Welcome to the conclusion of our series on the spiritual practice of flight and the plants that support it!
In our first article, we talked about the legends and truths behind the witches’ flights, their brooms and ointments, and the tricky chemistry that practice entailed.
In our second article, we discussed Eastern legends of gravity-defiance, including flying carpets and leaping kung fu masters.
Even with the danger of the witches’ approach, and the rarity of the Taoist flight herb Wild Red Asparagus, we’ve felt that flight as a spiritual activity has been important enough to so many cultures that we should create something for modern shamans and travelers.
A few years ago, this became possible when several flying herbs became known to us, all at once, it seemed.
First, we learned about Wild Red Asparagus, which we described in the Eastern Flight article.We tried some ourselves, and were amazed at the feeling of levity that it brings to both body and spirit. We were told that it would induce flying dreams, and we found that to be true to an incredible degree.
We started working with the Asparagus on its own, and it became a very popular Spagyric right away, as both a Shen tonic and an initiatic. But then, the SARS epidemic hit China, and we suddenly could not find the herb from any of our very few sources.
In keeping with its connection to the air element, Wild Red Asparagus is also one of the premiere lung tonics, and when the severe respiratory illness hit China, the government stopped allowing its export so that their own citizens could have it for healing. So, this already rare herb became impossible to find, for good reason, since it was a great help in SARS.
Before Asparagus had become totally inaccessible, we had included it in a Somalixir Formula called Flight. One of the other herbs that came to us was the centerpiece of this formula- the Ecuadorian shamanic plant Petunia “Shanin”.
Shanin is a special cultivar of the petunias many gardeners are familiar with, and looks much like them. Petunias are nightshades, and so carry some of the same alkaloids and much of the same energy as their relatives the witches used, Mandrake and Belladonna. But Shanin is a unique expression of the nightshade intelligence, as it creates the classic flying quality, but without the dangerous physical and mental side effects of its European cousins.
Working with the Shanin, we experienced much of the same effects as the other nightshades, including a bit of dizziness, some warmth, and an intense feeling of the ground rushing away from the feet. We were thrilled to find this intelligence in a safer plant, and so we created a single Spagyric from it, as well as our Flight Somalixir.
The Flight also contains Syrian Rue, already discussed as the “Flying Carpet plant” in our second article. Syrian Rue has an interesting way of creating the flight quality, in which the ground seems to jump away more suddenly or abruptly, as if you are standing in an elevator that suddenly skips on its cables.
And, in both our and others’ experience, Syrian Rue facilitates not just levity generally, but the ability to travel in quite specific ways according to intention and Will. This can be used for the classic Rue experience of traveling to meet with teacher beings, or for the practice of Skrying, in which the consciousness travels to another place to see specific sites, objects or people.
All of these herbs combine into a powerful whole in the Flight Somalixir, which we have been able to make again as we recently obtained a shipment of the Wild Red Asparagus. We’re pleased to keep offering the Flight for as long as we can get its herbs, since it is a great support to astral work, healing journeys, and even movement and physical activities like dance or yoga.
We hope you have enjoyed this series on the herbs of flight, and that you have a blessed and wonderful Samhain season, enjoying the gifts that season of thin veils can bring.
