About 5 years ago I bought a twelve-inch Rosemary bush at a local farmer’s market and planted it in one of the two garden boxes just outside my back door.
It has since survived hot, dry summer temperatures as well as inches of snow that weighed it down over the past winters. I have to say it has now grown to be quite monstrous, taking over a large portion of the box, and sometimes I think it’s about to devour the house!
I thought it might be a good idea to ask the Rosemary plant spirits what they would prefer I do with it, and how I can best honor them. After my usual practice of running my hand over a few sprigs to transfer some of the fragrant, volatile oil to my palm, I proceeded to communicate with the plant devas.
The best way to describe how they “appeared” to me is squinty…tiny blinking eyes that made me squint back in reply, kind of like how a cat communicates only more rapidly…(like this only minus the rest of the cat head)
But I heard words too. When I asked what they wanted of me as far as their size and growth pattern, I kept hearing that they like it where and how they are. They also thanked me for recently planting another small Rosemary bush that called their “little brother” in a pot that sits on my front stoop.
These friendly and helpful devas told me to use this plant more and to encourage others to do the same.
I have made it a habit of bringing boughs of rosemary and other evergreens that grow on our property inside to decorate. Cut sprigs of Rosemary can be displayed on the fireplace mantle, included in centerpieces or made into simple wreaths. My daughter regularly asks me for some that she uses to make hair and mouth rinses. This is the kind of thing the spirits advised me to do more of.
I’m told to point out how its anti-bacterial medicine can be cooked into favorite dishes and how just boiling some on the stove releases that clean, pungent, healing scent that sharpens memory and helps ward off sickness.
The point is that the Rosemary plant spirits say this botanical WANTS to be used in all of these and other creative ways!
Before saying my goodbyes, I asked them about how to make the bush itself flower more in the spring, they advised using a special fertilizer that supports floral growth. I’ll be sure to do this when the time comes, but my final question was what to do at the present moment in addition to all the things they already mentioned.
They told me to cut a fresh sprig and put it on the alter in my sacred space. When it dries, as I know it quickly will, they said to remove the small needles and include them in the smudging combination that I burn daily. Of course, I did this and here it is “squinting” back at me, in the final stage of drying, waiting to be added to my smudge mixture…just doing its thing as another very special plant ally!
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