Sometimes our medicine is bubble gum flavored and the child within us asks for it and takes it back with eagerness - it appeals to us. Sometimes our medicine appeals to us - calls us from the deep recesses of spiritual fog, and says: “Guess what, it’s time!” We humans have a long standing pattern of resisting that which is the most beneficial to us. Sound familiar, anyone? Yep. I thought so. We know we ought to meditate, and how many times to we make up excuses and walk by our cushion? We know we ought to pass on the second slice of cake in one day, and how many times do we help ourselves to the third?! You read me.
When the student is ready, the teacher appears. Medicine that comes this way delights me, for I am really ready for it and enjoy it. Many times the lessons catch me off guard and knock me down. My favorites, though, come in on the waves of grace. So this is a tale of an old man (or woman) and the sea….thank you, Hemingway. We can often experience a draught of sorts, and wonder. Deep things are brewing, however. Then, one day our Marlin appears and in our honoring it as a messenger and a friend and a remedy, we can welcome the wrestle with our brother. That is the grace that Santiago in his sage expression (old man) has come to embody in the story. I sign up, now, to take my medicine for health and growth. Come in and get cozy. I suspect I may have a catharsis that will not be so pretty, a healing crisis, and I still hold open my arms to the necessary remedy. Its remedial, really. The more we resist that which can help us grow, the more pain we feel.
For those of you who know the tale of The Old Man and The Sea, my Marlin wriggled onto my hook, 21 months ago, with a swagger and a surety and such beauty, he really caught me off guard. And how apropos, for in my vulnerability and unsuspecting state, I welcomed this soul and teacher, deeply into my life. Had I been in my “right mind” and on my guard, he may not have made it across the threshold. I was, however, in my “right heart” and my “right body” and that makes all the difference in the world. Did I ever tell you how wily the mind can be?
Sage essential oil helps us to return to shore empty and clean, with no residual of the struggle or catch left, for it the process that matters, not the trophy of that process. Santiago, the saint, returned to the shore empty handed and full hearted - transformed. Sage acts as the ultimate purifier. Ritual purification, especially when we call it in, brings the most potent remedies.
Sage, a cleaner at heart, holds a cherished place in most native cultures. It helps with the strange and stubborn undiagnosed skin issues, reveals and purifies core sexual issues, cleans space on all levels for new growth, creates a safe container for true expression, aids in circulation, and stimulates the immune system. An anti-viral and harmonizer of male and female reproductive issues, sage is a “go to” essences for those bizarre and undefinable moments when we just feel we need to wash clean and rid ourselves or our environment of anything foreign.
