"Who's going to buy tick essence?" I asked as I walked out into the backyard, bowl and water in hand. Immediately I heard, "It doesn't matter, it's for you." And so several days of work with an impressive invasion of ticks was winding down and the fourth featherhawk nature essence, Tick, was born.

Let me back up a bit. My name is Nanci Wesling; it is also featherhawk. I co-create featherhawk nature essences™, essences of light™, and Essential Soulutions™. These remedies include flowers, gems, animals, sacred geometry, and energetic and environmental essences, and we have shared some fascinating experiences since I began making them in 1992.

Tick Essence evolved from a visit to New Albany, Indiana in the spring of '92. I was staying with a friend, and between the two of us, we were picking 10-15 ticks or more off her collie, Lucas, every day. To say I was not a fan of ticks is an understatement! I didn't like to see them let alone have to remove them from an animal or, heaven help us, from myself.

Yet here I was gingerly picking them off Lucas, flushing them down the toilet, and growing angrier by the moment. One had attached itself just below his eye. There were two attached to the tender skin at the base of his ear. We occasionally found fat ones waddling around on the furniture and the floor, and (mercifully!) skinny ones wandering around on beds and clothes and our bodies.

It was not fun, and as a future resident of the area (my home was in Colorado at the time but I was planning to relocate to New Albany), I could hardly imagine subjecting myself and my dog and cat to this invasion. Perhaps, I thought, I should reconsider!

Then I remembered Machaelle Small Wright's work with nature. Machaelle is the author of Behaving As If The God In All Life Mattered, in which she chronicles her background and upbringing, then shares her connection with nature and the research she does with nature intelligences at her home in Viriginia, called Perelandra.

One story concerns an invasion of bugs in the garden. They are destroying the broccoli plants, and she is harmlessly removing them from the plants and putting them elsewhere on the property, but they continue to return and eat the broccoli. Finally she tithes 10% of the plants to the bugs - "you can have those plants at the end of the row, but leave the rest alone." And they do!

So I decided to do an essence session with the ticks to find out what was going on and ask them to leave us alone. I ventured out to the yard with the Perelandra Rose and Garden Essences, plus featherhawk Hawk, Eagle and Catalpa Tree Flower (the only essences in the repertory then).

I don't like to admit this part, but as soon as I sat down, I saw a tick on the cement and immediately smashed it. Not the best way to begin a healing session with them! I apologized profusely, then connected with the ticks and all beings of Light appropriate to the task.

I began working through the essences and was amazed (and touched) to discover that they were feeling victimized, attacked, unappreciated and hated. This is hardly surprising considering our intent to eliminate them, yet I had never thought of relating to ticks as if they might have feelings. By the time I had finished working with them (perhaps 30 minutes), I had learned a lot, and they felt acknowledged and were willing to listen.

That's when I explained that they were causing problems for the residents (in addition to the sense of invasion felt by the inhabitants --- Lucas had Lyme disease), and I asked them to leave the property and stay off the animals and humans living there. They agreed.

Over the next 2 or 3 days I realized I had to be very specific about "the property." Eventually "off limits" included all parts of the house and garage (inside and out), and sections of the land that were not the owner's property but were on her side of the fence. I also included all plants and trees, the space above the property, and other visitors, both animal and human. It was a great lesson in communicating clearly!

The most remarkable part was the immediate reduction in the number of ticks on Lucas. In just a few days the number dropped from 10-15 to only 1 or 2 a day. As my work was refined (and as I began to know this was truly possible --- a powerful component in the work), the number continued to drop. A month or so later, there was only an occasional wandering visitor.

It was in the midst of this, after I had done the essence work with the ticks for a few days and was getting ready to leave, that I asked permission to make Tick Essence. After receiving a "yes" and the very clear message that it was for me, I placed the bowl of water in the yard and invited the pure, clear energy of the tick to imprint the water with its essence. As I felt the energy shift, I heard the words, "Embrace your anger." How appropriate this was to my original feelings about the ticks!

Shortly after making the essence, I traveled to California to visit my sister. While at her home, I volunteered to go through a collection of family junk that had accumulated in her garage over the years, and came across some things that "ticked me off," if you will. One was a 127 page letter from my father to my mom and her family, explaining all the things that were wrong with them and why life would have been perfect had everyone done things "his way." At one point he admits that he had beaten my mother the night before I was born, and then sat by her the next morning during my birth, praying that I would be stillborn. (I was delivered at home by a doctor.)

To release my anger as quickly as possible, I spent a couple of hours that evening doing an essence session. (Both of my parents died years ago, so working through the anger face-to-face was out of the question.) During the session, I must have tested for Tick 20 or 30 times.

The first few times, I was very angry. Then the anger began to dissipate and I moved into fear and sorrow, feelings that almost always underlie anger. There were tears and forgiveness as I continued the work. Near the end of the session, I tested for Tick again and when I picked up the bottle, I burst out laughing! This really surprised me, until I realized that Tick had supported me to move through the layers of my anger until I reached my true core, which is joy.

Where my first understanding of Tick was to embrace my anger and let it be OK to be angry, my greater understanding of the essence of the Tick energy was "moving through the layers" to the natural joy that dwells within. What a blessing!

Despite the original message that this was "for me," many people have benefited from Tick Essence. It is excellent for dealing with anger because it allows you to see that anger is just another expression of energy, the same as all emotions. The problem arises when the head steps in and makes anger wrong (usually due to our societal training) and suppresses it until it can no longer be contained.

The explosive anger that results from the suppression of the original feeling is unacceptable. It is also unnecesary, for when anger is embraced and expressed in the moment, it moves easily without harming anyone, and you, and whoever you were angry with, get back to your own inner light of joy quickly.

I would not have expected such a profound lesson from a tick, yet in my work with nature essences, I have discovered many "ordinary" aspects of nature sharing their messages with similar love and clarity. I am continually astonished and delighted as I explore essence work and share its remarkable support with others, and Tick has been a valuable asset to me and my clients.

Nanci Wesling founded featherhawk in 1992 in Boulder, Colorado. She has worked with essences since 1987 and is among the first to touch into the energies of animals, sacred geometry and sound. Nanci offers essence sessions in person and by mail or phone, teaches classes in essence work and spiritual development, and is also certified to teach Point of Power: A Relationship with Your Soul, from the book by Kay Snow-Davis. For information, please contact Nanci: 877.226.7858 (toll free in the US), 812.949.0478, or by email, nanci@featherhawk.com.

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.

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