For this blog posting I had planned to write about tomorrow’s Solar Eclipse, November 13th in the sign of Scorpio. The Plutonian energy ruling this sign has been pushing us in many ways for some time and will continue to do so, demanding that we unearth those parts of us needing to be excavated and dealt with for our soul’s evolutionary growth.
However, while attending my semi-annual gathering of Steven Forrest’s evolutionary astrology apprenticeship program in San Diego, I received word yesterday of author, Patricia Monaghan’s passing. Patricia was an extraordinary spirit in so many ways and it is with humble gratitude on my part that she considered me a friend.
Her numerous published works both academic and personal, covered the vast landscapes of women’s studies, mythology, poetry and possibly areas that I’m unaware of. Her love of the earth manifested in so many ways, her circle of friends and acquaintances reached across this country and across oceans. It goes without saying that her wisdom, wit and brilliance will be deeply missed by all who knew her and knew of her.
While Patricia’s passing wasn’t a ‘shock’ for which I’ve recommended Dr. Bach’s Star of Bethlehem in previous posts, it has compelled me to re-post a piece I wrote over a year ago on its use for times of loss and grief. I’m reminded very personally that these experiences affect all of us in our humanity, whether it concerns someone close to us or loss of our foundations due to natural and/or man-made disasters. It seems ironic now that I spoke of events affecting the eastern seaboard in this previous posting…perhaps another gentle reminder. This said, I simply add, Goddess speed, Patricia…Goddess speed.
Star of Bethlehem, one of the most powerful remedies in the famous 38 Bach Flower Remedies repertoire, is classically described as THE remedy for ‘shock and trauma’, whether it be a very recent shock or trauma or one that is very old, yet remains at some level within our consciousness and our bodies. I had not planned to blog about ‘Star’ quite this soon, but given the recent events experienced by those on the eastern seaboard in the last several weeks, first the earthquake and now Irene, it seems the time is now.
Although these dramas have been extremely traumatic for all of those touched by them, as a practitioner I have never met anyone who cannot benefit from this remedy. ‘Star’ is so deeply powerful that Dr. Bach included it as one of the five flower remedies in his famous combination, ‘Rescue Remedy’(Dr. Edward Bach Centre-UK), which is also known as ‘The Five Flower Formula’(Healing Herbs Ltd.-UK).
Grief is another form of wounding, which can be deep and long lived. For this reason I have always called upon Star of Bethlehem for clients who are experiencing or have experienced loss of any kind, whether it be the loss of a loved one or a shattered dream. In this context, we are within the boundary of the spiritual aspects of this remedy because as spirit in body, each of us comes into this incarnation with a karmic contract, soul lessons to master, wounds to heal.
As I wrote in Igniting Soul Fire, Spiritual Dimensions of the Bach Flower Remedies, “If there is one remedy that represents the Divinity found in each of the remedies, it is ‘Star of Bethlehem’…. [it]seems to promote a release from the wounds that cause us the deepest of hurts. Physical traumas heal; but inasmuch as we are spirit in body, the wounds that cause us the deepest grief are those rooted within us emotionally. These wounds have a symbiotic relationship to Star of Bethlehem that is divinely healing.
On the spiritual level, the flower, Star of Bethlehem presents a balanced image of six perfect petals of white, evoking the image of the spiritually-significant six-pointed star, the perfectly counterbalanced triangles, the phrase ‘as above, so below’ and the culmination of the colors in the spectrum. As a practitioner, I have heard this remedy referred to as the ‘ultimate healer of all wounds’ and ‘the Divine Mother essence’. In other words, it is truly a remedy for a heart in distress.”
Photography Courtesy of the Dr. Edward Bach Foundation
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