Come closer, she whispered. I inched closer to her skinny white outstretched arm,  wrinkled from the sun. I noticed three large brown and black birds with red tipped tails circling above my head. Immediately I grounded myself in the slippery sand beneath my feet.  As I looked up, the aroma of her rich sweet pointy buds, sticky with golden resin, filled my  soul. It was then that she grabbed me. As if by a siren’s trailing notes of desert aroma, the branches became fingers  of an old crone with long curly yellow nails and I felt her cup the back of my neck and pull me through. Through the narrow cool green tubes of these branches I  quickly traveled into the center of her to the neck of her trunk.  As if to remind me she had a message, I was suspended in her third chakra for just a moment, then she let go.

I fell quickly into a deep pool of crystal clear blue water, the color of that day’s sky. I did not splash into the water, but rather slip,  feet first, as if through a perfectly molded keyhole. I did not make a sound, but the ripple that radiated  toward the shore was evidence I had become submerged, though I was watching from above. A coolness washed over me, but I did not feel wet. I began to notice my surroundings. It was a small pool surrounded in mossy draped banks.

Though I didn’t feel any real sense of direction, toward what I perceived as be behind me, was a waterfall with a dark cave beneath. A gentle flow of clear water, easily passed through, should I feel the urge. In front of me was a path carpeted in pink and purple wildflowers with a bright meadow far in the distance.  As soon as I became aware of my surroundings I heard:  “How close are you?” Then, just as I had come in, I was pulled out, upright and headfirst, and gently placed back in the sand. There was no pause, no moment of reflection, or consideration. It was simply a glimpse.

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How close are you? He shouted again. Drew was sitting under the shade of a large cottonwood about 100 meters away.  Not far, I said as I continued filling my hands with the resinous buds. We had driven almost two hours, and trudged through thick sandy earth fully exposed to the sun, with our children, to harvest medicine in a magic filled wash in the desert. Inspired by February’s Herbal Roots Zine, I asked around for any local cottonwood hot spots. My  sweet teacher graciously shared this  sacred place she herself had collected in before she moved east.

Honored by her gift, I was determined to return home with a good harvest. But a vision! A journey! I have invoked many a plant spirit intentionally, but this, this was the first time one of them invited me in. When we arrived at the wash it was split in two by a road. At first we went over to the left side. The cottonwoods were very near the road and we wouldn’t need to walk the girls in too far. But as we got closer to the trees we realized they weren’t ready. The buds were all quite small and I was overcome with feeling like I was trespassing. Now I am a bit paranoid sometimes, but this was a clear message. We were not welcome.

As I turned to put Sage in her car seat, I noticed a raised mound  directly in the center of the wash on the other side of the road. It was about 1/4 mile in and upon it was a bright white tree with a vibrant halo of green across the very tips of its branches. We checked in with the girls and decided to head over for a look. But we were stopped by  a closer cottonwood on the bank of the wash brimming with large beautiful buds and branches that spilled out just at my height as if they had been waiting for us instead.   I easily filled my basket. Satisfied, I started to make my way toward the car. But then a few interesting things happened.

Both girls needed diapers changed. We were running low on water and this gave us an excuse to go back to the car and get some.  Then, we heard a large bird of prey calling in the distance which caused me to look up. As my gaze followed the bird,  I was met once again by that tree on the mound.  Come closer, she whispered…

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Check out the rest of the pictures from our day here. And be on the look out for more details about the medicine we made when she came home with us.