Yesterday as evening drew near, and I walked soft upon the desert sand and my heavy heart was gladdened to run into a dear friend in a place I'd not expected to see her. Mimulus is a longtime ally of mine -- a remedy used for navigating and quelling states of fearfulness and anxiety. To happen upon this subtly sweet sister of the California Coast, here in the dusty desert was a true delight and a much needed reminder that real magic will always beckon warmly to the sincere wanderer.
The desert is layered with luscious beauty and sharp edges, generous shade and scorching sun. It is a place of divine paradox and endless surprises. As a human who could not survive for long in this landscape without the precarious infrastructure of civilization, I consider it a peculiar blessing of the times to be able to wander for hours through the sacred stones, and blossoming cacti, wanting not for water. We are all living on borrowed time, stolen resources, Land as alive and longing for connection as each of us. There is an anxiety that can never be fully quieted in this knowing. And yet, we must continue to move through life with love and with reverence -- grieving, but not despairing.
I have found myself in three separate deserts in the last three weeks. I am on a pilgrimage of sorts, though I knew it not when first I set out. This retrograde disco is really something else and as the planets boogie backward, I for one am tending to my tenderest of places, delicately dressing the deepest of my wounds. In the midst of all this, it is no accident that I found myself sitting beside Mimulus -- an ally whose bittersweet medicine reminds us that everything is okay--even when it's not.
Mimulus is indicated for facing your fears. She is a valuable remedy for those who are timid and reserved and struggle to feel at home in social situations. She helps us to open ourselves to life, when we'd prefer to simply hide away -- to run from those things which scare us most. As Georgia Okeefe once said -- "I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do." That be some mimulus magic.
