Forsythia

I take forever to make an essence.
I learned early on that my own process of capturing essences is ✨Very✨ drawn out. I tend to eye a plant for a year or two to really get a feel for them and their little community. I think species have overarching ‘themes’ that get wildly specific as you work with individual plants.
For instance, the Yarrow growing under the Elder in the fence row felt really different from the one on the roadside, though both spoke strongly of protection. The SelfHeal under the Oak’s strong voice was drastically different from the playful tone of the one in the front yard surrounded by Dandelion and Plantain.

Forsythia is a harbinger of Spring, here in the Dawnland, we know that Spring is finally going to give it a real go when the absolutely frenetic yellow blossoms start to appear. My eyes can’t open wide enough to swallow the wild color they’ve been missing for months.
Forsythia is NOTICEABLE. It is the crowing of a rooster at dawn, waking up the entire yard because the night has given way to the light of day. Forsythia is the first cry of the Watcher letting those hidden beneath ground know that the danger has passed and it’s time to reemerge. It coaxes what is tucked away for safe keeping out into the open, it sings to us when we feel betrayed by too many false Springs.
Living on reticent land, the Forsythia I know, who offered their essence this year, is the overcoming of hesitation. The shy Rooster, nervous about its own song. The first of its people to poke their head above ground and see that the hungry teeth outside have gone. I could see its hesitancy {one of the last to truly bloom in our area}, its careful exhale of flowers, and then the sudden roar to life.
The old bush is surrounded by Oaks, Maples, Lilacs, Solomon’s Seal, Irises, Roses, Violets, Peonies- an entire community of peoples who seemed to gently urge its progress. “We can’t go until you give the all-clear. Take heart.”

“You can come out now; I feel your anxiety, your resistance, your hesitancy, your doubt~ for it is my own. The danger is real, but so is your Brilliant Being.”

FORSYTHIA ESSENCE: Waiting for the other boot to drop; HESITATION; the smallest bit of bravery, the tiniest step; HESITANT HEALING; proof the frost has passed; hard time trusting newness, especially new beginnings; hard time trusting newly healed bones; the rawness of leaving the cocoon; feeling vulnerable after hatching; the first one of the group who sticks their head up out of the den.