I find a lot of the work I’m supposed to do with the flowers revolves around helping the world to understand their multi-dimensionality and repairing the ways they’ve been misunderstood or boxed in. 

There’s so much fear around herbs. Just look up a plant online and you’ll likely find article after article warning of their toxicity or calling out lack of scientific proof of their efficacy in healing. I wonder if maybe that fear helps keep them protected from those who wouldn’t honor them completely. Those who respect the earth and her gifts know they show up in many forms and each has something incredible to offer.

I don’t think my work with Star of Bethlehem is any different.

If you look into the folklore of this plant, you find that it has been considered “unlucky” to have in your house... A “death plant”, they called it.

Interestingly, Star of Bethlehem can be related to death. It’s powerful medicine for easing the grief that comes with transition. It helps us in our most sensitive and open times… those when we are free-falling into the endless chasm of broken-heartedness from losing someone or something we loved deeply. 

This brilliant ally seals up our energy fields, keeping us strong and protected in our vulnerability… Turning on a soothing light in the darkness of the void… Creating a portal-way for us to connect with our angels, our ancestors, the otherworld… Guiding us through the in-between, safely. 

I wonder if the folklore mistook the presence of Star of Bethlehem as the cause of death, rather than the balm for death. For I find, without fail, the plants we need show up when we need them most.

Months before tragically losing my grandmother, I picked up a Star of Bethlehem essence from a shop, thinking it was something for a gift. When I tuned it, I hadn’t received clarity about who it was for yet, so I held onto it. When my grandmother passed, I started taking the essence blend and felt profoundly supported by it.

The call of Star of Bethlehem was strong, and I started finding her flowers in the wild. At first, it was only a single patch on the land I lived on, but as my allyship with her expanded, so did her presence.

Today, an abundance of patches arrive every spring on the land I tend. Star of Bethlehem has become one of my closest allies. She arrived right on time, as I find flowers always do, and she mended my heart. She guided me through some of the most painful months of my life and she continuously reveals more of her magic to me.