My healing journey with Gorse
The more I deepen my connection with animals, the deeper my connection with the natural world grows. It's like Mother Nature herself speaks to me through the plants and flowers that cross my path. One of the most powerful medicinal experiences I have had is with a particular plant that you’d be forgiven for looking past on scrubland: Gorse.
During the challenging times that were 2020, I regularly went deep into the forest away from other people to walk Foxy. Each day, without fail, the bright yellow flowers of the Gorse plant would light up like a beacon to me. In otherwise dreary months, their cheery yellow flowers were the only flowers to be seen, and I became captivated by them. Amidst the uncertainty and anxiety of those days, no matter where in the forest I walked, I found myself irresistibly drawn to the Gorse bushes. I would sit on the earth beside them, losing track of time, trying to give my fears and worries back to the earth in order for them to be transmuted. I always felt calmer from having spent time not just in nature but specifically with Gorse. I worked out the exact pressure I needed to use to brush my hand through it’s spiny branches without coming out too scratched. I’d pick the flowers carefully, roll them in my fingers until I was dyed yellow, and inhale their scent. One day, guided by a curiously insistent impulse, I carefully picked a Gorse flower and tasted it. To my utter surprise, it was sweet, as if nature itself was offering me a gentle reminder of the sweetness that exists even in challenging times.
It eventually occurred to me to Google the medicinal uses for Gorse. I discovered that it was used in one of the Bach® flower essences. It’s use is all about handling uncertainty and despair when times look bleak. Just like the flowers the remedy is “a beacon of hope, encouraging us to hold onto our faith and willpower even in the darkest of moments. When life's challenges seem overwhelming, Gorse whispers to us to keep fighting, to believe in brighter days ahead”. And I think it’s pretty magical that Gorse approached me at a time when I was very much in need of a sense of hope and faith in better times ahead.
Though I no longer feel in need of Gorse’s medicine, my heart sings with gratitude whenever I see it’s yellow flowers.
If you are intrigued about developing a deeper intuitive connection like mine, I've put together a free guide to the skills you will need to develop to be able to communicate with animals: grab it here.