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“Do you want gloves?” I asked my brother. He was pulling our wheelbarrow out of the woods behind the garage at my cottage which I knew was situated in a pile of poison oak.
I had looked to use the wheel barrow myself a week ago but improvised with something else when I saw all the poison oak.
“No,” he said. “Let me show you a little bit about Mother Nature.”
Hesitant, I went to see what he was talking about. He grabbed the wheel barrow and pointed out what was poison oak and what wasn’t. He’s always been a bit of a nature savant. He had a subscription to Ranger Rick as a kid and because we spent a lot of our summers in the woods at this cottage, he got well acquainted with the flora and fauna. He went plants, I went birds.
I spent just as much time in nature as he did but I didn’t like to go so deep into the woods. I recall how upset my mom would get when my brother came home with a rash from poison ivy or poison oak. I did not want to fall to the same fate.
Also, sidebar, I have Saturn in the 12th house in my birth chart. This can show up as fear of going deep or fear of the unknown. As we mature, we are meant to grow in the place we have Saturn. This holds up for me since I spend so much time in the unknown of the other side. But as always, I digress.
“This is poison oak. This is creeping myrtle. And this is jewelweed,” he said as he pointed to a long willowy plant next to the poison oak.
It seemed to have almost no root base as it was easily plucked from the ground.
He snapped the stem and rubbed this plant all over his hands.
Turns out jewelweed is a natural antidote to poison oak. He explained that they grow together.
I’m over here thinking, ok, but who planted it?
Turns out, they naturally grow together.
Whaaaatttt?
That was my reaction when I heard this. You know that exploding head emoji? I felt the actual sensation of that happen in my brain.
Nature organically puts the cure next to the evil.
I felt strangely soothed by this discovery. Is it the order of things that the cure sits next to the ailment? The thing we fear the most has a remedy for it nearby.
I have trouble identifying poison ivy and poison oak. I confuse them with other things. Which mostly prevents me from going into the woods at all. As a kid I never got these rashes but as an adult I had poison ivy and it was not my favorite.
I ended up on steroids which caused my hands to peel and other weird side effects. It did eventually clear up but it was aggressive to say the least.
In case you are curious and need to use it one day, jewelweed grows a lovely orange cone shaped flower on it. It’s too early in the season for that now. This plant is associated with joy. Some attribute it to its orange flower, others because it grows in water and brings harmony to its users.
Should we no longer spend time looking for poison plants but the pretty orange flower to let us know trouble might be lurking?
Are there children who grow up with the belief that the universe is trying to protect them and other children who only look for the poison and don’t realize there are helpers all around? Absolutely yes.
And what does the world look like for these children who see the true nature of the things?
I am sure they would have less fear for one thing. And perhaps, as a result, more faith that things will always just work out.
Can we all have the faith to believe that there is a cure to the darkness?
Because I maybe didn’t know about this weed but I do know that love outshines the fear and darkness.
How absolutely awesome is it that the conditions which grow a poison plant are the same that grow the friendly flower with sap to prevent the rash from forming?
For ever curious me, I looked into this to see what other examples exist in nature. There are nettle plants common in the UK that sting which can be alleviated by a dock leaf which grows nearby. I found another example of two trees native to Mexico who have the same relationship, they even have the same flower blossom!
Botanists call this "sting and relief".
I call it magic.
Isn’t balance what it’s all about anyway? Nature, our bodies, energy, everything is always trying to get back to the middle. To the sweet spot.
My Dad always told us when shopping for things not to buy the most or least expensive one, always get the mid-price one. This reasoning seemed obvious and it has served me many times. Everything certainly feels better in the middle. Is this the way to more balance?
There is a natural order to things. Of this I have no doubt. I am a student of the universe. I am always looking for patterns and cycles. Good and evil share the same soil. Balance is key to all things. That is the essence of the universe.
My wish is for us all to be able to look for the jewelweed. In every situation, no matter how dark.
Fred Rogers aka Mr. Rogers implored us to “Always look for the helpers.” This was advice his mom shared with him during times of chaos or trouble. Certainly poison oak isn’t as serious as say a pandemic or a personal crisis but the premise is the same.
Jewelweed.
I am going to tweak Fred Rogers and invite us to always look for the jewelweed.
In the darkest moments of my life, there has always been jewelweed. Friends who come clean your house so you can host a post funeral meal. A coworker cuts your lawn when you are sick. Strangers who donate to a go fund me. Synchronicities that show up to soothe a sore soul.
Jewelweed.
I love this so hard.
Where have you experienced jewelweed? I’d love to hear from you.
PS If you want to explore your own Saturn placement, I am here for you.
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