Each new single-herb Spagyric we create adds to our list of singles, but each one also increases the possibilities for new formulas, much like a painter mixing a new colour, which can then be used in countless paintings to come.
In our last update, we told you about new Spagyrics of Solomon’s Seal and Vervain, and since then, we have been exploring these Spagyrics and creating new combinations which highlight their intelligences.
Our first new Somalixir formula is called Vitality, which should give you some idea of its purpose. It was created to be a booster of energy and stamina for all types of tasks, both physical and mental. The structural, supportive, and strengthening effects of Solomon’s Seal are the core of this formula, aided by Prince Ginseng, Notoginseng, and Ashwagandha.
Together, they create a Vitality-boosting formula with a very sunny energy, stimulating to the brain and thought, yet calming and centering. This quiet strength radiates from the heart center, giving an awareness of the core and structure of the body. Vision and perception are also sharpened, and the entire tonic carries the Sun’s energy that it was created to express.
Listen is a more Initiatic Somalixir, created to magnify the effects of Heimia salicifolia, one of our favourite obscure Shamanic plants.
Heimia is used by the Mazatec to contact their ancestors and the spirit world through sound, by hearing their voices and guidance, as well as giving access to angelic music and the harmonies of the natural world.
We have long recommended Heimia for this kind of work, as well as to musicians of all kinds, to facilitate a better connection between sound and the sacred, and between the creation of music and the heart energy that it arises from.
Sound and the heart are connected in unique ways by Heimia, as one of its prominent effects is to alter the heart’s rate and rhythm in a way that changes the standing wave of blood created by its movement out from the heart and back again. This, in turn, makes the chest a more resonant cavity, making sounds more deeply felt in the center of the being. Put simply, it moves hearing from the head to the heart.
This effect is very prominent in our new Listen Somalixir, as well as one of the more interesting physiological side effects of the heart change- something we call “forest vision”.
As Stephen Harrod Buhner discusses in his excellent book, The Secret Teachings of Plants, when we focus our attention on something that is compelling or speaks to us spiritually, our heart rate slows and becomes more coherent. When that happens, there is a sympathetic response in the eyes, and the pupils dilate and vision shifts to the peripheral, becoming less sharp, yet more all-encompassing. Our perception is enhanced in subtle and intuitive ways, not in linear or intellectual modes.
We call this changed perception “forest vision”, because that is the place we most often encounter it, and where this type of seeing is most useful, being a reliable way to find herbs to wildcraft, for example. We have also found a number of Initiatic herbs facilitate this mode- Salvia divinorum and Heimia being the strongest.
Hiemia’s effect in Listen is very prominent, and creates what we might call “forest hearing”- a strange sensation of the ears bringing in energy and sound in a way that is more open, yet also more focused. The field of hearing is made more intense, but narrower, and this tightened focus is a gift of the Voacanga Seed also included in this formula.
Listen also brings some synaesthetic effects, such as hearing different sounds from different objects, which we feel is connected to the European Waterlily in the formula. Finally, the Vervain, although a European herb, takes the connection back to the ancestors and traditional use of Heimia in Mazatec culture.
We invite you to try these two newest formulas- Vitality can be found here in our store, and Listen’s page is here. Watch for more new formulas in the future, as we continue to explore all the facets of each new single herb we’ve added to our repertoire in recent months.
