Experiencing Myrrh
Plus Outside Altars and Communing with Nature
Happy Sunday Hearth Family!
Even though today is Sunday and we’re in the month of May, we’re still in the altar room in our exploration of our metaphoric home of our spiritual journey. And this is the last time we’ll be in this room. Except today, we’ll be exploring some things outside in the garden as well.
A Profound Experience with Myrrh
To start us off today, I’d like to chat just for a moment about the Year of Gaia training I’m immersed in this year. As an herbalist, I’ve spent years learning about different herbs and their properties and how to blend teas and make different herbal goodies. But the teachings of this school goes deeper than just the knowledge of properties and blending techniques. It gets to the soul of the plant. To the deeper wisdom of the plant. And cultivating a relationship with the plants, Gaia, and even ourselves through this work. In the month of May, we’re exploring blessing herbs and consciousness-shifting herbs.
I mention this because I had a deeply profound experience yesterday in what I would consider the altar room of my home.
Last night I created a very simple altar on the coffee table in my altar room (aka my office/library where I do all of my deep readings, meditations, and spiritual work) that consisted of a purple candle for Mother Anna’s energy (she is always nearby) and my Purple Scapolite crystal which I have found to be very opening for my intuition and psychic awareness. The blessing herb I chose to experience was myrrh resin. Now I don’t use this one hardly at all simply because it comes from an endangered plant, so I use it very sparingly and only for special occasions. But, it called to me last night. And now, I know why.
As I placed the tiny piece of resin on the bamboo charcoal disc, it began to fill the space around me. Because it is very aromatic, its scent was deep, luscious, sweet, and very grounding. I breathed it in for a few moments as I connected with the plant spirit itself. And as I began to pass the smoke over my body, I felt my shoulders dropping, my muscles relaxing, and my jaw dropping.
When I got to my heart space, I felt this overwhelming emotional sensation of love and the knowing that I was being held. And I began to cry. Not from pain or emotional distress, but by the love of this plant and my connection to Mother Anna who I know nudged me towards myrrh. A heaviness I had been carrying most of the week lifted. And I sat in meditation with the herb as its smoke slowly went out.
This morning, I still felt lighter.
We so often use blessing herbs when we create ritual and ceremony, but many times the focus is on these rituals and ceremonies themselves. The focus of this month is to create a ceremony around the blessings herb itself. Just one. Not a blend. To sit with it and honor it on its own and really feel into the wisdom of the plant.
Now that we are deep in the spring season, I am starting to do more things in the garden. Setting up small outside altars is a nice way to commune with nature, give thanks, and give back to her with an offering.
My altar was simple. I like to take a candle when possible, a stone or two, an offering, and a blessing herb. Above, you can see what I used: a rose quartz, a garnet, a cedar leaf, some of the spent tea leaves of the red clover blossom that I steeped overnight as an offering, a small statue of Mary Magdalene, my Hamsa dish, and my yoni singing bowl that I play as an offering as well. The blessing herb or resin is in my little handled cauldron.
This may be more elaborate for some, but for me, it is quite simple.
Here are some ideas for creating small altars out in nature this spring:
Use what is growing around you, but always ask permission first, and arrange a nature mandala out of what you find
place an object with sacred significance for you
crystals that have meaning for you or that feel energetically aligned with where you are in nature
tea to pour as an offering
light candles
add imagery of fertility or new beginnings
objects that represent the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water
images of your teachers, ancestors, and spirit guides
fallen petals of flowers, fallen leaves, sticks, etc.
A Simple Ritual to Commune with Nature and Your Blessing Herb
Determine the place you want to connect with and bless.
Choose a few items to take with you. If you have to travel to this place, make sure what you choose is easy to pack up.
Choose your blessing herb such as spruce and pine resins, juniper, cedar, rosemary, copal, mugwort, sages ensuring they are ethically sourced if buying an herb that is considered endangered (as most sage, palo santo, myrrh, sandalwood, frankincense, are)
Choose what you will be offering - sound, voice, tea, spent tea leaves, etc.
When you arrive, set up your altar and ground by breathing deeply a few times. Touch the ground beneath you.
Call in your guides, ancestors, or benevolent beings that you would like to work with and have their presence.
Give thanks to the land for holding you, for providing humanity and all creatures with such beauty and bounty. And give a blessing that she may continue to be abundant.
Light your blessing herb and allow it to waft over you. Allow the smoke to pass over your body.
Walk the smoke around the area or stay seated and allow the smoke to pass over the land at arm’s length.
Give your offering to the land.
Sit here in silence until the smoke disappears or until you feel complete in this ritual. You may choose to do some yoga, chanting, play sound, or just sit in silence and listen to the music of nature herself.
As I close out this Hearth Letter and the altar room, I hope that you take more time connecting to nature and communing with her. Not to be busy with gardening, cleaning the yard, or even having conversation with others. But sitting on the earth, feeling her hold you, being mindful of the little details that can encompass all of your five senses if you allow yourself to sit and be still with no expectations.
The rest of May, we will be exploring the kitchen and the elements. See you next Sunday!
Ahava,
Esmeralda Luna