Winter Lessons from These Plants
As I get my hour walk in this morning I can’t help but reflect on these plants I use in my truffles. I was thinking about how well Mandrake, Belladonna and Datura grow…
What to Expect (Original Version)
What to expect when you eat one of our Nightshade Truffles. I recommend starting by slowly and thoughtfully eating just half of a truffle. Within fifteen minutes…
Making Choices
Greeting the day with my early morning walk, today in a cool sprinkle. Absolutely invigorating. I get in 4 to 5 miles a day and I like to get out there by 6:30 am. I feel it’s important for me to begin each day making this healthy choice. Watching the sky and the earth wake up with me each morning lends to a much more expansive outlook and that bigger view helps me stay more objective as I continue to make my choices throughout the day…
Rethinking Age
The idea that people in their fifties and sixties are ‘old’ I am finally realizing must be the construct of younger people. I’m going to turn 56 the day after Christmas and I do not feel old at all. I may not feel old, but I do appreciate the wisdom that is inherent with being on the earth this many years.
The Singing of The Nightshades
I often mention the importance of trying to quiet our minds as much as possible during that first hour & how if we dont give that quiet space to the truffle & are busy focusing on other things we can miss much if not all of the experience because we are so distracted. Given the nature of my running Emporium Black I end up consuming truffles pretty much daily as I have to constantly taste them with every new batch I make. I also sample half truffles daily after they are dipped to monitor (read more..
The First Hour
There is a fear of letting go of control that happens to some people when working with these kinds of plant medicines. I always recommend that people start with just half of a truffle or even a bite and to wait five to ten minutes to see if they want the rest. Though the feeling from the plants is actually very calming and relaxing, some people feel that initial expansion happen and want to regain control of that sensation…and that’s okay,
~Wild Swan ~ Taking Flight ~Why be the feather when you can be the swan~
The other day I saw a wild swan for the first time since I moved back to the midwest. It was a swan couple and I had forgotten just how large and magnificent they get. The profoundness of seeing them at that moment was not lost on me for just moments before I had just received an amazing insight after an over twenty-year spiritual study of mine came full circle and revealed itself in such simplified clarity that it was like a complete revelation to me and all of my work.
A Guide to Enjoying Chocolate Nightshade Truffles
Regardless of your experience ingesting various substances, you may be unsure how best to enjoy chocolate nightshade truffles. These creations utilize sacred plants to provide a gentle time of openness and emotional awareness. I’d love to share some tips and suggestions for enhancing this special encounter.
Trust! (Truffle Prompt)
Trust! We must learn to trust ourselves. If we can’t trust ourselves it is very hard to trust what we receive from the plant spirits, our ancestors, and any other relations that are trying to reach out to us. We need to let go of that need for validation. That we need someone to confirm what we think is true
Claiming What is Ours
There comes a point on our own path where we reach in and claim what is ours. We become ready to step into our own medicine. We become ready to step into our power. We know who we are, which can be very different from who we want to be. We embrace who we are.
Forming Personal Relationships with the Plants
It can be cathartic to accept that these plants in our truffles really will form a relationship that is unique and special to each one of us as independent individuals. They aren't drugs or medications that are designed to affect everyone the same way. The plants in our truffles have so much more to offer and one of the greatest things that they do offer is their ability to recognize each person's needs and how best to help and heal each one of us based on each of our own particular strengths and weaknesses.
The Art of Patience
The various preparations I make from these plants are the result of years of learning. To me they are not something I could ever teach in a class. Working with these plants is a calling and a lifelong process of building the relationships with each plant and letting them guide me and incorporating that information with everything else I’ve taken in until that point. Preparations (especially for ingestion) are not something to be taken lightly or knowledge that can be acquired after a series of lessons or reading a couple of books. I was lucky enough to be taken under the wings of several different healers and elders along the way.
Comfortably Numb?
Alcohol and/or cannabis in moderation shouldn't obscure the truffle experience but if used…
Encouraging Trust
To me the best teachers are the ones we find upon reflection, looking back over our lives. Sometimes there were people who may not have even been in our lives very long but something they did or said managed to stick with us for a lifetime, forever influencing who we continue to be.
Grief & Trauma
Another kind of work you can do with these truffles is helping yourself through extremely painful times, grief, loss, and horrors from your past, etc., that you can't let go of and/or you're having a hard time moving beyond.
The Plants Never Lost Their Way
Many factors can come into play as to how we experience the truffles each time and I cannot emphasize enough how much I believe that plant consciousness is a major part of that.
Q: Aren’t Nightshades Like Datura Dangerous? - A Talk About the Idea of Ingesting Nightshades (video)
In this video I tackle what might appear to be a relatively simple question to answer, "Aren’t nightshades like datura and belladonna supposed to be dangerous?" In answering I try to share additional information and personal experiences to help the viewer get a (hopefully) better understanding of why in fact the question is more complex than it looks. I believe these nightshades we use could be one of the next waves in our cultures' recent acceptance of the therapeutic applications of certain psychoactive compounds and I discuss how I feel this may relate to the initial question as well.
Strengthening Our Connection with the Plants During Our Experiences
In order to get the most from our experiences working with the plants in these truffles, we must stay quiet & reasonably still to stay truly connected to them once we consume them. The same was true even with my many experiences with Peyote. In Peyote meetings you sit in the same spot for approx.12 hours & for the most part you say nothing. You are supposed to keep your eyes focused mostly on the fire in the center of the teepee. Looking around at others and even shifting your body around too much is considered rude and distracting but these ‘rules’ also keep you plugged into the experience 100%.
Unwrapping Our Spiritual Gifts
A friend/customer was asking if I could share information about a connection they heard of between Datura and a certain animal spirit medicine as they carry that animal spirit medicine themselves. “It's great that you get that from your personal relationship from Datura. If that's what Datura told you, it's part of your relationship and connection with the plant, but in general I am not a fan of making generalized associations or classifications of what a plant medicine is or isn't...just like animal spirits. Coyote means very different things to different people (and different tribes)...just like Datura means different things to different people (and tribes).
Sacred Plant Medicine as a Way of Life
Though they can be used for a singular healing session, for me I walk with them daily just as I walk daily with any and all of my other ancestors, family, helpers, and guides. This sacred plant medicine is a way of life. It is the road I walk. Daily they help me see things more clearly, and make connections more easily whether I ingest them or not. Ingestion is just a great way to get crash courses in doing this kind of work, and the more we understand what we are doing and why, the more dedicated that help and guidance becomes.