Who: Seeing the Unseen
With: Cuban Oregano, Juniper, Earpod Wattle, Air Potato, Surinam Cherry, Spiderwort, Norfolk Pine, Beech Sheoak, Feline bones, Honeysuckle, Rosary Peas, Catahoula Leopard Dog, and one leaf whose identity is yet unknown but came from a plant that came to me through my brother.
Birthday: April 26, 2024
This creature came through over a period of three days. It was a slow, stewing unfolding. Many periods of activating the brew, many periods of letting the cauldron bubble and rest in simmering heat. Inevitably the elements themselves were the artists and magicians that brought on this final form that did not stay final for long. Nothing lasts exactly as it is - which is part of the reason to notice it.
She - this altar - presented herself in an effort to witness someone very dear to me going through significant Life transitions. Periods of alchemy that happen slowly, one day at a time, until you're unrecognizable from just a few years ago. These passageways - the places we get to by slowly chipping away - often go unnoticed. They represent a seismic shift, and yet, we observe them mostly by not observing them at all. Or by just getting through them until something ends or releases us or evolves again. The passage though - that is a place that most needs a witness. It makes what we're alchemizing real. Witnessing makes us real.
Have you ever looked down at the ground, or around at your Life and realized that you are where you are, without being exactly sure how that happened? Sometimes we are gaining or losing elevation slowly, barely noticeably, until suddenly we're at the top, or the bottom, trying to reckon with where we are - often mystified and disoriented.
Ultimately I know very little, but something feels true when I hold an intention - of whatever kind I can muster - and I go out to the humble land that homes me to translate that intention in some quiet, committed, dedicated way. A conversation surfaces between hands and ground and other beings that witnesses what is happening and makes that whole-hearted offering. To see what goes unseen.
A rock buried in the sandy soil - something solid and sturdy and resilient and yet, slowly yielding, to hold the center.
Rosary Peas - the last of the season, harvested on two lands - one batch by a daughter and one batch by a son. A prayer for what cannot be changed but might still be beautiful and holy and medicinal when taken in from above.
Spiderwort - abundance (care, nurturing) received from where there is plenty to give, so receiving is an essential part of the relationship. And to sit in the discomfort of the systems and beliefs we inherit through culture.
Earpod Wattle seedpods - to listen. To only listen. Without fixing or advising or interpreting. Listening.
Honeysuckle - for how medicinal it is to be in the presence of beauty, and for sticking with hard things.
Juniper - seeing the dead and dying, including them, thanking them, making a place for them.
Cuban Oregano - acceptance, surrender, the medicine of village and the capacity to grow where planted.
Beech Sheoak - for the blessing of the Goddess, for all that is feminine and gorgeous and sometimes prickly underfoot.
Norfolk Pine - the recognition of friends when home is far. For Saudade - in a way.
Air Potato - for the soft shapes of love and for surprise.
Surinam Cherries, very unripe - for the bittersweetness of endings and beginnings.
Feline bones - for the unconditional blessing of our familiars. From those who always see, and who always love. May beauty transmit what words cannot. May the prayers of seeds carry the old magic through to our bones.
Many bows to the versions of all selves who have been laid to rest unnoticed.
xx
S | Thresh & Bone
I love how the "ingredient" list is its own kind of poem!