I completed writing the newsletter. Almost ready to send it out. And, I spent a moment to scroll through Instagram, which is new to me, to check to see if I had any messages. These words speak to honoring the sacredness of life.

As you will notice in this newsletter, I have been invited to present in a beautiful online celebration of the feminine and Mother Earth. “revelry.” There are details at the web address under Upcoming Events at the bottom of this page.

I was reading the quote below, and the words went straight to my heart and soul. My whole body was vibrating. I thought to myself, “Oh, I so resonate with these sacred words!” In fact, they almost made we weep. And they sounded so familiar, like this is exactly how I feel!

I got to the end of the quote, and realized they were my words! God Girl Books had quoted me from my book, Divine Nourishment, as part of their sharing about the “revelry” online event. Ha! That was an interesting moment.

I have not gotten these words out of my heart and soul since I read them. They have reached deeper within me than when I wrote them over ten years ago. They are so sacred and honoring, they actually fit well with this season. They speak to a consciousness that is so needed right now, not just about food, but how we see and relate to our world. I think I need to reread this book now that I have gone through an intense decade of transformation, evolution and growth. I might actually understand on a much deeper level what the heck I was writing about!

I hope they touch you as deeply as they do me. 

''Today, I no longer think of myself as simply a chef. I create opportunities for a sacred exchange of love, gratitude and celebration of the gift of life on Earth. As anyone who cooks with love and care, I am an alchemist with the sacred task of transforming the sacrificed life of one being, whether it is plant or animal, dead or alive, into life-giving nourishment for another.

When I cook in right relationship, the love of the Great Mother flows through the love and sacrifice of her creatures, filling us with Divine Nourishment and creating oneness. One becomes food for another, dispelling the illusion of being separate. This is the nourishment I have always longed for.

When I eat in sync with the season, it’s as if a wise woman appears along a cold, barren trail. She invites me to warm myself by a fire with a deep bed of coals, and offers me a hot bowl of soup, a loaf of bread.

Our Mother Earth brings love to us through the form of food and sensual experiences. Without this we could not have a human experience. Without the human experience, our soul could not grow and evolve. Eating is a sacred act. Something living dies, we take it into our bodies, and it becomes part of us as we become part of it. Plant or animal, hunted, gathered, or bought in the supermarket, this exchange and balance creates the interconnectedness in the physical realm and allows the natural world to continue. To treat the act of cooking and eating as a chore is a denigration of the love from our Mother, plants and animals. Eating is one of the most basic acts of self-nourishment and honoring of one’s life. It is a necessary step toward self-love and wholeness. When we nourish ourselves with gratitude according to deep wisdom of nature, we are returning this love and respect by honoring our life as sacred and interconnected with all there is. By nourishing ourselves nature’s way we are given a map to live by that honors and unites life, death, light, dark equally. It gives us the tools to receive the gifts of both sides to grow and evolve.'' -Mary Lane, Divine Nourishment, A Woman's Sacred Journey with Food

Much love and blessings

Mary

Grief Flower Ritual

Obtain a bouquet of 9 fresh white carnations or roses. Or any flower of choice.

Take the flowers with you to a river or an abundantly flowing creek.

Stand beside the river and make a physical offering of gratitude to the spirit of the river/creek by releasing some tobacco or cornmeal into the river/creek. Also make an offering to our Earth Mother, as well as to any other stewarding spirits and luminous ones to whom you feel guided to offer.

Then take the bouquet of  flowers, and, standing beside the river/creek, hold the flowers in prayer position against your heart.  Pray, as you hold the bouquet, about any and all grief, sadness and sorrow that you feel in your life. Encounter your own feelings of grief and loss as fully and viscerally as you can, and release them into the flower by talking, whispering or blowing into the blossoms. Allow yourself to go fully into your grief, sadness, sorrow. Let yourself weep, if you feel tears welling within you. Cry into the blossoms.

Pray, pray, pray.

When you feel complete with your praying, squat beside the river/creek and dip the carnation blossoms into the water. Return to a standing position and cleanse the front of your body, from head to foot. Make sure that you physically touch the moistened blossoms to your body, allowing yourself to get wet as you wipe the front of your body down with the flowers.

After cleansing the front of your body, squat again and dip the blossoms into the water. Come to standing, and wash the left side of your body, from head to foot – touching the wet flower blossoms to your body. Make sure to wipe under your arm and along the side of your torso.

Again squat and dip the flower blossoms into the river/creek water. Stand and cleanse the right side of your body, from head to foot.

Squat one final time, dipping the flowers in the water. Stand and cleanse, from head to foot, the back of your body as best as you are able.

Clasp the flowers between your hands in prayer position at your heart and make any final prayers into the flowers. Then release the bouquet into the river/creek and watch the river wash the flowers downstream.

Give thanks.

Anatomy of Ritual Audio Course

The plant spirit medicine of this sacred cactus that wants to be shared through me is the wisdom of the heart. A beautiful, gentle Grandfather energy that connects you with the wisdom your heart carries, and the support to drop deeper into this wisdom, and surrender to its guidance.

As we navigate these challenging times with polarized information overload, not knowing what is true, it is the wisdom of our own hearts we need to listen to.

The only absolute truth is there is no absolute truth. Only choices to be made where underneath emotional charge and distortions, the only navigation tool that can be trusted is the heart. Because of this, I am offering both the Ghost Pipe plant spirit essences for support in healing the heart, and Huachuma for strengthening and accessing the wisdom of the heart. To refresh your memory of Ghost Pipe visit the Love of Plants page on this web site.

If you are interested in purchasing any of these powerful plant spirit essences I am making them available.

Cost for 1oz bottle is $25.00 paid through PayPal. This price includes shipping within the United States, including Hawaii, and recommended dosage for you specifically.

Contact: mary@divinenourishment.net to place an order. Or, inquire about a personalized plant spirit remedy blend and consultation.

This is a fall tonic I created that my students fell in love with. I was lucky enough to be able to gather the herbs in the wild and use lemon verbena from my garden, which brought a powerful wild life force to the tonic. Combine dried herbs and flax seeds. Store dried herb mixture in a glass jar with tight-fitting lid. Make an infusion steeped with boiled water for a cup of tea. One or two cups of this tea a day supports you during the fall months. 

1 cup Mullein 

1 cup Nettles 

1 cup Goldenrod 

1/2 cup Lemon Verbena/or Lemon Balm 

1/2 cup Mugwort 

1/4 cup Flax Seed 

Mullein — Nourishes lung yin, moistens dryness, relieves coughing, promotes expectoration, resolves phlegm, circulates lung chi, clears damp heat, clears toxic heat, removes lymph congestion and benefits the skin 

Nettles — Enriches liver yin, nourishes and cleanses the blood, relieves fatigue, regulates metabolism, restores adrenals and thyroid, restores lungs, promotes expectoration, relieves coughing, promotes detoxification, clears eczema, reduces tumors, dissolves deposits and stones. Drains fluid congestion in liver and kidneys, relieves edema. 

Goldenrod — Relieves chronic skin conditions, resolves toxicosis, nourishes and restores the kidneys, clears bladder and kidney damp heat, reduces intestinal infections. 

Lemon Verbena — Supports digestion, lemon flavor nourishes the liver. 

Mugwort — Supports the movement of stuck energy, tonifies chi, stimulates digestion, drains fluid congestion, promotes sweating, dispels wind damp/cold, clears damp heat, reduces inflammation and clears intestinal parasites. 

Flax Seed — Strong source of omega-3, anti-oxidant, supports the intestines to cleanse and matter to slide through.

This tonic is in the fall section of my book Divine Nourishment, A Woman’s Sacred Journey with Food. You can buy it on Amazon if you want to deepen your seasonal support and healing of the feminine.