Hello First name / herb angel,
Today is a day to honor the mothers in your life. I'm talkin mothers of all genders-- trans, cis, nonbinary, & gnc. I'm talkin all the mamas who give care & are connected not only by birth or biology, but also chosen, self identified, & community elevated. I'm also talkin our home, planet Earth.
I'm keepin' today brief but wanted to share some mama nuggets with you! This Hoodrat to Headwrap podcast episode from a few years ago is one of my favorites. I really appreciated the conversations around queering motherhood & expanding the binary of who all it includes as well as honoring possible triggers & grief around Mother's day.
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Sometimes Mother's day is a raw & tender one, & I encourage you to honor that. Whatever today means to you & brings up for you, you deserve your honesty & love.
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Maybe today is a day to practice re-mothering yourself & checking in with what your inner child may need.
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Here are some herbs that give me Big Muva Energy:
Motherwort: It's both in the name & the effect. This cardiac tonic always feels like an extra nurturing, calming hug of the heart. Like a weighted blanket for my heart & nervous system. That “everything will be ok” that we so often need to hear in our youth (& adulthood honestly).
Fennugreek: A tea of this seed is reminiscent of maple syrup & transports me to a gentle bosom of care & tenderness. Fennugreek generously offers itself as lactation aid for those who are nourishing & nursing little ones in this life. Among many health benefits offered, one dimension of this potent seed is that of solace for me.
Red Raspberry Leaf: The leaves of those tart, sweet, juicy, summer berries pack a nutritional punch. Red Raspberry Leaf is often recommended to pregnant people as a sort of herbal prenatal & uterine tonic, preparing them to grow & bring life into the world. Whether it be babies or creative projects, we need that nourishment & toning to create, stretch, inspire, & birth life!
Rosemary: Gives me a bit of fiery, protective grandmothering, the og mother, energy. I love seeing rosemary grow in hedges & imagine it creating a hedge about my heart when I bathe in, sip, & cook with it.
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Whoever you're uplifting today (grandmas, aunties, mamas, your inner mother, incarcerated moms, mother earth, older siblings & cousins who filled in, ballroom mothers, single mothers, &/or moms to be), here are a few ideas to honor them:
Write a sincere letter of gratitude
Bail Black mama's out of jail
Tend to a garden w/ mom
Send flowers
Prepare a meal together
Plant a rose bush in your mother's name
Clean up the environment that mothers you
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“Lutra felina, the marine otter, lives on the rockiest shoreline with the roughest of waves. She keeps secrets… She has not let you measure her children. I think she is smart, this cat of the ocean. The guidebooks say she is secretive, but I wonder if you are just scared to go where she lives, where the rocks are so sharp and the waves beat the shoreline… Sometimes she floats on her back, makes herself into a raft for her babies… She lives in a hard place & in between rocks. She puts her back to the future & her face to her children. When you live in a hard place, precious cargo on your chest. When you say with your whiskers & claws ”do not go there," there should be some respect.
-Excerpt from Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals by Alexis Pauline Gumbs
