Digest 78
Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 15:42:16 -0800
Subject: Ouch
Hello.
I was working on a post to Occulthaven when the telephone call message
showed on the screen, I ripped the phone cord out of the webtv box,
stuck it in the phone and no one was there. When I went to stick the
phone cord back in webtv I hit the reset button and, long and laborious,
the post is toast.
Damn, what will die next for Chroni's conspicuous lack of funding?
The gist of it, while it did contain every esoteric thing I know about
race and race relations, was that I got an aperiodic Australian plants
newsletter on the Mediterranean plants list, perhaps because Medit-L had
had a thread on whether "Kaffir Lily" for Clivia is a racial slur. A
remarkable example of an Australian plant was given that would otherwise
be unknown to me in this context, because of this laundering.
It isn't realistic to lay hands on countless rare botanical works that
are around a hundred years old looking for racial references in the folk
names of plants...
My concern is that clues embodied by racial references in the colloquial
names of plants, part of the Doctoriine of Signatures, much as Anita
Bryant as observed by Gurudas in regard to anoth demographic group, are
about to be obscured by "over-correcting" any racial reference right out
of them. I can certainly give enough background to justify this when I
feel up to taking a half-hour to re-write the post.
My question is how might I tactfully speak such a concern to the persons
in question, I may have already alienated several very important
contacts with my bent toward the esoteric by showing a bit of it on
these plant lists.
BTW, in the spirit of the Doctorine of Signatures, I have just finally
subscribed to Pegasus Products' "Essence-talk" list and announced my
presence and interest in the Doctorine. I have had to inquire whether
there is an archive there, and await good news.
I am hopeful, of course, and hope for more than I got on the
Homeopathy-list. I was told there professionals shun the Doctorine,
although my Doctorine page does link to their archives, where there's a
file of posts that took a small branch of the Doctorine further than I
usually would, everything you'd ever want to know about spider
signatures almost, and you thought I was scary bringing up Scorpio in
negative mode! Rather paradoxical all of that. Alas, I know the Black
Widow persona from years engrossed in color therapy. So I don't argue,
but the rest really hasn't been rewarding.
Chroni the Chronically Concerned
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/6581
*****
Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 16:29:26 -0800
Subject: Gardening
Hello.
You know, maybe it is the mugwort... And rats I just found a
whole big bag of it. :-)
A couple of third degree secrets from my "Book of Shadows and Indoor
Lights".
Whilst others are engaging in lovingly putting manacles on mangos and
other fine stuff, here I sit cutting up old vinyl window blinds for
affordable plant markers. So far this is working great indoors, I'm a
little skeptical that some of the old ones may be too brittle already to
do well outdoors, time will tell on that one. Somewhere out there you
can get ready made markers for @ $12/per 1000, but it takes four magic
mirrors and twelve search engines to tell anymore where, I think.
And for those who have tiny seeds to distribute- I have literally
hundreds of professional packages that are leaking, including those from
prestigeous Botanical Gardens- if you have a hard time finding glassine
envelopes to help correct this, one supplier of mine showed ingenuity
and put the seeds in gelatin capsules, for which I am eternally
grateful.
I do find them easier to get than glassines, case in point, I have some
actually, and they may even be cheaper in the long run, depending. And
you don't have to play with that d*mned glue...
Good gardening to all!
Here is a hope, that Stillingia sylvatica will find it's way into some
magician's garden this year.
Peace!
Chroni
*****
Digest 81 (forthcoming)
*****
Digest 83
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 14:17:32 -0800
Subject: "Purple Hearts"
Hello.
I might be fit fo walking into a church or a college and putting the
resident authorities to shame, but over on the Essence-talk list, there
is really a master who exceeds me nearby. I'm still a little
trepidatious and intimidated about throwing ideas around there (and they
don't archive posts !?!) until I get a little more hair on my aetherial
chest...
So I have this Agastache that was rescued from my previous existance as
a whipping boy, it's Agastache brevi- something, brevifolia or
breviflora that I got from Alan Bradshaw at Alplains. It was very
cooperative and set seed even under the plastic dome where it began
life... doing more laying to rest of nasty rumours about the role of
pollenators in the chain of life...
As an Agastache, I don't suppose it is special, it looks alot like
Agastache cana "Heather Queen" and smells like it too, but just the fact
it is with me inspires me on the subject.
Agastache urticifolia which has rained and poured into my collection
from many sources last year virtually astonished me that in the second
year it has an aroma that approaches that of cooked meat.
Almost All of the genus that I have encountered previous to my pallete
have an overtone of blood or metal or both to their citrus aromas. Even
when Nichol's in Oregon provided me with a Licorice-scented form of
Agastache mexicana, that overtone was present. Only Anise Hyssop,
Agastache foeniculum, seems to differ, and Agastache rugosa, Korean
Mint, since it has a strong mint aroma along with any licorice that may
be present.
Now these are Clearly enough to justify, BY SIGNATURES, the Native
American use of the genus as a "Hunting Medicine" which I define as:
1. An agent that masks the smell of hunters so animals are not aware of
them & 2. An agent which alters human nuerotransmitters, often
aromatherapeutically, so their intuition is in harmony with their
objectives.
Obviously there is a conflict of interest possible there, this is Not
going to guarantee that one gets to fill Bambi with buckshot, but at any
rate, the undersides of Agastaches, usually the ones that look the most
like Catnip, and the specie in question is one of them, have a
conspicuous purple coloring (as do the Bee Balms in their youth).
And that is also enough to recall the signature presented by Mugwort,
for the purposes of turning the white underside up are legendary, clear
to the symbolism of turning a key in a door and thus Scott Cunningham
indeed refers to Artemisias as having the magickal property of opening
locks.
And while the faint green border around this purpleness also symbolizes
some Theosophical, subtle body things, oh, call it a Valentine if you
want to, that probably works too, there is also no reason I know of that
the *smells-like-shrapnel* specie are not to symbolize the familiar war
award of the Purple Heart.
And of course the very heartness of it may recall Melissa officinalis,
whose possible use as a heart medicine was recounted by the emminent
ethnobotanist, James A Duke in the CRC Handbook, and probably extends to
at least Catnip itself in the genus Nepeta if not others. Not much
imagination or research should be required to help validate Catnip.
I have suggested on the Alchemy-L list that a substance mimicking the
use of ATP in medicine might help protect one from the Heavy Metal
poisoning that is so possible by following old alchemic proceedures,
that this could explain Paracelsus' great praise of Melissa officinalis,
Lemon Balm, and that perhaps no one in their right mind would practice
such proceedures without a preventative and or remedy/cure for such
poisonings readily at hand.
I will leave out any actual effort to further the obvious suspicion that
Culpeper would have thought mugwort to work against tetanus, by it's
myriad virtues involving iron (and calcium, being my contribution) from
the signatory circumstances that surround it at this time.
So at any rate, the wonderful tapestry of omens surrounding the genus
Agastache has barely begun to be addressed in the here and the now, so
while I am repeating myself almost entirely in regards to the content of
previous posts, I thought I would bring this up.
Those who cannot access a copy of Andersen Horticultural Library's
Source List of Plants and seeds and who would like to interact with this
fabulous genus of plants are advised to obtain the catalogs of
Southwestern Native Seeds and Alplains, the former to simplify a good,
rapid start to their collection, and the latter to particate in
conservation of several specie that are much more seldom recognized. I
can testify that Agastache cusickii can perish even as close to its
native Idaho as I am, if given substantial neglect.
I should also like to highlight the possibilities that "hunting
medicines" and "warrior medicines" should overlap so that hunters cannot
accidentally kill one another, and so this is another thing to look for
in opening one's heart to the mysteries of the genus Agastache and the
purposes that surround it. And I believe this to be part of the Purple
Heart signature, that not only can it grant the good clear instincts to
stay out of harm's way, but can be used in rituals of invulnerability by
the wise, and may even yet be proven to somehow mimic a good number of
properties of coneflowers or yarrows.
I should also like to put forth that I am not longer certain that the
strain of Agastache cana (Mosquito plant) that was sold by Sandy Mush
Herb Nursery in North Carolina is still available by that name. The
original specimen which never made it through the winter of ten years
ago, unlike other specimens of Agastache cana, was strongly mint scented
without other overtones, to the point of being like pennyroyal.
If you encounter such a specimen, it is likely worthy of nurturing,
propogation, pampering, and zealous collection of seed, in which case I
will be tempted to trade my right "gonos" or "orchis" for several dozen
of such seeds, so please let me know.
We are presently suffering a market overkill of the fruity "bubblegum"
strains of the specie Agastache cana, and then too who knows how muddled
the nomenclature has gotten? It could have been the mint-scented strain
of Agastache mexicana not to have made it through a winter here.
(And just to further confuse things, the anise-scented strain Did get
through a rough winter here last year.)
And something tells me, as it probably should, all this is still just of
the tip of the iceberg with the Wild Hyssops, genus Agastache (which I
still haven't figured out how to pronounce by the way, thanks to the
disharmonious efforts of the experts.)
So if plants or photos of wild hyssops start talking to you and they say
something in addition to all this, pleas let me know. In return, I will
let you know when one starts giving off the aroma of mangos and
handcuffs, which I suspect will be Very soon...
Blessed Be!
Chroni "not a leaf turns in the forest that I stop and ask for a second
opinion on it" Apolloni
*****
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 14:36:14 -0800
Subject: Memoirs of a Garden Weasel
Hello.
Chroni having the fair weather today by gosh.
So you know me and St. John's Wort, right? For all I know it kills the
brain cells that get depressed which will probably turn out to be the
wise and compassionate brain cells too. Mark my words, there are some
spooky thoughts about Feverfew in that department at least and everyone
doubtlessly remembers last fall when I actually told Tarot over the role
of various herbs and a peculiar caution about SJW came up...
So I have several voluteers of some specie, probably the "officinal"
(medicinal) one, and I'm looking at it... Thought for a moment it was
one of the local spurge weeds trying to take over the world again...
So even after most of a winter freezing it's little botanical bum off,
here are these *evergreen* shoots, and they look like thyme or
especially that "Kent Beauty" Oregano whose Iconography seems to
compliment that of Dittany of Crete/Diktyanna so beautifully, what with
the little leaf striations... So when I break off a peice to bring in
and meditate on, I notice it has this lovely invigorating warm smell.
So I am thinking, maybe one should think of a thyme or oregano to use
first? Geez only knows, my first magic was wearing little satchets of
Rosemany to cheerful me up. For all I know, SJW could be packing
armotherapeutic powers...
(And so you could get some really far out things about it by applying
the Gurudas on oregano or thyme to this, and um, gee, some of it might
even apply?)
So I thinking some more, why is anyone thinking of ingesting this? Here
we not only have umpteen tons of pagan/wiccan literature on the virtues
of it's bery presence, but sure as a bear is Catholic, I but stuck in it
my pocket and here I am tearing into the yardwork with my bare hands.
Hell, I had the flu this morning...
It seems to be doing something, which is good since I am not about to
scarf the stuff...
And I probably did this last year, but you know, the wintered over
leaves of Mugwort look so much like flames I just want to burn big piles
of the extra at big heathen festivals or something...
It all just makes me wonder, you know? And kind of really happy, too...
Well, back to the real world. Cheers, everyone!
ChroniHomegrowni
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