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Ep.112 Allow Your Essence to Evolve with Elly Yule
62 Plays25 days ago
This episode with Elly Yule is one of those conversations that lingers in your bones. We explore the beauty of allowing your essence to evolve—especially for those of us walking the feminine, wild, and shamanic paths.
Whether you're feeling burnt out, disconnected from your magic, or unsure how to fully be yourself in a world that prefers control, this conversation will feel like a homecoming. We don’t need to fix ourselves—we need to remember who we are and allow the plants to guide us back.
Topics Covered about Evolving with Plant Wisdom
➡️ Fireweed as a plant ally for rebirth after burnout
➡️ Wildness as a sacred path to authenticity and presence
➡️ Dance and vibrational communication with plants
➡️ Reclaiming your essence through the shamanic feminine journey
Chapters
00:00 Intro & why this conversation matters
06:00 Meet Elly Yule: Crow Woman
13:30 Weeds as Wisdom
21:30 Ethical Foraging & Reciprocal Relationships
30:00 Lawns, Wildness & the cost of disconnection
38:00 Finding presence beyond words
46:00 Autumn Woman to Crone
54:00 Closing insights & next steps
Resources Mentioned
🌱 Elly's Work
🌱 Spirit Wild Plant Quiz
🌱 Mini Voyage Series
🌱 Personalized mentorship with me and the Plants
Expanded Show Notes
☝🏽ReConnect with Plant Wisdom podcast Ancient and modern knowledge from biology to spirituality about the wondrous ways plants help you lead a Naturally Conscious life.
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Transcript
Introduction to Episode 112
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Reconnect with Plant Wisdom. It's me, Tigrea Gardenia. This episode is so beautiful.
00:00:13
Speaker
Beautiful. that's That's the only way I can describe it. It was beautiful. The whole conversation, the message, the Such an important message for you to hear, especially if you're a woman, no offense to the men, or very, you know, really want to tap into your feminine energy.
00:00:31
Speaker
not Not because we talked about it, but because it just really, we got there. And
Meet Ellie Yule: A Journey with Plants
00:00:37
Speaker
i have so much respect for Ellie Yule, and I know you're going to love her so much.
00:00:43
Speaker
I mean, this is what so many of us aspire to be, the way we want to live our lives, that beautiful presence and peace that you experience. it's It's amazing.
00:00:56
Speaker
There are so many things that we talked about. We talked about dance. We talked about weeds. We talked about plant communication. We talked about presence. But more than anything, we talked about allowing yourself to fully emerge, to merge into the world around you, always keeping your true essence and really allowing that to emerge.
00:01:17
Speaker
There is so much I want to tell you about Ellie, but really her words are are perfect. So there's no need for me to keep talking because you're going to learn everything. so much about her from her.
00:01:29
Speaker
So please enjoy episode 112, Allow Your Essence to Evolve. Welcome to Reconnect with Plant Wisdom.
Tigrea's Nature-Inspired Wisdom
00:01:40
Speaker
I'm your host, Tigria Gardenia, nature-inspired mentor, certified life coach, and the founder of the Naturally Conscious Community. For over a decade, I've been known as a world ambassador for plant advocacy, working closely with plants to share their practical wisdom to help you consciously embody the elements of life that nourish your evolution.
00:01:59
Speaker
In this podcast, I delve into ancient and modern knowledge from biology to spirituality about the wondrous ways of plants. Together, we'll explore how ecosystem thinking helps you overcome limiting beliefs, understand the true nature of relationships, and live an authentic, impactful life.
00:02:19
Speaker
Ellie, I am so excited to have you here. i just, I have to tell you, when I went back to my notes from our kind of pre-interview call, and I was like, okay, what do I want to talk about with Ellie? I just want to read to you what I wrote as my notes, because my notes are kind of like my own little shorthand.
00:02:37
Speaker
I wrote, fireweed, crow woman, Celtic wise woman came into the world being able to communicate with plants, poetic, lyrical.
Ellie's Childhood and Training in Plant Communication
00:02:52
Speaker
Like this was my world of Ellie. So,
00:03:00
Speaker
which I found quite beautiful in itself. and So can you round that out for us? Let everybody know who is Ellie Yule.
00:03:09
Speaker
I love that list because it actually describes me to a T. um I came into this world and I always had to be outside, though. I always wanted to be out in nature. I was always communicating with the plants.
00:03:22
Speaker
If my mum couldn't find me, I'd either be under a tree reading a book or I would be having an in-depth discussion with some flowers or talking to the birds at the end of the garden.
00:03:34
Speaker
And this has kind of been with me all my life. And and i decades later, I ended up going to Alaska to train in in flower essences and vibrational medicine, which opened it all up to an even better level. And now I hear the frequencies of plants and everything so much more.
00:03:55
Speaker
And um when I received the information from plants, because I became a flower essence producer and practitioner, and why not the kind of way that I received the inton information from plants, is it's quite poetic. It's like channeled and poetic. And I have to write it all down and then put it into an order that people can understand.
00:04:16
Speaker
um The lyrical is interesting because I've also danced most of my life. So for me, then movement flow is an important part of energy and living.
Shamanic Journey and Fireweed Connection
00:04:31
Speaker
And um the interesting thing, the Crow Woman came about from my shamanic training years. I was seven years as a shamanic initiate with Celtic and Native American Indian.
00:04:42
Speaker
Wonderful, wonderful elders. And Crow Woman was the first medicine name I received. And that's my public medicine name. I have a private one that's only used in ceremony.
00:04:56
Speaker
And fireweed for me, and I discovered that plant when I was a little girl. I was on a train with my mother and I looked out the window and I saw these tall spires of the most beautiful deep pink flowers.
00:05:11
Speaker
Mummy, aren't they beautiful? And my mum gave me a cuff around the ear and said, they're weeds, they're weeds. And I thought, they're most beautiful flowers I'd ever seen. And these flowers have had come up in my life so many, many times.
00:05:27
Speaker
and The first essence I ever made was when I was in Norway teaching, And it was a time of a fireweed and the fireweed is flowering. And then, of course, when before that, and I'd been in Alaska round about the time when fireweed is flowering as well.
00:05:42
Speaker
And I learned a lot about the plant. It's the first plant to regenerate the soil
Lifelong Plant Allies and Weeds Significance
00:05:47
Speaker
after fire. You know, it puts everything back in the soil that you need to help everything else grow.
00:05:54
Speaker
shamanically, for me, i think it's a fantastic flower stroke herb because If you're feeling utterly burnt out, if you're experiencing burnout, fireweed's the one I go to.
00:06:08
Speaker
It restores really quickly. It helps you. And I like because the shape of the flower, there's almost like a cross in the flower. So it helps you to balance your vertical and horizontal axis.
00:06:21
Speaker
And, you know, the four petals alike, the four foundations alike. you know And that's kind of all woven into, after 40 years of practice and clients over the years, my umbrella is now Wise Woman Wisdom, because it incorporates the the counselling, the healing, the therapies, the coaching, and the plant medicine, which is my favourite bit. Yeah.
00:06:51
Speaker
And i love i love that how the, how do I explain this? The way that the plants have accompanied you through all these different pieces. I think it's really, um i often see this in any different kind of practitioner where they're inspired from this and then somehow kind of lose their way. They get more caught up in the essences or, you know, the oils or whatever it is that they're working with as a tool.
00:07:22
Speaker
And they sort of lose sight of the deep relationship and how, It's the plant themselves that's going to keep telling you how to use, how because there is an evolution that's happening, right? And so something that you might have learned in a book at the very beginning was great, but today it might be very different or it might be very different from that for that particular person who needs something different from you.
00:07:47
Speaker
So I really love the way that you, you know, you've always kept the plants as your not just guides, but partners in this, it sounds. and and i And that to me is always super inspiring because it it changes the work. that you do.
00:08:04
Speaker
It changes the way that you interact, not just with the plant, but with the people that you're sort of, to a certain extent, mediating for. You're helping bring them closer to that plant in a way that they might not be able to do.
00:08:18
Speaker
do Do you find as your, and and but ah but by the way, I just made a whole nother set of notes because there's a whole series of things that I want to talk about. um But I want to start with the idea of that, that childhood experience where you say to mommy, look at this beautiful flower and your mother and your mother says, those are weeds.
00:08:40
Speaker
Do you find that, ah that that has changed? Do you feel like, I just feel I've been working very much with wild plants again recently with spirit wild plants. I'm i'm loving, I went back into, I have a quiz to help you identify your spirit wild plant.
00:08:57
Speaker
And I just went back into it and completely redid all of the sequences, the emails, the activities, the rituals. And then I have a this mini voyage with plants. that you get as um that you can ah ah continue on that relationship with each one of these plants.
00:09:15
Speaker
And I just
Evolving Relationships with Wild and Spirit Plants
00:09:16
Speaker
redid everything, which was so exciting because in the years that I've had this, I have obviously deepened the relationship, but in particular, two plants kind of came up and were like, it's about time you come back to us because ah we got things to say about things that are going on in your life right now.
00:09:35
Speaker
And so I ended up with like, you know, i worked through all of them, but then two of them are like, we're staying for a while because we need we need to talk. And so do you find that there is a greater understanding besides just food and medicine from that kind of medicine, which is beautiful of people coming into contact with what we call them weeds or as I call them, you know, wild plants.
00:10:01
Speaker
I think when you work with plants, you tend to connect with people who also work with plants. And so I'm surrounded by a lot of people who do understand it. I mean, my clients, another nickname for me, I'm the weed woman because, you know, from a sort of folk herbalist, backyard herbalist point of view, which I am, I'm not a medical herbalist, but i use what's in my area, in my backyard.
00:10:25
Speaker
And i love the weeds because it's free medicine and they're so versatile as well. But I agree with what you say. There are certain plants that come back at those times in your life when you need them.
Cultural Understanding and Foraging Ethics
00:10:38
Speaker
But also you also have plant allies that may be with you your entire life as well. When I was going from essences more into the herbal side of things, the first herbal ally that called me was plantain.
00:10:55
Speaker
And Plantain has been with me the whole time. Plantain is so versatile and i absolutely adore it. I let it run wild in my garden. My garden's a mess. my I have a wild garden.
00:11:09
Speaker
I love those. i just walked by a little meadow-y area around here and I kept looking, going, why would anybody why want a manicured lawn when you can have this?
00:11:20
Speaker
It was so beautiful. I was like, why would you ever want to? i mean, you can mow this if if it becomes, you know, too much. But it's it was just so colorful and beautiful and all these different shapes and sizes and heights.
00:11:34
Speaker
It was just inspiring to just walk through. i was like, I don't I just don't understand lawns. I i don't.
00:11:46
Speaker
They're nice to sit on and they're nice to play games on. But if I had my way, my husband likes a lot a bit of lawn. He likes to mow the lawn. um I would have the whole thing, flower beds, veg beds, everything.
The Transformative Power of Plant Music
00:12:00
Speaker
And now I just want to take a very quick break so that I can share with you one of our eco-conscious business partners. For over a decade, I've had the profound joy of working with the music of the plants, a musical instrument made just for plants.
00:12:14
Speaker
This very music is what sparked my own plant reawakening, guiding me to reconnect with nature in an entirely new way. Imagine listening to the harmonious melodies of your plant companions and feeling their wisdom and presence through the language of music.
00:12:29
Speaker
It's an experience that has transformed my life and the lives of so many other people. If you're curious about the hidden songs of plants and want to connect to your plant friends in a completely new way, I invite you to discover more at tigriadagenia.com slash music of the plants.
00:12:47
Speaker
It's in the show notes. Plant music is great for healing, sharing and personal connection. Let's continue our journey of personal evolution and plant consciousness together with the songs of plants.
00:13:00
Speaker
Beautiful. I love it so much. The other thing that you talked about that and and by the way, I completely agree. There are those plants that no matter where you and they don't have to even be physically with you to be.
00:13:11
Speaker
always with
Dance and Movement: Enhancing Plant Connection
00:13:12
Speaker
you in some way, shape or form. And I find that the other interesting part. I have a tree that up up from the sacred woods, when I used to live in the sacred woods temple here at Dhammenhur, who gave me the name Luca, I've no idea why, because I would have never pictured that name.
00:13:28
Speaker
And ah Luca is a chestnut tree. And we have a lot of chestnuts in this area. But Luca in particular, I spent um a good year listening and connecting to Luca Luca was right outside of my um of my cabin where I was.
00:13:44
Speaker
And for a while I would play i would connect Luca at night to the music of the plants and put one speaker inside and one speaker to Luca so Luca could hear. you know, key self.
00:13:55
Speaker
And then i would put it on right as I was going to bed so that we could dream together. There's another technique here in Dhammenhurst specifically to dream with a tree. And so I would do that. So I would activate that connection. And then I would listen for the music to sort of see when Luca was also going to sleep and so that we could actually dream together.
00:14:13
Speaker
And since then, that connection is so strong that it doesn't matter where I am in the world, I could sit down, kind of do the symbol to connect to Luca and be right there.
00:14:28
Speaker
It's as if, you know, Ki is right here next to me, talking to me, experiencing things. i used to i used to use Ki as ah as a remote viewer so that I could see what was happening in the sacred woods.
00:14:39
Speaker
I would ask, like, give me an update when I was out of town or something. Give me an update on what's going on in the family. And such. It was magical. It's totally beautiful. But one of the things you mentioned was dance.
00:14:50
Speaker
And this very much excited me because I was also a dancer for many years. And this little tree, this little plant with this dracaena right behind me or, ah you know, snake plant or mother-in-law's tongue, as they're called in different countries.
00:15:06
Speaker
This one in particular is one that has always told me, I don't want to talk to you. If you want to converse with me and communicate with me, you need to use your body and you need to dance. And so this plant really helped me in a in a conscious way when I was working and and continue to work with this plant to re-embody my body, like to to come back in and to recognize the knowledge, the the wisdom, the the connection and channel almost channel that my body is, not through what my body brings to my brain, quote unquote, but more of that intuitive and even digesting of knowledge. If I move a lot, I can understand things that are coming to me because I can pick them up in so many different ways. I'd love to hear how dance and you know that lyrical plant connection, plant communication happened for you.
00:16:01
Speaker
The thing about plants as well is the vibrational frequency of the plants. And so that's why plants love it when you tone to them and you make sounds to them. They completely resonate and they blossom and flourish if you sing to them or tone to them.
00:16:17
Speaker
And it's the same when you move your body because your body is emitting a vibrational frequency. Your vibrational f frequency is going to go up when you're doing something that fills you with joy. and the plant will respond to that, you know.
00:16:31
Speaker
and um For 20 years, I ran an annual women's retreat and we did a moon dance. And few days before building up to it, I was connecting with all the trees and the plants in the area where we would have our sacred dance.
00:16:47
Speaker
And the area, you know, the plants and the shrubs and the flowers, they just loved it, absolutely loved it. And we would create a circle and we would leave it there because the vibration was so nice.
00:17:03
Speaker
And we leave it there for the creatures to enjoy during the night afterwards. And
Respecting and Connecting with Nature
00:17:08
Speaker
we dance. It's like two or three dances that we do to raise the vibration.
00:17:14
Speaker
And you can just feel... And sometimes the trees would move. You'd be aware that the trees were moving. They'd be rustling. And, you know, be completely still, you know, because none of the candles were flickering.
00:17:27
Speaker
But you'd be aware. And we think, is that is that a squirrel or something in the tree? But it wasn't. It was just all you suddenly heard is enormous creak from the tree.
00:17:39
Speaker
And you think, oh, and I just check in, are we doing this right? Are you happy?
00:17:47
Speaker
You know, um dance has always been my saviour, but I think the connection with trees is so powerful. and I wish more people respected and understood trees a lot better.
00:18:01
Speaker
You know, you can learn so much about your own body from a tree. Flexibility, movement, strong roots, strong core. how to communicate, how to interconnect with other people through your roots.
00:18:16
Speaker
And there was a tree, i lived in Reading in England for a few years. I lived by Thames and the Queen's had to her royal swans there.
00:18:27
Speaker
And it was wonderful walking to work every day past the swans. And there's this beautiful tree and it leant slightly towards the water. Birds adored it. They nested in it every year.
00:18:39
Speaker
And I came home from work one day and the whole thing had been cut down. I was devastated. and I understand that. Because I'd i'd connected with the tree so often for so long. These conversations we used to have, I i i could hear its vibrational frequency. I could feel its vibrational frequency.
00:18:58
Speaker
And when I went to it, although it was still it still had its roots and so it could still interconnect with the other trees around it and keep connected to its community, it was in shock.
00:19:10
Speaker
So I went home, got my essences, came out, thought I have to do something sacred for this beloved tree. And i i went into the zone and I was in a sacred space, completely unaware of what was around me until I stopped.
00:19:26
Speaker
And when I stopped and looked around me, there were about 12 adult white swans in a complete circle around me in the tree. It's as if the swans knew they came around us.
00:19:40
Speaker
I thought initially out of curiosity, perhaps, but the way they'd formed that circle. And as soon as they realised that it had finished, they went off to eat the grass or they went back in the water.
00:19:52
Speaker
And a chap came down the towpath and he said to me, i was a bit worried about you. Those swans can be vicious. You're very brave feeding them. And I just nodded at him. I said, to actually, I was upset about the tree. I was working with the tree.
00:20:05
Speaker
And he said, yeah, it's it's it's devastating. All those birds. All those birds again. And trees are so important. We can't, they're the lungs of the earth. We cannot breathe without them.
00:20:18
Speaker
You know, Even people who are foraging these days, they don't understand what they're doing in the deeper sense that they need to.
Foraging Respectfully and Ecosystem Balance
00:20:29
Speaker
It's a new hobby.
00:20:30
Speaker
Oh, great. I can try this. I can experiment, which is wonderful. Connecting with plants in whatever way you can is wonderful. However, learn the rules of nature, please. You know, you must leave some elderflowers that there are elderberries for the birds to have in the winter.
00:20:47
Speaker
And don't strip everything. You must go to the chief plant, ask permission from the chief plant. You could be in a field of dandelions and want to make dandelion wine, but you have to get permission from the chief plant and you have to work out who is that chief plant, even if it takes you an hour.
00:21:07
Speaker
Nature teaches patience. who Plants teach patience. I love that. And I think that is such an important lesson. I've also noticed that as I've you know followed and started to see a lot more of the foraging, especially urban foraging and you know how to forage in different locations, I think it's wonderful.
00:21:28
Speaker
But you also have to teach everything else that goes with it. That reverence, that that relationship. I think we keep forgetting about the relationship. I was um i was being interviewed yesterday for somebody else's podcast.
00:21:42
Speaker
And at the very end, she asked me about food. You know, it's a common question that comes up, especially because there's an assumption that if you love plants, you're plant based. And and um i was I was trying to explain to her that it's really about relationship.
00:21:57
Speaker
Like for me, especially, I live in Dhammenhur. It's an eco community. It's all about that spirituality and that relationship. And therefore, we're, ah um you know, we're omnivores.
00:22:10
Speaker
And every person has to create that link based on their body needs and everything else. But more importantly, in living here, i have learned to have a relationship with everything that I eat, especially being luckily in northern Italy, where we still have a little bit have that culture, that more farm to table, or when I go to the butcher here, I know that Everything came from the area. And I can have a conversation with the butcher and I can see from the way that they're speaking or with the grower.
00:22:40
Speaker
And I can see from the way that they're speaking that that for them, this isn't a commodity. This is, you know, beings of which they have shared their lives with, of which they're in mutual, you know, relationship who have given their lives. And so there's a reverence and a respect for that.
00:22:57
Speaker
And I think when it comes to forging, it's the exact same thing. It's like, It isn't just because ah the these plants are out in the wild that you can do whatever you want. Absolutely not. This is about, like you said, coming in, spending time, being there, being in their presence, thanking them, asking permission.
00:23:16
Speaker
um I told you I just redid, you know, this little mini voyage with plants. And that was one of the big things to make sure to explain at the very beginning for each one, the importance of sitting and being present and asking permission, even just to work, because I wouldn't want somebody coming in and saying, okay, now you and I are going to have a conversation about so-and-so it's like,
00:23:36
Speaker
and I would never do that to another human being. Why would I do that to another plant or another animal? Even a cat or a dog, you put your hand down and you wait until they come to you and they sniff and they get comfortable. And then you go and you give the scratches.
00:23:53
Speaker
If you've ever tried to go grab a cat and scratch that cat, even with the most love in your heart, that cat is not a happy camper. And it's the same thing. We should do this the same kind of relationship building with plants. And like you said, think about the overall ecosystem.
00:24:10
Speaker
They're not just giving those flowers or those berries for you. They're giving it to everybody else that they support and live with. And especially whether you're talking about, you know, an oak tree or or like you said, any tree in a park is not just ornamental.
00:24:26
Speaker
They're a relationship with all of the other beings that are in that park, human beings, but as well as, you know, bird beings, as well as rock beings, as well as lots of insects and moths and different kind of, you know, we have tons of relationships, many of them invisible to the way that we see the world.
00:24:46
Speaker
And only in that reciprocal relationship can you start to see what those connections are and understand, oh, this is why I don't take too much. Like, this is why I always leave some for others.
00:24:57
Speaker
um And just the same as in a buffet, I wouldn't go and take all the food and hog it all before when there's a huge line of people behind me. I would take a little bit and, you know, come back and see and such like that. So I'm so glad that you you talked about that, especially in urban settings, because I do feel like it's really important.
00:25:13
Speaker
How do you feel that you were able to, um especially since you you have experienced this across multiple locations also, how do you feel like you were able to work with the essence, which is to a certain extent for some people kind of separates you out from the physical plant and yet still maintain that connection?
00:25:34
Speaker
I don't think you you lose it. If you have a strong connection with plants, you understand how to work with their vibrational frequency, how to communicate with them, then whether it's the actual living plant or you've created an essence from it, because i can read essence bottles, I can pick up an essence bottle and I can read the vibration of it.
00:25:54
Speaker
I don't need to see the definition for it because the vibrational frequency of that plant has been transferred as a gift to humanity. into that bottle or the bowl and obviously you go through the process of making the whole lesson but you can feel it you can still feel the vibrational quality of it and there's you know i think the more the purity of your connection the more that you work on yourself and the clearer your channel is the more powerful whatever you make from nature will be, but be it an essence or be it an herb or be it food.
00:26:33
Speaker
um I think it's just going back to the foraging. I think one of my pet hates about foraging is that people think it's free food. It is free food, but you're you're picking from nature's garden, you know, and please be respectful.
00:26:52
Speaker
And the same thing is, you know, i don't handle essences. I don't make essences. I don't work with essences unless I'm feeling right. And if I'm feeling out of sorts, it's like, no, put it aside.
00:27:05
Speaker
Go and have a meditation. Go and have a walk in nature. Centre myself. Is it right to do it today? Because it may not be, because there may be a different message or an extra essence that needs to go into somebody's formula.
00:27:19
Speaker
But for me, it's all about the interconnectedness that we are all connected. And whereas, you know, grabbing, grabbing, grabbing from nature in this grabby society don't realize the effects that everybody's having on everything.
00:27:35
Speaker
And I don't think I don't think individuals realize how badly affected they are. You know, cutting down a tree because it's spoiled your view. Wonderful.
00:27:45
Speaker
But you've just destroyed a part of the ecosystem, a massive part of the ecosystem that actually, me personally, I feel will have some kind of karmic repercussion because you cannot do something like that without repercussion.
00:28:02
Speaker
In Ireland, we have a thing about Hawthorne. We call Hawthorne the fairy tree. And bad luck will be for anybody who cuts down a Hawthorne. And it's been true so many times.
00:28:14
Speaker
You don't mess with the little people, as we say in Ireland. Exactly. it's but It's interesting that you say that. I remember a few years back. I used to live many years ago. I lived in Seattle.
00:28:26
Speaker
and um And Seattle is this really interesting place because, you know, you have the tech giants like Microsoft and and all that comes with that. And yet there is still this very um outdoors culture that's not...
Societal Disconnection and Embracing Wildness
00:28:40
Speaker
It's not just outdoor, like outdoor recreation. It literally is an outdoor culture. Much of the culture is about going, spending time with nature, the long, long, long hike, that kind of thing.
00:28:53
Speaker
And um there was an area which ah a group of of homeowners cut down some trees because they were they had just built their houses and it blocked their view.
00:29:05
Speaker
And I can't remember who it was that sued. you know, the these people and actually got them. i if I remember there was like a criminal complaint as well, because there was some statute about the ecosystem and about the overall kind of environment. And so they won, like not the the homeowners, the other people won. I can't remember how it worked.
00:29:28
Speaker
I wish I could remember the story. I'll look it up. But it was really fascinating because it was one of the first cases that I had ever seen of people who were fighting on behalf of of the natural world. They were like, you cut down these trees, which has, you know, effects to the erosion, to the ecosystem, to the other plants and the other beings that that affect, you know, that live off of this. Like, you can't just because you build this house, no matter how expensive it is,
00:29:53
Speaker
Just cut these house. If these trees could have been cut, they would have been cut when you built the house. You can't just come and cut them one night because you feel like it And I felt that that was a really strong and and such a positive message that we don't see enough, which is that, you know, your personal desire is not worth it, is not something that we should just, you know, be beholden to.
00:30:16
Speaker
And in that, I think the part to me that is kind of sad in all of that message beyond, of course, the trees, and I've seen it even here and recently, that To me, it's such a symptom of the disconnection that we have.
00:30:33
Speaker
The fact that our definitions, going back to the lawn that we were talking about at the very beginning, the definition of beautiful has become this manicured, controlled setting And I find that that to me is such a huge indicator when I talk to people and is kind of like this little indicator of where you are on your journey of connection and of reconnection.
00:31:02
Speaker
If you are disconnected from nature, your that wildness is scary. It's ugly. It's scary. There's something wrong with it.
00:31:13
Speaker
um you you And you're you're almost vehement about it. Like you have to clean that up and such. And it's such an indicator of the amount of control that needs to have because you're living in this, to a certain extent, a state of fear.
00:31:30
Speaker
And I find um that the wildness part that has been sort of bred out or conditioned out of so many of us is scary almost because it's what's taken us into this world of control.
00:31:47
Speaker
have Have you noticed that before? And and I mean, how how do you see that? Oh, definitely. i mean, i live close to the sea here in Wales. and So I'm in a small sort of urban settlement.
00:31:59
Speaker
And there's been a trend in the last few years and because they they were lovely open gardens. There's no big walls. There's no big fences. It's a lovely open space. You can see everybody's beautiful gardens.
00:32:11
Speaker
A lot of people are getting rid of anything living, concreting over, putting stones down and turning it into a completely cold, sterile environment.
00:32:23
Speaker
and And I keep thinking, and they wonder why asthma is on the increase. they They're cutting down trees, they're taking away plants, you know, they're reducing the oxygen around themselves.
00:32:34
Speaker
That's one of the causes of asthma. There's increased flooding. Well, of course increased flooding because you keep cutting the trees down, you keep cutting shrubs down. Things that could soak up all that water and stop your home flooding.
00:32:49
Speaker
You're removing. But I do think that this disconnection and this sterility is all part of a bigger attempt at control.
00:33:01
Speaker
It's making people be a bit, well, it's making people shut down, close down, disconnect, making them easier to control, easier to manipulate. And people are actually lost.
00:33:15
Speaker
you know the past five years has been very, very hard on people. And I think a lot of people are just lost. They've disconnected from who they are, the the deeper part of their soul, their wildness. I mean, if you mention wildness to some people, the look of terror on their faces. Exactly.
00:33:35
Speaker
And I'm thinking, you better not come along to one of my women's retreats. They're very gentle. They're very powerful. Yeah.
00:33:46
Speaker
I so agree with you. And I feel like there are so many aspects of this connected to that wildness and that lost kind of um wisdom that comes from allowing yourself to to kind of step out of those constraints, to allow ourselves to explore. And and i I completely agree with you. I've seen it so many times.
00:34:11
Speaker
Wildness is seen as like a problem. So people look at you and they're like, no, you don't want that. That's wild. And it's like, what are you talking about? that's the That's the best part. Because it's when you see the true essence of a person, of ah of any kind of being,
00:34:27
Speaker
and of a landscape of an environment and you see kind of like all of those interconnections and that and it only comes through the wildness right that that that letting go of control or at least you know and flowing with it i think the difference i think the problem and i was just talking about this on another episode of the podcast where we were talking about the difference between i don't when i go into nature and i spend time or even in my own home when i'm with these plants, or in this case, we were talking about a river, I don't relinquish control.
Authentic Expression and Plant Communication
00:35:01
Speaker
Wildness is not relinquishing anything.
00:35:04
Speaker
Wildness is about connecting and doing that dance, going back to the dance, of dancing with another being, of of allowing my essence to come out and mix with your essence, or to just show my authenticity.
00:35:19
Speaker
But when my authenticity comes out, it's it comes in its own form. And then once I start interacting with others, it mixes, it flows, it bends, it shapes, it changes, it transforms, it evolves. like It's that dance of keeping my essence while at the same time allowing you to bring out new parts of my essence. And And I and I feel like that's really what the s that's what wildness is. Wildness is saying I don't curtail and I also don't relinquish control. i don't just let everything kind of hang out. That is not wildness.
00:35:55
Speaker
Wildness is instead I let myself feel everything and I start to. interact and, and work with and exalt you and bring instead you into a little bit of a shape and let myself do the same thing. And and that's why i do feel like so important that this, when we start communicating with plants, it can't simply be verbal communication. I think verbal communication is great.
00:36:23
Speaker
But for example, in the naturally conscious community, we have all these different aspects, some of it intellectual, some of it written, some of it artistic of other natures, some of it around deep thoughts, some of it around playful superficial pieces, all of it in order to allow yourself to mix in and to feel yourself with the plant in all these different ways. Because if not, then it just becomes all constrained at the same yeah in the same exact way that what we were talking about.
00:36:56
Speaker
I think one of the most important things in order to merge with nature, you merge without losing yourself, as you say.
The Power of Silent Transmission
00:37:04
Speaker
But one of the most powerful things you can do is silent transmission.
00:37:08
Speaker
You don't have to say anything to a plant. You don't have to think you're doing anything wrong. Just sitting and being, allowing your vibration to expand, allowing allowing your essence to merge and connect silently with that plant or that tree.
00:37:26
Speaker
That presence is the beauty of wildness. That is wildness. Yeah, you can go running naked through the woods if you want.
00:37:37
Speaker
That's a fun way to explore wildness. But you don't have to do that. You can just sit and be, listen to the song of the stream. You don't have to intellectualise it.
00:37:49
Speaker
Just allow yourself to flow with the song of the stream or feel the connectedness. Because as you connect with a tree, the tree has a huge aura. You can actually test the aura if you do use dowsing rods. You'll be able to check each tree's got a different aura width.
00:38:06
Speaker
That tree will expand its aura in the same way that you will expand your aura and love towards it as well. It's just one of the most beautiful things you can do is merging and connecting in that way.
00:38:19
Speaker
it's it's It's heaven on earth for me. i i I am with you. i mean, I say it over and over again, because I feel like it's so important and a good reminder for myself, not just for others. But, you know, your plantness is your presence.
00:38:36
Speaker
As you said, it's that presence that I can just sit there. i don't have to do anything. I don't have to be anything other than just whatever it is that I am in that moment.
00:38:46
Speaker
And I can open all my senses and take in whatever need. I just have to be there. I just have to be there. in in conscious awareness. And whatever is going to come is going to come and it's going to be and you're sometimes going to feel it, to like know what it is. And other times it's it's just there. It's just is.
00:39:05
Speaker
and And it's such a hard concept, I think, to explain it unless you've experienced it. Once you hit that presence, once you find yourself in that sort of liminal state where where you're you're like, am I actually awake? Am I not awake? And you just realize you're just, I mean, you think that afterwards in the middle of it, you're just going, I just am. Everything sort of floats away. And like you said, I love that you said it as in as emerging because like I think that is what it is. It's both merging and emerging.
00:39:36
Speaker
Because you merge without losing yourself. And that's when everything can emerge. A new piece of you, something, what emerges is that beautiful brilliance.
00:39:48
Speaker
And I find that that is the essence of that unconditional love that we try to reach so much. You know, we try to consciously arrive at unconditional love. Like i need to work on my judgment and I need to work on this and I need to work on that and blah, blah, blah.
00:40:03
Speaker
Just go sit in a sit spot and kind of soften everything and just sit there for the longest, as long as you can without thinking of anything. Don't bring in even a notebook with you.
00:40:14
Speaker
Don't do anything. Just sit there. Get yourself nice and comfortable and just sit there.
Self-Acceptance Through Plant Interactions
00:40:19
Speaker
And i trust me, you will find unconditional love. if If you do this outdoors, if you sit with the grass under you holding you or beautiful roots of a tree holding you.
00:40:32
Speaker
You're going to get there. And I find that so powerful. can put it in onto all the words that you want. You know, it calms your nervous system. it makes you feel, you know, this or that or whatever, whatever.
00:40:43
Speaker
But in the end, it's just presence. Just I am. It's that moment of I am. It's because the plant kingdom and mother nature accepts you as you are.
00:40:55
Speaker
They do not perceive you as something that needs to be fixed. They accept you perfectly as you are. And I think there's too much emphasis, particularly in the self-development world, of needing to fix yourself all the time to the point where you can become addicted and think, oh, my God, I'm never going to get there. I've got to fix this, isn't this and this.
00:41:16
Speaker
And actually, sometimes you don't just stop trying to fix yourself. Just live and be and experience yourself. Because life is so short, you know, it's it's just so important to get the balance in everything.
00:41:31
Speaker
Don't give away your sovereignty. I think sovereignty is important. And that's something that the majesty of trees can teach us and plants can teach us. It's, you know, you can be who you want to be, but maintain your sovereignty.
00:41:46
Speaker
Don't forget who you are. I think that's probably the way that you work and I work. I think a lot of my work is about helping people to reconnect to their soul essence inside because they know who they are.
00:42:01
Speaker
And so the work I do with women is all about that. It's about reconnecting to that soul essence inside. And exploring wildness because unless you know who you are you can't really manifest what you want in this world And that's probably why the shamanic pathway and i my retreats were always very shamanic is because like it teaches you about the interconnectedness of everything and about connecting to yourself.
00:42:31
Speaker
You know, life is meant to be transformational. We we cross many different thresholds, many different liminal thresholds that we embrace. And even a plant can take you over another threshold.
00:42:45
Speaker
a threshold you you're not even aware of. you Right, right. You touched on such an important point. I'm so glad that you did because I think it's something we need to keep repeating, which is that you know the the self-help, the personal development perspective that that we see oftentimes can push you inadvertently, I think sometimes, to continuously think something is wrong with you.
00:43:11
Speaker
And i you know I love the way you describe it. I describe it a lot. like I describe it as being in living an ecosystem. right In an ecosystem, there are no garbage cans. There is nothing for you to throw out.
00:43:22
Speaker
There is no part of you that is like bad or or something you need to get rid of. It's about learning and how to master it. How does this work?
00:43:33
Speaker
What are all the different scenarios in which this is? And even plants exhibit scototropism where they grow towards the dark, as well as, you know, um as well as heliotropism growing towards the sun, for example, or, you know, all kinds of phototropism going towards the light.
00:43:51
Speaker
You have light and you have darkness and none of them is inherently good or bad. These are fairy tale terms that we have put in order to sell, you know, this story of Prince Charming and, you know, the damsel in distress.
00:44:04
Speaker
And so the damsel in distress has become this archetype that unfortunately is still very present in our society. And you we tend to look at ourselves in that way. And I can't even tell you how many super wonderful, wise women and, you know, or feminine presenting people who say, oh, well, I need to always pretend to be, ah you know, be a little bit broken. And because, you know, that's the way I'm going to get taken care of. And it's like, no, you actually don't. Like, you can be extremely powerful and you could have all of your faculties, you don't have to put together, you know, any of your skills or competencies or passions or anything.
Nature's Cycles and Ecosystem Thinking
00:44:43
Speaker
You don't have to hide any of them or you don't have to think any of them are bad. You have to learn how to work with them and enjoy them and enjoy them in their in their constructive sides and enjoy them also in their destructive sides, which can be super useful when you learn how to actually enter in this.
00:45:00
Speaker
And as you said, nature shows you proves to you over and over again that everything is useful. A tree knows that when the tree falls in the forest, creates the light gap, and it might seem like a tragedy to you, but it's actually extremely helpful even in an old forest, in an old growth garden, like an old growth forest.
00:45:24
Speaker
You have this old forest and that has kind of, you know, reached a beautiful point, but in order for the next level to come, that tree has to fall. And in the falling, in that decaying, all these other beings get nourished.
00:45:39
Speaker
And so yes, that tree is at the end of their life, but that's still gonna go on for a long time while they're nourishing and slowly dying off. And there's lots of life in that death process.
00:45:51
Speaker
And so a lot of our definitions are just, they've been so stifled down, so constrained that we lose sight of the fact that all processes are beautiful when you approach them from the place of evolution and of feeding the ecosystem and of my own expression. And as you said, my, my presence there.
00:46:14
Speaker
And I just, i want more people to think, I even struggle, as you said, with kind of ticking off the personal development box, because I'm like, there's nothing wrong with you. I don't work with people who I feel like something is wrong. I feel like you have just so much that we're just going to put a little bit of order around it. That's all we're going to do.
00:46:35
Speaker
Put a little bit of order around all of this amazingness that you are and so that you can express yourself more fully. i I agree. And also, you know, if we didn't have the dark, how would we recognize light?
00:46:48
Speaker
You know, it's the yin and the yang. It's the two sides of the same coin. And you absolutely have to learn how to dance with that shadow and make a friend. Your shadow is your friend. Your shadow is trying to protect you.
00:47:00
Speaker
you know, and i everybody evolves at their own pace. And one of the joys of getting to my age is that, I mean, go for years I thought I was broken. I was doing every course going, you know, and then i you wise up. And then when you work on the shamanic pathway, you realise that you have a shaman's death, shame little shaman's deaths all the time.
00:47:24
Speaker
It's like shedding an old body, if you like, before you step through, you know, because you go through these thresholds, as you mentioned earlier on, and each threshold brings you to a newer aspect of yourself.
00:47:37
Speaker
And so the older aspect of yourself just means to gently fall away. It doesn't have to be a lot of teeth gnashing and navel gazing in order to do that. But yeah, learn to dance with your shadow. She's your friend.
00:47:52
Speaker
I love that. I love that so much.
Life Stages and Crone Wisdom
00:47:54
Speaker
as we're As we're getting kind of closer to our wind down here, I want to kind of just tap into it because you've mentioned it a few times. But I think, again, it's another one of those things where people have so many definitions. And I'd love to hear yours.
00:48:06
Speaker
know, we were talking about you as this Celtic wise woman. And I would really love to understand for you, what is this shamanic path that you've been on? And especially And I want to I say this with so much honor and respect, because I think it's an important thing is how do you go into those crone years really with that exactly everything you just mentioned, right? Like totally loving this period of your life.
00:48:34
Speaker
they I believe there are four stages. I'm writing books about them at the moment. Maid, mother, and there's the autumn woman, and then crone. People are so quick to jump into crone. No, crone is really when you're sort of heading towards 70, 70 onwards. That's a true crone. That's a true elder.
00:48:54
Speaker
As you go through menopause, menopause is one heck of a shamanic journey. It marks the halfway point. Tell me about it. In your life. And it is shamanic because believe me, it'll put you through everything on every level of physical, emotional, mental, spiritual. You'll go through it all.
00:49:12
Speaker
And it's because it's helping you to birth your inner wise woman. And it's not easy because, you know, as your body starts heading south and, you know, your face starts dropping and things like that, there's the physical things.
00:49:28
Speaker
But there are such gifts as well, because there's is you develop this amazing inner confidence, which is the culmination of all the decades of wisdom that you have accrued.
00:49:40
Speaker
And there's no need to prove yourself anymore. there's just You're just so content in being. You don't have to shout above the marketplace anymore because you're content in your being.
00:49:53
Speaker
Because who needs you will find you in the traditional sort of medicine person way that they will find you. You know, um the thing I'd say to people is don't be in a rush to get into your crone years. There's some girls that that cannot wait to call themselves a crone.
00:50:11
Speaker
Think about it. Think about it. Enjoy the autumn phase of your life, you know. You've still got a lot going for you before you have to go into you go into the crone side of things.
00:50:26
Speaker
A crone is just somebody who's been on the planet a long time, has accrued a lot of wisdom and has a lot of knowledge. And when we get to that stage, all we want to do share it.
00:50:38
Speaker
really share it with people because we've got, you know, yeah, I've had my own shamanic initiates that I've brought through. You know, you teach people over the years and then you get to the point you're thinking, I just want to share everything I know, pass it on.
00:50:56
Speaker
It's sort of a general spirit that comes. Yeah. and And I love that you said that because, for example, I study, you know, I'm a Kabbalist and one of the images that I've always really ah love that has helped me understand so much from an energetic perspective is that the top of the tree of life, the two kind of supernals in the masculine and the feminine um pillars are Bina and Chokmah.
00:51:22
Speaker
And um not um yeah, Bina and Chokmah. And so when you have Bina, when you have Chokmah as the masculine energy, the the image is of, you know, kind of like the wise,
00:51:34
Speaker
the the guru type person, right? The man who has been lost in a ah anna in a cave somewhere on the top of a mountain, right? And you sit and gives you kind of this cryptic advice.
00:51:47
Speaker
There's still a lot of wisdom there. And the wisdom is to a certain extent shared, but it's it's not a it's done in a way that's just very much like, this is what I've gone through and I have reached another level. Let me give you wax on, wax off, and you have to figure it out.
00:52:03
Speaker
The image of Bina as the grandmother or um is instead the kind of older, um wise grandmother type woman that brings you onto her knee and tells you stories.
Kabbalistic Teachings and Storytelling
00:52:18
Speaker
And these stories contain her wisdom. her desire to share with you all of that wisdom in a very practical way, because she wants you to not have to, she wants to hold you and give you the wisdom in a way that you can start to apply it in your, it's not a do this, it's a let me tell you a story.
00:52:40
Speaker
and in that story, you put yourself wherever you are in your life into that story. And then you can live that wisdom from that perspective. And think that's very much what you just said.
00:52:50
Speaker
And I think when we when we look at this also with plants, it's the same way as you were talking about earlier. Sitting in that presence, that story starts to unfold. It unfolds in your body. It unfolds in all different aspects of you.
00:53:04
Speaker
And what's most important is to place yourself into that story. This isn't you, you know, separate from it. It's you as the protagonist, but you're coming in. And so you're coming into the story. You are a part of this story. and You have to find your place in the story.
00:53:21
Speaker
And I really enjoyed the fact that you separated out because I had i hadn't heard that, you know the idea of the autumn woman. Because to me, it was always like, I'm i'm not a mother. I mean never was a mother. So the mother energy didn't really, but I am very mothering. Like, that's why they call me Mama Sprout inside of the naturally conscious community.
00:53:40
Speaker
And, um but I'm also not a crone. I'm not there yet. i know that. And I think I'm very much into the autumn, the autumn woman energy. I feel like, you know, I feel it that as you were saying it, my body was like, oh, yes, that's that's where I am.
00:53:56
Speaker
And I think that that, you know, again, it's placing yourself into that story, but then making the story yours. I had a wonderful teacher. She was an original initiate of the Golden Dawn. She is somebody who, you know, created her own mystery school, the Servants of Light, um ah Dolores Ashcroft-Narwiki, who I loved studying under.
00:54:16
Speaker
And one of the things that she told me when I had a conversation with her about how do i on my Kabbalistic path, how do I make now my ritual like how do I really make it mine how do where do I go from here I was like where's the next level of of t of study for me and she said now you have to make everything yours and you make it by making those small changes that because you know the real the path and so now you adapt the path so that it best represents you it's that merging you were talking about and And I feel like, you know, the plants really hold that space for us and and women like us hold that space for you.
00:54:53
Speaker
None of us in the work that we do want you to listen and say, do this. What we want to do is hold a space. For me, it's in the naturally conscious community. For you, it's in other areas that we're going to talk about right in a minute, which is I want to hold that space and I want you to feel free enough to place yourself in the story and experiment with which way you want to go with perfectly.
00:55:19
Speaker
personalize everything to your life. Make it yours. Make yourself put your authentic essence into every story you' are a part of.
00:55:30
Speaker
And so therefore, the story continues to evolve and emerge as a merging, as you said, rather than either you adopting somebody else's or you fighting what other wisdom could be given to you and shared with you.
00:55:46
Speaker
It is that bringing it in and then letting it come out in a way that is purely me, but with all of that wisdom that's come to me. Absolutely.
Personalizing Spiritual Teachings
00:55:57
Speaker
That is what the spiritual path, the personal pathway is all about.
00:56:01
Speaker
You are guided on it, but you are meant to find your own way of living it, sharing it, whatever. When I was in Alaska training in essences, I was taught a certain way.
00:56:13
Speaker
soon as I got home and I started making my own essences, spirit showed me a completely different way. Spirit said, do not let anybody take them underneath the tongue undiluted.
00:56:25
Speaker
All of my essences must be diluted in water, which is different from what most essence producers say. So already i was being shown the way that I will do it, you know, creating with nature. This is this is what's wanted.
00:56:39
Speaker
And it's the same. You can learn. i always say to people, find good teachers, get solid foundations, learn the basics, learn everything you need for a solid foundation so that nothing can throw you off track.
00:56:53
Speaker
But then you will find your own way. You know, there's, a although i worked with and was trained by Native American medicine people, I do not do their ceremonies because I was not born in their tribe. It's not my right to do that.
00:57:10
Speaker
i have created my own ceremonies and rituals. I have a framework that I was taught that i work with. But it's it's about, like you said, allow your essence to evolve.
00:57:21
Speaker
You can't do it wrong. There's nothing wrong. You cannot do it wrong. Just allow your essence to evolve. Trust yourself. And if you're not sure, then refer up to an elder, somebody you trust or your teacher.
00:57:38
Speaker
You may not get an answer, though, because the shamanic way is for you to find your own answers.
00:57:45
Speaker
And speaking of that... If people want to learn more, continue this conversation, to work with you, where do they go? how do they do it? How will you help them? They can go to my website, which gives you and some information about um how I work, what I do, www.elleyew.com.
00:58:06
Speaker
And
Exploring Ellie's Offerings
00:58:07
Speaker
I've always helped women. Most of my clients are coaches, healers, therapists. And I help women who are stressed to the max. They've lost themselves because they've been giving so much to everybody else.
00:58:22
Speaker
But yeah, go along to the website, have a look. And if you want to ask me anything, I'd love to hear from you. Beautiful. Thank you so much, Ellie. This has been such a fantastic conversation. We will make sure I'll make sure everything is in the show notes so that people can find you connect with you, please.
00:58:38
Speaker
reach out to Ellie if you you know this is this is exactly the kind of wisdom we all need to hear and have to have in our lives it's always it's always so we so ah enriching for me to you know finish one of these episodes because I just feel it's what gives me hope ah somebody asked me today like what gives you hope this gives me hope this gives me hope for the future of of humanity so thank you so much for being a part of this and thank you for your invitation and to everybody let's Oh, my my absolute pleasure. And to everybody listening, of course, please go check out Ellie's work. And if you want to continue having these conversations, reach out to her or come on into the naturally conscious community. This is the place it is to hold. It was created as that container to hold this space, to hold our emerging brilliance with the plant kin home and all the other beings of nature as well.
00:59:32
Speaker
So please come in there and continue the conversations, participate with us. This is the place where we want you to continue to shine. And if you are looking for personal help, you can reach out to Ellie, you can reach out to me.
00:59:45
Speaker
All I ask is that you reach out because we can't do this alone. It takes an ecosystem, it really does, in order for us to evolve into everything we're supposed to be.
00:59:56
Speaker
So with that, remember to resist the urge to hold back your emerging brain brilliance. This is me, Tigria Cartenia. bye Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Reconnect with Plant Wisdom.
01:00:08
Speaker
To continue
Conclusion and Community Invitation
01:00:09
Speaker
these conversations, join us in the Naturally Conscious Community, your premier online ecosystem for plant reawakening and accelerated evolution and co-creation with other kin.
01:00:19
Speaker
Here you'll find expansive discussions, interactive courses, live events, and supportive group programs like the Plant Wisdom Book Club and the Sprouts Writing and Creativity Group. Connect with like-minded individuals collaborating with plants to integrate these insights into life. Intro and outro music by Steve Shuley and Poinsettia from the singing Life of Plants.
01:00:40
Speaker
That's it for me, Tigria Gardenia, and my plant collaborators. Until next time, remember, resist the urge to hold back your emerging green brilliance. I'm out. Bye.