A young girl share with me
that for the last 7 years
every summer, she gets very
itchy zits and it goes away
after a few weeks.

I tell her it's probably
poison Ivy as it comes back
probably at the same time
she caught it the first time.

She said that yes, as a kid
she played in her grand
parent yard and that is when
it started.

I too was initiated with
poison Ivy as a kid. In a
similar way, I went to play
in the forest, and the Ivy
touched me on the leg. The
first year it spread all
over my left side. But year
after year, as I learned to
manage the itch and the
spread was smaller.

Although we call it poison,
I see it as an initiation
from the earth. The plant
became part of me, and stayed
with me for many years. I am
sure she is still part of my
blood stream. Poison or
strong earth medicine.

A friend on mine got stung
by a scorpion on the new moon.
Her partner texted me while at
the hospital. I checked to make
sure she was on the recovery
side of the journey, and she
was. I couldn't help but to
see this as an initiation.
A powerful healing initiation,
a welcoming into the land.
I wondered about her knees
that has been bothering her,
and her physical hurt and such.

I finally connected with her
today, and I shared my view
about her process. I was glad
to hear that her knees are doing
better, and she used that event
as a healing process, reflecting
about her goals and life situation.

It's sometime difficult to know
what will heal us. What is an
initiation and what is a punishment?
What seems poisonous at first in
our life might be in reality
what we needed to get unstuck
and moving forward.