When I think of the heart, I think of the physical sacred place where the emotional body, the mental body and the spirit meet in the world of chakras. It is a place of green and pink, a place of balance! We all know when we are coming from a heart place because it has a specific feeling. So many of us have been taught that we must turn the other cheek to be in a place of heart, but sometimes the most loving thing to do is let the situation play out for the best possible outcome. This is not the same as the heartlessness I hear, like 'live by the sword die by the sword' and such expressions. But rather a compassionate understanding that all things must come back to a state of love for full resolution, and that can get messy.
In this heart place, we can have empathy, compassion and an understanding that all is sacred and connected. Then, when we come from those understandings, our heart decisions are usually correct.
We all suffer heart pain from loss, betrayal, evil and more. Thankfully, our hearts can still feel. Without love, what is the point of being here? Our hearts on all levels can heal, but some effort is required, which means releasing grief, anger, and fear. I call this release 'heart song" in my practice as a healer because I know the heart is healing itself as painful as it can be to experience and bear witness to. The reflection of the strength of our hearts is the physical heart itself which is one tough muscle with four chambers that pump life-giving blood every few seconds for our entire life. Truly amazing!
Our hearts do not pump our blood into the heart itself as a point of interest. Instead, the heart pumps blood out through the main arteries, and coronary branches lead to the coronary arteries. So the heart feeds every part of the body, including itself, as one unit.
Taking care of one's heart is to take care of oneself on all levels. Your heart is not just a pump that you can abuse or neglect, and it will keep just pumping. It is affected by all of you, your emotions, mental state, spiritual practices or lack of and, of course, your physical care.
Keeping one’s life in balance allows the heart can do the same. So eat right, sleep, exercise, rest, have fun, fall in love, stay in love, be mindful of this amazing life and heart you have been gifted.
Today's talk will discuss one of my favourite plant families, the rose family, and its relationship to the heart and circulatory system. Rose has long been associated with love and the heart. Many rose family plants are good for healing broken and hurting hearts. It is as if you take in their energy, and you are protected and rocked as you heal. The rose family traditionally has protective thorns, and this protection extends to you when you ask the rose family for help.
In her infinite wisdom, Mother Earth has provided us with the healing properties of the hawthorn tree. In Western herbology, hawthorn is our chief circulatory and heart medicine.
Hawthorn is a mythical tree surrounded by folklore and tales throughout many cultures and traditions. The Celts considered it very dangerous to damage a Hawthorn tree in any way so as not to hurt the wee folk (fairies) because doing so would bring bad luck. You will see lone Hawthorn trees sitting in the middle of farmers' fields and roads being diverted around them for that very reason.
The hawthorn wood is very strong and dense, like heart muscle tissue. The entire tree, its leaves, flowers and berries are revered by all healers worldwide for their healing properties.
