Ayni & The Solstice 🌞
Plant Medicine and Medicinal Plants
To all Healers, Curanderxs, Shamans,
Thank you. Your guidance, your devotion, and your wisdom give us hope. Hope that slowly humanity is finding the courage to lift the thick veil of empty consumerism and replacing it with consciousness instead. 👁
In this issue we expand on some fascinating indigenous and pagan traditions, and the hidden benefits found in plants🌱.
Hint: have you ever wondered why we decorate a pine tree yet Bethlehem was a desert? 🎄
Plant Medicine & Medicinal Plants
The phrase plant medicine is entering common discourse. So what does it really mean, or entail?
Basically plants hold million year-old knowledge and your brain can decipher it. Indigenous societies have passed the wisdom down generations on how to unlock this information transfer.
Ayahuasca, Tuhuipa, Yopo, Ololiuqui, Peyote, Psilocybin: each have their own personality, and all of them can transport you deep into the understanding of the universe and of yourself. Finally, we are beginning to understand that one experience with plant medicine can avoid you a lifetime of prescribed drugs—sorry big pharma, the jig is up.
Don’t be scared of plant medicine, they are wise and spiritual guides.
Disclaimer: only trust healers that have been personally recommended to you.
Similarly there are countless medicinal plants whose immune boosting powers have been forgotten in the West.
Here our top 10:
Ayni
In the Inca and Quechua culture of the Andes there’s a universal law of reciprocity that everyone is taught since birth: Ayni.
Ayni can be loosely translated as cosmic circulation. The law explains that when there is an Ayni imbalance there is illness, and when there is Ayni balance there is abundance and health.
At a macro level we are currently living through an intense Ayni imbalance. Our current culture of extractionism means that our global Ayni is heavily out of balance. What we need to do is give back to Earth to rebalance our Ayni—natural catastrophes are a consequence of Ayni imbalance.
The law of Ayni can be applied to our personal lives too. If you’re having relationship problems analyze the Ayni: is someone giving more energy? How? Address it and rebalance. Similarly, if you’re feeling ill, listen to your body, check where in your life you can rebalance and prioritize your energy.
Ayni can be called yin/yang, can be described as a universal law, or defined as karma or reciprocity. Yet at the core Ayni can’t be tied by semantics. Ayni is a feeling, perpetually listening and flowing. It is the unintelligible knowledge of understanding. Lifting the veil of consumerism and embracing Ayni can lead us to a life of fulfillment.
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Ayni imbalance is the climate crisis
Ayni imbalance is depression
Ayni imbalance is cancer
Ayni imbalance is confusion
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Ayni balance is flow
Ayni balance is nature
Ayni balance is abundance
Ayni balance is peace
The Winter Solstice ✨
I recently spoke with someone who celebrates the winter solstice instead of Christmas. Did you know that researchers have speculated that the Roman Catholic Church chose Dec 25th as the birth of Jesus because it ties in with the winter solstice festivals of Yule and Saturnalia?—this made it easier to convert pagans to Catholic festivities if the Church maintained the same dates and traditions.
Throughout history societies around the world have held ceremonies honoring the “rebirth of the sun”—the day that marks the return of light and longer days. A lot of Christmas traditions like Santa Claus, a wreath and a decorated tree have actually been borrowed by earlier pagan Yule traditions in Northern Europe.
So why celebrate the winter solstice again?
People who celebrate the winter solstice nowadays do it to honor our connection to the natural world.
The celebration is simple, take the 21st of December to:
spend time in nature
reconnect with yourself and disconnect with technology/work
watch the sunrise and sunset to feel sun’s potent energy
light candles and enjoy a feast with loved ones
*sounds familiar right?
“Most often, winter solstice celebrations honored the symbolism of fire and light, along with life, death, the rising sun, and the moon.”