Support and Collective Healing for US Political Prisoner Herman Bell

Update!:  Herman Bell is now in general population! He was told that the charges will be dropped! Visit Free Herman Bell for more information on how to best support him.

From Herman (written earlier) with many thanks for all of our efforts:

September 27, 2017

My dear brothers and sisters,

Thank you for the outpouring of cards, letters, healing-love and energy that you sent me in response to the unprovoked brutal assault on me by NYS prison guards at Comstock, NY – a vicious slap aside the head from behind and shoved to the ground. I protected myself as best as I could. I sustained multiple kicks, punches to the face and eyes, repeated head slams into concrete, and 2 cracked ribs. They tried to bury me with raining blows, not knowing that I am a seed. But the burning pepper spray sprayed into my eyes and mouth is what did me in – and yet, here I am.

Now I know why visitors bring flowers and candy to the hospital. I was immediately sent, however, not to a hospital but to the Box for “assault on staff,” so the cards and letters and love you sent me were my flowers and candy. You did great!

I was astonished, not by the outpouring of your support, but by the enormity of it.

People are coming together and are standing up. They are finding that they are not entitled to the rights and freedoms they think they have as americans. Instead of the consideration americans – many of them voters – deserve, they are ignored by authoritarian and elected officials.

They lack healthcare, suffer from unrestrained police violence, mass incarceration, lack a living wage, experience poverty and homelessness, and suffer from a toxic environment. People are standing up against these injustices, insisting that their demands be respected and addressed.

The social injustice, jackboot repression, racist attacks, discrimination, wealth disparities, unemployment, lack of affordable housing (the list doesn’t just end there), creates waves of fierce discontent which ls gaining steady momentum, becoming a full-blown cleansing tsunami, the force of which is irresistible.

And that force is you, the People, coming together and taking a stand. My flowers and candy is your outpouring of support for me, our political prisoners, the mass incarcerated and the voiceless.

To write each of you (I’ve literally received hundreds of letters) a personal “thank you” at this time would be impossible. So, I send this “thank you!” instead.

Thank you! I thank you deeply one and all for the empathy, outrage, love and support you’ve expressed in the face of the assault on me. May our resolve to produce social change remain unshakeable.

Herman Bell
79C0262
​Shawangunk Correctional Facility
P.O. Box 700
Wallkill, New York 12589
(most updated addresses for U.S. Political Prisoners, with birthdays, posted here)


Some of you may know Herman Bell, who is a US Political Prisoner, former Black Panther, movement elder, Victory Gardens Project co-founder, Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar co-creator, father, grandfather, husband, and mentor to many both on the inside and the outside.  How is Herman connected with herbs and herbal justice?  In the 15 years since I was a volunteer at the Victory Gardens Project, near my hometown in Maine, Herman and I have corresponded.  He is a friend and mentor to me.  The Radherb Collective, which I was a part of for many years, took inspiration from the Victory Gardens Project.  Over the years, though our letters and face-to-face visits, Herman has helped shape who I am as an herbalist, how I make remedies, and my understanding of the the way herbs and social justice are completely entwined.  

Herman is 69 years old, has been incarcerated for 43 years and has been denied parole 7 times.  On Sept 5th Herman was assaulted by a group of officers at Great Meadow Correctional Facility.  He was singled out, brought to an area away from all the other inmates to where there is no video surveillance, and guards began beating him.  The account is personally really difficult for me to read, and the thought that he could have died in the attack is beyond upsetting.  He did survive the attack.  He was then taken to the infirmary where he waited for hours and did not receive adequate medical care for the beating he had just endured.  He had the medical staff note that there were no abrasions on his hands or any other indication that he assaulted a guard.  He was transferred to another facility hours away where he has been held in solitary, continues to be denied medical care for the head trauma and other injuries inflicted on him by the guards, and he is also facing the serious charge of assaulting an officer.  He continues to experience headaches, his vision is affected from being maced at close range, and two ribs were broken in the attack.

Anyone who knows Herman knows he did not assault an officer.  Herman is an elder who has not had an infraction for over 20 years (when he participated in a strike over inmate conditions), he was only days away from finally having a family visit (which he'd been denied without justification for over two and half years), and he has been preparing for his next parole hearing in early 2018.

Immediate action is needed

1.  We need to flood the Commissioner with messages of support demanding that Herman receive medical attention, be removed from solitary, have the charges against him dropped, have access to family visits, and that the officers who attacked him be fired.  You can simply cut and past the sample letter here, or add your own personal message.  Here is a pdf of the letter that you can print out, sign/address/date, and send.  If you are able, please print out extra copies for friends and family to also sign and send in.  Also, if you are able, please send this same letter to: Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of New York State, NYS State Capitol Building, Albany, NY 12224.

2.  Please take a few minutes to send an email to the Commissioner and Governor.  (Sample email below)

3.  People are also encouraged to write to Herman to show support.  (Address below)

4.  Please spread the word!!!  If you have other organizations that you are connected with, please share this message with them and encourage friends and family to send letters as well.  This information can be found online here.

Here is a sample email that you can simply cut and paste:

_________________________________________________

Anthony Annucci

Commissioner

Department of Corrections and Community Supervision

anthony.annucci@doccs.ny.gov

(518) 457-8134

Cc: Governor Andrew Cuomo

https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form

(212) 257-6405

Dear Commissioner Annucci (Governor Cuomo):

I am writing in concern and outrage over the unprovoked beating by Great Meadow C.F. correctional officers of Herman Bell, #79C0262.

On September 5th, with no provocation, five or six correctional officers assaulted this widely respected elder. These guards punched and kicked Mr. Bell all over his body while he was on the ground. He was kneed in the chest and stomach, breaking two of his ribs. One guard then grabbed his head and slammed it into the ground three times, at which point Mr. Bell thought his life would be ending. He was excessively maced at close range all over his face and eyes, causing temporarily blindness and inability to breathe.

Mr. Bell is accused of assaulting one of the officers. This charge is absurd. The assault on Herman Bell is part of an epidemic of violence by NYS prison guards against the incarcerated population--an epidemic documented by the New York Times and other journalists, as well as by criminal justice agencies.

The idea that this 69-year-old man would have hit an officer is ludicrous, as he was about to have a family visit (the first in two and a half years) and was beginning preparations for an appearance at the Board of Parole this coming February. Mr. Bell was looking forward to the family visit with great anticipation, and he is optimistic about his chances at the Board, given recent changes in parole regulations and the appointment of new commissioners. There is absolutely no doubt that he did not commit any infraction on September 5th; he also has not had a ticket in the past 20 years. Mr. Bell has been imprisoned in the NY State system for over 38 years and has never been accused of assaulting staff.

This brutal assault by Great Meadow guards constitutes not only staff abuse but also elder abuse. Mr. Bell will be 70 years of age in four months. He was badly injured in the beating. Mr. Bell requires both a CT scan of his head and an ophthalmology examination.

I write to demand that you take these actions:

That Herman Bell be immediately given adequate medical screening and attention at an outside hospital;

That CO J. Saunders and the other officers responsible for the beating be fired;

That the ridiculous charges brought against Herman Bell be dropped immediately and that he be returned at least to general population (he 

had been on the Honor Block at Great Meadow and despite his request was never given a reason for being moved to general population);

That Mr. Bell’s family visits be reinstated;

That Mr. Bell be moved to a facility where his family visiting can take place and be rescheduled at the earliest possible date.

Sincerely,

NAME/ADDRESS

_________________________________________________

More info about the assault and a longer sample letter (which points out that the attack is a form of elder abuse) to print out and send to the Commissioner available here.

_________________________________________________

Herman's new address:::

Herman Bell
79C0262
​Shawangunk Correctional Facility
P.O. Box 700
Wallkill, New York 12589

(most updated addresses for U.S. Political Prisoners, with birthdays, posted here)

_________________________________________________

For anyone reading this during the weekend of Sept 23-24, feel free to join us in the Collective Healing for Herman Bell from wherever you are.  People are gathering together from across Turtle Island/the US, Lebanon, Ireland, and possibly beyond to send Herman healing energy to heal and strengthen his body and spirit. Emails and letters to the Commissioner and Governor are vital.  Sending Herman our love in this collective way is another that we can manifest our support and solidarity.

For those in Central Vermont, there will be a Letter Writing Event to Support Herman Bell on Sunday Oct 29, 2017 from 2-4pm at the Christ Episcopal Church, 64 State St, Montpelier, VT.  More info to come.

at the park sitting with the oak trees to draw strength to send to herman. 

with protective and healing herbs. yarrow, calendula, & plantain. and healing waters.

For more information and updates:

FreeHermanBell.org website

Weeks After Guards Attacked Him, Political Prisoner Herman Bell Is Being 

Denied Family Visits: Bell’s daughter-in-law, kihana miraya ross, reflects on how vital visits are for both Bell and their family

The Scourge of Racial Bias in New York State’s Prisons: A New York Times investigation draws on nearly 60,000 disciplinary cases from state prisons and interviews with inmates to explore the system’s inequities and the ripple effect they can have. 

Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar Facebook page

Video of Herman and his family here

Release Aging People in Prison: RAPP Campaign

Jericho Movement working for the freedom of all political prisoners

The Freedom Archives 12,000 hours of audio and video recordings and thousands of documents about social justice movements locally, nationally, and internationally from the 1960s to the present. The Archives features speeches of movement leaders and community activists, protests and demonstrations, cultural currents of rebellion and resistance.

Video of Herman and his family here

The Radical Roots Of Community Acupuncture

Images from the Young Lords in the late 1960's and early 1970's.

 
Community Acupuncture and NADA Points

From June 2019-March 2020 I was honored to be part of the SEED Clinic {SEED = Support for Everyone Experiencing Distress} based at the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism.  I wrote this blog post about community acupuncture many years before, when a sliding scale/low-cost community acupuncture clinic was opening in Central Vermont.  I later received NADA {National Acupuncture Detoxification Association} protocol training using seeds or beads. While different from using acupuncture needles, it uses the same 5 points.  

I know that to many the thought of getting needles stuck in you is anything but relaxing. However, my acupuncture experiences have all been very grounding and rejuvenating, like I just woke from a nap. When I was living for a short time in North Carolina I found an acupuncturist who provided a sliding-scale, making this modality accessible for me. Later, I learned about Community Acupuncture or Group Acupuncture, which is quite different than what my acupuncturist friend calls "Boutique Acupuncture" which is more common in the States - seeing a practitioner one-on-one in a private room, having a full intake/consultation, laying down and getting needles put in points on various areas of your body.

In Community Acupuncture, people share space in one room, fully clothed, sitting or laying down, and needles are placed in the ear, hands, feet, face and/or head. While this atmosphere may be less private, it encourages a sense of community and may provide comfort to those less at ease with intimate, one-on-one, and/or unclothed settings. Practitioners are able to see more clients in less time, making these sessions much more affordable. Community acupuncture also encourages family members and friends to come in for sessions together. More family/friends = more comfort = more healing (hopefully). My friend who was inspired by the creations of Working-Class Acupuncture clinics changed her practice and found that providing Community Acupuncture greatly diversified her clientele, in terms of class background and ethnicity. The first two Community Acupuncture clinics that I received care at are both ones that friends were part of co-creating: Third Root Community Health Center in Brooklyn, NY and Providence Community Acupuncture in Providence, RI.

I'm excited about the many efforts near and far to make health care more accessible, affordable/free, inclusive, and empowering.  This includes acupuncture and this is nothing new.  Those who've gone before have paved the way for community acupuncture to persevere and flourish. This includes those involved in such grassroots organizations as the Black Panther Party and the Young Lords. These groups, when mentioned at all in mainstream media, are usually described as criminals, gang members, cop-killers, and other terms used to instill fear and perpetuate separation between peoples who actually have much in common.  Rarely examined in mainstream media and history classes is the white supremacy, police brutality, systemic poverty, medical apartheid, aggressive military recruitment in communities of color and mistreatment of veterans, and other forces that communities were responding to.  It's also rarely mentioned that both of these organizations included healthcare as a top priority - see the Young Lords Ten-Point Health Program and Black Panther Community Programs.

Having recently learned that Community Acupuncture will soon be available in Central Vermont, I've been thinking about the Young Lords, both their organizing efforts during the late 1960's and early 1970's and those who've continued organizing today. The summer before last I heard Democracy Now's brilliant program "Influential Puerto Rican Activist Group the Young Lords Marks 40th Anniversary."  Former Young Lords spoke about how, inspired by the Black Panther Party and other community groups organizing for healthcare, education, and self-determination, and against police brutality and poverty, collaborated to meet the needs of their communities. The Young Lords took over a TB testing van that greatly underserving the people who needed it most, and later took over the Lincoln Hospital because of the lack of access to healthcare in the community. (I highly recommend listening to the broadcast and hearing the stories directly from people involved at the time!) I realized after the program that I'd heard of Lincoln Hospital before, because it offers free 2 week trainings in auricular acupuncture, where needles are inserted into the ear to support withdrawal (from street drugs/medications), promote relaxation, and address imbalances caused by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  

I had heard of this program and hoped to one day receive training there, but I had no idea that the center's history reached back to the days of radical mass movements in response to racism here and abroad, including the Vietnam War, during the 1960's and 70's. I had been writing to a few US Political Prisoners (PPs) for many years, and knew that these community organizers who were targeted by the US Government, including the FBI's COINTELPRO program which used illegal tactics, infiltration, and assassination to destroy peoples' movements, have contributed greatly to my life in ways that I'm not even aware of. However, I hadn't realized that there was a direct relationship between my passion for herbalism and community health and the US PP's I'd been corresponding with, who'd been involved with the Black Panther Party, the Black Liberation Front, the Weathermen/Weather Underground, the American Indian Movement, Students for a Democratic Society, and who'd also organized with the United Farmerworkers, against apartheid in South Africa, and for Puerto Rican independence.

Wikipedia writes: "The Lincoln Hospital's acupuncture drug detoxification clinic was founded in the South Bronx by activists involved with The Black Panther Party, The Republic of New Afrika, the Young Lords, and Students for a Democratic Society. The clinic offered drug rehabilitation with a holistic approach, employing acupuncture, political education classes and community service.  In the courses, participants learned about their addiction in a political context, exploring how their addiction harmed themselves, their community and family. It also explored the role of governmental institutions such as the CIA in drug trafficking and profiteering as well as how drug addiction has worked against progressive and revolutionary change. Community work was also politicized: doing work such as helping an evicted tenant find housing, welfare rights work, helping a family with transportation to go see an imprisoned relative, or attending a trial showing support for one of the many political prisoners who were being railroaded into prisons for their political work. 

Eventually the center was targeted by the FBI under COINTELPRO. FBI agents would attempt to turn drug addicts involved in the center into informants, often successfully. The tension came to a head when over 200 members of the New York Police Department
and their SWAT teams used excessive force to close it down. The government claimed that clinic workers were mismanaging funds, but others claim it was an excuse to close the clinic because of its revolutionary politics." The center is now known as Lincoln Recovery Center.

In a recent visit with US Political Prisoner friend/mentor, I learned that fellow PP/Prisoner of War Dr. Mutulu Shakur is an acupuncturist. He's been politically active since he was a teenager, when he became part of the New Afrikan Independence Movement. He became a licensed acupuncturist in the 70's and worked with the Lincoln Detox Center for 8 years, as a political education instructor, counselor, acupuncturist, and the Program's Assistant Director. He was a Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Black Acupuncture Advisory Association of North America (BAAANA) and the Harlem Institute of Acupuncture and lectured before medical communities around the world. He is also the stepfather of hip hop artist Tupac Shakur. (Dr. Shakur was arrested on February 12, 1986. Click here for more information on his case.)

I'm going to include excerpts from a radio interview with Dr. Mutulu Shakur, though I highly recommend reading it in its entirety. Mutulu Shakur: On The History Of The Use Of Acupuncture By Revolutionary Health Workers To Treat Drug Addiction, And US Government Attacks Under The Cover Of The CounterIntelligence Program (COINTELPRO)

Free Dr. Mutulu Shakur, Mutulu Shakur with co-defendant Marilyn Buck (Rest in Peace),
and Revolution in our Lifetime by Emory Douglas

"So the Lincoln Detox became not only recognized by the community as a political formation but its work in developing and saving men and women of the third world inside of the oppressed communities, resuscitating these brothers and sisters and putting them into some form of healing process within the community we became a threat to the city of New York and consequently with the development of the barefoot doctor acupuncture cadre, we began to move around the country and educate various other communities instead of schools and orientations around acupuncture drug withdrawal and the strategy of methadone and the teaching the brothers and sisters the fundamentals of acupuncture to serious acupuncture, how it was used in the revolutionary context in China and in Vietnam and how we were able to use it in the South Bronx and our success. Primarily because we had a love for our people and we had a commitment to our people, we started very rudimentary....

...all the fads and the health foods stores and all of the reflexology clinics and all of these things that allow to function today would not exist if revolutionary men and women did not fight tooth and nail to spread the possibilities of another form of healthcare system to the third world grassroots community.

(The 200 policemen that raided the Lincoln Detox Center). . . just controlled the whole thing and fired all of us or told us that we were to be sent to other hospitals. Right now today you can go into New York City and in those municipal hospitals within the community, with the black and Puerto Rican and poor communities, a municipal hospital, not the private hospital, but the municipal hospitals, you can now receive acupuncture treatment for drug withdrawal as an alternative method of treatment. And that exists today because many men and women were put in jail, shot and killed, had mental disorders, all the things that go with on going low intensity warfare, all the suffering that can be attributed to that is for ??. The reason why men and women now can go get acupuncture and alternative healthcare has to do with that cadre of men and women. And they need to be praised and that situation needs to be correctly analyzed.

(Dr. Mutulu Shakur uses the term "chemical warfare" to describe the intentional infiltration of communities of color/poor communities with drugs by the US government. Also, when asked to describe his use of "low intensity warfare," Dr. Shakur said, "I think a lot of times we put titles on things to cut the explanation and where we need to put the explanation, make the explanation more clear. Low intensity warfare very simply put, is the play on the weaknesses and uncovered flanks of organizations or formations that are a threat, to the powers that be or to your adversary. As it relates to us and the United States government and military government, we, the liberation movements, were infiltrated with agents, money was stolen and we were beginning to accuse each other, work that we were doing to educate and propagate to the community was being subverted and converted ’cause we did not control the media process. Our own egos were being used against us very fundamentally. Your mail was being stolen when you expected the mail to come for this, that or the other. Shoestring budgets were being stretched to the limits so we would fail to make certain deadlines. So we began to feel inconsistent, impotent, incompetent and we felt that the things were falling apart. So our morale began to weaken. So with a weak morale and a vicious military attack, an assassination of key leader, or a car accident driving him off the road, or an addiction or a supporter or something, anything that can breakdown the fundamental structure and the spirit of a formation is low intensity warfare. Where you’re being attacked everyday but it’s not the clear line that you anticipate. And it’s not haphazard attack. It’s a very fundamental, thought out, programmatic attack at the weaknesses that have been reported by the agent to the superior.")

In conversations with herbalists, acupuncturists, and others dedicated to accessible community health, often we speak of "health justice" as a fairly new concept. A new vision of healthcare that is inclusive of communities that have been excluded by the mainstream, dominant medical system that is dictated by straight, cisgender (non-transgender), upper-class, able-bodied, white men and corporations. However, this pharmacetical-flooded and profit-driven system is quite recent. Plant medicines and other traditional modalities such as acupuncture have been practiced much longer and their practice continues. And this generation is not the first to work for community healthcare rooted firmly in self- and community-sufficiency, a sense of empowerment and liberation (rather than perpetuating racism, ableism, ageism, mysogyny, homophobia, transphobia, classism, etc as well as rigid ideas of what's "normal"), and putting people's health before profits and ego.

My hope is that as we move forward with projects that embody our passion and vision of community healthcare, we draw on the lessons and wisdoms of our elders, many of whom are still held in US penitentiaries for their work serving the community. May we remember those who have passed, those who are incarcerated, and those who are still working for health justice - both from the inside and the outside. Let's read up on our history! Let's correspond with those community organizers held in prison, to share our ideas, learn directly from their experiences, and receive their feedback! And let's share what we learn, especially with the youth so that they may have the knowledge that they are part of a strong movement that stretches far back in history.

Resources:
The Lincoln Story by Ellinor R. Mitchell
May Day Free Acupuncture at Devi Health in Chicago (video)
National Acupuncture Detoxification Association
Acupuncturists Without Borders is a non-profit group who treats trauma victims in a group acupuncture setting, including Haiti and New Orleans post Katrina and has reserached P.T.S.D. for their Military Stress Recovery Project.
The Mujeres of the Young Lords By Erica González
The Young Lords’ Legacy of Puerto Rican Activism By Jennifer 8. Lee

HEART ELIXIR

An old botanical illustration of Hawthorn, Rosa Rugosa blossoms in Maine, Hawthorn in bloom Co. Clare, Ireland, and pouring Heart Elixir.

I love making, sharing, and taking Heart Elixir. I love that both Rose and Hawthorn have an affinity with the heart, soft & delicate five petaled flowers, nourishing red berries, and thorns for fierce protection. Sometimes our hearts need support so that it can open, sometimes it needs some protection so that we can heal.  Sometimes we need both.  I pass Heart Elixir around the circle when I teach menstrual and sexual health workshops *to bring sweetness to the circle,* when exploring potentially difficult/triggering/painful/ transformative topics and emotions, as I was taught by a fellow health justice community organizer.

Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran wrote in The Prophet, "The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain." Our heart holds so many emotions - the fluttering of new love, the comfort of connection, the heartbreak of the ending of a relationship, the deep grief of losing a loved one, the shock and trauma of violation and war. Though it's simple enough to understand how someone can respond to pain by closing our heart off to feeling any emotion at all, doing so negatively impacts us physically, emotionally, spiritually. I like to think of my heart, knowing the pain of losing ones I had hold dear, as a bit battered and scarred. I find tremendous beauty in this, a heart that seeks to remain open while fully knowing the loss that opening again could bring.

I have much gratitude for those in my life that intimately know grief and its many expressions, who are present and allow space for tears, laughter, numbness, anger, and escape. Unfortunately, much of the rich traditions of remembrance and honoring our ancestors have been lost or left behind in order to assimilate into being "(U.S.) American." Even still, in times of death, people go to the kitchen to create comfort food for those left behind, send sympathy cards, call, and visit. I'm thankfull to have a circle of friends who gather on Samhain with candles, photographs of ancestors, offerings of food, and bundles of herbs to celebrate and share stories about our loved ones who have passed on.  I'm thanksfull for those who understand that death is necessary for life, and that it still really sucks, and who can sit with the range of emotions this all brings,

This year, in addition to honoring Grammy and Pop-pop and the rest of my ancestors, I grieve the loss of Miss Beatrice Waight (Yucatec Maya healer from Belize, teacher, and friend) and Marilyn Jean Buck (U.S. Political Prisoner, poet, and white anti-racist activist).

In the summer, I visit our family farm and gather petals from the Rosa Rugosa rose bushes there. You can harvest the petals and still leave what will grow into the rosehip, for another harvest come autumn. You can find Rosa Rugosas growing wild, in gardens, and by the sea. Just be sure that you're not harvesting from a place that has a lot of cars driving by (exhaust, salt, etc.), big power lines overhead, etc. Once I gather the most vital petals into a basket, and stopping when the plant says "okay, that's enough," I thank the plant and place the petals into a clean glass Mason jar and pour in brandy.  I'm more of a pinches and handfulls cook/herbalist, rather than measuring everything to the T, but in general I suppose I fill the jar around 3/4 full and then pour the Brandy almost to the top of the jar. I usually place the jar in the sunshine for the first day, and then put it in a spot where it is both protected from direct sunlight and accessible enough so that I remember to shake it every now and then. I let this tincture infuse for at least a month. Truly, the petals are so gorgeous, even after the first day or so when the color drains out into the brandy, I often leave them in much longer than a month. Whenever you are ready, you can strain out the petals with a metal strainer or cloth (loose muslin or cheesecloth), composting - or nibbling - the petals and re-bottling the Rose-infused brandy. Be sure to label your creation with the ingredients, date, place you harvested it from, moon phase, whatever you'd like to include.

Later in the growing season the Hawthorn berries will be ripe enough to harvest. I remember first meeting Hawthorn when I was living at the Victory Gardens Project - a group based on the Black Panther Party's Community Programs and co-founded by U.S. Political Prisoners and Maine activists to grow food with donated land, seed, and labor, and distribute it for free in the rural Maine community where it was based and in cities through community organizations that had traveled to Maine to participate with the planting and/or harvesting. The Hawthorn berries were much appreciated by the little critters that ate them where I'd placed them to dry.  Ha!  Hawthorns are very sacred trees in Ireland. You don't cut them down - which is why a major roadway on the west side of the island goes far out of its course, because the road crew knew enough not to touch the Hawthorn tree that lay in its path! In May the hedgerows there are aglow with the vibrant white Hawthorn trees in bloom. In northern New England (United States), I've harvested Hawthorn berries mostly in September and early October. I find the berries that have a good red color and harvest carefully, avoiding the large thorns. As with the Rose petals, I place the Hawthorn berries in a clean glass Mason jar, cover them with brandy, and let them infuse for at least a month. In general you don't want to harvest herbs in the rain, especially if you're drying them!, as their volatile oils that you're usually wanting to capture can be washed away. But with berries (and the roots of other plants), you can give them a rinse if they need it.

When I'm ready to create a small batch of Heart Elixir, I pour into 1 or 2 oz glass amber tincture bottles equal parts of: the Rose petal-infused brandy, Hawthorn berry-infused brandy, and local Maple syrup. Then I add flower essences that I've made.

Flower essences are different from tinctures, they capture the essence, the lesson of the plant. The effects can be subtle, and also quite transformative. Each flower essence has a story - about the particular plant, the day it was make, etc.  The Heartsease pansy (aka Johnny-jump-up) is the five petaled edible flower cousin of Violets that grow in moist woods and yards. During an herbal class that involved a plant spirit activity (deep listening to the plants, listening with your heart instead of your brain) I was told really simply, and matter-of-factly that violets make your heart green. This message was in sync with my above vision of a battered, scarred up, healed/healing heart.

As a very emotional and sensitive person since small, I feel a strong affinity with Yarrow. This plant was the first to teach me that herbs don't necessarily need to be ingested in order to be a remedy. I carry this plant in my first aid kit (to chew up the dried flowers and leaves and apply to a cut, even a deep one, to stop the bleeding and disinfect the wound), rub Yarrow-infused sesame oil onto my abdomen to relieve menstrual cramps, and when I'm driving I visualize a shield of Yarrow around my car to protect me and others, including critters crossing the road. Yarrow flower essence helps those of us that are sensitive to our environments and the emotions of others to learn healthy boundaries. While empathy and sensitivity is a gift, it can also be draining for those who tend to "sponge" up the stress around us, and Yarrow teaches us to maintain ourselves.

I made a Hawthorn flower essence from the luminous tree at the bottom of my friend's garden in Ireland. I love the nourishing, heart tonic-ness of the Hawthorn berries and was happy to also add the flower's medicine to the elixir.

This year I've added Magenta Lotus to the Heart Elixir. This flower essence was made in Sandra Lory's Local Healers class on a magical day at the Garden of Seven Gables. There are quotes about the lotus growing up out of the muck, but I also think of the lotus' stem as a cord, connecting the blossom to its source. I find this concept of transformation really liberating, that through past experiences that may feel heavy and murky, we can still grow, thrive, and radiate, without losing that connection to where we come from.

I take Heart Elixir 1-3 drops as needed, or 1 dropperfull 3 times a day.  If you have questions about making your own heart remedy, let me know.  If you'd like to purchase Heart Elixir, you can do so here on my DandelionessHerbals online etsy shop. 

__________________________________________________________
Update 12/14:  I've reformulated Heart Elixir, replacing Hawthorn berries with Tulsi leaf and flower.  Tulsi, sometimes called Sacred or Holy Basil, is an amazing medicinal plant that not only has an affinity with the heart, but is also an adaptogenic herb, helping our bodies adapt to change and stress.  It has a multitude of other healing properties and I highly recommend folks getting to know this plant. Hawthorn is still contained in the Heart Elixir, in the form of hand-made flower essence.

Also, Heart Elixir is part of Dandelioness Herbals' Self Care Kit: For Emotional First Aid.