Lavender

Lavandula spp.

bathe me in twilight

she walks in on pointed purple slippers

assessing what is needed, guiding you to relinquish what is too heavy.

there is a lack of frivolity here. no dilly dallying or time for whispered sweet nothings.

she comes with gentle discernment, sobering your senses, sharpening your wits.

placing her pencil behind her ear and rolling back her shoulders to smooth your temples with her sedating touch.

leaving you with a pleasurable bite in the back of your jaw and a lighter step.

DS 2026

the name “Lavender” originates from the latin word “lavare” meaning wash or bathe.

“The Lavender” Eugene de Blaas

botanical identification

flowers: small and tubular with a spike inflorescence, ranging from pale lilac to deep purple

leaves and stem: thin, long and narrow leaves, greenish-gray in color, with square stems.

their offerings

forms - tea, tincture, topical, flower essence
embodying duality and versatility
parts used: flowers, sometimes aerials
energetics: cooling, bitter, drying
✧ stimulating while also profoundly relaxing
✧ antibacterial, anti fungal, antiseptic
✧ bitterness - relieve indigestion and calm muscle spasms
✧ hydrosols put aromatics on display in an approachable way and can be used in drinks, as a facial toner, and lotions and creams
✧ small amounts of EO used on small burns, for pain management and to disinfect wounds
✧ use in baths, insect repellant, hair rinse, the list goes on and on!

flower essence indications:
✧ over-stimulation of mental or spiritual forces
✧ spiritual sensitivity
✧ nervous or high-wired energy states

lavender being hung to dry for tea in PA →

“Lavender Fields with Rising Sun” Vincent Van Gogh

LAVENDER

The twilight hangs like smoke in the streets,
Pearly, veiling all the stretches in illusion;
And the new-lit lamps are the glow of hearts
That grip unseeing and unseen.

At the corner a lean young girl offers me lavender,
Offers me youth and romance to hold in my palm, closed-
thus.

She gives dreams to the world,
She who knows nought of dreams-
Gives gardens and waters, and the young shy moon
Hung in laurels;
Gives the smoke of evening in the willows,
And the complaining stream,
And the lavender’s subtle reawakening of old, dead thoughts.

(1917)

Archie Austin Coates

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