Sunday, March 4, 2018


~ Theodore Roethke

It's root vegetable season, very evident at the Santa Fe farmers market. In California, where the growing season is all year long for the most part, you don't witness the shift that occurs in the plants as much, a shift which humans also experience on a much more subtle level.

Roots are very dense in nutrients since they absorb lots of beneficial earth based components as they grow underground. These nutrients are then turned into antioxidants, vitamins and iron that help support and cleanse our systems. Other benefits include slow-burning carbohydrates and fiber, good for nourishing our interior life during the cold winter months.

It's as if roots are fuel to keep our inner light flickering. This idea reminds me of other concepts, related to the opening quote by Theodore Roethke, a perfect illustration of how plants are great symbols for us of how to live and thrive in the world.

We begin our lives as tiny seedlings, nestled in a dark, watery womb where we are nourished via a root-like cord. After emerging into the world, we first receive nutrients from our mother milk and eventually get teeth so that we can chew our own food and begin to embody/in body our own self as an independent being.

The light from the sun (Fire) helps us to blossom, to push through the earthly (Earth) mantel, into the open expanse (Air) and receive those drops of life force from the heaven above (Water). Through this constant, repeating pattern, we grow and hopefully learn, keeping that inner light—the spark of life, alive and constantly tended.

As you may have noticed, at this journal I highlight our connection to the plants, how we are like the different representatives whether the flowers, the trees, the elementals and how by getting back to those roots we can perceive the light.

1 comment:

E. Richard said...

I love the seedling metaphor. I think those of us who love botanical perfumes are more like flowers blooming ourselves.