Hellebore, Plant Wisdom, and the Essence of Nature Magic
Listening with the Heart
It’s busy here at the farm, trying to keep up with spring’s exuberance. Today I was planting dahlias in the upper garden to a symphony: bee songs, chickadees, far-off-lawnmowers, a hawk cry, swallows diving, a shy garter snake, raven shadow crossing.
I kneeled on the ground, a new dahlia, green with promise in my hand. A silent mantra, a planting meditation, a prayer said for each plant: the name, memory of its presence, my heart glowing with love, an invocation to grow strong.
I stretched and glanced over to see the hellebores winking at me beyond the fence. They live under the shade of a Grand Fir that stands beside a climbing rose. In June red roses, like punctuation marks or bits of fireworks trace lines along its graceful boughs.
I love hellebores, they are a special type of nature magic emerging in winter from the places they’ve lain dormant, dreaming.
They’re also known as Christmas Rose or Lenten Rose, and belong to the Ranunculaceae family (buttercups). It doesn’t surprise me that they have a history that includes casting spells, rituals and were used to ward off evil spirits.
Their energy, their magic feels deep and ancient, reminding me of the shaman journeying workshop I participated in many years ago. Hellebore feel like they carry the same type of ancient earth energy, a sacred energy to be deeply respected.
Their name Helleborus is from the Greek words helein (to injure) and bora (food) and they were used in ancient Greece in medicine. Although they have been used historically to treat many ailments—they are no longer used herbally as all parts of the plant are toxic to ingest.
They can also be used for energetic work to ward off negativity, aid in personal growth and shadow work, connect with the subconscious and unseen worlds. They can be used to create sacred space, call in deep introspection and explore death and rebirth. They are deep.
Years ago, in my art practice, I worked on a series that included photographing plant cells under a microscope and exhibiting them alongside a photo of the plant. Looking into their structures felt like looking deep into magic. Many times I found the cellular images echoed the plant, or reminded me of the place it grew and sometimes the images were like the starry sky. The truth is that everything is connected — the earth and the stars, the seen and unseen, the vast and the small. Click here if you’d like to view that project.
When I moved to Salt Spring Island I met my first Hellebore and brought out my microscope. Here’s what I found:
I planted Hellebores at Alchemy Farm because they called to me, perhaps because of how I first met them, but these plants would share a gift with me in the years ahead.
Hellebore opened my heart with blinding light, bringing instant clarity to my work as an environmental artist with a practice based on reconnecting people to nature. I’ve written about and made work that shares how we are deeply connected to all that surrounds us.
The forest is my church, the plants and all the beings my prayers. When I stop, drop deep into inner silence, my heart opens and I’m one with the plants and trees, bees and birds, the water, and the sky, and the earth. In my work I talk about how plants are aware of us—may even know who we are. I know this because I can feel them when I stop and listen with my heart, with the wisdom of the ancient memories I carry from my ancestors.
But I could never ‘show’ someone this truth until my husband gave me a device that takes the bio-energy of plants and converts it into musical notes. Each flower has a unique song.
The Hellebore was the first flower to share its voice with me. I burst into tears as it changed its song as I moved my hand closer and further away. I cried tears of deep understanding. It was as if the Hellebore opened a doorway and I was shown the truth I’ve carried in my heart since I was born, or perhaps even from the time before. We are all interconnected—woven together beyond what we can see.
Listen below if you’d like to hear the Hellebore — part of the same song I first heard.
So, when I made the Hellebore flower essence it was with deep reverence and with the permission of the plant. I included labradorite, a stone of transformation and magic that strengthens inner sight and acts like a shield of protection.
The essence was made in a clear crystal bowl filled with pure spring water, under the light of the Full Pink Moon—the moon instead of the sun for its intuitive and gentle guidance. The Full Pink Moon represents rebirth and renewal and encourages emotional clearing and releasing old patterns.
The Hellebore Flower Essence is also infused with the music of the Hellebore, its voice whispering from Alchemy Farm.
If you feel called to work with the energy of Hellebore visit here.
A message from a different flower—a card pulled from the Alchemy Flower Oracle.
Columbine ~ Dreams & Visions
You are one with all that surrounds you. It is an illusion that you are separate. We are all the same source energy, each appearing together in the same dreamtime.