Herb Gathering in Iowa

I spent a considerable amount of time from mid June to mid July gathering herbs in Iowa's rural ditches for winter. Armed with trusty shovel (for gathering roots), a pair of pruning shears (for those stubborn thicker stems) and half a dozen large black trash bags, I set out either alone or with a friend to treasure hunt for things that were on my list. What grows wild here? More useful things than you might imagine. Below are three of the herbs that I gathered.



Purple coneflower or Echinacea is an easy one to spot as it looks like a pink droopy daisy. I dig up the roots and use them as an immune system booster and a natural antibiotic.

White sage is another simple find...it looks from a distance as you come up upon it like grey grass. My Lakota friends use this herb all year long in sweat lodges and Yuwipi ceremonies.


Compass plant looks like a number of yellow daisies all hugging a single stalk, each facing the same direction. The root of this native weed is HUGE, oftentimes bigger around than an adult thigh, and takes a lot of digging just to get a good chunk. (Sometimes I'm tempted to bring an axe to help harvest this one.) I cut up and dry the root in finger sized pieces and when I have a headache, I take a lighter to burn a bit of the end of the dried root to inhale the smoke before going to lay down for half and hour. For me it works at about the same speed as asprin.

Sacred Quilt Sewing

I can honestly say, I don't think I've ever made so many quilts in one year in my entire life. This has been (and probably will continue to be) one of the most fun, and most poignant sacred sewing things that I do on a regular basis.

The quilts I create are often called Lone Star Quilts, Lakota Quilts, or Star of Bethlehem quilts. It's a pattern with a single eight pointed star in the middle. To date, I think I've made about a dozen quilts, like this. The first one was created in 2006 for a friend of mine who was going on a traditional Lakota Vision Quest. I honestly had no idea what I was doing and made a number of mistakes, but learned a great deal about how to applique and about how to make sure that the center star lays rights.

This was the first quilt I did with all hand dyed fabric.

Most of the quilts have been created either solo by me, or with the help of my friend Tra. We've become quite a designing and sewing team. The red and yellow on the blue back ground below has the image of an elk in the center of the star. It was a gift to my friend Standing Elk in South Dakota.


Each quilt we design, we spend more than a little time praying about what should be on the quilt, the colors, and any additional images. Either Tra or I make a colored drawing of the final outcome as a sort of template, but allow changes or additions to come during the construction process as needed.

Above is one of two baby sized quilts that I've created. This one was given to my grandbaby Inara shortly after she was born in December.

The funny thing is, I don't own a single star quilt that I've made. Every one has been given away to someone as a gift, as an offering, or for a healing or ceremonial purpose.

The star quilt above is especially sacred. It's called The Healing Quilt. It was created from the flags that hung in the Sun Dance tree from 2008's ceremony here in Iowa. When someone comes to our local Yuwipi Man, Lester, and asks for help in healing, he will give them this quilt to use until they no longer need it. When they are done, it's laundered and given back to Lester to await the next person who needs help.

For me, the design and sewing process helps keep that creative side of me happy and flowing.

One of these days I'm going to make a quilt for me. :-)

Painting sacred buffalo skulls for ceremony

Ya know, when your title is professional psychic, there's never any end to the variety of people you meet, or the places it leads you, or to the unusual things you get to do. This week was one of those weeks that had me doing creative stuff I would have never dreamed I would do 20 years ago!

Sun Dance is fast approaching and Tra and I have been working together, not on quilts this time, but instead on the last little prep things for the arena. Specifically, this week, we've been painting buffalo skulls.

Each of the four gates in the Sun Dance arbor/arena area faces the compass points of north, south, east and west. Each gate or opening is blessed with a sacred buffalo skull sitting at that entryway. The skulls are often painted with the colors associated with that direction and it's spirit nations. We also had extra skulls for use during the Sun Dance ceremony itself, and all these skulls needed first to be sealed, the primered, then painted, and then some had extra detailing added.

I arrived this week to having Lester, Tra and Jon all sitting in front of skulls on a table in Jon's garage and when I walked up, everyone looked at me expectantly. "Good, you're just in time," Lester said.

"In time for what?" I queried.

"Can you paint lightening? We want this skull to honor the Wakiyan nation, the lightning and thunder beings."

"Sure," I responded, if you have a photo or a picture you would like me to put on it.

They were all way ahead of me. Lester chose his favorite lightning photo graph and I went to work. Before this month, I had never even considered painting buffalo skulls as even a remote possibility of anything I would do this lifetime...but if it can help with doing anything to support their traditional ceremonies, I'm willing to role up my sleeves and dive into just about anything.

The basecoat had already been done and was dry when I arrived. Photo in hand, I found the most delicate paint brush I could, and took both pure white and violet acrylic paint and set to work following Lester's instruction as to where he wanted the lightning to run. This is what I came up with:


I think it turned out alright for my first ever lightning buffalo skull.

How to Prevent Swine Flu

Dear Loved Ones,

If you haven't kept up with the news, the world has changed in the past four days. Swine flu is being taken as a serious and deadly pandemic threat as I write this. It has spread half way round the globe in less than a week, If you scan the headlines, you'll see that every head of state in the world is concerned and taking preventative measures today, Monday, April 27th.

This is not just a threat in Mexico where it began. The flu is on our doorstep, as cases have been reported in Kansas, Texas and California at least as of this writing. There will NOT be enough vaccine for everyone, and what vaccine does exist will be earmarked for health care professionals, the elderly, and others with special circumstances.

So, what can you do personally in terms of prevention? Well, there are a number of proactive steps you can take starting today!

* First, because this is an airborne virus, locations where many folks congregate will be prime places to pick it up...schools, airports, large office buildings, churches, etc. You may wish to consider whether or not to keep a bandana, silk scarf, or medical mask with you as you go into buildings where the air may be carrying the virus.
* Second, consciously wash your hands more often and a little more vigorously. How long is long enough to wash hands? The Mayo Clinic recommends you wash long enough to sing Row Row Row Your Boat all the way through in your head.
* Third, keep yourself well hydrated and well rested. You would be surprised what a huge help just plain water and good sleep can do to aid the body. Strive for half a gallon to a gallon of water (tea, coffee, juice, broth, etc) per day, and 7-8 hours of sleep.
* Fourth, make sure the humidity in your home is adequate. Dry air negatively affects the sinus membranes and spreads the virus more quickly. Adequate water vapor in the air has a higher chance of capturing the airborne pathogen and having gravity carry it to the floor. Keep your home as clean and sanitary as you can by wiping doorknobs, counter tops and other surfaces with antibacterial cleaners such as Lysol.
* Fifth, I suggest that everyone consider boosting their immune systems immediately!!! I'm not a doctor and can't diagnose or prescribe for anybody. However, I can tell you what I personally do for myself and my own family. To take my immune system to the highest level I can get it with vitamins and supplements I take the following:
- A complete multivitamin with iron and minerals
- Zinc lozenges - I take one 15 mg lozenge every 4 hours until I reach the maximum dose of 100 mg per day.
- 500 mg of vitamin C every 3-4 hours
- L-Lysine, one capsule daily (don't take L-lysine for more than 6 months straight without a break.)
- Olive leaf extract, 1000 mg per day as a preventative (Special note: if flu symptoms are present, I change the dosage to 1500 mg every six hours like clockwork, even if I have to set my alarm and get up in the middle of the night to take a dose.)
- Echinacea - 2 capsules per day or two to four cups of tea per day.

If you have trouble finding olive leaf extra and echinacea where you are living, try contacting the wholesale Ameriherb company in Ames, IA (800-267-6141.) These things may run off the grocery store shelves quickly in the next several days but I suspect you may be able to get it from them and have it shipped to you.

You can track the swine flu spread in real time using google maps. Just go to the main google map page and search for swine flu.

May you stay healthy, happy and strong!

Blessings,



Su

Solar Storm Premonitions

On a regular daily basis, I keep track of all kinds of interesting activity both here on earth, and any thing interesting outside of our little blue marble as well. I monitor geomagnetic phenomena, earthquakes, auroras, asteroids, and all kinds of cool things.

Today, while looking at the spaceweather.com site, I had a sudden psychic "Uh-oh!" moment. Sitting here, sipping coffee, trying to wake up and plan out the day, I saw a graph of the current lack of solar activity and had a strong and sudden flash that nearly made me spill my cup.

It wasn't that the graph told me that we were in a period of high activity...it is the unprecedented lack of solar activity that suddenly woke me up. Currently we're in a time period that's called a solar minimum...translate little if any sunspot activity. That's usually a good thing as solar flares that get released in the general direction of earth can cause everything from beautiful auroras to loss of satellite communication to major power outages.

But right now, the severe lack of sunspots is record setting. The experts at NASA are calling it a "deep solar minimum." That may sound really nice unless you miss the auroras. However, my psychic concern is that when the sunspot activity begins to increase again you will see an over compensation on the sun's part for the lull we are in now.

This is the quiet before the STORMS!

And I do mean storms! A series of solar flares is coming starting between March 12-30th of 2012, some of which will hit Earth, some of which will not. One in particular will bring the beauty of auroras as far south as Austin, TX and will knock out many satellites, severely affect the internet infrastructure, and much of the electrical power grid in Europe and the North and South American regions.

The whole impact of the 2012-2013 storms hit me so hard this morning that my instinct was to immediately, right now, today, consider saving money to purchase a generator so my house could have power...or start installing wind and solar power equipment, or both.

It was a pretty big psychic whomp that came hard, fast and out of the blue. I've never, ever been a person to say the world will end in 2012...not once in all my years of doing this work. However, I AM saying we are in for one hell of a series of electrical storms that may affect anything and everything electronic in many first world countries. Look around...is there ANYTHING you do that doesn't involve electricity every few minutes?

We have 35 months to prepare.

This is one of those bolts out of the blue that I'm going to take seriously.

The year starts with ghosts!

My son David (14) and I were at a friends house here in Iowa just a day or so after New Years. I was having fun chatting with the parents while David was in the basement playing tag in the dark room with the other teens. It was honestly very close to midnight (I know that sounds cliche, but it's true) when one of the other teens opened up a closet door. "This is always kinda a creepy closet...take a picture, maybe something is in there!" she joked.

David had his camera with him and snapped a flash photo in the dark. The result is the color photo at the top of this blog. You be the judge. What do YOU see?

Scorpio and Taurus this week!

Another full moon is coming up this week, and this one often puts people on a particularly powerful emotional edge. For those of you who don't speak astrologese, let me see if I can put it into lay terms.

We are in Scorpio time (about October 22 to November 21st) which can be one of the most emotionally intense signs of the entire zodiac. During the four weeks that the Sun is in Scorpio, passions can and often do peak. Some of the more difficult sides or aspects of these potent feelings might include: jealousy, digging up hidden information, secret investigation, burning sexuality, zealousness, suspiciousness. I've seen all of these areas get turned up or turned on during this time of the year.

The full moon this month is in the sign of Taurus. It is officially full at 12:17 am central standard time on November 13th. Taurus often is thought of as the sign of the stubborn or bull headed individual. Taurus is also about home, family, stability and sensuality. When taken to an extreme, the desire for the delight of the senses can also cross over into addictions.

Full moons act as a catalyst...it's like suddenly adding gasoline to an already burning fire. The day before a full moon, the day of, and the day after, expect things to emotionally intensify in the areas that connect with the combination of the Sun and the Moon's energies.

So, to break it all down, what can you expect? What does this all mean? It's a good news, bad news sort of story.

The bad news first...this Sun in Scorpio, Moon in Taurus combination can have a painful side. Beginning the 12th, peaking the 13th, winding up on the 14th, look for a greater amount of conflict concerning sexuality and suspicion regarding relationships that relate to the home. I would also expect more difficulties with addictive behaviors, jealousy within the family, accusations and snooping for information. Desire for sex and for increased sensual delight will also play an part in all of this.

Can this result in couples dealing with suspicions and jealousy? Yes. I would also expect siblings to show more intense emotions of jealousy toward one another this week. It may also affect employer/employee relationships (worry about job, suspicion, feelings of being watched more closely) because ultimately the paycheck affects home and family.

Would I expect more drunk driving arrests this month? You betcha because of the tendency of Taurus toward addictions. Addictions don't have to be just alcohol (or drugs.) Would I expect more chocolate to be consumed in secrecy this week...yes! Expect any and all leftover Halloween candy or chocolate in the house to be totally gone by Friday.

Could this be a time when any type of ongoing investigation turns up something important...absolutely. It might be because folks dig a little deeper and seek and little harder. It could also be because of someones sudden (and more careless) desire to hide things at the last minute without planning or forethought that result in discovery.

While the above sounds pretty negative, there is an upside to Sun in Scorpio, Moon in Taurus!

The GOOD news...the full moon this month can be a time for the most exquisite combination of sensual and sexual energy, especially when it's combined specifically to create some incredibly memorable intimacy . If you are looking for a day (or days) to put a little more "ooooo!" into your "ooo-la-la!" sort of boudoir fun, focus your plans for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week (and have a good time!)