Pulsatilla patens – on herbs for stress and anxiety

Teachings from Living Through the Darkness

Pulsatilla patens is still in my vehicle console, at all times, was I dependent upon her at one time in my life? Maybe I was, and that is because of the immense assistance this sweet little flower of the high mountains offered to my navigating some really dark times in my life. I have touched on these spaces of trauma (a word I don’t use lightly) in blogs and on video and why I know that navigating through those times, and experiences, no matter how far back they go, is completely essential for survival. 

The darkness is illuminated by your light, and the only way that can happen, is by YOU taking your glorious, divine given torch and shining it through those spaces that are gnarled like deep tree roots. Pulsatilla materia medica (the written use of this plant and all her facets) goes beyond the physical almost completely, this herb is truly one of the best herbs for stress and anxiety related to deep shadows of this life you are living now. 

In these modern days, the cookie cutter design of human, is to be like a machine.  Never quitting, non-stop production, pushing yourself until you break down is the status quo.  Maybe it is a minor break but possibly after decades of going on in this way, it isn’t.  As a farm gal, breakdowns generally mean setbacks of days, weeks, even months for more severe situations with the machinery. It is very much like this human experience and emotional breaks after decades of hard wear and tear can completely derail a person’s life, or end it. 

So why do we push piles of shadow further into our bodies?  Is it because of the way we are expected to continue?  Push through no matter the consequences, feed the giant machine that has become our society, and this my loves only bogs you down further, it cements these traumas and dark experiences right into your cells, and this, if you have been following my more recent articles on vibrational healing, will lead to much unrest and degenerative dis-ease.

These thoughts truly are heavy ones, there is no doubt, and they are essential to address, for the sake of your health, unless of course, you are looking to break down in this way. I have seen over and over again, that the more a person pushes these experiences, and chronic triggers down into the shadows of their existence, the more and more the creative forces of the universe demand they address them. 

Whether that be by repeating the conflict over and over again, or by the degenerative breaking down of the physical body. These shadow aspects must be released to eliminate this threat of breaking, and repeating the same, damaging human experiences over and over again, the darkness must have light shown upon it. The more you choose to do so, and I do strongly suggest working with a practitioner through these times, but the more you shine your divine being into the dark spaces of your psyche and body, the more the resonance of that healing will filter out into the greater consciousness. It heals more than just you, and the shift away from this degrading societal structure will, in time fade away.  

Pulsatilla patens is here to help you face this darkness, let go and ground your body back into itself as you move through the stress, heavy heart, and anxiety that comes along with doing this work. 

Inspirational Darkness

Though the work never seems to stop, trust me when I say this, I can see how the darkness humans on this planet are currently going through as one, is immense, and that immensity creates space for an inspirational component of it all. There is a big chance, right now to shift your perception, your action and your experience of this life. And this is where it gets exciting, where diving deep into the darkness becomes an adventure of a lifetime. 

The chance to raise your children with awareness of self, to be aware of how your traumas have affected the way you interact with them will not only continue your healing, but that of your ancestors, and their experience as they grow. This in itself will create dramatic waves of change in the way society moves, and how our children choose to play the human game of life. 

Standing up for what their body feels is right is MORE than just going along with a flow that isn’t their own, learning to speak from their heart, and the truth of their divinity, and as a healed human being, this only creates a better experience for the communities they touch. The power and potency that lives in these acts of mothering, and fathering, is beyond comprehension, it is paradigm shifting at the biggest level. And all of this, from a little bit of demons you faced within yourself, that to me, is greatly inspiring.

These conditions of the human body and spirit, are nothing but that, CONDITIONS. THese are meant to be worked out and brought up through the body, emotions are meant to be experienced, acknowledged and then released, this is how you work through them. Pushing them down and sedating with chemicals only infuses them more deeply, and it is why I love working with plants, especially pulsatilla, a plant that helps you to sort out and decipher the root, reason, and cause of the trigger and emotion that sits before you. This herb is a powerful tool that helps to construct a place of safety within yourself to move deeper into the unrest. 

Living THROUGH Your Darkness

Pulsatilla – intoxicating the darkness.

The light at the end of your tunnel isn’t always the most brilliant.  This, the harsh reality we all have to face.   Saying it feels far away, is most likely, an understatement.  Like the tunnel that you walk within is all encompassing.  With only a glimmer of brilliance to focus on pushing towards.  This can be a very difficult place to be at.  Finding the capacity in your darkness to move forward is something you must pull deeply for.   Diving into the shadow further to grasp your courage.  This reality however painful it may be to realize, is a major part of the process.  As you begin to shift your consciousness from the engulfing darkness to the courage.  You have taken one step closer.  Soon, focusing on that brilliant speck of light is where the subtle shift beings to happen.

Once this decision is made to push forward.  The rest starts falls into place.  Within weeks of practice, I realized the darkness wasn’t my focus any longer.  I had started the process of RE-focusing.  The mantra became the light.   The realizing of my darkness began the process of living with it.  The real shift was happening before I consciously realized.  With each movement towards that speck of light.  I noticed it getting bigger.

Pulsatilla : intoxicating the darkness…

While I was in my deepest state of healing in my own darkness, I started to slowly come to grips with the fact that light cannot exist without dark.  While drudging through the emptiness allowing this light statement to exist was difficult. but I did start to see how it fit into this process.  After I made the decision to move through the shadows, my path re-aligned itself, my focus immediately shifted to what I knew had been calling me my entire life, the plants and how they heal the human body on all levels, nourishing our home, the earth, and helping to heal other humans through natural blessings of the forest, prairie’s, and wetlands.  This dive reignited my life, reassuring me that the light needed the shadow to exist, and pulsatilla patens brought me fully into that space. 

Pulsatilla has an incredible way of gently, yet forcefully bringing a person experiencing life altering anxiety back into their body. There were days during that dark time of mine, when I started to sift through all the layers of trauma, that going to the store became terrifying. For a while I simply did not go, thank goodness for my family, and friends, but as the healing continued, and I felt I could face other people again, pulsatilla patens would bring me the extra layer of strength that I needed to get there for my nourishment, and feel held within my body. At that time, this plant was in my pocket, if I had a random anxiety attack in the store, she quickly calmed my heart rate, and centered my breath. It feels so long ago now that this was my daily experience, she has moved from my pocket, to my purse to just my vehicle, maybe now I could even just leave pulsatilla at home…

The fuzzy warmth of Pulsatilla is apparent in the materia medica of this high mountain flower, back in the days of herbal compounding pharmacies, pulsatilla was used for women in hysterical states (thank goodness our symptoms of the moon and PMS are not seen as this any more, it landed lots of women in the asylums…) but it is the energy this herb for stress and anxiety holds deeply. 

An anemone plant, this flower grows directly out of the snow in the break of spring up above 9,000 feet elevation, I genuinely have not seen this wild herb grow any lower than that.  Thriving up to the tree line and above here in the Rockies there is a decor and a promise that is offered in the arrival of pulsatilla patens, the 1st blossom of that Alpine country.  What strength that shows to be living up there, right? AND this strength also comes with a lovely, and sweet delicacy.  

Pulsatilla is whimsical and nods to the winds in a purple glow.  Just observing this flower in her natural environment leads me to understand her medicine that much better, bowing to the winds that take us all, through life, and releasing the emotions tied within those experiences. Cementing into the strength instead of the unrest of what this modern life brings in it’s challenges… I love this herb for stress and anxiety because she nourishes the root of the issue, experiencing the emotion to then release it through a bow of honor. 

Learning From Plant Whispers…

Each season, this is the first plant that I work with coming out of the deep slumber of winter, the bloom comes in a dream, and I know that it is time to head up to the higher meadows and see what is going on. I will always be greeted by this lovely, purple flower. There is a heavy disclaimer of this powerful herb, pulsatilla, as I mentioned above, this is an anemone family plant, a butter cup, a crocus. SO, generally this herb is offered in homeopathic form, and herbalists who are well versed in medicine making (hi, nice to see you here ;)) will offer it, to clients. 

In too high of a dose, pulsatilla can be harmful to the physical body, another sign of the medicine that the pulsatilla materia medica has to offer, don’t cement these emotions in too deeply as she is not needed in high doses at all. When you work with the tincture of pulsatilla, first of all, you MUST know the person who is serving it to you, and know that they are confident in making the tincture correctly, mine is a heavily diluted tincture, ratio of plant to menstruum is wide, and plenty strong enough to work wonders.

I also recommend (strongly and diligently, because that is all the FDA will allow me) to work with this powerful herb for stress and anxiety in DROP DOSES. Taking 4-6 drops per use, and no more than 6 times per day, this is all on the label and when you place an order from this apothecary, it will come in writing in the box with your tincture too. The 4oz bottle is easily an 18 (eighteen) month supply of this wonderful, subtle herb.

Pulsatilla is there for you to learn the lessons of your emotions.  She shows you the darkness, nods to it with respect & gives you the delicate, yet forceful strength to continue navigating through the experience without fear. Then to learn to let go of anxieties & attachments, so that you can make room for YOUR light.  Shifting from being engulfed by your shadows, to allowing the brilliance of light to flow through you. 

Pulsatilla holds the ability for your mind to shift in a moment, letting things go to the winds as you bow in respect and gratitude towards what they have taught you.  Are you beginning to piece together the light bringer that this Pulsatilla is?  NAture truly holds your healing in all capacities, physical and spiritual, taking deep lessons on how you can better be in your human experience, and how through nature, you can be supported effortlessly through your dark shadow times. I know that each of the plants are here to serve, just as each of us are here to serve the land, by working with the wild plants in this way, the bow of honor comes in reverence, and reciprocity to the experience that is held on this great earth. 

Intoxicate your Dreams – Pulsatilla

Vibrational Healing and Medicine

I will leave you with these last couple of thoughts, if someone is offering a magic pill that will fix all of your problems, with anything at all, use your discernment, your critical thinking, because this concept is a fallacy of the instant gratification that has come from living in modern life. Turn from these things, find what is real, find it inside of your being to take your health and healing into your own hands, because in the end, that is what is going to make the path clear, vibrant and whole. Your energetic body is yours to tend to, and I see you, and I know that you can do this. 

Stay tuned for January of 2025, I’ll be opening my books again for sessions. I can’t wait to take you through your healing journey physically, and vibrationally. 

If you haven’t already… check out my most recent series of 4 articles devoted to Vibrational Healing, Energy Medicine and how I am going to be working with YOU to heal your body, mind and spirit FULLY come the new calendar year…

How does Vibrational Healing & Medicine work?

Blessings to you my loves,