A moon full of mullein
“Great mullein is a very common European plant of roadsides, fields, and dry waste places. The flower stalk is a stout, erect candelabra, 2 to 7 feet tall, with a basal rosette of large soft, hairy leaves. The five-petaled, light yellow flowers open a few at a time, in a branched spike. The smaller Moth Mullein is more slender, with smooth leaves and yellow, white or pink flowers. — Summer and fall. Figwort family.”
~ FLOWERS by Dr. Herbert Zim and Dr. Alexander Martin
I made his birth chart the day after he was born. When I saw he was a Scorpio sun, Aries moon, a little ball of fear settled in my gut. It’s an intense pairing. Both being ruled by Mars, god of war. Conflicting water and fire signs. Both highly passionate and set in their beliefs. I didn’t know if I was qualified for that challenge, but I knew I was going to have to buckle up and hang on for dear life.
The stars weren’t wrong. Since the day he came out of the womb he has been in constant motion. Everyone comments on how they’ve never seen such an active baby. With this motion came frustration on his end that he couldn’t do more than flail his arms and legs. Even now he is just itching to start crawling.
He is very aware and attuned to the world around him. He doesn’t love other people holding him. Hell, a lot of the time he doesn’t love me holding him. He uses his voice as loudly as he can, will not sit calmly in a swing, hates being restrained in a carrier, and fights sleep like it’s a life or death situation. He is also curious, loves fart noises and adventures, smiles at you like you’re the only human on earth, and babbles as if he’s holding a whole conversation. I can see the deep sense of self that was planted within him. There is a fierce little spirit in there. I can’t wait to see who he becomes.
All this to say, there’s not a lot going on in the old brain these days. The four month sleep regression hit and my nights aren’t as free as they once were. So this is just a short newsletter with a little update on my woodcut project.
Art is ideal because it doesn’t matter if you’re only functioning on one brain cell. It lives in the body, not the mind. It took me awhile to figure that out. All I have to do is find the motivation to get my tools out and the rest flows freely. I don’t even have to choose the plant I’m working on for the week. I take out my little wildflower field guide, flip to a random page, and go with whichever plant shows up, no re-dos. It’s been comforting to see two plants I’m already kindred with come up first.
As I’m continuing to explore this new form of plant medicine, I’ve been struggling to define how it actually can heal beyond the person who is making the art. I came across a publication recently though that gave me a little context.
It stated that creative work plays a role in connecting people with nature and inspiring a culture of stewards. It seems simple, but also profound.
Being an artist is like being an herbalist. You forage or sow all of these concepts, ideas, inspirations, hopes and fears. Once you have the ingredients, you brew them into an elixir on paper or sculpture or music or some other tangible talisman. Finally, you give it to the world to ingest so that their eyes may be opened to new perspectives.
Everything is a mirror.
Much love (pray for me!),
Val
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I should do my oldest’s sun chart — he sounds so similar to your son! Sending solidarity and love! (We love our planner, thank you! My youngest saw the cover of it and said, “look, there is God”)
I’m not surprised you birthed a little one who is so utterly excited about life 😅💞