A hunting we will go.....for beneficial "weeds".

I've been thinking lately, uh-oh, about what grows in our yards.  How a plant is named a weed just cause someone decided not to grow it in a garden.  How many beneficial plants grow in your yard that you don't know about? Or along the roadside.

I'm starting to explore wildcrafting.  What is wildcrafting you ask?  Well, "Wildcrafting is the practice of harvesting plants from their natural, or "wild" habitat, for food or medicinal purposes.", Wikipedia.  Wildcrafting does not automatically mean just plants in the wild, it is just uncultivated plants.  You do have to be careful and follow state and federal laws.  Most parks won't let you harvest from them and you should always ask before you go onto someone else's property to make sure it's okay to harvest on their property.  Also, harvesting endangered plants is a big no-no.

Now, right now I'm not to worried about harvesting on state or federal property, heck not even worried about my neighbors yards.  I'm starting out by basically wandering around my yard and seeing what I have growing here.

I know I have plantain weed, dandelion, lamb quarters, chicory, queen annes lace, catnip and I think purslane.  But I have some weeds here too that I'm not sure about, like pigs' ear for example.  Can one do anything with it?  Actually, I'm not sure what the correct name is, it's just the name I know it from since childhood. 

I think today when I go to the library I am going to have to see if they have anything on the subject.  I'm interested in learning how to use them for a variety of reasons.  But a big chunk of my reasoning is because I just want to be able to say "Hey! That's such-an-such and you can use it for ____".  And the looks on peoples faces when you explain these facts to them is priceless. 

Pimping it out?

I was thinking the other day about how in some rituals people just follow a routine and don't vary from it ever, doing the same thing every time.  Now, don't get me wrong, routine is good, I am not complaining about that.  But I got to thinking.  Is there a way to deepen the experience and still follow a set routine?  

So I start thinking.  How to add umph! without having to constantly change what I'm doing every time?  So my mind starts it's normal wandering, anyone who know me knows this is perfectly normal.  I started thinking about one of my first blog entries on scents and using your sense of smell to enhance your experience.  This started my thinking, well, if adding scents helps what would happen if you start adding your other senses to the mix? 

This thought got me to thinking about the last Beltane ritual at Shining Lakes Grove.  Gen and I had suggested that everyone bring decorations to "pimp out" the nemeton.  We were hoping that by doing this it would bring a festive, party atmosphere to the ritual, perfect for Beltane.  Truthfully, it turned out a lot better then I was hoping for.  We had pinwheels, lots of strings of colorful beads draped everywhere, glittery gold clothe draped on branches and alters, wind chimes.  It was great.  You could feel the difference, it was a very happy, party atmosphere to it.  Several people, including some new people who showed up, commented on how they loved the decorations and how it made it feel so festive.  

Why did it effect people like that?  Well, I can't speak for them, but I'm a very visual person.  I love decorating for special days.  It doesn't just represent the day but it also helps me put myself into the moment.  To me, setting up the decorations was a lot like centering and grounding yourself before a ritual or meditation.  I feel more connected to what I am doing when I put special effort into the "extras" then when I just do a high day ritual with no extras.  

If you don't believe me let's think about this.  When you think of a holiday what do you see?  Is it colorful lights, snow and candy canes for example?  Or how about flags, fireworks and parades?  Or pumpkins, scarecrows and colorful fall leaves?  Each of those holidays have certain visual items that make people think of them, connect with it.  Now before you say "Oh that's not me! I don't need that stuff."  Think about it.  Don't you love decorating for these days? Or at least some of you do.  Well, why can't you extend that into your rituals?  I know in my neo-wiccan days we used to add extra things to our main altar for the high day.  It added to the festive feel of things.  I loved doing that.  So why did I stop?  Because I felt like I had too, but lately I'm re-thinking this.

So, in my opinion, adding the extra time to decorate your altar or work area for your high days is well worth it.  It will add a depth to your experience, in fact I believe making sure each of your senses is involved deepens the over all experience but that will be in more future blog entries.