A few weeks ago, just before Lughnashad, I spent 48 hours in ceremony following a plant diet with Yarrow.
Sounds like a weird thing to do doesn’t it? But undertaking a plant diet had been on my mind for a while as a means of developing a closer relationship with plants and being in a ceremony is such a beautiful process so when my summer hols looked pretty free, I didn’t have to think twice.
I did not have a particular plant in mind, so went for a walk with the intention of asking for a plant to diet with. Well, that was a complete mistake – which plant did not want to be picked? It felt like everyone was trying to grab my attention. Finally I decided to go with Yarrow. At the time it was looking so splendid in full bloom and just felt like the right plant for me to work with in this way. So it was decided, what next?
Preparation for the plant diet with Yarrow
48 hours felt like the right period of time to spend with Yarrow so I set the time aside and for a few days before hand-made sure to eat lightly, avoid alcohol, meat and caffeine, that sort of stuff, to make sure that my body was less dense and more sensitive to the plant diet. This was easy to do especially since my partner was away.
I did a simple Shamanic Drumming Journey to meet the spirit of the plant and confirm that undertaking the plant diet with Yarrow was the right path. After I sensed that this was confirmed, I asked to be shown what Yarrow wanted to be included in the ceremony and what the diet might look like.
Since this is the first official plant diet that I have done, I was just feeling my way through the process, asking for guidance on the way. I made a point not to look up any plant diets in books or internet so that I could be open to receiving information that was specific to me, my intention and my journey.
Since the weather this summer has been so awful, hopes for holding the entire 48 hours outside were abandoned, so I prepared my sacred space inside, gathering candles, note books, coloured pens, ribbons, crystals, books, drums, rattles etc. Anything and everything that I could possibly imagine needing over the next 2 days. Even though I was doing my ceremony at home, with pretty much everything I needed on hand anyway, I did not want to distract myself unnecessarily with mundane, real life issues like trying to find something or getting bogged down with the washing up during the ceremony.
Beginning: Preparing the Elixir
I began my ceremony at midday on a Friday, calculating that I would finish at midday on the Sunday and break my fast slowly that afternoon so I would not go to bed on a really empty tummy. Yes I was strategic since I love food, so I was acutely aware that fasting or rather plant dieting for 48 hours was going to be a challenge for me.
After opening my sacred space and declaring my intent for the ceremony my first task was to prepare the elixir. This sounds brilliantly Harry Potterish doesn’t it? Totally love that word: ELIXIR!!!!
OK so, what exactly is an elixir of plants? Well in the case of plant diets it’s a brilliantly magical word for the food/liquid you are going to be dieting on. Ie. the stuff made of the plant that you are going to eat for the duration of your plant diet. So this might be a yummy syrup in honey, a simple tea, a wine…really depends on the plant and what you feel is right. For many plant diets, way more sophisticated, planned and organised than this one, you might prepare your elixir way in advance. For example, if you wanted to do a plant diet for Hawthorn, you might select the flowers and leaves in the spring, wait all summer and then add the berries in the autumn to the mixture before preparing the elixir.
In my case I had not prepared my Elixir in advance, part of my ceremony included the harvesting of the plant (flowers and leaves) and the preparation of the elixir – which was a simple infusion. Simple – but oh so powerful as those of you know who are familiar with Yarrow. So essentially I made a huge pot of yarrow infusion and the plan was to sip cupfuls of this at set times over the new few days, drinking it warm on the first day and cold on the second. Once I had prepared the infusion and taken my first sip I really felt that the ceremony had began. Follow my experience in blog posts parts 2 and 3.