Embodied Ancestry
Guest Facilitator
Liridona Duraku
Artist, Herbalist, and Land Diviner
Liridona Duraku is an Albanian American artist, herbalist and land diviner. She works through mediums of oil paint and ceramics to tell stories of land and kinship. She is also an herbalist, completing 6 herbal trainings and studying herbal folk wisdom, flower essences and land divination. Her work is a combination of ancestral Albanian Balkan wisdom and learned studies. She teaches classes on land divination, herbalism and flower essences.
Embodied Ancestry, Week 6
Flower Essences as Ancestral Allies
Flower Essence Class
Flower essences are energetic imprints of plants. They allow us to engage with the spirit of the plant and the emotional and energetic healing they offer. Working with flower essences is working with a plant ally that you can share your heartache and grievances with and in return they offer support. But whenever we work with the earth and plants we must always find reciprocal relationships and honor the plant and the land from which they came.
In this class we will discuss how to ethically craft and work with flower essences as well as developing a deep relationship with the plants and flowers around us.
Please bring to class a mason jar with water, a bit of either brandy or apple cider vinegar (whatever you feel most comfortable ingesting), some paper and a pen and feel free to set up a little altar for class if that feels right for you. You will also need to choose a plant / flower to work with and bring the plant to class as well.
How to choose a plant ally: as intentionally as possible you can set out to choose a plant outside from the wild, from your garden or local farm or florist. But if you are purchasing a flower or stem please make sure it isn’t sprayed with harmful pesticides or unethically grown. We want to start the relationship with reverence. As we choose a plant ally we do not need to know who the plant is or what they are called. We can start the relationship same as we would a person with polite and quiet curiosity. Set out to find your plant with a clear mind and do not question where you gravitate, the plant is calling you and it’s up to you to hear it. It can be a flower, a stem, a tree or shrub.
Ask the plant's permission before harvesting and wait until you feel the plants answer, you will be able to tell if a plant wants to work with you. Once you have chosen each other, leave a gift for the earth in return. This can be watering some dry plants close by, it can be leaving something that will compost well in that area, it can be a favorite rock or stone or simply a strand of hair.
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