Super flower full moon energy pulls me out into the yard and gardens to meet up with some potent blossom energy. Our yard is alive with dandelions and violets, tiny bright lights among the greening lawn–––––clover, plantain, lamb’s quarters. Yard salad time. Yum! (Steering clear of the areas where our dog likes to go. :))
Yesterday, after a little thank you to the plants and a hello to the pollinators, I harvested about a fourth of the dandelion flower heads in the late morning sunshine to make dandelion honey tea and dandelion muffins, and I infused olive oil with dandelion flowers for making salve later on. I also collected purple violets (flowers and leaves) to put in our salad. And I saved some violet blossoms to make a syrup for summer mocktails and cocktails.
(Photo: Jodi Paloni)
Here’s a recipe I love for making syrup from Katie at Fair Isle. https://fareisle.com/wild-violet-syrup/
I will also make some full moon flower essence from purple violets tonight! To do so, I’ll set out a crystal bowl of filtered water and add a handful of the petals, sprinkling them on the water's surface. I’ll leave the bowl out in the center of my kitchen garden overnight. If it's raining, I'll leave the bowl on the porch undercover. In the morning, I'll filter the water into small blue bottles with dropper lids. I'll keep the essence available to mix in my drinking water when I feel the need to be uplifted and assured. Violet essence is regarded as a support for people in times of feeling fragile. For you non-believers in such things as plant spirit medicine, I might suggest that doing any zen-like practice of attuning to the elements can be soothing in the moment, even for the most skeptical of souls.
Certainly, spring wildflowers bring out the part of me that longs for more magic in troubling times. I am a child again, following the path of a ladybug on a leaf, making clover chains for my hair, believing in the flower fairies. I stay up late to stare out my window at the waxing moon in the crowns of budding trees. I water the just-arrived hummingbirds with the spray of a hose at dawn.
There are many ways to be creative with everyday wildflowers, I am beside myself with projects. Here’s a list of some word and image-making projects you might like to try…
Creativity Prompts
~Enjoy Katie Yee’s Lit Hub piece on “…the iconic flora of children’s literature”. Write about a memory involving a children’s book, one of those listed in the piece, or another one, from your childhood. https://lithub.com/a-springtime-field-guide-to-the-iconic-flora-of-childrens-literature/
~ Take your sketchbook or a piece of watercolor paper and a pencil with a clipboard into the yard or a park and set your timer for 15 minutes. Wander about and make light sketches of some flora you observe, a dandelion blossom, a tulip, a bud unfolding on a lilac bush, and so on. Don’t worry so much about conjuring a scientific illustration. Work loosely and lightly, capturing shapes, and making marks. Back indoors, add color to your sketches. These become whimsical little pieces that can bring about the feeling of the flower world. The point is to commune with the flower and pay attention to what they do for you. Are you smiling at a daffodil? Does a honeybee among the pink clover make you want to weep? Write about it.
(Mixed Media: Jodi Paloni)
~ Find a bench in a public place where someone has planted a garden to beautify a public area. Bring a notebook. Use the guise of flower-viewing to observe the people milling about. Write down ideas for future characters, dialogue, scenes, crimes, love affairs, tragedies, and joys! Be an eavesdropper in full view. So fun!
Hope you find your flower superpower this spring season!