Sufi, Sufism, Islam, healing, Rumi, plant spirit shamanism, herbs, herbalism, Prophet, Prophecy, James Frazer, The Golden Bough, shamanism
According to Sufi legend, the Sibyl Sulaymã n was the first to learn the healing properties of flowers and herbs while he was at prayer one day, and a flower sprang up and greeted him. Sulaymã n reciprocal the tribute and asked the flower what it wanted. It replied that it was a healer. Sulaymã n noted this and, seeing his significance, other flowers grew around him and told him their healing secrets too, until he knew the cure for all diseases.
Flowers heal, it is spoken, because they hold dhat. This is the spirit of Daemon and the essence of every flower that ever was, is, or can be. Shamans say the same: that every plant is all plants, so that lavender is not just a lavender, but all lavenders; and since all lavenders are not just a quantum of their species, but part of the entire plant state, they are not just one flower either, but carry the potency and spirit of all plants.
This shamanic concept also illustrates the magical “ Law of Similarity” referred to by Sir James Frazer in his book The Golden Bough, which states that “ like attracts like. ” And so, the repercussion of a plant is not just limited to its species; if it looks like higher plant of a different species, it will act in a allied way, and if it looks like a human body part or organ, that is what it will heal.
Other shamanic concepts in the story of Sulaymã n are that plants which grow locally will cure local diseases, and they will tell you what ailments they are used for if you ask them immediately. The shamanic practice for doing so is called journeying. It is a form of active meditation, location you take your attention into your body and concede it to leak itself as a form of conscious energy or spirit. You can then ask which herbs or plants it most needs in array to heal itself, and how these should be used— as a tea, the ingredient for an herbal bath, or an aromatherapy oil to be used in a burner, for excuse.
Having identified the herb, you can then look for it in nature or find it at a herbalist’ s shop and converge a quota for yourself.
Spend a little time with it when you do, speculation it to be a real spiritual being and incoming into dialog with it so you can explore its medicinal qualities. You might then whim to look up this plant in an herbal encyclopaedia to petulant - check the information you have proverbial with the guidance provided by others who also know this plant. You may be surprised at how accurate you are. But, then again, why should this be so surprising? At some time in the distant preceding, before there were “ scientists” and “ medical procedures, ” the spirit of the plant must have communicated its scheme to someone in layout to be included in an encyclopaedia at all.
Two very good plants to make active with, if you intention to restore your body and build your strength, are echinacea and uñ a de gato ( cat’ s claw ), both of which are powerful immune system healers. The immune system is what gives the body energy and helps it fight off and prevent disease. These plants should so be considered in any regime to empower the body.
In aromatherapy, oil of amber, extracted from the resin of the die over tree Picea succinfera, is also recommended as a balancer of the body’ s energies, and for this instigation it is known to Sufis as the King of Scents. A drop of amber salutary to the investigation eye will be absorbed by the body and stimulate the pineal gland, which activates and harmonizes many of the body’ s functions and leads to increased well - being.
Harmonizing the Emotional Self
The heart sees the Giver of the secret – Rumi
Balanced emotions allow our souls to flower. When we are quiet and stormless, we can moderate the “ heat” of our passions to achieve emotional equilibrium. We are then able to avoid the active traumas that cause us pain and distract us from the path, so that life’ s ups and downs have less impact on us.
There are particular herbs that help with this. The shamans of the Amazon use a plant called chiric sanango, for example. As well as its physical effects of warming up the body and bringing comfort from the cold, it offers more psychological and emotional healing, also to do with hot and cold, in that it “ warms up” a cold heart and “ cools” a heart that is inflamed with jealousy or rage. In other words, it helps people yawning their hearts to love so they discover a more sensitive and compassionate part of themselves.
Chiric sanango can sometimes be found in scientific herbal shops or on the Internet, but blunder that, mint can be used instead, as it is also a balancer of the body’ s physical and emotional heat and promotes the flow of love. For these reasons it is associated with the planet Venus, which was named after the Roman goddess of love.
A good plant to combine with mint is lemon balm, which is famous in Arabian herbal magic for creating feelings of love and wholeness. The chronicler Pliny remarked that its powers of healing were so great that, rubbed on a tickler that had inflicted a slash, it would staunch the flow of blood in an injured person without even the need for physical contact. Recent research at Northumbria University in the UK has also proven its beneficial effects in increasing feelings of slow and well - being. It is a great relaxant and a perfect aid to exercises in meditation and pardon.
To make a tea of these herbs, smartly boil the fresh ingredients ( the amounts you use can be much to your own taste, but three heaped teaspoons is about right ) in a pint or so of water for a few minutes and then simmer for a further twenty, allowing the water to reduce. Add honey if you whim, then strain and drink when shivery.
For a alloy that will last a little longer, add the fresh ingredients to alcohol ( rum or vodka is recommended ), with honey if you intention, and drink three to five teaspoonfuls a day, morning, noon, and night. These methods of preparation can also be used for the other plants in this section.
Frankincense aromatherapy oil can also be used as an aid to relaxation and for settling the emotions. It is a powerful cleanser of the energies and enhances intuition, awareness, bond, and compassion. It was, of course, one of the gifts brought by the wise men to the infant Jesus, and it is still used today in religious ceremonies to create feelings of love and harmony among congregation members.
Spare means of harmonizing the emotions is the Sufi practice of toning. The long vowel sound a, as in the word father, will travel from the throat to the heart, post its vibrations can be felt opening our loving consciousness and stimulating our powers of compassion. An alternative, better known today, is the use of the sacred sound om, for the same design: to bring motionless and connection to others and to the divine within and without ourselves.
Harmonizing the Mental Self
Intellect deliberates, Intellect reflects
And meanwhile Love evaporates into the stratosphere - Rumi
Plants that work on the mind to enhance our powers of skilful rationalizing are more concerned with the development of nonrational and intuitive information than in the improvement of intellectual reasoning, since our thinking and analytic faculties are recurrently what tenacity us back in our spiritual development. As Rumi tells us, “ no thing happens until you discontinue contriving with your mind. ”
Intellectual wisdom is specific of the “ trained” or stiff mind, which has been taught to react itself and act in a certain simple-minded way. As the word “ prowess” implies, there is repeatedly also a sense of unwholesome pride or arrogance associated with it, which is a game in itself. To access the greater domains of real virtuoso within us, meanwhile, new ways of reflection are necessary, intact by expectations or our wanting to be an intellectual, to try ourselves, or to achieve. In gospel, we don’ t need to demonstrate form, and there is cipher we must achieve.
Plants that can free us from the shackles of intellectual inferring and help develop our powers of perceptivity, clarity, and truth count bracken, jasmine, marigold, mugwort, and poplar. These plants bring the legacy of lucid dreaming, a special state of consciousness situation we become aware of our dreaming selves and can direct our dreams, which may also be prophetic in nature.
The boundary between sleeping and wakefulness becomes sap, and our dreams are more colourful, richer, and potent than before.
Poplar leaves and buds were a key ingredient in the “ flying ointments” of European witches, who used it for astral projection. It ( or a combination of poplar and the other plants large-scale ) can also be used to make a “ dreaming pillow, ” which will help you to explore new levels of consciousness.
To make one of these, take small handfuls of mugwort and poplar, or some of the other herbs mentioned leading, and blend them together. Sprinkle the alloy with neroli, orange, or patchouli oils, and bind it together. Then place it in a structure purse and put it unbefitting your pillow. It is spoken that an intention for dreams based on love is best made on a waxing moon, and dreams about health and well - being are best on a waning moon. Keep a dream logbook next to your bed, and as straightaway as you wake up, note down your dreams and reflections so these messages of your soul are not lost.
Exceeding means of developing powers of skilful logic is to work with plants like valerian and vervain that have mental - spiritual properties for acuity of mind and that help us to overcome negativity and inertia.
Valerian has been recorded from the sixteenth century as an aid to a undisturbed mind and, in the two world wars, was used to combat anxiety and depression. It is still used for these purposes. It also brings relief from panic attacks and spurt headaches, which generally transpire from an hanging problem or stress of some loving, sometimes to do with love or the lack of it that we pioneer in our lives. By relaxing the mind, the mind is energetic to work on the real problem, aided by the secure itself.
One way of taking valerian ( which will also aid subaqueous and hushed sleep ) is by adding match parts to passionflower leaves and gambade flowers and canopy them with vodka and honey for a few weeks, after which a few teaspoons of the liqueur are sympathetic at obscurity.
Vervain, meanwhile, was well known to the Druids, who used it to clinch against “ evil spirits” ( right away, we understanding say “ inner issues” or “ worries” ). It will help with anxiety, paranoia, insomnia, and depression. Once again, by relaxing the erudite mind, the unconscious is allowed to work on, and demise, our more far - low problems and concerns.
Bounteous station that protects and eases the mind is garlic. Nicholas Culpepper great these qualities and wrote of it as a “ cure - all. ” It has long been associated with magical uses, protection from witches, vampires, and evil spells, and Roman soldiers ate it to give themselves courage and overcome their fears before aim. There is also a tradition of placing garlic unbefitting the pillows of children to certify them while they sleep and palliate them from nightmares.
One way to use this lodge is to make garlic honey by adding two cloves of gaping garlic to a little honey and crushing them in a mortar, then adding fresh tablespoon of honey to the combine. This can be drunk in hot water or tidily eaten, two teaspoons at a time, morning, noon, and night.
An aromatherapy oil that is good for peace of mind and the advancement of spiritual consciousness is sandalwood, which is especially recommended by Sufis “ whenever bent on meditation and spiritual practices are being undertaken, seeing it is quieting to all of the egotisms of the body, especially those near to sexual energies, ” 11 which can repeatedly play on the mind.
In future, there is a toning practice, too, which helps to develop our prevailing mental capacities. This is the use of the vowel energetic i ( as in regime ), which causes healing vibrations at the inquisition eye, inventive the pineal gland, strengthening the powers of aha, and relaxing the occupancy of the fibrous mind.
Harmonizing the Spiritual Self
In the body of the world, they say there is a soul
And you are that – Rumi
Perhaps the outstanding base allies we have for soothing the soul and bringing good fortune and harmony are marigold flowers. Aemilius Macer, as long ago as the thirteenth century, wrote that merely gazing at marigolds will allure “ base humours out of the point, ” “ benefit the heart, ” and make “ the noticing lustrous and clean. ”
Shamans grow marigolds near the front door of their houses to absorb negativity from people who pass by. They say that the flowers turn black when this happens, but go back to their average blazing crimson when this negative energy is dispersed through their roots to the earth. Marigold petals are also scattered beneath the bed, locus they will warrant reposeful sleep and enrich the soul, aiding astral travel, during which we may district with the infinite and learn its loving and healing secrets. They can also be extended to bath water to bring bland to body and soul.
Likewise practice you might try is to take a bucket of water containing tortured marigold flowers and thoroughly wash the floors of your meditation room, to create a peaceful altar for your soul. You can also drink marigold tea, or eat the petals fresh in salads, to enhance your spiritual powers.
Myrrh is perhaps the most potent reminiscent oil to help with spiritual expansion. It is mentioned in the Qur’ an for its healing properties and was one of the oils commended by Holy spirit to Moses. According to Shaykh Hakim, “ in ancient times it was used to tote to people a certain internal esoteric teaching, to purify their spiritual environment so that the teachings would have a proper begrime in which to be planted, ” and it is still used today as one of the most sacred anointing oils.
All aromatherapy oils are simple to use, and myrrh is no different. It can be massaged into the skin, used in a burner, rubbed onto bed sheets for blessings while you sleep, or a few drops can be and to your bath. It is also available in incense form as an aid to meditation.
The vowel sound u ( as in you ) can also be used during these meditations. This sound, according to Shaykh Hakim, is “ Station our works meets and intermingles with the divine permission, the idhn, ” and it will unblock ( and unlock ) the soul through its vibrations, allowing you to connect with the greater soul of the world.
Enhancing Mystical Powers
The real truth of existence is sealed,
Until after many twists and turns of the road – Rumi
When our bodies, emotions, minds, and spirits are harmonious in themselves and in balance with one aggrandized, we are better able to find our way to the centre— to relive ourselves again and compound with the Betrothed. And again, there are practices to help with this.
According to the twelfth - century supernatural Abdul - Qadir, who founded the Qadiri Sufi regularity, the redness is the most magical, potent, and soul - filled of all, and “ all dervishes use the chestnut ( ward ) as an figure and symbol of the rhyming word wird ( ‘ concentration - exercises’ ). ”
The rose— the Lusty of Scents— represents divinity itself. Tradition states that, at the basis of the world, Almighty created the soul of Prophecy, and that this soul gave birth to the 124, 000 Prophets who have since walked the earth. So brightly did the soul of Prophecy shine that it began to perspire, and from the waters of these holy droplets grew the vermilion.
Every cardinal, inasmuch as, is infused with divine power and carries the essence of the Prophets themselves. It is for this cause that the rubicund is considered the greatest ally for mystical experience, the most skilful healer, and the most accomplished teacher of the arts of love ( which may be why we still give roses to our lovers today ).
Ruddy water can be used throughout your soul’ s journey to help you balance any aspect of body, mind, emotions, or spirit, but it is of particular use in chunk us attain the mystical state, spot the sheets are thrown back to welcome our Boyfriend.
To make salmon water, punch a few ounces of pink petals and place them in a bowl of spring or lavish water to soak for at pioneer a day and a night, then decant the liquid into a glass container. This elixir can be used forthwith on the skin, in cleansing water, or drunk; ingestion will absorb the blessing ( baraka ) of the Prophets themselves, and the knowledge of Power. Fresh cherry petals can also be eaten, used as an ingredient in the dreaming pillows mentioned earlier, or sprinkled onto bed sheets so you sleep among the gods.
