Balance/Relationship/Harmony/Movement
Tulsi as medicine for Libra season + moving with the full moon in Aries
This week’s post got a little out of hand. Is that not the vibe right now? Anyway, thanks for tuning in. 🫶🏾
And here we are: almost a full week into fall. Summer is complete here in the northern hemisphere and still, I am feeling the transitional energy of the equinox. It feels like a sort of sweet and sentimental farewell but I am ready for change. I am more sure of it every time I walk past the red ripe tomatoes patiently waiting their turn on my kitchen counter. The garden is still giving – albeit more slowly – but they just aren’t doing it for me. They will again by next summer, I am certain of that. But for now, I have been camouflaging them in sauces and stews with hearty lentils.
Balance…Last weekend’s equinox brought us equal day and night. After the seasonal abundance of summer, I am feeling the reverberating energy of this transition as an invitation to consider what I now need to attend to in order to honor the balance of my life. This, I think, is the necessary work of Libra season.
So before I jump headfirst into winter squash and hay bales, I am taking the week to reflect. I am choosing to heed the call to savor what I can and then to preserve the life medicine of this year’s summer season for the cycles ahead. The questions I am asking are: What did I walk through? What did I learn? How did I grow and change? What (besides yellow squash and tomatoes) and I am ready to leave behind? What am I taking with me into the fall? What is it that needs my attention now?
One of the most delicious parts of summer is the time I spend in the garden. From June to September, I get to watch the tiny seeds I start indoors early in the year become hardy, mature plants. I get to experience them as they bloom and give fruit. I get to harvest and enjoy the abundance they offer. And then I get to witness as they complete their life cycle – all in a summer.
Relationship…In my herbalism education, we centered our learning around developing relationships with the plants we partner with. I have come to think of this as a somatic practice of mutual connection – an intentional practice of feeling ourselves and another (human or more than human) at the same time. Through this practice, I am building my competency to be more attentive to the plants that want to work with me vs. the plants that I want to work with. The extension must be mutual.
Tulsi whispered to me early in the year. My sense was that they would be important to my practice – that they had deep medicine for me this growing season. I feel Tulsi to be one of most beautiful plants I’ve ever met. They are indigenous to one of the places that my ancestors are indigenous to – the island of Madagascar – and so we are kin. Their leaves are this lovely light green shade that varies between cool and warm depending on the conditions and, along with the stem, are soft and almost velvety. When mature, Tulsi offers up tiny purple flowers that the pollinators love. And the fragrance…I would call it intoxicating but it’s not. It is actually the opposite. Tulsi’s fragrance is so deeply centering and grounding. It calls me, almost immediately, back into myself.
Harmony…The magic and wisdom of plant medicine is that it works at the level of the soma – the living body in its wholeness and I can’t think of another plant that so gracefully demonstrates this virtue than Tulsi. I experience the medicine of Tulsi through their fragrance, their taste, their beauty, their essence and energy, along with those measurable chemical compounds that act on the organs of the nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular and digestive systems. As an adaptogen, Tulsi supports us in coming back into balance and it does so with a sweetness and deep nourishment. Such beautiful and necessary support for the work Libra season.
I have been working an embodied commitment in my life and somatic practice to spacious, sensuous, slowness [cue deep breath]. Tulsi has been an anchor and an ally for this commitment. Tulsi is teaching me how to slow down; how to attune to the simple pleasures and delights that are available in real-time. Tulsi has been a portal into presence and ground. Tulsi has asked: what it is to be sensuous? How might I access the joy in spaciousness, sensuality, and slowness? What feels like nourishment right now?
A while back I created a materica medica of my own for Tulsi, drawing on the various resources I have learned from and from my own relationship with this plant. It felt like time to update and share it.
Tulsi
(ocimum sanctum and ocimum gratissimum)
Common names: Holy Basil
Annual in temperate climates; Perennial in tropical climates; lamiaceae family
Native to South & Southeast Asia (o. sanctum), Africa, Madagascar, and South Asia (o. gratissimum)
Parts to work with: Aerial parts with flowers
Energetics: Spicy, Pungent, Sweet, Aromatic, Warming, Relaxing, Stimulating
Actions: Adaptogenic; Relaxing/Uplifting Nervine; Anxiolytic; Anti-Microbial, Anti-inflammatory; Carminative; Cardiotonic; Diaphoretic; Expectorant
Body System Affinities: Nervous, Endocrine, Digestive, Cardiovascular, Respiratory
Preparations: tea, tincture, infused honey, infused vinegar, wash/bath, flower essence
Virtues
Deep support for the nervous system and the emotional body. Encourages relaxation, ease, clarity, and focus
Can help to reduce excessive immune responses like allergies, asthma, and inflammation
Supports digestion and reduces digestive gas, bloating and blood sugar levels
Supports in lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels
An adaptogen, giving long-term support to the body’s systems’ overall stress response
Invitations
Slow down, feel the ground you sit/stand/lie on, bring your hand to your heart, breathe. Feel your inner system coming into balance.
Arrange me in a vase while I am in flower and set me somewhere you pass through as you move through your busy life. Allow my fragrance to remind you how sacred your life is.
Where is there sweetness around you? Where is there warmth? Open yourself to these offerings (however small and seemingly insignificant) and allow them to consume more and more of your attention.
What would happen if you allowed grief and joy to coexist? To honor each other
Contraindications: Pregnancy, hypoglycemia, use of blood thinning medications, any known allergies to basil or plants in the lamiaceae (mint) family
Disclaimer: I am an herbalist, not a licensed medical professional. The information provided is intended to support wellbeing and is not intended to replace medical advice or treatment.
Full Moon in Aries
Did I save the best for last? Not sure but I definitely saved the most intense for Iast. In the wee hours of the morning this Friday, September 29th, at 5:58am ET to be exact – the moon will reach peak fullness in the sign of Aries. Anyone else feeling a little spicy and chaotic? ☄️ 👋🏾
This lunation is not feeling like one for salt baths and quiet contemplation. There’s a strong bass note to this rhythm and I have the sense that it’s best to move with it. So, three offerings for things to do during this full moon time.
A movement practice for listening…
To support us to slow down, listen, and respond…even the heat of the moment and even if just for a moment.
A card spread…
If pulling cards (of any kind) is in your practice, here’s a short and sweet spread for the full moon, or whenever you might need it.
1) What is moving?
2) How can I move with what is moving?
3) How can I stay with my body as I move?
Music…
Our Roots Run Deep by Dominique Fils-Aimé. I started listening to this album for the first time while multitasking and I immediately had to turn it off because I knew it needed and deserved my full attention. Also, what better wisdom could there be on an Aries full moon than “Hide from the Drama”? Note: Mid-listen, I started googling flights to Montreal to catch one of her upcoming shows – How 9th house Aries of me.
Want to talk somatics, movement, plant medicine, tarot with me and learn more about my 1:1 work? Book a short exploration call to connect.