The Birds and the Bees

This past Spring, while the birds and bees were out buzzing about, I was in a classroom taking an Anatomy and Physiology course. On a particular class, a licensed Acupuncturist, Herbalist and Medical Qigong practitioner came in to talk with us about Chinese Medicine theory, Western Medicine, Acupuncture, Herbology, Nutrition, and very importantly, “the birds and the bees.” In short, she questioned where we stand physiologically and mentally with our own sexuality. Bet you didn’t expect that to be brought up at an Anatomy and Physiology course. Well, neither did I…but it did turn out to be the greatest A&P class I’ve ever taken!

We gathered in a circle to share stories, and watched an enactment between practitioner and client, and seriously played with our wonderment at the birds and the bees. And more specifically, why do we culturally refer to sex as the birds and the bees? 

Birds build nests to prepare for their offspring and bees are busy bumbling to all the pretty flowers in the neighborhood, spreading pollen so that plants can reproduce. The magical work of these animals is definitely overlooked if we only work with their nature when we’re educating about sex. Don’t get me wrong, sex is important for our well being physiologically and mentally when we share a healthy outlook on it. I joke around with my friends about the statistics you hear of young men who think about sex every ten seconds. I don’t joke about it in any way that would be shameful, but I just wonder, what if every ten seconds, boys were literally thinking about birds and bees? If this were our reality, I believe the awareness around colony collapse disorder and rapidly disappearing species would be spread around the world so fast, we would have a cure to save all the birds and the bees in one day.

Juliette de Bairacli levy has said, “where bees can live, man can live. With the bees disappearing, this is a warning. Man cannot exist without the bees.” 

I recently came across a very special woman who likely thinks about the birds and the bees more often than anyone else; and has transformed her vision into magical, healing action. The woman’s name is Sophia Rose. She is the founder of La Abeja Herbs, which is Spanish for The Honeybee. Sophia is an herbalist, a nomad, an inspiration. This is her completely true story of how she came to find love in the honeybees:

La Abeja was borne out of the passionate devotional love I felt and continue to feel for Honeybees.  In 2011 I was completing training and clinical residency at the North American Institute Of Medical Herbalism.  At that time I was in the clinic seeing clients a couple days a week and in the midst of writing my thesis, the Magikal + Medicinal Uses of Solomon’s Plume. My greatest joy that year was gathering and crafting all of the wild medicines for the clinic’s apothecary.  I felt as though I had truly found my calling.   Up until that point in my life, I’d felt that my Soul’s Path had been fairly clear–I’d always known my next step, even if only vaguely.  But as my graduation from NAIMH drew near, I felt totaly uncertain as to how I wanted to proceed, as an herbalist or otherwise.  One evening, I was alone in my bedroom–high up in the Rocky Mountains–four months into the punishingly windy subzero Winter.  I was watching Queen Of the Sun, a movie about colony collapse disorder and the implications of life without bees.  I was suddenly overcome with a mix of grief and joy and fervor.  Tears streamed from my eyes and I clutched at my breast, gasping.  And while I was moved by the film, it wasn’t the reason for my tears.  They were, rather, the result of my realization that I was meant to devote myself, totally, to the stewardship of Honeybees.

Photo Courtesy La Abeja Herbs

La Abeja Herbs is currently stewarding the growth and continuation of life for all in many unique places. I would joyfully travel to any one of these places Sophia Rose calls home to meet her and collaborate with the work of La Abeja Herbs. I hope we cross paths soon, though I can’t say where. Honeybees are so footloose, they can’t be pinned onto a map. Again, these are animals which hold up a radical mirror reflection of our own nature. It seems, most of us have forgotten what the birds and the bees really stand for: growth, regeneration, healing and interdependence with all life.

It’s time we listen closer to the softest and sweetest sounds of those creatures who we surely couldn’t live without. You can learn more about the work of La Abeja Herbs here. And you can find more information about how you can help the bees here.

Photo Courtesy La Abeja Herbs

For all of those things in your life that you delight in, and maybe don’t always remember to share your gratitude for having it in your life, thank the birds and the bees. What world would this be without them? What would we think about every ten seconds without them?

A Courageous Act of Humanity

I have a question. I see it all around me. It shows up in my rear view mirror, and it even questions me while I’m listening to the radio. There is no avoiding it. And there absolutely no way I can pretend as if I already know the answer.

Are you curious? I’m sure curious how you’d answer this question:

are we a part of the cure, or a part of the disease?  

This question may be a rendition of a Coldplay lyric, but I’m serious. I honestly don’t know. Many years ago, my friend and I were hanging out in our town’s downtown park and we came across a mutual friend with a companion we hadn’t met before. As we made introductions, the stranger asked what me and my friend were all about, and institutionally, my friend answered “animals.”  We went on to exchange stories about our affection for animals, and the guy, who still didn’t know jack about us, chimed in saying, “Yeah, I feel so sad to see animals in cages, and how people keep all animals in zoos. They should all be left free-e-e, you know.” 

It was a funny thing, because at that point something like instinct was triggered in my friend as she heatedly asked where his belief really came from. Because we all can agree that nobody likes seeing animals in cages, it doesn’t really mean that we can be brash and say we should set them free-e-e-e. Although rather unfortunately, in this encounter, we couldn’t all be nice, listen patiently and nod our heads in unison. Some surprising things were said. Like, “every time you drive a car, you’re killing an animal. Driving at 60 mph means you’re bound to hit and kill an innocent animal. We should outlaw driving!”  And then someone said, “every time you take a step, you’re likely stomping on and killing an innocent, adorable bug. Does that mean that we should all stop walking?” 

The debate raged on and on. Normally I love a good debate, but the problem with debates is that both sides only end up getting more entrenched in their own narrow perspective. And in this case, my friend and I were left with the memory of watching our friend of a friend march away in his wool sweater, with steam blowing out of his ears. And all I could say was, “if he is so worried about keeping animals in cages, I wonder why he likes wearing wool sweaters.” Oh well.

The more experience I have working with animals and learning from different people who work with animals for a living, the more I come to love this saying I heard a very modest horseman say:

I may not know much about animals, but I don’t know **** about anything else.

And the more that I study the philosophies of different ancient medical traditions, I more I come to feel incredibly humble about the fact that I may not know much about complementary medicine, but I don’t know anything about anything else.

It seems that so many people want to be an expert in their field. Only they can’t decide what field to tap roots into, so they can grow to be an expert. It seems that so many people grow old without growing wiser. And it seems to me that there is a lot of intelligence out there, but not as much common sense. I never cease to be amazed. Just when I begin to think I know what is really going on…

I’m quite content to not know what I’m talking about. I’m really fine to let life’s processes remain in the feminine realm of intuition and deep transformation. Our senses are much more limited than other animals, like dogs’ whose sense of smell is ten thousand times more acute. Certain things are beyond our limitations of knowing or sensing. And that’s great news, really! None of us should feel responsible for being a master of the universe. And truly, all of the teachers I met who I would certainly call masters, don’t ever proclaim themselves to be. So what does that say?

If we’re a part of the cure, then we must not know it, but sense it like infrasonic rumbles beneath an elephant’s sensitive feet. If we’re a part of the disease, then we’re likely too busy causing harm to notice.

The Persian mystic, Rumi, wrote that, out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right-doing there is a field. I’ll meet you there.

When we can get to this field, which is surely a place within us, I believe what Rumi meant is that we’ll find true connection and pure belonging. This is the place where animals live when they are free to take care of themselves and connect to nature. There is no doubt, although remember, I don’t know ****.

I think this is important to talk about, because if we have a feeling of where we belong, then we must be with our tribe. I am always seeking connection to nature and place, but a place feels like home when my tribe inhabits it. I can’t explain how it works, but I think the mystics do a pretty good job. I have faith in knowing, and I have faith in cultural traditions. But I feel like there is a disease running rampant in the many communities where the belief that the human mind has the unique ability out of all species to explain everything, is allowed to cement its’ tent stakes. And I do consider one of my most beloved writers, Elizabeth Gilbert, to be a true mystic when she says,

    There’s a reason we refer to “leaps of faith” – because the decision to consent to any notion of divinity is a mighty jump from the rational over to the unknowable, and I don’t care how diligently scholars of every religion will try to sit you down with their stacks of books and prove to you through scripture that their faith is indeed rational; it isn’t. If faith were rational, it wouldn’t be – by definition – faith.

    Faith is belief in what you cannot see or prove or touch. Faith is walking face-first and full-speed into the dark. If we truly knew all the answers in advance as to the meaning of life and the nature of God and the destiny of our souls, our belief would not be a leap of faith and it would not be a courageous act of humanity; it would just be… a prudent insurance policy.

Photo Courtesy La Abeja Herbs

The lesson here is don’t hesitate to reassure yourself that all is ok; you don’t need to know everything. You have just enough life in you to find the field where you belong and to delight in watching every stunning blade of grass grow! I mean this as a metaphor, although you and I both know that there is no good fun like watching grass grow. Trust me.

When you cross that threshold, you’ll see very clearly what side you’re a part of. Whether you live in the dark and gaze at the sun, or you live in the light and gaze at the moon, you are living on the great divide. And what you need is not a prudent insurance policy, but a faith in your own courageous act of humanity.