Ep.112 Allow Your Essence to Evolve with Elly Yule

Hello, hello, hello, everyone.Welcome back to another episode of Reconnect With Plant Wisdom.It’s me, Tigrilla Gardenia.This episode is so beautiful, beautiful.That’s, that’s the only way I can describe it.It was beautiful.The whole conversation, the message.Such an important message for you to hear, especially if you’re a woman, no offense to the men, or very, you know, really wanna tap into your feminine energy.Not, uh, not because we talked about it, but because it just reallyWe got there and I have so much respect for Ellie Yule, and I know you’re going to love her so much.I mean, this is what so many of us aspire to be, the way we wanna live our lives, that beautiful presence and peace that you experience.It’s, it’s amazing.There are so many things that we talked about.We talked about dance, we talked about weeds, we talked about plant communication, we talked about presence.But more than anything we talked about allowing yourself to fully emerge, to merge into the world around you, always keeping your true essence and really allowing that to emerge.There is so much I wanna tell you about Ellie, but really her words are, are perfect, so there’s no need for me to keep talking, because you’re going to learn so much about her from her.So please enjoy episode 112, Allow Your Essence to Evolve.Welcome to Reconnect With Plant Wisdom.I’m your host, Tigria Gardenia, nature-inspired mentor, certified life coach, and the founder of the Naturally Conscious Community.For over a decade, I’ve been known as a world ambassador for plant advocacy, working closely with plants to share their practical wisdom to help you consciously embody the elements of life that nourish your evolution.In this podcast, I delve into ancient and modern knowledge from biology to spirituality about the wondrous ways of plants.Together, we’ll explore how ecosystem thinking helps you overcome limiting beliefs, understand the true nature of relationships, and live an authentic, impactful life.Ellie, I am so excited to have you here.I, I justI have to tell you, when I went back to my notes from our kind of pre-interview call and I was like, “Okay, what do I want to talk about with Ellie?”I just wanna read to you what I wrote as my notes, ’cause my notes are kind of like my own little shorthand.I wrote, “Fireweed, Crow Woman, Celtic Wise Woman, came into the world being able to communicate with plants, poetic, lyrical.”Like, this was my world of Ellie.SoWhich I found quite beautiful in itself, butSo can you round that out for us?Let everybody know who is Ellie Yule?I love that list, because it actually describes me to a T.Um, I came into this world and I always had to be outside, that I always wanted to be out in nature.I was always communicating with the plants.If my mum couldn’t find me, I’d either be under a tree reading a book or I would be having a d- in-depth discussion with some flowers-or talking to the birds at the end of the garden, and this has kind of been with me all my life, and, and it, IDecades later, I ended up going to Alaska to train in, in flower essences and vibrational medicine, which opened it all up to an even better level.And now I hear the frequencies of plants and everything so much more.And, um, when I receive the information from plants, because I became a flower essence producer and practitioner, and when IThe, the kind of way that I receive the information from plants is it’s quite poetic.It’s, like, channeled and poetic, and I have to write it all down and then put it into an order that people can understand.Um, the lyrical is interesting, because I’ve also danced most of my life.So, for me- Mm-hmm.rhythm, movement, flow is an important part of energy and living.And, um, the interesting thing, the Crow Woman came about from my shamanic training years.I was 7 years as a shamanic initiate with Celtic and Native American Indian wonderful, wonderful elders, and Crow Woman was the first medicine name I received, and that’s my public medicine name.I have a private one that’s only used in ceremony.And fireweed for me, um, I discovered that plant when I was a little girl.I was on a train with my mother and I looked out the window and I saw these tall spires of the most beautiful deep pink flowers.”Mummy, aren’t they beautiful?”And my mum gave me a cuff around the ear and said, “They’re weeds.They’re weeds,” and I thought they were the most beautiful flowers I’d ever seen.And these flowers have had, come up in my life so many, many times.Uh, the first essence I ever made was when I was in Norway teaching and it was a time of the fireweed and the fireweed was flowering.And then, of course, whenBefore that, and I’d been in Alaska round about the time when fireweed was flowering as well, and I learnt a lot about the plant.It’s the first plant to regenerate the soil after fire.You know, it puts everything back in the soil that you need to help everything else grow.And shamanically, for me, I think it’s a fantastic flower-stroke-herb because-If you’re feeling utterly burnt out, if you’re experiencing burnout, fireweed’s the one I go to.It restores really quickly.It helps youAnd I like because the shape of the flower, there’s almost like a cross in the flower, so it helps you to balance your vertical and horizontal axis, and you know, the 4 petals are like the 4 foundations, you know.And that’s kind of all woven into, after 40 years of practice and clients over the years, my umbrella is now WiseWomanWisdom, because it incorporates the, the counseling, the healing, the therapies, the coaching, and the plant medicine, which is my favorite bit.And I love, I love that how theHow do I explain this?The way that the plants have accompanied you through all these different pieces.I think it’s really, umI often see this in any different kind of practitioner where they, they’re inspired from this and then somehow kind of lose their way.They get more caught up in the essences or, you know, the oils or whatever it is that they’re working with as a tool, and they sort of lose sight of the deep relationship and how it’s the plant themselves that’s gonna keep telling you how to use, howBecause there is an evolution that’s happening, right?And so something that you might have learned in a book at the very beginning was great, but today, it might be very different or it might be very different from that for that particular person who needs something different from you.So, I really love the way that you, you know, you’ve always kept the plants as your, not just guides, but partners in this, it sounds.And, and IAnd that to me is always super inspiring because it, it changes the work that you do.It changes the way that you interact, not just with the plant, but with the people that you’re sort of, to a certain extent, mediating for.You’re helping bring them closer to that plant in a way that they might not be able to do.Do, do you find as yourUh, and by the s- by, by the way, I just made a whole nother set of notes because there’s a whole series of things that I wanna talk about.Um, but I wanna start with the idea of that, that childhood experience where you say to”Mummy, look at this beautiful flower,” and your mo- and your mother says, “Those are weeds.”Do you find that, uh, uh, that that has changed?Do you feel likeI, I just feelI’ve been working very much with wild plants again recently, with spirit wild plants.I’m, I’m lovingI went back intoI have a quiz to help you identify your spirit wild plant, and I just went back into it and completely redid all of the sequences, the emails, the activities, the rituals.And then I have this mini voyage with plants that you get as, umThat you can, uh, continue on that relationship with each one of these plants.And I just redid everything, which was so exciting because in the years that I’ve had this, I have obviously deepened the relationship, but in particular, 2 plants kind of came up and were like, “It’s about time you come back to us because, uh, we got things to say about things that are going on in your life right now.”And so I ended up with likeYou know, I worked through all of them, but then 2 of them are like, “We’re staying for a while because we need to, we need to talk.”And so do you find that there is a greater understanding besides just food and medicine from that kind of medicine, which it’s beautiful, of people coming into contact with what we call weeds, or as I call them, you know, wild plants?I think when you work with plants, you tend to connect with people who also work with plants.And so I’m surrounded by a lot of people who do understand it.I mean, my clientsAnother nickname for me, I’m the Weed Woman because-you know, from a sort of folk herbalist, backyard herbalist point of view, which I am.I’m not a medical herbalist, but I use what’s in my area, in my backyard.And I love the weeds because it’s free medicine.and they’re so versatile as well.But I agree with what you say, there are certain plants that come back at those times in your life when you need them.But also, you also have plant allies that may be with you your entire life as well.When I was going from essences more into the herbal side of things, the first herbal ally that called me was plantain.And- Mm-hmm.plantain has been with me the whole time.Plantain is so versatile and I absolutely adore it.I let it run wild in my garden.My garden’s a mess, right?I have a wild garden.I love those.I just walked by a, a little meadowy area around here, and I kept looking, going, “Why would anybody w- want a manicured lawn when you can have this?”It was so beautiful.I was like, “Why would you ever want to”I mean, you can mow this if, if it becomes, you know, too much.But it’s, it was just so colorful and beautiful and all these different shapes and sizes and heights.It was just inspiring to just walk through.I was like, “I don’t, I just don’t understand lawns.I, I don’t.”They’re nice to sit on and they’re nice to play games on.Um, but if I had my way, my husband likes la- a bit of lawn, he likes to mow the lawn, um, I would have the whole thing, flower beds, veg beds, everything.And now I just wanna take a very quick break so that I can share with you one of our eco-conscious business partners.For over a decade, I’ve had the profound joy of working with the Music of the Plants, a musical instrument made just for plants.This very music is what sparked my own plant reawakening, guiding me to reconnect with nature in an entirely new way.Imagine listening to the harmonious melodies of your plant companions and feeling their wisdom and presence through the language of music.It’s an experience that has transformed my life and the lives of so many other people.If you’re curious about the hidden songs of plants and wanna connect to your plant friends in a completely new way, I invite you to discover more at tigredegenia.com/musicoftheplants.It’s in the show notes.Plant music is great for healing, sharing, and personal connection.Let’s continue our journey of personal evolution and plant consciousness together with the songs of plants.Beautiful.I love it so much.The other thing that you talked about thatAnd, and by the way, I completely agree.There are those plants that no matter where youAnd they don’t have to even be physically with you to be always with you in some way, shape, or form.And I find that the other interesting part.I have a tree that up, up from the sacred woods, um, when I used to live in the sacred woods temple here at Damanhur, um, who gave me the name Luca.I’ve no idea why ’cause I would have never pictured that name.And, uh, Luca is a chestnut tree, and we have a lot of chestnuts in this area.But Luca in particular, I spent, um, a good year listening and connecting to Luca.Luca was right outside of my, um, of my cabin where I was.And for a while, I would play, I would connect Luca at night to the music of the plants and put one speaker inside and one speaker to Luca so Luca could hear, you know, key self.And then, um, I would put it on right as I was going to bed so that we could dream together.There’s another technique here in Damanhur, specifically to dream with a tree.And so, w- I would do that, so I would activate that connection, and then I would listen for the music to sort of see when Luca was also going to sleep and so that we could actually dream together.And since then, that connection is so strong that there’s, it doesn’t matter where I am in the world, I could sit down, kind of do the symbol to connect to Luca and be right there.It’s as if, you know, he is right here next to me, talking to me, experiencing things.I used to use key as a, as a remote viewer so that I could see what was happening in the sacred woods.I would ask like, “Give me an update,” when I was out of town or something.”Give me an update on what’s going on in the family,” and such.It was, it was magical.It was totally beautiful.But one of the things you mentioned was dance.And this very much excited me ’cause I was also a dancer for many years.And, um, this little tree, this little plant with this dracaena right behind me or, uh, you know, snake plants or mother-in-law’s tongue, as they’re called in different countries, this one in particular is one that has always told me, “I don’t wanna talk to you.If you wanna converse with me and communicate with me, you need to use your body and you need to dance.”And so, um, this plant really helped me in a, uh, in a conscious way when I was working and, and continue to work with this plant to re-embody my body, like, to, to come back in and to recognize the knowledge, the, the wisdom, the, the connection and chan- almost channel that my body is not through what my body brings to my brain, quote unquote, but more of that intuitive and even digesting of knowledge.If I move a lot, I can understand things that are coming to me because I can pick them up in so many different ways.I’d love to hear how dance and, you know, that lyrical plant connection, plant communication happened for you.The thing about plants as well is the vibrational frequency of the plants.And so that’s why plants love it when you tone to them and you make sounds to them.They completely resonate and they blossom and flourish if you sing to them or tone to them.And it’s the same when you move your body because your body is emitting a vibrational frequency.Your vibrational frequency is going to go up when you’re doing something that fills you with joy, and the plant will respond to that, you know.And, um, for 20 years I ran an annual women’s retreat and we did a moon dance.And the few days before building up to it, I was connecting with all the trees and the plants in the area where we would have our sacred dance.And the area, you know, the plants and the shrubs and the flowers, they all just loved it, absolutely loved it.And we would create a circle and we would leave it there because the vibration was so nice, and we’d leave it there for the creatures to enjoy during the night afterwards.And we’d dance.There’s, like, 2 or 3 dances that we do to raise the vibration, and you can just feelAnd sometimes the trees would move.You’d be aware that the trees were moving.They’d be rustling and, you know, you’d be completely still, you know, because none of the candles were flickering, but you’d be aware.And we’d think, “Is thatis that a squirrel or something in the tree?”But it wasn’t, it was justOr you, or you’d suddenly hear this enormous creak from the tree and you think, “Oh.”And I’d just check in, “Are we doing this right?Are you happy?”You know, um, dance has always been my savior but I think the connection with trees is so powerful, and I wish more people respected and understood trees a lot better.Mm.You know?You can learn so much about your own body from a tree.Flexibility, movement, strong roots, strong core.How to communicate.How to interconnect with other people through your roots.And there was a treeI lived in Reading in England for a few years.I lived by the Thames, and the queens had her royal swans there and it was wonderful walking to work every day past the swans.And there’s this beautiful tree and it leaned slightly towards the water.Birds adored it, they nested in it every year.And I came home from work one day and the whole thing had been cut down.I was devastated.And- I understand that.Because I’d c- I’d connected with the tree so often for so long, these conversations we used to have.I was, I, I could hear its vibrational frequency, I could feel its vibrational frequency.And when I went to it, although it was still, it still had its roots and so it could still interconnect with the other trees around it and keep connected to its community, it was in shock.So I went home, got my essences, came out, and thought, “I have to do something sacred for this beloved tree.”And I, I went into the zone and I was in a sacred space, completely unaware of what was around me until I stopped.And when I stopped and looked around me, there were about 12 adult white swans in a complete circle around me and the tree.It’s as if the swans knew and they came around us, I thought initially out of curiosity perhaps, but the way they’d formed that circle, and as soon as they realized that it had finished they went off to eat the grass or they went back in the water.And a chap came down the towpath and he said to me, “I was a bit worried about you.Those swans can be vicious.You’re very brave feeding them.”And I just nodded at him.I said, “Actually, I was upset about the tree.I was working with the tree.”And he said, “Yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s devastating.All those birds.All those birds again.”And trees are so important.We can’tThey’re the lungs of the earth.We cannot breathe without them, you know?Even people who are foraging these days, they don’t understand what they’re doing in the deeper sense that they need to.Theyit’s a new hobby.”Ooh, great.I can try this like an experiment.”Which is wonderful, connecting with plants in whatever way you can is wonderful.However, learn the rules of nature, please.You know, you must leave some elder flowers, that there are elderberries for the birds to have in the winter.And don’t strip everything.You must go to the chief plant, ask permission from the chief plant.You could be in a field of dandelions and want to make dandelion wine, but you have to get permission from the chief plant and you have to work out who is that chief plant, even if it takes you an hour.Nature teaches patience.Plants teach patience.I love that, and I think that is such an important lesson.I’ve also noticed that as I’ve, you know, followed and started to see a lot more of the foraging, especially urban foraging and, you know, how to forage in different locations, I think it’s wonderful.But you also have to teach everything else that goes with it.That reverence, that- that relationship.I think we keep forgetting about the relationship.I was, um, I was being interviewed yesterday for somebody else’s podcast, and we, at the very end, she asked me about food.You know, it’s a common c- question that comes up, especially because there’s an assumption that if you love plants, you’re plant-based.And- and, um, I was- I was trying to explain to her that it’s really about relationship.Like, for me especially, I live in Damanhur.It’s- it’s an eco-community.It’s all about that spirituality and that relationship, and therefore, we’re, uh, omni- you know, we’re omnivores, and every person has to create that link based on their body needs and everything else.But more importantly, in living here, I have learned to have a relationship with everything that I eat, especially being, luckily, in northern Italy, where we still ha- little bit have that culture, that more farm-to-table.Or when I go to the butcher here, I know that everything came from the area and I can have a conversation with the butcher and I can see from the way that they’re speaking, or with the grower, and I can see from the way that they’re speaking that- that for them, this isn’t a commodity.This is, you know, beings of which they have- Mm-hmm.shared their lives with, of which they’re in mutual, you know, relationship, who have given their lives.And so there’s a reverence and a respect for that.And I think when it comes to foraging, it’s the exact same thing.It’s like, it isn’t just because, th- these plants are out in the wild that you can do whatever you want.Absolutely not.This is about, like you said, coming in, spending time, being there, being in their presence, thanking them, asking permission.Um, I told you I just redid, you know, this little mini voyage with plants, and that was one of the big things to make sure to explain at the very beginning for each one, the importance of sitting and being present and asking permission, even just to work.Because I wouldn’t want somebody coming in and saying, “Okay, now you and I are gonna have a conversation about so-and-so.”It’s like, I would never do that- Mm-mm.to another human being.Why would I do that to another plant or another animal?Even a cat or a dog, you put your hand down, and you wait until they come to you, and they sniff, and they get comfortable, and then you go and you give the scratches.If you’ve ever tried to go grab a cat and scratch that cat, even with the most love in your heart, that cat is not a happy camper.And it’s the same thing, we should do this- this same kind of r- relationship building with plants.And, like you said, think about the overall ecosystem.They’re not just giving those flowers or those berries for you.They’re giving it to everybody else that they support and live with.And especially whether you’re talking about, you know, an oak tree or- or like you said, any tree in a park is not just ornamental.They’re a relationship with all of the other beings that are in that park, human beings, but as well as, you know, bird beings, as well as rock beings, as well as lots of insects and moths and different kind ofYou know, we have tons of relationships, many of them invisible to the way that we see the world.And only in that reciprocal relationship can you start to see what those connections are and understand, “Oh, this is why I don’t take too much.”Like, “This is why I always leave some for others.”Um, and just the same as in a buffet, I wouldn’t go and take all the food and hog it all before when there’s a huge line of people behind me.I would take a little bit and, you know, come back, and see, and such like that.So I’m so glad that you- you talked about that, especially in urban settings, ’cause I do feel like it’s really important.How do you feel that you were able to, um, especially since you- you have experienced this across multiple locations also, how do you feel like you were able to work with the essence, which is, to a certain extent for some people, kind of separates you out from the physical plant, and yet still maintain that connection?don’t think you- you lose it.If you have a strong connection with plants, you understand how to work with their vibrational frequency, how to communicate with them, then whether it’s the actual living plant or you’ve created an essence from it, because I can read essence bottles.I can pick up an essence bottle, and I can read the vibration of it.I don’t need to see the definition for it, because the vibrational frequency of that plant has been transferred as a gift to humanity.into that bottle or the bowl, and obviously you go through the process of making the whole essence.Right.But you can feel it.You can still feel the vibrational quality of it.And there’s, you knowI think the more, the purity of your connection, the more that you work on yourself and the clearer your channel is, the more powerful whatever you make from nature will be.WhatBe it an essence or be it an herb or be it food.Um, I think it’s justGoing back to foraging, I think one of my pet hates about foraging is that people think it’s free food.Mm-hmm.It is free food, but you’re, you’re picking from nature’s garden, you know?Mm-hmm.And, and, please be respectful.And the same thing is, you know, I, I don’t handle essences, I don’t make essences, I don’t work with essences unless I’m feeling right.And if I’m feeling out of sorts, it’s like, “No, put it aside.Go and have a meditation, go and have a walk in nature.”Center myself.Is it right to do it today?Because it may not be, because there may be a different message or an extra essence that needs to go into somebody’s formula.But, um, for me, it’s all about the interconnectedness, that we are all connected, and whereas, you know, grabbing, grabbing, grabbing from nature and this grabby society don’t realize the effects that everybody’s having on everything.And I don’t think, I don’t think individuals realize how badly affected they are.You know, cutting down a tree because it spoilt your view.Wonderful.Uh-huh.But you’ve just destroyed a part of the ecosystem, a massive part of the ecosystem, that actually, me personally, I feel will have some kind of karmic repercussion, because you cannot do something like that without repercussion.In Ireland, we have a thing about hawthorn.We call hawthorn the fairy tree.And bad luck will befall anybody who cuts down a hawthorn.And it’s been true so many times.You don’t mess with the little people as we say in Ireland.Mm-hmm.Exactly.It’s f-It’s interesting that you say that.I remember a few years back.I used to liveMany years ago, I lived in Seattle, and, um, and Seattle is this really interesting place ’cause, you know, you have, um, the tech giants like Microsoft- Mm-hmm.and, and all that comes with that.And yet there is still this very, um, outdoors culture-that’s notIt’s not just outdoor like outdoor recreation.It literally is an outdoor culture.Much of the culture is about going spending time with nature, the long, long, long hike, that kind of thing.And, um, there was an area which, uh, a group of, of p- homeowners cut down some trees because they wereThey had just built their houses and it blocked their view.And I can’t remember who it was that sued, you know, the- these people and actually got themI r- remember there was like a criminal complaint as well, because there was some statute about the ecosystem and about the overall kind of environment, and so they won.Like, not the, the homeowners.The other people won.I can’t remember how it worked.I wish I could remember the story.I’ll look it up.But it was really fascinating because it was one of the first cases that I had ever seen of people who were fighting on behalf of, of the natural world.They were like, “You cut down these trees, which has, you know, effects to the erosion, to the ecosystem, to the other plants and the other beings that, uh, affect, you know, that live off of this.”Like, “You can’t just, because you built this house, no matter how expensive it is, just sh- cut these houseIf these trees could have been cut, they would have been cut when you built the house.You can’t just come and cut them one night because you feel like it.”And I felt that that was a really strong and, and such a positive message that we don’t see enough, which is that, you know, your personal desire is not worth it, i- is not something that we should just, you know, be beholden to.And in that, I think the part to me that is kind of sad in all of that message, beyond, of course, the trees, and I’ve seen it even here e- um, recently, is, to me, it’s such a symptom of the disconnection that we have.The fact that our definitions, going back to the lawn that we were talking about at the very beginning, the definition of beautiful has become this manicured, controlled setting, and I find that that, to me, is such a huge indicator when I talk to people and is kinda like this little indicator of where you are on your journey of connection and of reconnection.If you are disconnected from nature, y- your, that wildness is scary, it’s ugly, it’s scary, there’s something wrong with it, um, you, you, and you’re, you’re almost vehement about it.Like, “You have to clean that up,” and such.And it’s such a, um, indicator of the amount of control that needs to have because you’re living in this, to a certain extent, a state of fear.And I, I find, um, that the wildness part though has been sort of bred out or conditioned out of so many of us is, is scary almost, because it, it’s what’s taken us into this world of control.Have, have you noticed that before and, and, I mean, how, how do you see that?Oh, definitely.I mean, I live close to the sea here in Wales, um, so I’m in a, a small sort of urban settlement, and there’s been a trend in the last few years, um, because they, they were lovely open gardens.There’s no big walls, there’s no big fences, it’s a lovely open space.You can see everybody’s beautiful gardens.A lot of people are getting rid of anything living, concreting over, putting stones down- It’sand turning it into a completely cold, sterile environment.And, and I keep thinking, and they wonder why asthma’s on the increase.They’ve, they’re cutting down trees, they’re taking away plants, you know, they’re reducing the oxygen around themselves.That’s one of the causes of, of asthma.There’s increased flooding.Well, of course there’s increased flooding because you keep cutting the trees down, you keep cutting shrubs down.Things that could soak up all that water and stop your home flooding, you’re removing.But I do think that this disconnection and this sterility is all part of a bigger attempt at control and it’s making people be a bit, well, it’s making people shut down, close down, disconnect, making them easier to control, easier to manipulate.And people are actually lost, you know?The past 5 years has been very, very hard on people and I think a lot of people are just lost.They’ve disconnected from who they are, the, the deeper part of their soul, their wildness.I mean, if you mention wildness to some people, the look of terror on their faces- Exactly.and I’m thinking, “You better not come along to one of my women’s retreats.They’re very gentle-“but they are very powerful.”I, I, I so agree with you and I feel like, um, there are so many aspects of this connected to that wildness and that lost kind of, um, wisdom that comes from allowing yourself to, to kind of step out of those constraints, to allow ourselves to explore.And, and I, I completely agree with you.I’ve seen it so many times.Wildness is seen as, like, a problem, so people look at you and they’re like, “No, you don’t want that.That’s wild.”And it’s like, “What are you talking about?That’s the, that’s the best part.”Because it, it’s when you see the true essence of a person, of a b- of any kind of being, and of a landscape, of an environment, and you see kind of, like, all of those interconnections and that, and it only comes through the wildness, right?That, that, that letting go of control or at least, you know, f- and flowing with it.I think the difference, I think the problem, and I was just talking about this on another episode of the podcast where we were talking about the difference between I don’tWhen I go into nature and I spend time or even in my own home when I’m with these plants, or in this case, we were talking about a river, I don’t relinquish control.Wildness is not relinquishing anything.Wildness is about connecting and doing that dance, going back to the dance, of dancing with another being, of, of allowing my essence to come out and mix with your essence or to just show my authenticity.But when my authenticity comes out, it’s, it comes in its own form, and then once I start interacting with others, it mixes, it flows, it bends, it shapes, it changes, it transforms, it evolves.Like, it’s that dance of keeping my essence while at the same time allowing you to bring out new parts of my essence.And I, and I feel like that’s really what the ess- that’s what wildness is.Wildness is saying, “I don’t curtail and I also don’t relinquish control.I don’t just let everything kinda hang out.”That is not wildness.Wildness is instead, “I let myself feel everything and I start to”interact and, and work with, and exalt you, and bring instead you into a little bit of a shape, and let myself do the same thing.And, uh, and that’s why I do feel like so important that this, when we start communicating with plants, it can’t simply be verbal communication.I think verbal communication is great but, for example, in the Naturally Conscious community, we have all these different aspects, some of it intellectual, some of it written, some of it artistic of other natures, some of it around deep thoughts, some of it around playful, superficial pieces, all of it in order to allow yourself to mix in and to feel yourself with the plant in all these different ways.Because if not, then it just becomes all constrained at the same, you know, in the same exact way that what we were talking about.I think one of the most important things in order to merge with nature, w- you merge without losing yourself, as you say, but one of the most powerful things you can do is silent transmission.You don’t have to say- Mm-hmm.anything to a plant.You don’t have to think you’re doing anything wrong, just sitting and being, allowing your vibration to expand, allow- allowing your essence to merge and connect silently with that plant or that tree.That- Presence.is the beauty of wildness.That is wildness.Yeah, you can go running naked through the woods if you want.That’s a fun way to explore wildness-but you don’t have to do that.You can just sit and be.Listen to the song of the stream.It, you don’t have to intellectualize it.Just allow yourself to flow with the song of the stream, or feel the connectedness- Mm-hmm.as you connect with a tree, the tree has a huge aura.You can actually test the aura if you do, use dowsing rods, you’ll be able to check.Each tree’s got a different aura withThat tree will expand its aura in the same way that you will expand your aura and love towards it as well.It’s just one of the most beautiful things you can do, is merging and connecting in that way.It’s- it’s- it’s heaven on earth for me.I, I, I am with you.I mean, i- I say it over and over again because I feel like it’s so important, and a good reminder for myself, not just for others, but, you know, your plantness is your presence, as you said.Mm-hmm.It’s that presence that I can just sit there, I don’t have to do anything, I don’t have to be anything other than just whatever it is that I am in that moment.And I can open all my senses, and take in whatever need.I just have to be there.I just have to be in, in conscious awareness.And whatever is gonna come is gonna come, and it’s going to be, and you’re sometimes gonna feel it, like know what it is, and other times it’s, it’s just there.It just is.And, and it’s such a hard concept, I think, to explain-unless you’ve experienced it.Once you hit that presence, once you find yourself in that sort of liminal state where you’re, you’re like, “Am I actually awake?Am I not awake?”And you just realize, you’re just, a- I mean, you think that afterwards.In the middle of it, you’re just going, “I just am.”Everything sort of floats away.And like you said, I love that you said it as im- as emerging, because I, I think that is what it is.It’s both merging and emerging.Because you merge without losing yourself, and that’s when everything can emerge.A new piece of you, somethingWhat emerges is that beautiful brilliance.And I find that that is the essence of that unconditional love that we try to reach so much.You know, we, we try to consciously arrive at unconditional love.Like, “I need to work on my judgment, and I need to work on this, and I need to work on that,” and blah, blah, blah.Just go sit in a sit spot and kind of soften everything, and just sit there for the longest, as long as you can, without thinking of anything.Don’t bring in even a notebook with you.Don’t do anything.Just sit there.Get yourself nice and comfortable, and just sit there.And I t- trust me, you will find unconditional love.It, if- Mm-hmm.And I find that so powerful.It, itWe could put it into all the words that you want, you know, it calms your nervous system, it makes you feel, you know, this or that or whatever, whatever.But in the end, it’s just presence, just I am.It’s that moment of I am.It’s because the plant kingdom and Mother Nature accepts you as you are.Th- they do not perceive you as something that needs to be fixed.They accept you perfectly as you are and I think there’s too much emphasis, particularly in the self-development world, of needing to fix yourself all the time to the point where you can become addicted and think, “Oh my god.I’m never gonna get there.I’ve got to fix this, this, and this.”And actually sometimes you don’tJust stop trying to fix yourself.Just live and be and experience because life is so short.You know, it’s, it’s just so important to get the balance in everything.Don’t give away your sovereignty.I think sovereignty is important and that’s something that the majesty of trees can teach us and plants can teach us.It’s, you know, you can be who you want to be but maintain your sovereignty.Don’t forget who you are.I think that’s probably the way that you work and I work.I think a lot of my work is about helping people to reconnect to their soul essence inside because theyforgotten who they are.And so the work I do- Mm-hmm.with women is all about that, it’s about reconnecting to that soul essence inside and exploring wildness because unless you know who you are, you can’t really manifest what you want in this world.And that’s probably why the shamanic pathway and I, IMy retreats were always very shamanic, is because the k- it teaches you about the interconnectedness of everything and about connecting to yourself.You know, life is meant to be transformational.We, we cross many different thresholds, many different liminal thresholds that we embrace and even a plant can take you over another threshold, a threshold you don’tYou’re not even aware of, you know?Right, right.You touched on such an important point.I’m so glad that you did because I think it’s something we need to keep repeating, which is that, you know, the, the self-help, the personal development perspective that, that we see oftentimes can push you inadvertently, I think, sometimes to continuously think something is wrong with you.And I, IYou know, I love the way you describe it.I describe it a lot likeI, I describe it as being in aLiving in an ecosystem, right?In an ecosystem, there are no garbage cans, there is nothing for you to throw out, there is no part of you that is like bad or, or something you need to get rid of.It’s about learning andUh, how to master it.How does this work?What are all the different scenarios in which this is?And even plants exhibit skototropism where they grow towards the dark as well as, you know, um, a- as well as heliotropism, growing towards the sun, for example, or, you know, all kinds of phototropism, growing towards the light.You have light and you have darkness, and none of them is inherently good or bad.These are fairy tale terms that we have put in order to sell, you know, this story of Prince Charming and, you know, the damsel in distress.And so the damsel in distress has become this archetype that unfortunately is still very present in our society.And so we tend to look at ourselves in that way.And I, I can’t even tell you how many super wo- wonderful wise women andYou know, or feminine presenting people who say, “Oh, well, I need to always pretend to be, uh, you know, be a little bit broken andBecause, you know, that’s the way I’m gonna get taken care of.”And it’s like, n- no, you actually don’t.Like, you can be extremely powerful and you could have all of your faculties.You don’t have to put togeth-You know, any of your skills or competencies or passions or anything.You don’t have to hide any of them or you don’t have to think any of them are, are, are bad.You have to learn how to work with them and enjoy them and enjoy them in their, in their constructive sides and enjoy them also in their destructive sides which can be super useful when you learn how to actually enter in this.And as you said, nature shows you, proves to you over and over again that everything is useful.A tree knows that when the tree falls and the forest creates the light gapAnd it might seem like a tragedy to you, but it’s actually extremely helpful even in an old forestIn an old, uh, growth garden, like an old growth-forest.You have this old forest and that has kind of, you know, reached a beautiful point but in order for the next level to come, that tree has to fall.Mm-hmm.And in the falling, in that decaying, all these other beings get nourished.And so yes, that tree is at the end of their life but that’s still gonna go on for a long time while they’re nourishing and slowly dying off and there’s lots of life in that death process.And so a lot of our definitions are justThey’ve been so stifled down, so constrained that we lose sight of the fact that all processes are beautiful when you approach them from the place of evolution and of feeding the ecosystem and of my own expression and, as you said, my, my presence there.And I justI want more people to thinkI, I even struggle, as you said, with kind of ticking off the personal development box because I’m likeThere’s nothing wrong with you.I don’t work with people who I feel like something is wrong.I feel like you have just so much that we’re just gonna put a little bit of order around it.That’s all we’re gonna do, put a little bit of order around all of this amazingness that you are, and so that you can express yourself more fully.I, I, I agree.And also, you know, if we didn’t have the dark-how would we recognize light?You know, it’s the yin and the yang.It’s the 2 sides of the same coin.And you absolutely have to learn how to dance with that shadow and make a friend.Your shadow is your friend.Your shadow is trying protect you- friend.you know?AndEverybody evolves at their own pace.And one of the joys of getting to my age is that, I mean, god, for years I thought I was broken.I was doing every course, going, you know, and then I, you wise up.And then when you work on the shamanic pathway, you realize that you have a shaman’s death, sham- little shaman’s deaths all the time.It’s like shedding an old body, if you like, before you step through, you know, because you go through these thresholds, as you mentioned earlier on.And each threshold brings you to a newer aspect of yourself.Mm-hmm.And so the older aspect of yourself just needs to gently fall away.It doesn’t have to be a lot of teeth gnashing and navel gazing in order to do that.But yeah, t- learn to dance with your shadow.She’s your friend.I love that.I love that so much.As we’re, as we’re getting kinda closer to our wind-down here, I want to kind of just tap into it, ’cause you’ve mentioned it a few times, but I think, again, it’s another one of those things where people have so many definitions and I’d love to hear yours.You know, we were talking about you as this Celtic wise woman.And I would really love to understand, for you, what is this shamanic path that you’ve been on?And especially, and I, I wanna, I say this with, uh, so much honor and respect, because I think it’s an important thing, is how do you go into those crone years really with that exactly everything you just mentioned, right?Like, totally loving this period of your life.There, I believe there are 4 stages.I’m writing books about them at the moment.Maid, mother, and there’s the autumn woman, and then crone.People are so quick-jump into crone.You know, crone is really when you’re sort of heading towards 70, 70 onwards.That’s the true crone.Mm-hmm.That’s the true elder.As you go through menopause, menopause is one heck of a shamanic journey.It marks the halfway point- Tell me about it.of your life.And it is shamanic, ’cause believe me, it’ll put you through everything on every level, physical, emotional, mental, spiritual.You’ll go through it all.And it’s because it’s helping you to birth your inner wise woman.And it’s not easy, because, you know, as your body starts heading south and, you know, your face starts dropping and things like that- Mm-hmm.there’s the physical things.But there are such gifts as well, because there’s this, you develop this amazing inner confidence, which is the culmination of all the decades of wisdom that you have accrued.And there’s no need to prove yourself anymore.There’s just, you’re just so content in being.You don’t have to shout above the marketplace anymore, because you’re content in your being.Because who needs you will find you in the traditional sort of medicine person way, that they will find you.You know, um, the thing I’d say to people is don’t be in a rush to get into your crone years.There’s some girls that just cannot wait to call themselves a crone.Nah, think about it.Think about it.Enjoy the autumn phase of your life, you know?You still got a lot going for you before you have to go into, or you’d go into the crone side of things.A crone is just somebody who’s been on the planet a long time, has accrued a lot of wisdom, and has a lot of knowledge.And when we get to that stage, all we want to do is share it, really share it with people, because we’ve got, you knowYeah, I’ve had my own shamanic initiates that I’ve brought through.You know, you teach people over the years, and then you get to the point you’re thinking, “I just wanna share everything I know, pass it on.”It’s sort of a generous- I lo-spirit that comes.Yeah.And- and I love that you said that because, for example, I- I- I studyYou know, I’m a Kabbalist, and one of the images that I’ve always really loved that has helped me understand so much from an energetic perspective is that the top of the tree of life, the 2 kind of supernals in the masculine and the feminine, um, pillars are Binah and Chokmah, and, um, now, um, yeah, Binah and Chokmah.And so when you have Binah, when you have Chokmah as the masculine energy, the- the image is of, you know, kinda like the wise, the- the guru-type person, right, the man who is, been lost in a, uh, on a- in a cave somewhere, or on the top of a mountain, right?And you sit, and gives you kind of this cryptic advice.There’s still a lot of wisdom there, and the wisdom is, to a certain extent, shared, but it’s- it’s not aIt’s done in a way that’s just very much like, “This is what I’ve gone through, and I have reached another level.Let me give you wax on/wax off, and you have to figure it out.”The image of the f- of Binah as the grandmother or, um, is instead the kind of older, um, wise, grandmother-type woman that brings you onto her knee and tells you stories.And these stories contain her wisdom, her desire to share with you all of that wisdom in a very practical way, because she wants you to not have to.She wants to hold you and give you the wisdom in a way that you can start to apply it in your h- It’s not a, “Do this,” it’s a, “Let me tell you a story.”And in that story, you put yourself, wherever you are in your life, into that story, and then you can live that wisdom from that perspective, and I think that’s very much what you just said.And I think when we- when we look at this also with plants, it’s the same way, as you were talking about earlier.Sitting in that presence, that story starts to unfold.It unfolds in your body.It unfolds in all different aspects of you.And what’s most important is to place yourself into that story.This isn’t you, you know, separate from it.It’s you as the protagonist, but you’re coming i- And so you’re coming into the story.You are a part of this story, and you have to find your place in the story.And I- I really enjoyed the fact that you separated out, ’cause I had- I hadn’t heard that, you know, the idea of the autumn woman.’Cause to me, it was always like, I’m- I’m not a mother.I never was a mother, so the mother energy didn’t reallyBut I am very mothering, like, that’s why they call me Mama Sprout inside of the Naturally Conscious community.And, um, but I’m also not a crone.I’m not there yet.I know that, and I think I’m very much into the autumn- the autumn woman energy.Mm-hmm.I feel like as- Uh, you know, I feel it, that, as you were saying it, my body was like, “Oh, yes.That’s- that’s where I am.”And I think that thatYou know, again, it’s placing yourself into that story, but then making the story yours.I had a wonderful teacher.Um, she was, uh, an original initiate of the Golden Dawn.She is somebody who, you know, created her own mystery school, the Servants of Light, allow, um, uh, Dolores Ashcroft-Nawicki, who I loved studying under.And one of the things that she told me when I had a conversation with her about, how do I, on my Kabbalistic path, how do I make now my ritual?Like, how do I really make it mine?How do- where do I go from here?I was like, “Where’s the next level of- of t- of study for me?”And she said, “Now, you have to make everything yours, and you make it by making those small changes because you know the real- the path, and so now you adapt the path so that it best represents you.”It’s that merging you were talking about.And- and I feel like, you know, the plants really hold that space for us, and- and women like us hold that space for you.None of us in the work that we do want you to listen and say, “Do this.”What we wanna do is hold a space.For me, it’s in the Naturally Conscious community.For you, it’s in other areas that we’re gonna talk about right- in a minute, which is, I wanna hold that space, and I want you to f- feel free enough to place yourself in the story and experiment with which way you wanna go with it, personalize everything to your life, make it yours, make yourself- Put your authentic essence into every story you are a part of.And so therefore, the story continues to evolve and emerge as a merging, as you said, rather than either you adopting somebody else’s or you fighting what other wisdom could be given to you and shared with you.It is that bringing it in and then letting it come out in a way that is purely me, but with all of that wisdom that’s come to me.And I- I- I- Absolutely.I- That- that what the spiritual path, the personal pathway is all about.You are guided on it, but you are meant to find your own way of living it- Mm-hmm.sharing it, whatever.When I was in Alaska training in essences, I was taught a certain way.As soon as I got home and I started making my own essences, spirit showed me a completely different way.Spirit said, “Do not let anybody take them underneath the tongue undiluted.”All of my essences must be diluted in water, which is different from what most essence producers say.So already, I was being shown the way that I will do it, you know- Mm-hmm.co-creating with nature, this is, this is what’s wanted.And it’s the same, you can learn, I always say to people, “Find good teachers, get solid foundations, learn the basics, learn everything you need for a solid foundation so that nothing can throw you off track, but then you will find your own way.”You know, there’s a- Absolutely.although I worked with and was trained by Native American medicine people, I do not do their ceremonies because I was not born in their tribe.It’s not my right to do that.Mm-hmm.I have created my own ceremonies and rituals.I have a framework that I was taught that I work with.But it, it’s about, like I said, allow your essence to evolve.You can’t do it wrong.There’s nothing wrong.You cannot do it wrong, just allow your essence to evolve.Trust yourself.And if you’re not sure, then refer up to an elder, somebody you trust, or your teacher.You may not get an answer though, because the shamanic way is for you to find your own answers.And speaking of that, if people want to learn more, continue this conversation, to work with you, where do they go?How do they do it?How will you help ’em?They can go to my website, which gives you, um, some information about, um, how I work, what I do, www.ellieweale.com.And I’ve always helped women.Uh, most of my clients are coaches, healers, therapists.And I help women who are stressed to the max, they’ve lost themselves because they’ve been giving so much to everybody else.But, you know, go along to the website, have a look, and if you want to ask me anything, I’d love to hear from you.Beautiful.Thank you so much, Elly.This has been such a fantastic conversation.We will make sure, I will make sure everything is in the show notes so that people can find you, connect with you.Please reach out to Elly if you, you know, this is, this is exactly the kind of wisdom we all need to hear and have to have in our lives.It’s always, it’s always so, uh, enriching for me to, you know, finish one of these episodes because I just feel, it’s what gives me hope.Uh, somebody asked me today, like, “What gives you hope?”This gives me hope.This gives me hope for the future of, of humanity.So thank you so much for being a part of this.And thank you for your invitation.And to everybody li- Oh, my, my absolute pleasure.And to everybody listening, of course, please go check out Elly’s work.And if you wanna continue having these conversations, reach out to her or come on into the Naturally Conscious community.This is the place it is to hold, it was created as that container to hold this space, to hold our emerging brilliance with the plant kin home and all the other beings of nature as well.So please come in there and continue the conversations, participate with us.This is the place where we want you to continue to shine.And if you are looking for personal help, you can reach out to Elly, you can reach out to me.All I ask is that you reach out, because we can’t do this alone.It takes an ecosystem, it really does, in order for us to evolve into everything we’re supposed to be.So with that, remember to resist the urge to hold back your emerging bream- brilliance.This is me, Tigress Gardena.Bye.Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Reconnect With Plant Wisdom.To continue these conversations, join us in the Naturally Conscious community, your premier online ecosystem for plant reawakening and accelerated evolution and co-creation with otherkin.Here, you’ll find expansive discussions, interactive courses, live events, and supportive group programs like the Plant Wisdom book club and the Sprouts Writing and Creativity Group.Connect with like-minded individuals collaborating with plants to integrate these insights into life.Intro and outro music by Steve Shouley and Poinsetta from The Singing Life of Plants.That’s it for me, Tigress Gardena and my plant collaborators.Until next time, remember, resist the urge to hold back your emerging green brilliance.I’m out.Bye.