05 December 2011
Kitchen Table During Apprenticeship Day
Saturday was my final herbal apprenticeship day...ever. I haven't spoken a lot about my apprenticeship on here. I'm not really sure why. Maybe I was keeping it just for myself, or it was such an integral part of my life I never really thought of it as unusual...
It was a deep part of my journey...my cocoon for 3 years...and Saturday I shed those layers and emerged a new being. Truly. I feel reborn.
These past three years were so much more than learning how to make herbal medicine. They were about finding the real me. Here I am, back to essence again.
I keep thinking back three years to the very moment I decided I wanted to begin the apprenticeship. It was August 2008. I was in Forres, Scotland, staying in a retreat Bed & Breakfast called Newbold House. It was the week prior to my 30th birthday when I stood in my room and said, "This year you're going to do the herbal apprenticeship, get a laptop, and maybe start a blog." By the following August I had completed my first year of apprenticeship, a year of blogging and had the computer I am typing on right now (which has been to Scotland twice). I believe that trip to Scotland was when I really began to unearth my essence. Get down to business.
I suppose the true beginning of everything could have been when I started getting reiki on my 28th birthday. That led me to be interested in alternative healing, which led me to sign up for the Open Center's newsletter, which led to an email telling me all about a class called "The Art of Herbal Medicine Making" with Robin Rose Bennett. I thought it sounded really interesting but didn't want to spend the money. Even so, a little voice inside my head kept saying, "You really need to take this class." Never ignore those little voices.
That class led to "Herbal Alternatives to Antibiotics," a few weed walks and a Love medicine class. All of these inspired me to begin cooking a lot more because I joyously discovered you can cook your medicine into your food. A total revelation to me.
And all of this led to me kicking all the prescription medications I'd been on for allergies and asthma since I was around 9 years old, ditching processed food (for the most part ;) and caustic cleansers (I swear my hair grows faster, eyes are clearer, nails are stronger, skin is healthier...and I think my eyelashes are longer). Pretty cool, right?
Then I planned that 30th birthday trip to Scotland. I discovered Newbold house because I was looking for places I could have a retreat and I discovered it "by accident." Their organic garden and community living introduced me to a world and way of life I wanted to learn more about. I felt like I spoke a different language.
Now here I am today, two Iona pilgrimages and a jaunt to Dublin later. A brand new being.
After 3 years of Sisterhood, tea, and soul searching I not only understand that language...I feel I was born to speak it.
The Angel Card on my bed at Newbold, which I still hold in
my eyeglass case. It wasn't kidding!
XO