Root Digger

This past weekend was the final class of my first level herbal apprenticeship at The Boston School of Herbal Studies. And as you can tell.....we became root diggers! Now as a shamanic practitioner, I watch for the messages within all processes. Especially harvesting herbs. Is the process easy? Is it difficult? Did you feel like giving up? Was it joyous and full of song? Did it start raining on your head? Everything that happens is a message from spirit. So here I was, on a gorgeous fall day, with a shovel in my hand standing in front of a row of elecampane plants at least 6 feet tall. I was ready. I had just spent the past week harvesting japanese knotweed at home on Nantucket. I knew how hard this process could be. So I took a deep breath, and plunged the shovel into the dirt. I did what I was supposed to. I was at least a foot away from the stem. I worked my way around in a complete circle wiggling the shovel back and forth to loosen the dirt. I plunged my hands into the earth to feel where the roots were growing. I thought I had it. I began to pull and nothing budged. I plunged the shovel back in, working my way around the base of the plant repeating the entire process....a second time....a third time.....a fourth time.....and on and on. I was sweating, covered in dirt, scratched all over and still nothing was moving. A class mate of mine was putting her effort in as well. We had all three teachers come over at different points marveling at how much effort this was taking. Pictures were taken, additional tools were offered, and moral support bestowed. I moved into the zone..... me, the earth, the plant, the sunshine, the sweat and the process. Nothing but focus upon what needed to be done. I could hear a voice in my head saying, "Just keep going.....you know what to do. Just keep going.....you know what to do." It took persistence, patience, faith, strength, focus, confidence, and belief in myself. When the root finally released itself from its earthy embrace, I turned to hear my class mate's and teacher's verbal accolades. I'm not good at receiving praise. It's something that I constantly have to work on. However, at this moment, I said my obligatory "thank you," and simply walked around the corner to where the rest of the class was chopping up the other roots that had been gathered. Another teacher took one look at me with my hands black with dirt and my hair falling out of my pony tail all around my face and said, " Wow! Goddess! My guess is you don't go easy on yourself."  I stood there and thought, "No. I guess I don't." Sometimes this is an amazing feature. Sometimes this is not. But it is who I am. And on this day, I was reminded of the effort it takes to do what needs to be done in one's life. I am an herbalist on Nantucket Island who specializes in helping people with Lyme Disease. I opened my practice in January, left a second job in order to dedicate more time to developing it, am in the process of doing the Nantucket shuffle as far as offices go, and crossing my fingers every day while asking my helping spirits for guidance. Being an herbalist is joyous and unbelievably challenging. You can't just say "I love herbalism" and hope clients simply drop out of the sky. You have to market, study, defend your right to be who you are, worry that the FDA is going to come calling, and figure out how to provide for yourself while supporting your clients as they go through the tremendous ups and downs of their own processes, while staying connected to the joy of why you got involved with herbalism in the first place. Not easy people....not easy at all. So as I stood there with my teacher's words echoing in my ears and thought back to what I just went through, I knew that the spirit of the elecampane plant gave me the lesson I needed at that moment. I could here elecampane saying, "You will have to dig deep now, you will have to work hard, sacrifice, hurt, heal, stay focused, use your knowledge, and not give up. And.....you will have those who will help, guide, and cheer you on."