Day: October 10, 2012

Amira Mudfaery Nadira is a passionate artist and creative being. Amira expresses her love for nature and other realms through her imagination with a diverse range of mediums and inspirational tools. She is constantly creating art, music and crafts to spread this inspiration and natural knowing. Often facilitating learning and touring with her gifts, Amira can be found faery-ing around the world.

Amira is passionate about the innate connection we as human beings have with nature and planet Earth. The natural healing arts are a readily available and widely used facet of that connection. Nature intelligence is another means of connection. Amira is also a bridge between these realms. She has studied natural healing extensively and has a deep passion for the caring use of medicinal plants and healing modalities.

“Painting these healers in Nature’s Creation has been an inspiring journey for me into the deeper expression of the plant realm,” Amira says. “I have learned more about the qualities of these amazing plants as well as the life held within each. The illustrations express and share the knowledge, depth and wisdom of these plants. I am excited to have this book and cards in my precious collection.”

Jennifer Michelsen (or Divyajyoti, as most call her today) is a yoga teacher in the Satyananda tradition (Bihar School of Yoga, India) and a qualified teacher of Permaculture and Sustainable Community Design. She lives part of the year at Anahata Yoga Centre in Golden Bay, New Zealand, and part of the year in Byron Bay, Australia. Jennifer works as an independent representative for One Group (Miessence), an Australian organics company, and Lifewave, a revolutionary system of acupuncture using non-transdermal patch placement on energy pathways in the body. She has coordinated large organic gardens for many years and studied organics, medicinal plants and healing. However, her passion is working co-creatively with nature.

Jennifer was introduced to the idea of working with Nature Intelligence during a six-week organics class in 1997. Reading Machaelle Small Wright’s books on Perelandra Nature Research Centre and working co-creatively with Nature Intelligence catapulted her into another realm of exploration. Since that time she has co-created all her design and implementation work as coordinator of the organic gardens at Anahata by connecting to Nature Intelligence and establishing a conscious, active personal partnership with Nature through kinesiology.

Nature’s Creation – Knowledge and Guidance through Healing Plants evolved from Jennifer’s work with Nature Intelligence. She believes that part of her soul journey has been to create this book and the accompanying cards. It took two years to begin the process. The project had seemed totally overwhelming until, during a coning (conference with Nature), it became clear that it was overwhelming only in her mind. Nature “persuaded” her not to look at the “big picture” but instead to start with one flower and move on from there. From this inspiration, Nature’s Creation – Knowledge and Guidance through Healing Plants slowly evolved.

Mother Earth was the first physician and healer. Some day, everyone will realize that she alone owns the true pharmacy in medicine, for all drugs are made from Her garden, or a chemical substitute that replicates the effects and benefits of Her plants.
— Alma Hutchens

Nature’s Creation – Knowledge and Guidance through Healing Plants is a book and cards designed with three interconnected purposes in mind:

• You can learn about medicinal plants, their history, myths and, most importantly, their healing properties
• You can utilise the medicinal qualities of the specific plants through all their aspects, including flower essences, essential oils (aromatherapy) and herbal teas
• Or, you can choose an insight card to find out the lesson that each plant teaches and integrate it into your daily life

You are invited to choose any or all of these. The three parts can be utilised separately or as a whole depending on the information and support you need.

Natures Creation book and cards have been designed with three interconnected purposes in mind:

• learning about medicinal plants, their history, myths and, most importantly, their healing properties
• utilising the medicinal qualities of the specific plants through all their aspects, including flower essences, essential oils (aromatherapy) and herbal teas
• the lesson that each plant teaches.
  The planets and element associated with each plant are also included.

The author believes that we humans are not separate from any other life form on this planet, that we have a symbiotic relationship with nature and that all life is guided by planetary energy and intrinsically connected with the elements … air, water, fire, earth. Her philosophy is very much aligned with that of Nicolas Culpeper (1616 – 1654), an English botanist, herbalist, physician and astrologer who was a staunch advocate of astrology and its usefulness in medicine. According to Culpeper,
plants are able to channel and embody the subtle life energies of the planets, which are then consumed as food and medicine. Through an elaborate system of planetary sympathies and antipathies, he found the right herb or formula to treat each patient’s illness.
Other helpful information, including yoga and meditation techniques, is incorporated into the book and cards. There are also recipes for a variety of herbal preparations applicable to each plant.
Each card has been designed to provide insight and to aid in recognising an issue and facilitating its release or simply in using a particular plant for personal support. Tinctures, decoctions, flower essences, essential oils and herbal teas can assist in the healing process, balance and stabilise the electrical system in the body, and therefore become powerful tools in healing on physical, mental and emotional levels. Yoga, meditation and other healing modalities described in the book can be used to strengthen the plants’ healing abilities and assist in transforming, aligning and bringing balance. Healing is a 50 ⁄50 participation of nature and the individual.
All plants have incredible healing properties if we utilise what nature is offering us. However, health begins with the individual. The food we eat, the water we drink, and our lifestyle and environment play a part in our physical and mental wellbeing and are all part of a healthy body and mind.
Many of the Insights in the book embrace spiritual practices for personal growth and balance, including yoga, meditation and fire ceremony. Yogic philosophy teaches us to look at all perspectives with an open heart and mind … then ultimately decide what is best for ourselves as individuals. One of the main philosophies of yoga is to find our own truth.
In connection with adopting the path of spirituality, the author especially relates to this paragraph in the book Eat Love Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert:

Religious rituals often develop out of mystical experimentation. Some brave scout goes looking for a new path to the divine, has a transcendent experience and returns home a prophet. He or she brings back to the community tales of heaven and maps of how to get there. Then others repeat the words, the works, the prayers, or the acts of this prophet, in order to cross over, too. Sometimes this is successful – sometimes the same familiar combination of syllables and devotional practices repeated generation after generation might carry many people to the other side. Sometimes it doesn’t work, though. Inevitably even the most original new ideas will eventually harden into dogma or stop working for everybody.

Myriad philosophies on spiritual growth exist today. The Insights in this book suggest specific practices … many of them evolving from yogic philosophy. This is just one way to approach a situation. Buddha said:

Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin.
Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true.

In Nature’s Creation the word “herb” is used for any medicinal plant, in keeping with its usage by herbalists worldwide. In addition to herbaceous perennials, herbs include trees, shrubs, annuals, vines and more primitive plants, such as fungi.

Or you can purchase a Kindle ebook version from the Amazon website (click here).

Knowledge & Guidance Through Healing Plants

Are you interested in your health and wellbeing?
All plants have incredible healing properties if you utilise what Nature is offering to you. The food you eat, the water you drink, your lifestyle and environment play a part in your physical and mental wellbeing and are important components for a healthy body and mind. Natures Creation – Knowledge and Guidance Through Healing Plants evolved from Jennifer Michelsen’s work with Nature Intelligence.

Use the book and cards to learn about over 40 medicinal plants, their history, myths, and, most importantly, their healing properties. Discover how you can utilise the plants’ medicinal qualities through a variety of herbal preparations. Tinctures, decoctions, flower essences, essential oils and herbal teas can be powerful tools in healing on all levels – physical, mental and emotional.

Each card has also been designed to provide insight and to aid you in recognising an issue and facilitating its release or simply in using a particular plant for personal support. Choose a card daily or whenever you need guidance and support. Browse the corresponding chapter to get a feeling for the plant and what it’s offering you and to reflect on the gentle lesson it teaches.

Many of the insights in the book embrace spiritual practices for personal growth and balance. Yoga, meditation, fire ceremony and other modalities can be used to strengthen the plants’ healing abilities and assist in transforming, aligning and bringing balance.

Jennifer invites you to share the knowledge, wisdom and beauty of Natures Creation. .. 

To buy the book and cards through our website store click here

Or you can purchase a Kindle ebook version from the Amazon website (click here).

To buy the book/cards in New Zealand please email Anahata Yoga Retreat at: yoga@anahata-retreat.org.nz

The air was fragrant with a thousand trodden aromatic herbs, with fields of lavender, and with the brightest roses blushing in tufts all over the meadows….
— William Cullen Bryant