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A Conscious Herb Garden
During this past year in my new town in Northern Idaho, I have rediscovered the joy of the local Farmer’s Market. The growing season doesn’t last very long here, and the plants have already been going on sale. So, I have taken the opportunity to purchase a few herbs for planting around my home. Corydalis sits in a shady area along with Wormwood, Lobelia, Echinacea Purpurea, Valerian, Yarrow, and Feverfew in a sunny area. These few plants represent the very humble beginning of an herb garden.
I have been gardening ten years and more, mostly in the Arizona desert. Gardening has been a very joyful activity, offering the opportunity to work with the tree kingdom as well as the smaller nature kingdoms, the plants, flowers, bees, dragonflies, and birds. Planting, watering, and weeding have been especially therapeutic, allowing an outward expression of my inward focus on integrating the language of light, synthesizing my field, and clearing karma. During the last three years, I have been working closely with the herbs, making tinctures.
Even so, only now do I feel ready to create my conscious herb garden, though it has been a long-time dream of mine. What is a conscious garden? A conscious garden is one that is planted in communion with earth and nature. It is the physical expression of a dream co-created by human, earth, nature. My small herb garden is the beginning of a dream expressed through collaboration with Earth, Herb Kingdom, Bee Kingdom, Fernan Lake (a favorite refuge of mine), the elements, and divas working in this region. I would like to share with you the inner preparations I made before my dream was ready to be made manifest.
Part 1 – Learning to Collaborate with Nature
The first time I ever came to visit Phoenix was in June for my soon-to-be stepson’s graduation. It was extremely hot, and I still remember my exact thought as I drove along the highway heading east out of town, “Who in their right mind would ever want to live in this hell hole.” So, as fate would have it, I moved there six months later. I had worked out an arrangement to telecommute with my employer at the time, so I did not get out much. I remember lots of tears the first two summers there. The locals joke that there are two seasons in the desert, hot and hotter. The only logical explanation I could find for my presence there was that learning to walk barefoot in the desert would somehow strengthen my resolve.
The clouds always seemed to move around the outskirts of my neighborhood. I heard somewhere that clouds are somehow rejected by concrete. That certainly did prove itself where I lived. Storm clouds would begin to form, I could see the rain in the distance of the desert to the south, then they would go all around, but not over, our city. Or, as some sort of cruel joke, a storm appeared head straight towards us, only to end up as a huge smack of pure sand.
Time wore on, and I became acclimated to the heat and my emotional reactions to the area began to soften. As I look back now I remember it as one of the most beautiful places I have lived; the never-ending sky, the huge moon hanging on the horizon, the stretches of red rock, the large birds, the wonderful aroma of springtime. It was here that I came to learn how to work with nature.
During a reading, Mila explained how she called the divas from the garden side of the island to the desert side. So, I began trying this at home. Each day, I called to the divas that had once worked in this area. I called for their return so that this desert land could feel abundance once again. I did this for perhaps almost a year before I began to see results. But, eventually the clouds stopped skirting around us and the neighborhood began to benefit from the rain. And then I noticed the plants needing less and less irrigation. I believe they were remembering how to work with the elemental kingdoms as well. Last year, the area had more rain than it had experienced in a long time. And the official declaration of drought was called off.
Then I began working with the Herb Kingdom. It was an internal journey at first. I worked on clearing the karma between my ancestors and the Herb Kingdom. At some point in history, humans fell into a destructive pattern and began to use herbs to poison each other. All of this type of karma had to be cleared. I found the ancestral karmic release exercise very helpful. This is where you pull forward all ancestors involved, the victimized as well as the victimizers. The ancestors then have the opportunity to look at each other and see that they have played both sides of the pattern. This allows for a greater understanding so that forgiveness can be complete, the associated karma can be released, and any non-supportive machinery or devices can be removed. The dance is stopped as the patterning is fully transcended. I follow a similar process each time I uncover karma with nature.
When the Language of Light and Herbs chart came out, I set an intention to support the ascension of humankind by collaborating with earth and herb to create tinctures in the Language of Light. I began with the Octave of Love, the first 10 tones, as these were the ones I had integrated thus far in my ascension. I added the other tones as I integrated them.
Earth and Herb agreed, so the dream for the tinctures is a collaboration between Earth, Herb, and myself. The dream manifests into physicality each time the tinctures are made. I have learned to allow this to be a collaboration also. I work to remove anything non-supportive placed in the herbs and vodka by humans. I ask herb to do the same for its kingdom. Then herb works with earth to magnify the language of light tone associated. I and Herb Kingdom hold the space for the tinctures until they are purchased. Once purchased, the person taking the herb must work with the Herb Kingdom in order to receive the support needed.
Through the collaboration, I have come to know the herbs on a physical level through my senses. So far, I have tinctured only cut and sifted dried herb. Still, each herb has a unique smell associated with it. I also enjoy watching the colors of the language of light shine through the herb meal that remains after filtering the liquid. Nettle meal takes on a shimmering silver tone, reflecting the color tone of Divine Union. Look at tincture of ginger and you will see a definite peach hue, reflecting the color tone of Authentic Power. I encourage each who uses the tinctures for support to diffuse them first in hot water. This allows the vodka to dissipate and leaves the taste of the herb. As the tea is enjoyed, the opportunity to commune with the taste and the blessing of the herb itself is provided.
Part 2 – One Community, Human and Nature
There is an area in Idaho called Priest Lake. It is surrounded by old forest growth. I went up there to visit a few months ago, and was taken aback by the beauty. The forests that I had visited in Arizona were mostly dry with hard dust floors. This forest was quite the opposite. As I walked along the path, the ground underneath my feet was soft with moss. The air was cool, but the trees did not block the sun from shining through. I followed the sound of water to a room where a fell down over a myriad of rocks towards the lake below. Several tree trunks were lying on their side with lots of moss covering them, perfect for sitting. The ground was covered with small plants and grasses. The brook made a beautiful melody. And the trees created a comfortable perimeter without being suffocating. It was a most magical place.
On my way out, I asked this place if it had a message for me. “This is your home,” I heard, “This is your home.” I thought about how the trees, brook, shrubbery, grasses, and flowers were able to work in great harmony. There was a tremendous sense of peace in the place. I realized that it was its own community, a reflection of what we are striving for. And, it was inviting me to begin collaborating once again with nature in support of a community for humans to share…as my ancestors had done during a time when they worked in harmony with nature.
I had envisioned community as an opportunity for a group of conscious humans to work together in harmony and live in a sustainable manner with nature. Now I understand that community will be much more than that. The nature kingdoms will be equal partners in our future communities. Our communities will include humans as well as the elements, divas, kingdoms that grow from the ground, and kingdoms that walk.
Part 3 – Seeing Nature as a Mirror
I have never been one to look in the mirror. Even as a teenager, I recall drying my hair in the living room, away from any mirror. It isn’t that I had low self esteem; I just didn’t see the point. For me, looks were just not that important. Now that I have begun my conscious ascension, I find it most important to take a good look at my face in the mirror each morning. I like to get really close and study it for a minute or so. Do I look like myself or someone else today? If I look like someone else, my field may have become entangled with another’s. Do I look young or old? If I look old, I may need to spin up my chakras and subtle bodies, moving myself into “no time.” Do I look like I’ve been run over by a truck? It happens sometimes when I’ve had a hard night. So, I check my light body dreamtime self, cleaning and reweaving it as necessary.
The beauty of living within an ascending consensus reality is the opportunity to develop mutually supportive relationships with the nature kingdoms surrounding us. I have often discovered nature willing to validate the lessons coming through in the SSOA materials. The orchid tree in my Arizona garden had only one or two blooms. Then, a hummingbird began hovering around it, picking the scarce nectar from the tree. Just a few days later, flowers abounded all over its branches. Hummingbird had hovered for the tree and the tree had bloomed for the hummingbird, mirroring the symbiotic relationship between the in-breath of the physical body and the out-breath of the light body.
Nature has often mirrored to me issues with my own evolution. A couple of weeks ago, the leaves on three of the trees in my yard suddenly turned brown. One neighbor suggested the turning was due to an early Fall. Another neighbor suggested I had watered in the heat of the sun and the leaves had become burned. As I internalized the mirror, I remembered the nearby farmers had been burning their fields to clear out the remnants of the old crops and prepare for the next planting. It seemed the farmers here had taken on the karma for harmful farming practices for the entire region. And, in their burning process they dumped the karma back into the land. And in the mirror I saw I had taken on the karma for 30 different community groups.
But now, what of the trees? Harmful farming (and gardening) practices have been dumping poisons into the land, a parallel of the poisons being dumped upon earth from other creations. The trees in my yard turned brown due to the poisons caused by the burning of the fields so that I could see the poisons that I had been taking on from others.
Ascension often felt like a very lonely journey. Lots of internal work was--and still is-- required. Until recently, I was not able to hold strong boundaries, and so I found it necessary to limit my time around others. But I have always felt surrounded by nature. As I notice, honor, and work with the nature kingdoms around me more and more, I do not feel so lonely, making the journey a little more joyful and a lot less lonely.
Part 4 – Friendly Conversations with the Nature Kingdoms
When I was 17, almost 30 years ago, I moved to college in Mt. Vernon, a small town in Iowa. Mt. Vernon was a quaint town with many old trees lining the streets. I didn’t have a car, so I learned to enjoy walking through the local neighborhood. I still remember the day that I became aware of some sort of energy passing between the trees lining the street. I realized that they grew their branches towards each other…and talked! It was such a fascinating discovery for me, as I began to ponder all the human events they must have witnessed there. From then on, my walks were filled with mutual blessings and conversations with the tree community.
It wasn’t until many years later that I “heard” the nature kingdoms again. I had moved to Phoenix and began noticing Hawk. Hawk would fly above me as I drove down the street, calling, “Remember!” Over and over, he said, “Remember!” A few years later I found the SSOA website and remembered my purpose in this life.
I came to know many of the nature kingdoms in the desert of Arizona. And I began to speak to each of them. I spoke to them in the only way I knew how….I simply started talking. Sometimes I could hear them talking back to me, and a lovely conversation would follow.
And that is how it still goes for me with nature. I have moved to the northern end of the country, way up in Idaho. And, I have been introduced to many new kingdoms here. I still speak to them the same way, exchanging heart-felt introductions and blessings, then just simply talking. A typical conversation is a mixture of questions and memories and images, all wrapped up in a single experience. Here is one such experience I had while preparing for a speech at this year’s Jasper International Ascension Conference.
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Today I went to the far west side of Fernan Lake. I decided to get my walk in and discover how far around the lake I could go. As I approached the other side, I heard a bird talking to me through my heart. “Come on, keep going. We have something to show you.” So, I continued to walk. I spotted turtle sunning himself on the rock, neck stretched out of his shell as far as it could go. I had seen turtle on the east side of the lake the evening before. Given that this was the second time in such a short period that turtle had appeared, I asked if he had a message for me.
Years ago, I heard my dog barking furiously, beside herself with excitement and fear. I went outside in the backyard to investigate and discovered her fear in the form of a tiny box turtle. I wondered how in the world the turtle got into my backyard here in the middle of the desert. At the time, I was having a lot of trouble at my job in a high paced technical environment. I often felt torn apart. I thought myself way too sensitive to be with people. Turtle kingdom taught me how to create a hard shell so that I could survive my days in the corporate world.
Today, at the lake, I asked turtle if he had a different message, sitting there with his neck stretched out so, facing the sun. This time he said to me, “Sherry, sometimes you have to be ready to stick your neck out.” Not quite sure what that meant, I continued my walk, keeping my eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. I asked the birds if there was still something they wanted me to see. “Yes,” they said, “Keep going.”
I went as far as the path could take me, ending where the lake bank became too steep to walk along without sliding into the water. I stopped and looked around again for anything unusual. Seeing nothing except the beauty of the lake, the water lilies on the water and other plants like along the banks, birds in the trees….I climbed up to a smooth, comfy-looking rock….and sat.
Heron was standing peacefully on the boat dock a hundred feet or so ahead. A couple of older women were sat there fishing. Perhaps he was waiting for their catch. The starlings were out together, singing away. And a bird with an orange stripe at the top of his wing swooped around and lit on the branch of a tree which had fallen sideways into the lake. A smaller bird had become one of my favorite to watch. It has a white underbelly, and the tops of its wings are grey. Its wings are shaped like a jet and it loves to fly fast, swerving out of the way of branches and things just in time so as not to hit them. I had fun watching the pure joy this bird elicited as it danced about in the sky.
“Well,” I said to Bird, “I’m not seeing anything out of the ordinary. “ And then I began to cry. I could have blamed it on the menopause, that time when women are known to move quickly from one emotion to another. But, those types of excuses are not valid for an ascending middle aged woman. So, not sure why my sadness rose to the surface at that particular moment, I began checking…are they my emotions or someone else’s (they were mine), is this some kind of karma I had to release (it was). Well, I had no idea what it was about.
And Bird began to speak. “Do you remember the doves that nested on your porch a couple of years ago?”
“Yes,” I said. I remembered how one dove couple after another used the same nest built in a hanging flower basket hooked to the roof of my back porch. Many sets of chicks were born in that nest, each a little different from the other.
“Well, do you remember the bird that was too scared to fly out of the nest?” Indeed I did remember that bird. He did not seem to grow as quickly as the others I had watched. His sibling flew off in less than a week while he remained in the nest for days afterward. He would stretch out his wings and stand on the side of the nest, looking out. But, he could not find the confidence to fly. I worried over him one night when I heard him chirping for his mother. (I know that sounds silly. Nature does not need me to worry over it. But, worry is just what I did on this particular night.) When I awoke the next day, his mother was nowhere to be found. I sat on the couch most of the morning, waiting to see if she had completely abandoned him. After a long lonely morning, she lit upon the nest.
The usual scene is that she would then feed him, as birds do, from her mouth to his. Not this time. This time, she flew back out of the nest to the wall at the end of the backyard. And she called to him. She told him he must fly to the dirt patch at the end of the yard. She could no longer feed him. He had to learn to feed himself, or he would not survive.
He flapped his wings but wouldn’t budge. She called him again. He went to the edge of the nest and flapped his wings again. She continued to call him. He went back to the safety of the middle of the nest. She called him again. He flapped his wings. This pattern continued for a while. Then, before my eyes, he went to the edge…and took off!
With this memory in mind, I heard Bird speak again. “Sherry,” Bird said, “You know how to fly, you just have to do it.” And then seagull came to show me how easy it was to climb a little, then soar back to the ground. He did this again. And, I knew what Bird was presenting to me. I had recently quit my job and the idea of a sovereign income was scary. It is time for me to feel the freedom of the wind under my wings. I can fly, I know how, I just have to trust myself and jump.
After this realization, a dragonfly lit upon a blade of grass next to me. Dragonfly had assisted me in my first phase of ascension. Dragonfly had taught me how to keep my inner peace strong enough so that I was not affected by the emotions of others around me. Dragonfly reminded me that I knew how to keep my inner peace in balance, even while talking in front of a group of people.
I thanked them all for the lesson. As I walked to my car, they spoke to me about working with nature. They explained that first one must have an open heart. The heart is where we commune and communicate with the other kingdoms in our consensus upon earth. Guidance from nature seeks to come through the heart. The heart must be open to hear it. They explained also that nature kingdoms maintain balanced giving and receiving. An open heart is necessary. And one must be ready to give and to receive. Some are able to receive, but not to give. Others allow themselves to give, but not receive. The connection to nature is made through a complete cycle of blessing. Your heart opens to bless the nature kingdoms. Then your heart remains open to receive the blessings that are returned. This day at the lake, I was blessed with three lessons:
First, from turtle: “Sometimes, you have to be willing to stick your neck out.” This is an especially good thing to do when the sun is shining and you are standing out of the water upon a rock.
Second, from dove: “You know how to fly, just do it.” Okay, I’m going to swallow hard, take a deep breath, move to the end of the nest, and jump.
Third, from all of nature: “The most important requirement to receiving guidance from nature is an open heart.” An open heart that is ready to give and to receive, to bless and be blessed, and to listen.
Part 5 – A Small Message from the Garden
My garden is still new. It does not cover a lot of space. But, I was surprised when it wanted to offer a small message to all of those working towards community. Recently, Herb Kingdom was able to look through my herb garden and locate another’s herb garden that had been pulled into the dark earth dream, calling it back into the light earth dream. My garden tells me that this will continue to be true as we establish communities around the world. Herb Kingdom has offered to assist in anchoring harmony between all kingdoms in a community and between communities, allowing for a greater synthesis to develop for all involved. I thank Herb Kingdom and look forward to the continued dance.
About Sherry Stapleton: Early in my ascension journey, I began to explore the desert in which I live in Arizona. I was amazed at the diversity of life that is able to flourish here. I soon found that my backyard was a great place to bring my ascension into the physical. When I was releasing old consensus patterning, I was also pulling up all the old grass and planting new seed. When I was learning to ground to earth's aurora, I was also planting new trees, placing their roots deep into the soil. When I was searching for understanding of the mirrors presented by my family, I began to study the birds. Five or six or more species visit my backyard. They began to show me how I relate to my family and my personal patterning needing to be released. I am deeply grateful to all the nature kingdoms that assist me in understanding my lessons. I honor them and their journeys.
If you need assistance in your ascension, Sherry Stapleton available for telephone consultations. You can set up an appointment by sending an email to newdream@adelphia.net. Sherry also has created all language of light herb tinctures. E-mail her for more information.
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