I recently attended a Plant Spirit Medicine weekend retreat. We each blindly chose a herb from a basket to be our herbal ally and friend for the weekend. I chose Sage, Salvia officinalis, and the more I learned about it, the more I knew it chose me.
My first impression after sitting with it and contemplating the aroma, was that it is about wisdom, and Iwhen I smell it, I get a distinct sense of clarity, alertness, and focus. Of course wisdom is not surprising — a sage is a wise person. And to me the scent was very sharp and wakeful.
When I first looked at the flowers I thougth they looked like little fairies in purple dresses, dancing. As I sat beside Sage, asking for its teachings, I opened my eyes for a split-second and had a whole different impression of the flower as a woman making an offering pouring out of a blanket or an apron. Generosity was the message.
As I contemplated this I remembered that in Buddhism, wisdom begets generosity. With meditation comes clarity and wisdom, and at a certain point, kindness and generosity become inevitable, with the recognition that all beings are connected.
When I got home, I hauled out my stack of herbal books to read everything I could about Sage, and it turns out it has many benefits for me.
Some of Sage’s healing properties include:
• a hair rinse for hair loss and premature grey
• cold infusion for hot flushes
• enhances cognitive function, including alertness, memory, and preventing Alzheimer’s
• sage has long been used for its estrogen-like properties, which can help manage hormonal fluctuations during menopause
• antibacterial properties make it a good mouthwash
• anti-inflammatory properties
• and sage can even deter clothes moths, with is another way that I’ll try using it.
The flower essence is for drawing wisdom from life experience; reviewing and surveying one’s life process from a higher perspective. “Through Sage, the soul comes more in touch with its own spiritual meaning and purpose, and thus acquires profound wisdom to heal and counsel others.” – from the Flower Essence Repertory by Patricia Kaminski and Richard Katz
Sounds like a great herb for women in midlife!
This was just one of the plants we learned about at the weekend. It was a Herbal Immersion Retreat at Blue Forest Shores, with Savayda Jarone of Bloom Institute. Follow her if you’d like to learn more about herbs or join a herbal retreat.