobial, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic activities."

Traditional uses: Lythrum salicaria was known as medicinal plant from the ancient Greek and Roman times. The aerial parts of Lythrum salicaria were used internally for the treatment of diarrhea, chronic intestinal catarrh, hemorrhoid, eczema, as a decoction or fluid extract. Externally, it was used in the treatment of varicose veins, bleeding of the gums, hemorrhoid, eczema and vaginitis(42-45) . It was also used as a demulcent and astringent decoction for the treatment of colorectitis, summer complaints of children diarrhoea; locally for chronic ophthalmic and as a wash or poultice for leucorrhoea, gleet (gonorrheal discharge), and chronic gonorrhea(46) . Parts used medicinally: Aerial parts(42-45)".

from-Ali Esmail Al-Snafi Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Thi qar University, Iraq

       From  Jakub P. Piwowarski, Sebastian Granica, Anna K. Kiss

"Early experiments Between 1915-1916 Caille and Viel (1919) isolated glucoside (unknown structure) from Lythrum salicaria- salicairine. In experiments conducted using in vitro models as well as animal trials and people suffering from chronic and acute diseases of gastrointestinal tract, several therapeutic activities of salicairine were determined: astringent properties expressed as stool consistency normalization; hemostatic activity observed as disappearance of blood from feces; decrease of pain and disappearance of pathogenic bacilli. No adverse effects, even at high doses were observed. Dumont (1920) taking into account the above properties recommended preparation containing salicairine (under the same name) in the treatment of diarrheas in children, non-specific enteritis, bacterial enteritis, dysentery caused by bacilli as well as combined with emetine in amoebiasis. Recommended doses of preparation salicairine: children: acute affections: 10-20 drops (equivalent 10-20 mg of glucoside- salicairine), chronic affections 4-10 drops; adults: acute affections 40-100 drops, chronic affections 20-50 drops. Dufour used Lythrum salicaria liquid extract (salicairine) at a dose of 0.5-0.6 g/day in the treatment of diarrhea in infants and in 2/3 from 100 cases observed significant recovery. In adults therapy with Lythrum salicaria liquid extract at a dose of 3-4 g/day occurred to be very effective in the therapy of diarrhea, acute and chronic dysentery with accompanying diarrhea and in Shigella sp.-caused dysentery. The author claimed that the changes in intestine mucosa caused by tannins and/or other constituents were responsible for the therapeutic effects (Dufour, 1919a; Dufour, 1917). Dedieu (1921) reported the use of salicairine in children’s clinic in Toulouse in the treatment of gastrointestinal tract disorders in infants. Seventeen patients (aged 2-20 months) with acute and sub-acute gastroenteritis accompanied by fever, with infantile colic or with diarrhea caused by the overeating. The standard therapyhydration plus calomel (mercury (I) chloride) gave no positive results towards diarrhea. When infants were given salicairine 3 drops/3 times/day the amount of stools significantly decreased as well as water content in feces. Maurin (1922) stated the effectiveness of Lythrum salicaria in the dysentery observed as amelioration of stool consistency and its smell followed by the general patient condition improvement. Interestingly the positive impact on gut microbiota composition was observed accompanied by disappearance of pathogenic strains. 

     He recommended the use in acute and chronic diarrhea, dysentery caused by Shigella sp., enteritis, intestine infections, gastroenteritis and green stools in children in the form of powdered herb (1 g 3-4 times/day), infusion (3-6 g/day) and aqueous extract (0.5-1 g/day). At least two preparations of Lythrum salicaria were available on the French market since 1920s’ Salicairine (standardized extract in the form of fluid or tablets produced by Laboratoires Legras, France) and Salitol (the liquid extract). These formulations basing on research cited above were recommended in the treatment of chronic and acute dysentery and diarrhea of different etiologies in adults and children. In 1960’ Lythrum salicaria was still popular as a remedy for diarrhea, especially in children and applied even in diarrheas of bacterial etiology. It was used in the form of decoction, powdered herb or standardized liquid extract. Lafon (1962) in qualitative reports on plant-derived drugs to French Pharmacopoeia enumerates astringent, cicatrizing and antidiarrheal properties of Lythrum salicaria flowering tops. These times amount of Lythrum salicaria herb used for production of galenic preparations in France reached 3-4 tones per year (Paris and Moyse, 1967). The important position of Lyhrum salicaria in the therapy of gastrointestinal tract inflammation-associated ailments (especially dysentery of different etiologies) can be deduced basing on its descriptions in many 18th, 19th and early 20th century medicinal dictionaries, manuals and guidebooks listed in Table 4. Table 4. 18th, 19th and early 20th century medicinal dictionaries, manuals and guidebooks containing information about Lythrum salicaria use in therapy of gastrointestinal tract ailments."

----from From  Jakub P. Piwowarski, Sebastian Granica, Anna K. Kiss

Uses: internal as tea, plant tincture, external in salves or compress as vulnerary, to stop bleeding, to encourage wound healing.

Consider adding the Purple Loosestrife to your materia medica.

Lythrum salicaria L.—Underestimated medicinal plant from European traditional medicine. A review

Author links open overlay panelJakub P.PiwowarskiSebastianGranicaAnna K.Kiss

Department of Pharmacognosy and Molecular Basis of Phytotherapy, Medical University of Warsaw, Faculty of Pharmacy, ul. Banacha 1, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland

https://docksci.com/lythrum-salicaria-l-underestimated-medicinal-plant-from-european-traditional-med_5a498453d64ab24150c21759.html

Chemical Constituents and Pharmacological Effects of Lythrum Salicaria- A Review Ali Esmail Al-Snafi Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Thi qar University, Iraq

FARMACIA, 2009, Vol. 57, 2

192

LYTHRUM SALICARIA‭ (PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE). ‬

MEDICINAL USE, EXTRACTION AND

IDENTIFICATION OF ITS TOTAL PHENOLIC

COMPOUNDS ‭ ‬

SUHAD S. HUMADI‭1, VIORICA ISTUDOR‭2* ‬‬

1‭University of Baghdad, Faculty of Pharmacy ‬

2‭University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, Faculty of ‬

Pharmacy, Traian Vuia 6, sect. 2, 020956, Romania

*corresponding author: viorica.istudor@gmail.com

https://www.milkandhoneyherbs.com/.../purple-loosestrife...

https://www.herbrally.com/monographs/purple-loosestrife

http://www.naturalmedicinalherbs.net/.../lythrum...

Boneset, Eupatorium perfoliatum

 Boneset, Eupatorium perfoliatum, Aster family.

[Note: caution, seek out licensed professional medical treatment for all medical conditions. Recent studies on the plant genus Eupatorium spp have indicated hepatic-toxic( liver) alkaloids present within this plant genus. Conflicting studies have named Eupatorium perfoliatum within this group. The studies themselves I have read indicate contamination of plant material. Meaning some of the plants tested were not Eupatorium perfoliatum.

Accurately getting wild herbal plants tested is a problem. Eupatorium spp are frequently misidentified especially with regard to conflicting local common names, part of plant tested whether root, stalk, leaf or flower. Frequently herbal products sold do not match their labeled contents. Regardless the possibility of hepato-toxic alkaloids is a significant issue.] Yet boneset was used as a folk medicine, as an eclectic botanical medicine into the 1920's, and it's use has been historically short term and in small quanities, in folk medicine as a bitter fairly bad tasting medicinal tea. 

    Boneset is a perennial flowering herb, 2-4 ft tall. The leaf base surrounds the central stem. In botanical terms, sessile opposite leaves, (leaves clasping the central stem, without petiole/leaf stem) where stalk appears to pass though the main stalk). Leaves are glossy green, up to 6 inches long, tapered to a point, lanceot, with serrate/rounded toothed margins. Growing here at 1500ft northern appalachian NE woodland open sun meadow, blooming 2nd week August. 

    A plant of meadow, road side, disturbed cleared land. Boneset grows extensively throughout the eastern US. Boneset, due to it's nature as a medicinal plant is to be used cautiously, ie, it's not an herb like say ginger, or mint which are food/medicine herbs. Boneset is solely a medicine plant. It's not a plant to be taken daily, or in large doses especially as a tincture. Which means a cautious approach. 

      The parts used are the  flowers and green leaves. For colds and flu it's often combined with pleurisy root and echinacea. Probably the best way to use boneset is the traditional tea at first sign of colds and flu, similar to purple vervain. Using it for three to five days, then discontinue use. Thankfully it is not a likeable enjoyable taste, it tastes very bitter, and medicinal. Not a plasant drinkable tea. 

     Several studies have linked multiple Eupatorium spp, and specifically Eupatorium perfoliatum, boneset to dangerous hepatic-toxic alkaloids, in both the tincture of boneset extracted via alcohol and hot water. Caution is therefore advised with bonesets use. Personally I would not advise release of tincture outside of a controlled monitored situation. Tinctures are extremely concentrated medicines as compared to a tea. Contradicted in anyone with liver issues, fatty liver, cirrhosis,  elevated liver enzymes or heavy recreational alcohol use.  

     So its use should be weighed and short term less than 5 days and probably limited to the traditional folk tea method. The taste is extremely bitter, so I can't see anyone drinking much of it without throwing up. It was used similar to lobelia as an emetic.

    Interest in boneset was increased recently due to reccomendation for use, and used by many these past two years, recently for evolving conditions related to respiratory issues, low grade fever etc, used similarly in past historical similar conditions. During the pandemic of 1918-19 following the initial portion of the great 30 years war of european western erasure reset carried out between 1914-1945. Boneset was considered one of the safest and most successful eclectic remedies prescribed and utilized for the 1918-19 so called spanish flu. The eclectic medical botanical tradition of  physicians, was a uniquely american medical stream of knowledge that was effectively erased and reset to industrial pharmaceuticals by the organizers and beneficiaries of the 30 years war. Which is sad because many of the health gains in disease prevention had a lot to do with fresh food, sanitation and availability of clean drinking water. Many of the eclectic botanical medicines could have been kept, and made available to people. Instead, I say erased and reset because the medical knowledge base of the eclectics wasn't expanded through addition, it was wiped out and replaced. There was a medi pharma industrial war and the winners of the conflict re-wrote the narrative to fit their objectives. That objective although portrayed as human excellence and health, is in reality relentless jingo capitalism, with profit for a unique global elite class. They then set up local regimes utilizing the archetypal items of the old national culture, of a nation, to conduct a 24/7 multi level pyramid scam, perpetrated via mass media get rich quick, everything for sale, including the most important forsale item, which are people. People become the products bought, sold and traded. In the flag waving state, people, their sons and daughters, elderly, infirm, are the final solution harvest for sale items. Everything is capable of being priced, bought, sold, and traded. We are all for ultimate products in a continuous sale. Where the cultural hegemony becomes ultimate american pimp and hoe. Your either a pimp or hoe, or a hoe dreaming of being a madame in the business. No one can step off the merry go round of continuous sale. The bottom line in the industrial hoax of family is where the strong continuously market the weak and the vulnerable. Children/hoes are pimped out by their pimp/caretakers to first responder rape gang culture. They are drugged into existential oblivion by cheap heroin, marijuana, meth, tobacco, alcohol. Elders are deep sedated in their forced pharma police state internment camps, every demographic is partial culled for profit in the dystopian cult of pyramid pleasure profit. We have transitioned from selling things and stuff, to selling one another in the ultimate flag waving, surveillance, medi, slavery cult. 

     Blocking access to the medicinal plants that have sustained people throughout beginning-less time is a key priority in erasure. A do it yourself, small scale, localized approach to herbal medicine is always problematic for those seeking to usurp health sovereignty. In your face localism is the primary solution for what ails us related to herbalism. Teaching, learning, done small, local, face to face. 

    The name boneset is more bone-break fever, and refers mainly to fever flu with bone breaking pain, deep bone ache. Boneset doesn't refer exclusively to setting bones, or setting broken fractured bones. Although there is folk traditional references to its use topically similar to comfrey. Looking at the strong sessile leaf pattern the doctrine of signature idea of mending broken parts, broken bones, is strongly visually present. Boneset is a facinating folk heritage plant to learn. 

The Eclectic Materia Medica, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 1922, was written by Harvey Wickes Felter, M.D.

Abascal, K., (2006). Herbs & influenza: how herbs used in the 1918 flu pandemic can be effective today. Vashon, WA: Tigana Press.

Abascal, K., (2020). Herbs and influenza: how herbs used in the 1918 flu pandemic can be effective in ANY pandemic, 2nd ed. Vashon, WA: Tigana Press.

Abascal, K. and Yarnell, E., (2006). Herbal treatments for pandemic influenza: learning from the Eclectics’ experience. Alternative and Complementary Therapies, 12(5), pp. 214-221. [online] Available at: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/act.2006.12.214 [Accessed 14 July 2021].

Brinker, F., (2007). Book review of: Herbs & Influenza: how herbs used in the 1918 Flu Pandemic can be effective today. HerbalGram, 75, pp. 69-70. [online] Available at: https://www.herbalgram.org/resources/herbalgram/issues/75/table-of-contents/article3153/ [Accessed 14 July 2021].

Ellingwood, F. (1919). American Materia Medica, therapeutics and pharmacognosy. Version published by Southwest School of Botanical Medicine, Bizbee, AZ., pp. 179-192. [online] Available at: https://www.theforagerspath.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/1919-Ellingwood-American-Materia-Medica-Therapeutics-Pharmacognosy.pdf [Accessed 4 July 2021].

Haller, J.S., (1994). Medical protestants: the Eclectics in American medicine, 1825-1939. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

Lloyd, J.U., (1923). Echinacea angustifolia. Lloyd Brothers, Cincinnati. In: R. Bauer and H. Wagner. eds. (1990). Echinacea: Handbuch für Ärzte, Apotheker und andere Naturwissenschaftler.  Stuttgart: WVG., p. 16.

https://www.herbalhistory.org/home/the-eclectic-herbal-treatments-for-pandemic-influenza-1918-19/

https://klemow.wilkes.edu/Eupatorium.html

Emma's Sheep House Teaching Milky River

Emma's Sheep House Teaching along Milky River

Conversations with Emma:Upper Sheep Basin                                              

     Ever since the opening ceremony of Valeriana at the deer house I was looking forward to further teaching about the plants and animals regarding herbal medicine within the tradition of bardic nationalism, as westernkind. Many of the things I began to learn much earlier, and had to voice them far from my own. There was one thing central, I was taught to disavow the regime narrative of erasure, and instead embrace white well being. Where ever a deep abiding love for a secure existence of our people and a future for white children, there would be the unfolding of healing within the nation. Just as the plants exist outside of any narrative, so do we, and so it is.
                   

That there are nations is not surprising, not a nation of boundaries and lines drawn on a map, not an evolving economic zone, but instead a nation of people and place whose lines are walking mountains, flowing rivers, and walking people, friends who create the nation. A nation of plants growing on the shady side of mountains by the work of tiny medicine deer who reveal their presence by their gardens, and a nation of people. We live there without explanation, because that is the nature of well being. White well being unfolds according to the biospirit within the people of western civilization, just as a seed, kind after kind.
                                          

Garden of the Valerian Kiss

       I had many questions. I realized I needed a testimony. Much of what I learned was beyond explanation. I had left the narrative of guilt. I was proud of my own skin. I realized according to the teachings of the small and large medicine deer at the deer house that Valariana was just an opening sealing and many other ordinances and blessings would follow. Above all it was living the nation of place, maintaining the people through the plants.                

Merrill Ram patriarch and prophet

      Just before leaving deer house I was informed by one of the small tiny medicine deer that in a few weeks time there would be a weeklong herbal medicine conference along the milky river with big horn sheep and I should make myself available to attend. The last thing I heard from the deer at deer house was that I was to proceed to the milky river and wait the message from the osprey nesting in the ponderosa pine. So I did and what follows is a record and report of the endowment along milky river. I was blessed to travel milky rivers going free, as you will too. 

Osprey father bringing crayfish 

     I would like to thank the teachers especially Merril, the ram and patriarch and Emma, a perfect plural wife celestial, for the teaching done by the Rocky mountain bighorn sheep living along milky river. I was happy to arrive at the Upper Sheep house on Milky River. 
                                   

Milky River

      I was happy because arriving at sheep house indicates a good although often unexpected circumstance. This circumstance is called 'lifting up'. Lifting up refers to bending down and listening. Listening to the plants and animals directly without an interpreter. Hearing their own stories in their own voice. 
    Many ordinances, sealing and blessings were held regarding the plants growing along milky river and things difficult to explain. 'Lifting up' or 'bending down',is called 'an opening' and refers to a body of pre-existing knowledge that is understood related to the plant medicine road. It is heard like a small voice, like the sound of wind high above the clouds, above the sky. To cherish and be open to that still small voice is the journey, the destination and the process. It is leading in its own way through our mouth, our navel, our heart, whatever is there is there. We find it in its own way because we like them are wild and wanting.
        

     I found myself arriving frequently at sheep house for teaching, so I was sure that I had lifted under good circumstance. As I said, lifting is similar to bending down, we put our ear to the ground and hear the sky, I was given an obsidian stone to translate the teaching into words. Obsidian is usually black, dark and cold. If held to the light this obsidian was translucent, it was opaque yet fluid, open. If my words are murky and unclear regarding the teachings of Merril the patriarch and Emma the celestial plural wife, regarding plants it was not because their teachings were cloudy, but because I am a poor tabernacle. I have come here by fits and starts, hesitant and stumbling, yet proceeding on none the less. 

                                    

Beautiful Emma Celestial Plural Wife

   Teaching is very much in line with the teaching of the tiny medicine at deer house. Yet it is slightly more precise. I would compare it to the song of the western robin in the spring sometimes heard at night during a waxing gibbous moon, near full. It is not quite the same as the robin's song heard bright and early morn. Yet it is there mixed with night and day in the between time. Neither day or night, neither true nor false, neither self or other, just so. 
     I found myself arriving frequently at sheep house for teaching....
                                    

Premortal world New Heaven and Earth Milky River

         The whole teaching of Merril and Emma can be stated as, in the premortal world Jesus Christ was chosen as the Savior. We were there with the Savior. We came to agreement. We were there not only as people, but the plants and animals too were there with us together in one accord. We came to this earth to obtain a body, to gain knowledge and overcome by faith. They too came to this earth, one among many, to obtain a body. We are together with them sometimes over coming, often overcome by faith. Not of course faith alone, but faith with works occurring at the same time.  

      

    The sheep residing at the sheep house on Milky River were holding special goings on regarding the spring planting of the Monarda,         
                                   

Tiny just planted Monarda Milky River

Hops, Poleo, Clematis and many other plants along with other topics of importance to them. Now I call them sheep residing at sheep house, but you could call them to your liking and experience, singing frogs or dancing mountains. How they reside is as much rooted in how you reside. The truth is we must reside at milky river's edge.
                                    

Humulus lupulus wild hops

     The teaching of the rocky mountain bighorn sheep along milky river has both a practical work aspect, and a theoretical framework, all interlinked with fieldwork and experiential knowledge. Apart from a peculiar endowment with Emma, a big horn sheep ewe, all teaching was non verbal. Most involved scouring the canyons and watershed on hands and knee, often with a loupe. The only truth is serve your people. Do no harm. Believe an do. We can no longer inhabit their narrative. Our story involve all the saints celestial. Some days I would find myself watching the ponderosa pine nearly bend down to the ground in the wind, yet around me was windless calm and stillness. Only the sound of a spring western robin singing with Emma nearby planting monarda and chewing on grass. It reminded me of years gone by deep in the Laurentians with Anne Marie Lavoie, who spoke no english and I who spoke no French. I lived in a tent on the mountainside, watching seasons change. Yet we communicated in our own way with no conflict, knowing that just as we met suddenly, we would separate never to see each other ever again.

Clematis ligusticifolia, White western Clematis

      This seven day herbal conference is held annually in the spring after the first hatching of osprey eggs. There is a connection between the osprey, the sheep and the plants. There is a connection with everything. If you turn and out of the corner of your eye you see dappled sunlight, or hear wood peckers lightly tapping on the the ponderosa pine, this then becomes the teaching. If something else occurs then that is the teaching. The teaching is everything occurring in a place. We occur in places obedient to the time and season, not forcing occurrences but blending, lifting, bending.
     The osprey return to their nests each year along the milky river, in early spring. Where they go during their time away from milky river I do not know. Their nests are used year after year and are located in the tops of Ponderosa Pines snags along the milky river. While you could ask, 'Where do osprey go when the snow falls?', it would be better to ask, 'Where does the snow go after melting?'. Osprey come and go according to their own laws and rules. Some say they return beyond the sky into another celestial sphere beyond our understanding. Like asking where does the lightning go, when it is not flashing? We see lightning flash, we hear snow melting, that is enough. It does no good to seek thunder or run away from sorrow.

Osprey of the celestial sphere

                                     
    The osprey or fish eagle eats a diet of fish. Based on their fish catching they can lay, no eggs, or two to four eggs. Abundance determines the narrative and scarcity tempers the condition. This year was a good one, of abundance and the female osprey decided on three eggs to lay and hatch. The male and female osprey can be seen perched on rocks, one on the rocks catching fish, One in the nest on the eggs. Osprey work together. One always waits in the nest with the newly hatched osprey baby and the two remaining unhatched eggs. They bring small trout, cray fish or frogs to the nest and the female feeds small pieces to the baby osprey chick. It's well known that the osprey baby chicks enjoy most of all the tender meat in the cray fish tail. You can see cray fish claws below the osprey nest.
     Osprey mate with osprey. You will not see a deer in the nest. You will not see sheep climbing trees. You may see a black raven circling above the nest hoping for an opportunity to steal the eggs. Yet you will not see the osprey and raven together in the nest. Osprey respects their destiny of osprey-ness. They don't protest the comings and goings below the nest. They are nesting, making osprey babies. This defines their obligations and describes their action. 
    The osprey this spring, laid three, milky cream white eggs flecked and swirled with the color of red slick rock. 
                                           

Eggs creamy white, color of slick rock

      The color of the eggs, reminds me of the copper bearing soil where yerba santa grows. When one thing occurs another follows. Their nest is a woven basket, a circle of sticks lined with moss and usnea. I was taken above their nest one night in a dream. Lifted high on a shooting star, I hung onto the moon perched above their nest.  In the dream one egg has already hatched signaling the beginning of the conference at sheep house. The male and female Osprey mate for life and both of them sit on the remaining two eggs in the nest taking turns back and forth. The eggs don't all hatch at one once. The osprey eggs hatch one at a time. Each hatching of the Osprey egg is spread out over several weeks. This was the first hatching and the tiny Osprey baby will not be able to fly for several weeks. It is after the hatching of the first egg that the conference begins. Sheep and osprey work together to put together an educational conference. I was invited by the Osprey to the sheep's conference. Being invited to a conference is like walking across a meadow deep with snow then having the snow melt, walking again across the meadow. Is it the same meadow covered deep with snow and another meadow covered with yellow potentlla flowers? These kinds of questions divert from the fundamental point which is walking across a meadow. Meadows are neither different nor the same, whether covered in white snow or covered with yellow potentilla flowers. If you see yellow potentilla flowers walking, and water moving in streams to the clouds you will arrive shortly.
     I do not know why I was invited to the sheep teaching conference. In some sense I was asked to go and in another sense I was told to go. I do not know which is more true, asking or being told? Yet I knew and was known by both deer and sheep, plants and sky as having to go. Knowing and being known are two aspects of the same thing, neither much different than the other. I have always wanted to be well known and respected, now rather than wanting to be known, I would rather know. To be recognized is pleasant yet it has its issues. Our concentration is limited, better to focus on knowing than to be diverted into being known. 
                                         

Emma,  "Let her enter"

      One day mid morning, around noon,I could see the osprey flying along the river, up the ridge circling past the meadow where a group of 21 big horn sheep noon up for water. They were waiting. Whether they were waiting for osprey or waiting for time to pass more slowly, I don't know. They knew the osprey had returned and were awaiting word of the first hatching. The male osprey spoke with the sheep and the conference was set to begin during the next day of waxing gibbous moon. The osprey continued to fly scouring along the milky river for places to place the Monarda, poleo, clematis, Alum root, Hypericum and other plants for which the sheep are responsible. 
       I awaited word from the osprey who returned to the nest after consulting with sheep in the meadow. The female sitting on the nest was happy to have her mate return. They flapped their wings together. It was good to see them, yet sad for I knew it was also time to go toward something for which I did not know. When I take off for something new and uncertain it is invigorating yet also disconcerting. It is one thing to be deep in the Laurentians at 18, and another to be bleached grey with the sun and traveling to an unknown place with an unknown destination. Yet we are drawn and pulled and move slower and more deliberate as time goes on. When we are young we have no doubt that our story can be told, later we live regardless of the telling. Telling the story becomes living the story. 
     So, I made my way to the meadow and for seven days. There we planted tiny Monarda, poleo, st john's wort, Lycopus, and skullcap along the river. Really, if some one asked I don't know if years, weeks or hours went by. Time was motionless, circular, an in between celestial time. The time of stars not the planets. We can tell the time of planets. This was a time of rocks and stones. Watching mountains walk, I'm not sure how far they have gone. I can't tell you if the mountains walked in small steps or leaped and jumped. Yet I can tell you mountains walk, and somehow this is a report of their walking.
       Many of the teachings done by the medicine deer at the deer house are complementary to sheep house teachings. It is not that the deer teachings are different than the sheep and osprey teachings. Also it is not that their teachings are the same. The deer are small and move quickly. They can disappear and all you see are their lightning white rumps. You are not sure if you saw the flashing white deer rump or a small puddle of water glistening in the dappled sunlight through the alligator juniper trees. The sheep move differently. The sheep move slowly and remain together in groups. They move as a bunch. They are more leisurely and relaxed. The teaching of the rocky mountain bighorn sheep are more accessible and work more with the fundamentals of the plant medicine teaching. Sheep like Merril and Emma, have a more approachable teaching. Still fantastic and unbelievable yet more convincing. Although neither use words with frequency, the sheep teaching is more substantial. Both teachings help us to understand our relationship with plants and formulate a background to understand herbal medicine.
                                      

Prunus americana 

        The large ram whose name was Merril did much of the teaching during the gathering. Merril was never angry or hurried. It was obvious that a big horn sheep ram teaching a man was a rare interaction for Merril. The basic teaching of Merril is that all beings were alive before they were born. After their physical body dies they continue to live after. Merril "spoke" through the use of stone which he gave me. It was black obsidian, yet when held up to the sun it was transparent  The stone was activated by holding to the right breast, the left breast, the navel and the right knee. It was through the black obsidian stone, that I was able to understand. No words were spoken. At one point he said, "Any and all living things—men and women, animals, and plants—were spirits before any form of life existed upon the earth."  First and foremost duty is to seek the plant until we open the path of communication from plants to our own soul. These were the only things I heard, everything  else came through Emma in relation to the stone which I wore in a leather pouch around my neck.

       

Merril used the example of the osprey, who mate as a pair for life and himself, with many wives, as doing the same work. They both enter into a celestial marriage, that allows for a continuing revelation of the news. Merril also quoted from a type of "book". He was able to communicate using a transparent black obsidian stone. In that way I was able to understand:

1. Moses 3:8-9 "8 And I, the Lord God, planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there I put the man whom I had formed. 9 And out of the ground made I, the Lord God, to grow every tree, naturally, that is pleasant to the sight of man; and man could behold it. And it became also a living soul."
2. Gen2:5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: 

      At a group of white rocks, sheltered by ponderosa pine, with yellow potentilla flowers, in a meadow just above a small creek, is a place the sheep call the spot. At this place ordinances and blessings are done and relationships are sealed. Since nothing is written I was curious how the sheep were able to record their endowments. According to the ram Merril, "There is a still small voice within that speaks to every living thing." I could tell it was difficult for Merril to speak with me as it removed him from the flow of his work with the plants. Being a great patriarch he had much to attend to with many ewes, his celestial brides. He provided to me a ewe who would help me understand, From then on I spent my time with her. Her name was Emma.
         All the sheep gathered in a circle around us. If some one looked from a distance they could not see us within the circle of sheep. Since we were kneeling it would appear the sheep were nooning up for water. Yet within the rocks they together performed a sealing between us. We washed first in the icy cold water of the milky river. After washing, I was given a whitish grey brown woolen garment made from Big Horn sheep coarse wool of one piece and a green bib made of Rocky mountain juniper(Juniperus scopularum), tied in the front with cord made from Prunus, wild cherry bark. Emma wore a fragrant veil that covered her entire body made from the flowers of Prunus americana, wild plum blossoms. The scent was sweet and strong enough to smell from a half mile away. So I couldn't see her face or expression. I could smell the smell of her body, warm and sour, red and warm blood mixed with wild plum blossoms. Sweet, sour, salty, bitter all the tastes were there. We were both given new names to accord with our new experience, which we could never share. I never knew Emma's name other than Emma. When conditions change names change.

https://t.co/9TM3y7ILNC pic.twitter.com/LUMkNZCMxI

— Paul 🌿Manski (@PaulManski) April 11, 2017

                                            

Emma's veil of plum 

      Merril instructed me in a grip, to place my index finger down her front leg at her hoof, which was her forearm. We did many other things which I can't reveal. There were marks and tokens given on the left breast, the right breast, the navel and right knee. We through this would both receive health in our navel and marrow in our bones.  We both knelt in the meadow and agreed if we spoke of any of this our throats would be slit, our heart torn out and our belly would be ripped open. Lastly I was told to say, "Let her enter.", and she entered and in that entering I was allowed to come inside. When we enter we are also entered, sealed to a new situation. Whether you have read a book or not the teaching holds the same.  All the sheep then said something which sounded like PAY LAY ALE, said three times. 
        From then on through the rest of the conference I was near to Emma and communicated solely through her with the transparent obsidian stone. 
      Teachings of the Ewe Emma:
    Plants can grouped and understood in many ways. Plants can be understood by their relationship in pre-existence composing botanical families. as an example she used Monarda pectinata or purple monarda, Poleo Mentha arvensis, selfheal Prunella vulgaris all growing nearby as being related- knowing plants together in this way is helpful. Often families have similar qualities. Mint family square stems, sweet hot flavored aromatics, warming stimulating qualities. Juicy wet leaves, favoring moist stream side riparian zones. Plants organize themselves in these categories, we are only recognizing their associations. You will see Lycopus growing near Mentha arvensis, We do not place them, they place themselves with their own kind. In this way herbal formulas are made by association in place. Laying on the wet moist creek bank they come together in this way, beyond description. The important thing Emma taught me was that, plants describe themselves. Plants are always describing themselves by their color, their scent, their taste- this is where they grow, this is what they do. 
                                              

Emma laid in a bed of Poleo, Mentha arvensis

   She also pointed to various plants growing together closely sharing the same space. There was Valeriana acutiloba , white clematis Clematis ligusticifolia, Pink alum root Heuchera rubescent, Viola canadensis, white violet, Hops Humulus lupulus- Plants can be known for the niche where they grow, the place. It is not so much that the plants are growing together, it is that the together is growing according to its place. We are plants, persons, and places. They too are persons in a place.
     In that way by knowing the place you know the plants. In that way by knowing yourself as a person, you are knowing the place. Knowing the person you know the place. 
    Just at that point i felt a headache coming on from the continuous drying, dusty wind, that had been blowing all day. I chewed on some clematis leaves climbing up the gamble oak, and placed dried leaves in my nose. The headache went away shortly. The leaves have a peppery sharp taste, slightly burning taste reminiscent of placing your tongue on dying nine volt battery. Not as sharp as pulsatilla, yet there. Taste is a way of understanding plants. Like many Ranunculacae, clematis have powerful acrid peppery-hot alkaloids. The plants of the buttercup, crow foot family have emerged from pre-existence already containing this medicine. We came together to this place for similar reasons, to engage with one another in a good way. Speaking together in a good way, expressing good news to one another: is our destiny. We knew one another previously. We are recollecting, remembering, renewing pastly made promises. 
    Plants growing nearby also  group themselves by taste as in bitters: estafiate, horehound, hops- all bitter tasting herbs, stimulating gastric secretions, encouraging movement. All these plants growing adjacent to one another along the milky river. Plants organize and elaborate speaking to our condition by their vital inherent quality as taste. It's fundamental to visit the plant in their house and taste them by tongue, smell them by nose and look at them by eye. Something occurs when a fresh plant is tasted. If you take this step then you will be aware that it was where you needed to go. I asked Emma, 'Was it possible to find plants in books?'  She said, 'Yes, plants may be found in books. Yet the plants found in books are flat attached to the pages. Plants in books are also dry. They are not moist when found in books.' When you find plants growing along a stream as opposed to finding plants in books you will encounter danger. Plants in books are not dangerous. Yet learning to mitigate and navigate danger is inherent to the teaching of sheep house. It can be called a dangerous teaching and it is dangerous in many ways. 
     Plants also group themselves according to their action in our bodies, by action in a body- astringents tighten tissue, geranium, alum root, potentilla- this is another way of understanding. Chewing on alum root will stop diarhhea and loose stools, tighten the gums holding the teeth, tighten the mucous membranes in a sore throat. This is the drawing tightening action of alum root in our body.  The plant is performing an action, this another way of understanding plants. Plants for themselves, plants for other. 
     When we take a plant into our body there is an action. There is self and other. Within bodies there is self and other. Self knows self and self knows other. Self determines self and self determines other. Self is a bounded whole. Boundaries exist to create diversity.  
       When a plant is taken into the body there are actions and consequences. Yet at the same time it is important to recognize that plants like us are spirit beings with a life of their own. So whenever beings encounter one another there is an element of danger which could be described as unintended consequences. The unintended consequence could easily be called change. As beings we tend to avoid change, even by hanging onto states or conditions that could be called disease or illness. 
                                

First flower potentilla

     Emma and I then went through each plant one by one, nibbling on leaves. Listening to the taste of the plant. Hearing the sound of the taste. Looking at the plant where it grows for itself. Being with the plant in silence. Gathering the voice of the plant as bards of this nationalism of place.  All the while concentrating on celestial work, planting young Monarda shoots in the sloughs of the river. Planting poleo and St John's wort and learning about how the plants can be used and understood. We use plants and plants are using us. We have purposes and plans, they have purposes and plans. There is mutual work being done. This is exactly how human tabernacles are filled. This is celestial marriage and the work of Gods. Before birth we are above the clouds seeking a place to be born. Seeking a body and circumstance for our journey. Plants likewise are hovering above seeking birth. Our celestial marriage is our blessed life. Blessed and blessing we go further.
        
      She advised the law which admits a plurality of plants and the pre-existence of plants before they exist on earth in the celestial kingdom. The plants have existed before time, before they embraced their earth bound life. Emma taught me to embrace the doctrine of celestial plurality of plants and a celestial marriage arranged before time. The plants like our wives are bound and sealed to us before this earth was born. The plants and animals, all of creation is available to us ordained before time. Our way is joyful to be alive fully and totally committed to this plant medicine road. The road is simultaneously leading us and testing us. Every experience is a challenge and test. Our way with plants is courageous and confident. It is informed and informing us, which way to go and how to proceed. This is obtaining a body, gaining knowledge and over coming by faith.
                                          

First light of moon brings songs to western Robin

        
      Plants live move and breathe both body and spirit in the world before, the world now, and the world to come. She advised to avoid and consider carefully the belief that plants, begin to live about the time that the plant is born, peeks through the ground in the spring. When you see the plant in this world, as appearing visible whether by seed or root; know that then is not the beginning of their life. They as we, have existed in previous worlds. 
                                      

Fragrant plum, the Veil of the Celestial White princess Emma

    Emma and the sheep and deer, believe and teach that plants are possessed of both body and spirit, by the union of which they become a living creature. In one of the few times she spoke Emma said, "We have ascertained that plants have had previous existence just as we ourselves and you too." Know that there are Gods, male and female. God is the Father of our spirits, likewise another female God is also the mother of our Spirits. God is the father of the plant and animal spirits. As important as the father is so is the mother. Without a father and mother nothing can come into being. All things you can see belong in some way with and to a family. They come through good and holy parentages, to fulfil certain things. Things that should come to pass, from before the foundations of this earth.
     It has been chosen and determined that these spirits should come here male and female. We must respect and understand them as self and other. This is salvation. This becoming for self and others a good news. We encounter plants,  places and persons to comfort and cure in a good way. These forms they take are tabernacles in which they are contained with leaves and stems. Tabernacles and forms of roots and branches. Know it is by a certain law, through a certain channel; and that law is the law of marriage. Just as you are married for a time here, the plants too are male and females. They marry in celestial marriage as with a valerian kiss shown at the deer house. They marry and give birth to flower and plant children. Although they come to fulfill the new revelation in healing and soothing, they are also here of their own accord. The Lord ordained marriage between male and female plants as a law through which spirits should come here and take tabernacles, and enter into the second state of existence. 
                                                  

Heuchera sanguinea, coral bells, alum root leaf

    We are told the object of it; it is clearly expressed; for, said Emma and Merril, unto the male and female, I command you to multiply and replenish the earth. I will tell you. I have already told you that the spirits of plants, all had a previous existence, thousands of years ago, in the heavens, in the presence of Gods.
       This is the teaching that I heard and spoke itself to me by deer, osprey and sheep. Together and alone it is the bardic journey of nationalism. My nation is not a nation of lines on paper. It is story told by place, person and plants under a blue sky that penetrates everywhere and everything. Bardic Nationalists will continue until the cultural narrative is won and all those imprisoned for living celestial marriage be freed and join with patriarch Merril and Emma at their home along milky river. 
                                             

Heuchera sanguinea, coral bells, underside leaf