Have they started to come up by you yet?
These.
Those.
Les violettes.
They will arrive, again, at the pulse point of life: the vernal season.
Blossoms at our feet, mud in the water, water in the mud, the sun streaming gentle through the window, birds chatter/fill the sky with the flight of it. We are alive, the world is full of life, all shapes & forms of life.
Violets arrive in secret.
Like midwives in the morning or like forbidden lovers in the twilight.
Violets stir the water, spin it round. Stir, spin, like the ladle in a cauldron.
Violets stay close to the earth, thrive in the mud. Stay close, thrive, like the hand that clasps around your own.
.
When I was looking back into the many writings I have made on violet, I suddenly realized just how many blends they have made their way into over the past 14 years. I am actually beginning to wonder: is this one of the plants I call upon most from the apothecary?
Tincture, tisane, essence, oil.
Lymph, heart, emotion, breasts.
Deep green, deeper purple, hint of dawn light in the very center.
Viola: you’ll have to turn to the page that contains the word iodine & read the second paragraph.
.
Viola spp.
Violet immediately connects us to our feelings, while simultaneously connecting us to the earth, its bounty, its foundational support: making it a beautiful companion for those who need to feel held in order to allow for their emotional bodies to express. It reminds us to release what we may have let grow stagnant or what grows in a stagnant environment in order to truly thrive.
Violet gently grounds us but also gives us a moving remedy to our inner waterways: our lymph & plasma, our emotions & feelings. It encourages us to keep those waters moving & flowing freely, unobstructed: helping to dislodge any stagnancy/blockages that may be present which contribute to feelings of despondency, sluggishness, & vague depression, or disconnect from our inner rhythmic nature.
Cooling, soothing, & relaxing violet also has an affinity for the heart & nervous system, providing a comforting compress to both of these places & a loving hand for any wounds that may persist there. The sororia species in particular allows us to feel we are part of a “sisterhood” with this plant, with the earth, with our femininity, with our ancestresses—giving further support to those who feel a lack in these areas.
Violet nourishes us, it brings us down to earth. Literally: you must bend down to see it, to cup it in your hand. So you see, violet helps touch the earth, bending our knees to it in reverence.
.
If you’d like to learn a little more on Violet, my dear friend Geraldine Lavin wrote an excellent monograph on these Sapphic beauties.
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
― Mark Twain
.
PS: The Plants We Kiss FKA Under the Moon Tree.
I began Under the Moon Tree years ago as an in-person class that met once a month. (Maybe some of you reading this attended one or more of these classes with me). Every month, we sat together in meditation with one single plant which I always kept a mystery from those in attendance. Everyone was then encouraged to work solely with that plant over the course of the time that elapsed between our meetings.
It was a profound class that I designed to be all about connecting—connecting to our roots, to Spirit, to the plants, to one another, & to the present moment which I believe is where we can best hear our intuition & thus act from integrity.
In some way, I wanted to bring the spirit of this class back but don’t foresee myself holding an in-person version anytime soon. So, this new series The Plants We Kiss has emerged as the way to create the continuity I was hoping for.
Every new moon I will write to you about a single plant. And if you can, I encourage you to work with this plant for the entire lunar month. That could look myriad ways: imbibing it (tincture, essence, tisana), reading about it, visiting the plant out in your garden or neighborhood, wearing its colors, creating an altar to it, making paintings, ETC. this list could be endless. Trust whatever way you find yourself getting to know the plant in question: that will give you even more information about it.
Until next time, enjoy your violet explorations ~
.
Horoscopic Reading
Poems & tidbits divined for each of the signs on the New Moon at 20° Pisces. Read for your rising, sun, & moon sign if you wish. See what lines, symbols, or images ring a bell in you. Take them with you throughout the lunar month.
Pisces: “Towers Like These” by Hildegarde Flanner
Maybe it is a haircut. But wear silver: rings, bracelets: imagine it is helping you to keep cool. When you take photos this lunar cycle, do them only in black & white. Candles at night. Recall to you the story of the phoenix before its rising.
.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Moon Drops to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.