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featherhawk Newsletter
July 2006 * Summer

featherhawk news * July 2006
featherhawk essences
Restoring Sanity in a Crazy World... One Drop at a Time
http://www.featherhawk.com
812.949.0478 * toll free 877.226.7858 (in the U.S.A.)

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We've had a wonderfully long spring this year (it often lasts just a few weeks, if that, before blazing into summer), and even here at the beginning of July we are pretty warm and humid, but looking at a cooldown later in the week. Yes!

I trust you are loving your summer months, taking relaxing vacations, and spending lots of time with your loved ones!

This month's newsletter is a long one, focused on the newest essence set, Weeds & Seeds:

1. Weeds & Seeds Set - Essences for Surviving and Thriving! On sale until August 15. I invite you to brows through the information and descriptions of the essences below and learn how we are so much like Weeds & Seeds ourselves!

2. Making Essences with Nature - Learn to make essences, July 29-30, in Jeffersonville, Indiana

3. Links to good things!
     Wheel of Life Cycles - Kay Snow-Davis
     Flower Abundance - Barbara Johnson
     Fine Art on Silk - Salley Knight

4. Practitioner Discount

5. Coming Attractions * The Chromatic Spectrum Essences

Thank you for taking time to read the newsletter. Feel free to email or call if you have questions, comments or suggestions.

Pass it on!

be well,
Nanci Wesling
Proprietor
featherhawk essences
PO Box 125
New Albany, Indiana 47151.0125
USA

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1. Weeds & Seeds Set - (including the Anomaly) - Essences for Surviving and Thriving!

Dandelion

Johnson Grass

Poke

Violet

Chrysalis

Acorn

Locust Seed

Milkweed Pod

Wild Tobacco Seed

(Click on the essence name to go directly to the description below.)

 

"They know, they just know where to grow, how to dupe you, and how to camouflage themselves among the perfectly respectable plants, they just know, and therefore, I've concluded weeds must have brains."
- Dianne Benson

 

This set was called into being to reflect and encourage the energy of survival, scrappiness, and stick-to-it-iveness seen these days all around the world. People everywhere, in all nations, cultures and walks of life, are striving to restore and maintain balance and harmony in their lives, to create a future for themselves, their families, and their communities under the most trying of circumstances. Our remarkable human spirit, in concert with the life force in nature, gives us the drive to pull together, endure, move through, and expand into our true wholeness and self expression.

Life perseveres through the best and the worst of times. Plants push their way up through concrete and asphalt or sprout in the seemingly impossible crag of a rocky mountainside or a fire-ravaged landscape. The inexorable power of recent natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami, and earthquakes show us the amazing capacity of Life, in all its forms, to carry on in the most overwhelming of circumstances.

The Weeds & Seeds set captures these qualities of tenacity, spunk and determination. Weeds reflect our exteriority, the macrocosm, the outer influences, the "above" of us. Seeds reflect our interiority, the microcosm, the inner influences, the "below" of us.

As essences they create an alchemical shift that helps us integrate the seen and the unseen, the potentials and patterns intrinsic in their being and ours. Weeds and seeds unabashedly claim their space and do whatever is needed to become who they are without hesitation and without apology. And they make these qualities available to us as pure gift!

Weeds and seeds are self-reliant, sturdy, strong, and ready for anything: precisely the qualities we need these days! The regular set price is $55.55 and reflects a savings of 30% off the cost of the individual essences.

* * * On Sale Now Until August 15 * take an additional 20% off and purchase the set today for just $44.44. Click here to order now. * * *

(Note: Individual essences from the set are available for $8.99 each. Click on the individual names, below, to order.)

 

"Man is by definition the first and primary weed under whose influence all other weeds have evolved."
- Jack R. Harland

Weeds * The Exteriority

"Any plant might be domesticated, but not a weed - not weediness itself."
- Frieda Knobloch

According to the dictionary, weeds are random and accidental. They are wild plants growing where they are not wanted. They are considered useless, uncultivated, even noxious, and they crowd out plants we humans consider to be more desirable.

Some, like me, find "weeds" quite beautiful and wondrous. I look forward each spring to the yellow, purple and green carpet of dandelions, violets and ground ivy that covers my yard, plus the plantain, the occasional chicory and clover, the wild strawberries, and other leafy residents that show up from Spring to Fall. There is a woods at the back of the cemetery down the street where, just beyond the carefully trimmed and cultivated grounds, one finds Mullein, Poison Ivy, Jewelweed, Goldenrod, Elder, Wild Blackberries an amazing variety of wildly intertwined plants offering a wealth of beauty, challenge, and potential healing.

Weeds are masters of determination and perseverance. No matter how much we hack at them, spray them with poisons, or curse their very existence, they come back in their full glory year after year. That tenacity gives them the ability to hold fast and tough under all circumstances.

When these amazing plants are made into essences, we can tap into their harmonious powers. Weeds are adaptable, tenacious, resilient. They stand their ground, awesome examples of autonomy and personal authority. They seek their own perfect expression within the surrounding environment against all odds, their seeds often lying dormant for years. And of course, many have a long history of use as home remedies and in formal herbal medicine.

The other side of weeds, their inharmonious powers, if you will, are the tendency to take over, to stifle the expression of others and drain resources, diminishing the whole, whether family, community or world. These are some of the patterns to look for when exploring the weed essences.

The Weed Essences

"But make no mistake: the weeds will win; nature bats last."
- Robert M. Pyle

Dandelion Releases tension beginning in your subtle energy field and extending inward to your physical body. Aids in cleansing and detoxifying the Whole of You.

Stress, tension and dis-ease begin in the subtle bodies and move into the physical body over time. They can be cleared before ever expressing in the physical if you focus your essence work on the individual bodies (etheric, emotional, mental, spiritual) and ask which of these need support or clearing now. If you do seasonal cleansing or fasting, Dandelion in one of its herbal forms (tincture or dried, flowers, leaves, roots) is a wonderful support for these processes, adding vitamins and minerals to your body as well as supporting the liver and kidneys.

"You fight dandelions all weekend, and late Monday afternoon there they are, pert as all get out, in full and gorgeous bloom, pretty as can be, thriving as only dandelions can in the face of adversity."
- Hal Borland

Johnson Grass For standing your ground, spreading out, and reaching for the sky. Look at who or what is disturbing you and see the reflection of yourself in the person or situation. Be sturdy and strong, yet flexible in your response. For discerning the difference between stubbornness (you hold your position solely because it is your position and, by golly, you're RIGHT and everybody else is WRONG) and tenacity (you stand for what you believe in on principle, you believe you are right, AND you'll listen to another opinion).

I've not found herbal uses for Johnson Grass, though it has been cultivated as food for livestock. It can also be poisonous in some cases, so care must be taken in its use as fodder. An internet search reveals it to be a real scourge to gardeners and farmers everywhere (I have it in my yard and can understand their frustration!). Like most weeds, especially ones that cause allergies, it grows where the land has been disturbed by humans the Earth's allergic reaction to us, perhaps?

"But a weed is simply a plant that wants to grow where people want something else. In blaming nature, people mistake the culprit. Weeds are people's idea, not nature's."
- Anonymous

Poke Within the One. Creates a cocoon of sacred space from the soles of your feet to your crown chakra, then focuses your energy into a beam of light that moves out from your crown and links you, as an individual, to All that Is. Joins quiet, introspective sustaining energy to the visionary within. For knowing One Spirit moves through all things.

Do you remember "Poke Salad Annie," by Tony Joe White? Not one of the more uplifting songs from the past, to be sure! And, this is the plant named in the song. In its plant form, Poke can be eaten (IF PREPARED VERY CAREFULLY - study the history and use of this plant well before using any of its physical parts for anything!), and various parts of it have been used medicinally, particularly the roots. Birds love the dark purple berries (HUMANS SHOULD NOT EAT THEM). The plant has deep roots that really want to stay where they are, giving it an energy of grounding and solid foundation, with reddish stems, and tiny white flowers.

"What a diversity of creative wanderers: Weeds. I enjoy their beauty and variety, and do nothing to reap their rewards. I neither hoe, nor plant, nor water, nor fertilize, nor prune ... and they come and go in lovely profusion as the seasons move. Often a pleasure, sometimes a pain in the wrong place; and always an example of the wondrous assertion of Being."
- Mike Garofalo

Violet For strengthening the inner resources of highly perceptive and sensitive individuals. You may be shy and reserved, concerned about relinquishing your self-identity to group efforts, yet longing to share who you are and what you know. Violet helps you step out and be seen, while maintaining a sense of personal safety and self-confidence.

One of my favorite Spring flowers, the bloom you see is actually a "pretend" flower, not the true reproductive part of the plant. The real flower that bears the seed hides down near the base of the plant, and this is the reason the essence is so supportive for people who "hide" from crowds even though they want to be part of the activity.

(Please note: All of the essences in this set were made using the Attunement Method rather than the Sun Method. This means that no plant parts ever touched the solution so there is no possibility of any harmful substance being in the essences. They are created by intention and invocation of energies into water, then they are potentized, and the resulting essence contains only the pure frequency of the original source free of physical substance or residue.)

"Everyone has enough weeding to do in their own garden."
Flemish proverb

The Anomaly

Into the middle of this set is a different kind of "seed," the Chrysalis. Asking to be part of the set from the very beginning, this essence embodies the essential nature of the seed: it contains everything that is true of it in the past, everything that is true about it now, and everything that is true about it in the future, all inside the protective cocoon.

Chrysalis The keeper of Potential and Transformation. Chrysalis holds safe and protects imagination, possibility, creativity, and generativity. For patience in the face of an unknown yet indisputable imperative, and the capacity to fully embrace the experience without understanding the purpose or comprehending the final outcome.

Seeds * The Interiority

"Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been,
I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there,
and I am prepared to expect wonders."
- Henry David Thoreau

 

Let's go to our dictionary again and see what it says about seeds: A seed contains the embryo from which a new plant grows. It is a botanical ovule, something to be planted; the source or origin of anything. Plants (and humans!) "go to seed," which in humans might describe a form of deterioration, and in the plant kingdom, the promise of a new crop next year.

Each seed is complete, containing the fully conceived perfection of its form and purpose, carefully protected within a resilient shell. It waits with joyous expectancy and infinite patience, dormant in the darkness of its womb, until the precise moment when its inner timing and outer conditions are perfectly aligned. In that exact instant, known only to itself and its Source, yet silently witnessed by all of its surrounding environment, it bursts forth sending its energies downward into the Earth and upward towards the Sun. It Becomes what it was always destined to be.

Regardless of what the seeds Mom-form might look like --- an oak tree or a dandelion, a dog or a human, a spider or a snake --- it is already fully expressed in the unseen realms, awaiting its Earthly debut.

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant."
- Robert Louis Stevenson

We plant many seeds in our lifetime: some literally in a garden, some figuratively in life every day. Thoughts, ideas, words, plans, dreams, beliefs, hopes. Kindnesses and good deeds, both conscious and unconscious conversations, poems, activities... all of these and more are the figurative seeds we plant. Sometimes these seeds take root and sprout right away; other times they remain hidden, even forgotten, only to surprise us with their brilliance, popping into view at the most unexpected yet propitious moment, reminding us that everything we do has consequence, no matter how quickly or how slowly it manifests.

This is not to say we are necessarily aware of this process, or even a willing accomplice in our own unveiling. In fact, we may move through our personal transformations kicking and screaming, denying our truth and our power, afraid to be seen and heard. And if we try very, VERY hard, we can, in the power and totality of our creative control, bring ourselves to a screeching halt.

The magic of the Seeds, and the essences gift to us, is its willingness to surrender totally and without question to its inner drive. In fact, to be a "successful" seed, it must die to who and what it knows itself to be, to let go and become what it cannot see, perhaps what it cannot even imagine. In harmony, the Seed essences signify this willingness in us to explore the unknown, look forward to the mystery around the next bend, and trust in our inner resources.

The inharmonious energy of the seed may experience the breaking or falling away of its outer protection as uncomfortable or fearful; as an unwelcome change in the status quo that causes feelings of anger or grief; as a failure or loss of control over life as it has always been. If you are experiencing any of these feelings, check out the seed essences for guidance and support.

Now seeds are just dimes to the man in the store
And the dimes are the things that he needs,
And I've been to buy them in seasons before
But have thought of them merely as seeds;
But it flashed through my mind as I took them this time,
"You purchased a miracle here for a dime."
- Edgar A. Guest, A Package of Seeds

 

The Seed Essences

Acorn For trusting your inner knowing, free of doubt and self-sabotage. You Will Become Who You Are, a being of strength and perseverance, and you know the fullness of your possibilities even if you cannot always articulate them. Nourish yourself and listen carefully within during the early stages of any new project. Pay attention and trust what you know.

The acorn is the quintessential seed. One of the largest seeds, it has a hard outer shell, a nifty "cap" on top, an inner nourishment that is bitter until properly prepared, then delicious and nourishing.

If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might not the heart of man become in its long journey toward the stars?
- G.K. Chesterton

Locust Seed For finding your way back from the "dark side of the moon." Even in the darkest of times, your Body and Soul are connected with Spirit, which will guide you home when you ask for help.

This essences helps you find the courage to return from what some call the "dark night of the soul," and I call the bottom of the black pit. The large, dark seed is flat and nearly round, much like the New Moon (which represents a time to set intention and gather resources, to ask for help and be willing to receive it). It is its inner, hidden Life Force that calls you back from the abyss, restoring your conscious connection to Spirit and Earth. The Light on the other side calls you back, though you cannot always see it.

"It is only when you despair of all ordinary means, it is only when you convince it that it must help you or you perish, that the seed of life in you bestirs itself to provide a new resource."
- Robert Collier

Milkweed Pod Bursting forth in consciousness. For recognizing the countless seeds of possibility scattered before you. Trust in Divine timing.

The beautiful seeds of the Milkweed Pod are brown with amazing white brush-like "wings" that carry it on the wind. At the moment the pod is ready to open, if you brush against it, the seeds pop out and float everywhere on the breeze, heading in every direction, ready to land in the most perfect location. Most of the seeds will fall on the street or in the driveway, or be washed away in a rainstorm or gusty breeze, their potential lost. You can never know which will find their way to fertile ground and produce more plants that generate more seeds. Create the foundation of fertile possibility in your heart and mind, and allow this essence to guide your vision.

"Life does not accommodate you, it shatters you. It is meant to, and it couldn't do it better. Every seed destroys its container or else there would be no fruition."
- unknown

Wild Tobacco Seed The seed of confidence and assertiveness. For connecting with your true inner being and nurturing your potential so it germinates and grows. A "bubbling up" of joy and light that clears mental over-activity and frees untapped resources of energy. Boosts the immune system.

Without fail, when I say the name of this essence, or even see it, I get a big grin on my face. There is something about it, from the moment I first held the seeds in my hand, that causes me to smile. It brings focus to the moment, creating a space in which clear thinking manifests and new energies are released.

"Seedsmen reckon that their stock in trade is not seeds at all ... it's optimism."
- Geoff Hamilton

 

You and I are here on Earth by our own conscious choice to support all of humanity and the Earth Herself as we take the next steps in our collective evolutionary cycle. Whether you believe we were created, whole and complete, as the human species, or crawled out of the muck and evolved to our current state (or any combination of alternative pathways in between), the fact is we are here now, standing on an important threshold. Our future depends on the choices we make and our capacity to make those choices from our hearts. May we choose wisely!

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I've always loved the following poem by Wendell Berry. It expresses a stark sense of hopelessness, paired with the unquenchable faith and determination of the human spirit. Because Mr. Berry lives in Kentucky, I have had the privilege of seeing him in person a few times and he is a true inspiration. If you are unfamiliar with his work, I highly recommend you explore his writings.

 

In the dark of the moon,
in flying snow,
in the dead of winter,
war spreading,
families dying,
the world in danger,
I walk the rocky hillside,
sowing clover.

- Wendell Berry

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2. Making Essences with Nature

The process of co-creating essences with nature is very simple, yet profoundly sacred. You will discover loving support you may never have encountered before - the world of nature spirits and devas. And you will become a true partner in your journey to health and well-being. Essences capture the life force of flowers and other aspects of nature in pure water. Taken internally by the drop, they resonate with the divine essence that lives within you, calling it forth into full expression. (For more details, click here.)

WHEN: Saturday, July 29, 9 am to 4 pm, and Sunday, July 30, 9 am to Noon
Bring a dish to share for lunch on Saturday. Beverages and snacks will be provided.

WHERE: Jeffersonville, Indiana. You'll receive directions after you register.

TUITION: $133.00 due by Friday, July 21. All materials are supplied. You may bring a favorite stone, image, symbol or object to use for making your essence if you wish. Wild flowers will be provided by nature!

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3. Links to good things!

These links connect you with friends, clients and customers who have touched my life in many ways. Their work is magnificent, and I encourage you to dive in and explore.

* * * Kay Snow-Davis   Wheel of Life Cycles: The Power of Love to Heal Your Life

I met Kay for the first time at the end of 1986, and her work has had a huge influence on me. This information has been "ready for prime time" and shared in classes and on tape and CD for years. Now it has been published in book form.

For more on Kay and her life's work: http://www.globalfamilyeducation.com/AboutUs.htm

* * * Barbara Johnson   Flower Abundance

Barbara was mentioned in the last newsletter as the source of the quote from Pema Chodron. She has a website offering her philosophy and work as an essence practitioner. If you are in the Ithaca, New York area, she is local. She also does distance work.

* * * Salley Knight   Fine Art on Silk

Salley is a client and customer who is a wonderfully gifted artist. Her beautiful paintings on silk can be seen on her website. Enjoy!

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4. Practitioner Discount

If you use featherhawk essences in your practice, or if you would like to, you are eligible for a 20% discount on all individual bottles, and a 10% discount on all sets of essences. You are also welcome to share your stories and experiences with the essences, and I'll include some of them in the newsletter and on the website. Please contact me to set up your account by email: nanci@featherhawk.com or give me a call, toll free, at 877.226.7858. (If you live outside of the US, please call 812.949.0478.)

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5. Coming Attractions

In the next issue of the newsletter, look for an introduction to the Chromatic Spectrum Essences (TM), a set of sixteen sound essences that have been in the works since 1999. Everything is frequency, and the Chromatic Spectrum Essences embody a wide range of sound, light and color frequencies, beyond our human range. I know there is much more to discover about these amazing essences, and I'd like to have you as my partner in the ongoing exploration.

Many blessings until next time!

--
featherhawk essences
Restoring Sanity in a Crazy World... One Drop at a Time
PO Box 125 * New Albany, Indiana 47151.0125
812.949.0478 * toll free 877.226.7858 (U.S.A.)

© 2006 by Nanci Wesling. This material is protected by copyright law and may be used, in its entirety, with the written permission of the author, Nanci Wesling.

 

 

The information in this web site is for educational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Consult your health care professional if you have any questions.