irritation

ANGER IS FULL OF SPIRIT!

Anger is not wrong, bad, unhealthy or 'unspiritual',

no matter what the frightened gurus and teachers say.

It's this very idea that causes us

to repress and suppress anger, in order to

uphold an image of ourseves as 'nice'

or 'good', or 'calm', or 'very spiritual indeed'.

The inner child in us knows:

these images are all lies.

We are wild inside, and always have been.

Repressed irritation quickly turns to annoyance.

Annoyance turns to frustration.

Frustration turns to anger.

Repressed, unfelt anger quickly turns to rage

and boils inside of us, looking for a victim.

The held-back wildness robs us of aliveness.

Rage is what hurts and attacks others.

Rage is what explodes, shames, blames, abuses.

And causes disease within our own bodies.

Conscious, connected anger is not violent at all.

Anger that we feel, and own, and breathe into,

and soothe with loving attention deep inside of us, is safe.

It is a misunderstood energy in the body longing for love.

It is a powerful call for self-empathy and slowness.

It is a part of us that feels unseen, unloved, unheard.

A part crying out for attention, soothing, safety, presence.

A part that wants to be cared for.

A young, tender, innocent, frightened part of Psyche

that has come to you for integration,

for an alchemical marriage with Eros.

Anger is the great protector.

The courageous roar of a lion

scaring off predators,

protecting his precious young ones.

It is the voice that says, "I matter! I am sacred!".

Let's get over this idea that anger is 'unspiritual'.

Anger is full of spirit, full of intelligence, full of life!

The more we feel it, the less it controls us.

The more we soothe it, the less it hurts.

The more we bow to it, the less it frightens us.

- Jeff Foster

notes on Lemon Honey Balm

by ANA

I’ve spoken about lemon balm before. Today, I want to talk a little about her and then I want to tell you about making lemon balm honey!

There are so many ways that we can work with plant medicines. We don’t just always have to buy supplements from the health food store and pop pills.

For instance, a couple weeks ago I spoke about using plants transdermally by doing an infused castor oil pack.

Lemon balm is an antiviral and good for stomach aches (coz she’s in the mint family)

But most people work with her because she’s anit-insomnia and anti-anxiety (you might remember these types of medicines are called nervines)

So, if you’re the type of person who gets stomach aches from anxiety and it keep you up at night, then lemon balm is your gal

Traditionally, honey by itself has been used as a medicine. The kind of honey you buy makes a huge difference. Often times, store bought honey has added sugar in them and if you don’t buy a reliable brand, they are often harming bees

One of the best kind of honey is local, raw, organic honey. Local honey can help with allergies from plants that grow in your zone.

The fall is a great time for medicinal honeys, as we enter colder months and cold and flu season.

Lemon balm is just one of many plant medicines that can be infused in honey. Other fall faves are elderberries and lavender.

The other thing you want to be aware of is to not let water get into the honey. This compromises the pH. For this reason, you don’t want to infuse things that are very watery, like citrus.

So then, you just want to take your plant matter, dry or fresh- you many be able to find fresh lemon balm still at this time. Put the plant in the jar, about 3/4 full- you don’t want to pack it down.

Then, you pour the honey on top. The size of the jar will depend on how much of each ingredient you have.

The cool thing about honey is that she has the ability to extract, just like vodka does in tinctures.

She won’t be able to extract the alcohol soluble properties at first.

This is why fresh plant matter is best when possible- because it will have higher water soluble properties, which will raise the water content of the honey naturally and the honey will begin to ferment.

And when she ferments, alcohol is created - albeit way less than an alcohol tincture. At this point, the honey will also begin to extract the plant’s alcohol soluble properties.

However, you do want to make sure to burp your jar everyday - you want to let air out, not in

And then let it sit for 6-8 weeks and then you can strain the lemon balm out. It makes it easier if you stick the jar in the oven on the lowest heat for easier straining

One last thing to note is that it’s best to store the honey in the fridge once it’s strained in order to halt the fermentation process. This will keep an explosion accident from happening, which would not be fun to clean up, unless you’re into that sorta thing.

Then you can put a spoon or two in water or tea and drink to soothe your throat, stomach and nerves.