Magic in the Dandelions

I’m so grateful to have a yard now and I’m spending a lot of time getting to know it. As I write this, it is after the fall rains have started but before the first frost has come. The texture of the yard went from summer crunchy brown survival to lush green thriving just two weeks after the rains came back. The deep green is dotted with bright yellow splashes of dandelions and cat’s ears, commonly called false dandelions. On an exquisite clear sunny autumn afternoon, I sit among the buzzing of bees.

I am contemplating how many different plants there are in the yard, and I realize that it has relatively little actual grass. I’m fine with that, as monoculture makes me nervous. I find comfort in the diversity and natural wisdom of  the resilient landscape and its plants, insects, birds.

Instead of grass forming the green carpet in my yard, there is ground clover, a variety of geranium, Queen Anne’s lace and the dandelions. I’m happy that the people who lived here before I did let the yard grow wild, and did not cultivate a monoculture of grass.

I know wild yards aren’t for everyone, no judgment from me on that. Some people are comforted by soft carpets of grass especially if they have small children or animals who play in it. I once cultivated a grass area in my yard when my daughter was small and I wanted her to be able to crawl on the ground in a space without thorny things. But we can differ in our opinions of what we like, and that is also diversity and not monoculture.

Some people would say I have a yard full of weeds. But what makes us classify plants as weeds? When they don’t fit into the idea of what humans want?  Many plants that people regard as weeds are nutritious, medicinal and wise.  

Today it is the dandelions that are calling my attention. The yellow furred blossoms broadcast mighty energy, and generously create so much pollen that the bees quickly become laden with it. As soon as one flies off, another one takes its place. 

I watch their flowers open and close for relatively short periods of time during the day. I wonder what guides that cycle within them, as I can’t see a pattern in the amount or direction of sun on them. Maybe they know when they’ve given the bees enough pollen for the day. I feel that dandelion has an innate individual sense of timing that is woven into the perfection of the interdependence in their environment. Plant whisperer and shaman Davyd Farrell calls dandelions “time lords” as he feels them helping us navigate that dimension.

I am invited to make a flower essence from dandelion today, something I have been wanting to do all year but did not have the opportunity to do until now. As dandelion energy and essence instills into the water, messages begin to come through. They say…

Because we are adaptable to all environments, we assist with change.  We are transducers. We take solar light codes and assimilate them into the earth and her beings. We are a balance of sun and earth. We ground ether. We help assimilate the great changes going on now.

Later I get more as I sit and drum with the finished essence.

There is power in our presence, and we are many. We help you show up again and again. Each cycle blossoming, seeding, letting go, growing, blossoming, letting go again. We are always there. We are always serving our communities. We are strong, we lend you our strength, perseverance, our NOW presence. But also our sweetness and optimism. Nothing can get us down for long.

How can you work with us? We keep you going. That optimism for what is coming, stamina. The urge to keep sharing your innate beauty of your blossoms, keep releasing the seeds as you transform, keep blossoming anew. There is strength and beauty, harmony and service in that, and in showing up, being here now, aware and conscious in the midst of your transformation.

Perhaps some of us have felt like weeds in certain circumstances at times in our lives. We felt we did not fit in with the monoculture of the group or social landscape around us. And chances are good we may feel like that again. We can take the wisdom of dandelion with us for those times, the wisdom of being present to share our blossoms, our sweetness and tenacity of optimism in any environment. And we will notice the other weeds blossoming in the network of transformation at these times of shifting consciousness. 

May we find the magic in what others call weeds.