Planets and Plants in 2021

Acyuta-bhava Dasa 0:00
Hi everyone, this is Acyuta-bhava from Nightlight Astrology, happy 2021. Everybody, it's nice to have 2020 coming into the rear view now. Today I'm joined by my wife Ashley, who is going to be talking about some of the herbal allies that might help us out, given some of the astrological energies of the year ahead. So I'm going to bring her in in a second to help me with that. But before we dive into that, I want to remind everybody that we are in the very last hours of our annual Kickstarter campaign. We've done amazingly well, right now, we're at a stage where, depending on how much more we do in these last hours, we're going through New Year's Day. And if we raise enough, there's a good possibility that our donation based reading clinic, which will serve people of lower income and give them opportunities to have affordable readings with a staff of people there, that was a dream that I was thinking was going to become reality maybe two years from now that would be gradually building towards that the success of this Kickstarter is doing so well. It's very possible, we could have that in place by 2022. We need your help to get there. The link to the Kickstarter is in the comment section of this post. When you pitch in, you can receive a lot of different rewards, including exclusive recordings that I make deep dive into 2021 horoscopes for 2021. Some other talks on eclipses and the nodes of the moon and mantra meditation video half off to all of my classes. And as I'll share with you in a minute, you can also get discounted tuition to my wife's herbal medicine apprenticeship, which she has been teaching for almost a decade now. It's a really popular, awesome class if you want to learn more about herbal medicines. So that's, that's all available to you. Thank you all for your support everyone who's donated so far, thank you very much. And without going on any further, I just want to welcome my wife, Ashley, on to the show today. Thanks for being here.

Ashley 1:57
I'm so glad to be back. I love these times when we can come together and talk about the planets and plants. And there's so many synergies. So yeah, I'm so happy to be back.

Acyuta-bhava Dasa 2:07
Yay. All right, so I'm going to put up the real time clock. And we are going to just what I want to do for you guys is just give you a sense of the energies that we are going to look at in this talk today. And these are the biggest ones of the year. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to eliminate everything from our perspective right now, except for Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. So let's just get a real clean screen here. These three planets are in a dynamic relationship all year Jupiter and Uranus right off the bat in January, but this relationship will be toning the whole year, and then Saturn and Uranus in February in June and in December, and all year, these three planets are in an active conversation. Let's spell out some of the themes that go along with them. Let's combine Jupiter and Uranus first. So Jupiter and Uranus are going to combine the principles of expansion, growth, abundance, enthusiasm, and usually with an eye for creating especially with the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn creating some kind of new order some new paradigm some new model, and the enthusiasm behind this is really contagious. And it's serious. It's not just flippity floppity stuff, right you've got Saturn in the mix. And Saturn is pretty serious about whatever it wants to do. But Jupiter and Uranus is gonna are going to bring these things together in ways that are revolutionary, avant garde, and also defiant. Possibly a little bit reckless or sudden and disruptive. So when these two get together for example, Ashley and I opened our yoga studio and we expanded and made this bigger yoga studio, and that happened to her Jupiter Uranus dynamic. It was very, like so much enthusiasm. Let's build something new. Let's expand and everyone is like that seems a little crazy. We're like we don't care you know, like, very Jupiter, Uranus. Now on the other hand, you have Saturn and Uranus.

Acyuta-bhava Dasa 4:23
We've done it I've done a million videos, like five videos I think I did on Jupiter and Saturn. So if you want a bit more of those in combination, go check those videos out. I'm just going to focus on the dynamics with Uranus right now because that's really the combination that we want to look for herbal helpers with Saturn and Uranus on the other hand are going to be like the start/stop dynamic. Uranus says I want to break free and Saturn's like you have obligations, you have responsibilities. Or you have the idea of a concerted revolutionary effort, which means you want to create a revolution but it's going to it's like remodelling a house House is going to turn from a boring house into, you know, a house where there's a lot of fun things going on a lot of inventive things going on, maybe you're going to turn it into an art studio. You're living in it while you're there, so you can't destroy the whole thing. And you have to take it apart piece by piece and put it back together piece by piece while also living in it functionally, that's the kind of energy that Saturn brings to the mix with Uranus right now. So that starts stop energy, if you try to go too far and it's not practical, it's not grounded, it's not serious enough, you'll get checked from Saturn this year. On the other hand, if you're too conservative and not taking enough risks, Uranus is it's going to have one of those breakdowns. Ashley and I joke about this because Ashley is you know pretty much a full time mom right and so when she's she part time herbalist full time, mom at the moment, especially with COVID right now, and in the past year, there's been these points where she'll just get and she's a Taurus, right, so she's got Uranus under Sun and Moon. And she'll get to these points where she goes, waving, waving the white flag, I need a me moment, I need a mean night. Tonight, she has a night with her friends, their girlfriends are gonna get together on online and have some time together. But these moments where you suddenly go, there's been too much conservative energy, there's been too much work, there's been, you know, too much seriousness, I need to break free, I need something to expand my horizons. And and, and it just doesn't care, we'll just disregard whatever Saturn is trying to get it to do. So if the conservative energy is too much, you're going to see breakthroughs that are sometimes violent and disruptive, or at the very least, just very defiant, rebellious. On the other hand, if there's too much of that, and not enough conservative energy, you're going to get pulled back in the other direction. I've mentioned several times that the combination of these energies can very easily create disturbances in nature, natural disasters, such as volcanoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, because you're looking at forces that want to break structures apart, they want to move plates around, they want to do so in ways that are like a whirlwind or something that comes really quickly and sort of suddenly and even though it's detrimental. There's a feeling of relief that comes like a cloud burst. The tower card in Tarot is related with this combination sometimes. Okay, so that's my piece for the video today. Now, what I want to do is hand it over to Ashley and say, okay, Ashley, you've been an herbalist for 10 years, you've seen clients go through all seasons of life, given that these are the energies ahead? What kind of herbal friends should we be working with this year?

Ashley 7:29
Yeah, I mean, one of the things when we were talking earlier about the year ahead, and just these really intense dynamics. I kind of zoomed out a little bit. And, you know, I was thinking about what do I have to offer as an herbalist and from the herbal perspective, what we're always trying to do is look at, what are the teachings from nature? So what is nature have to teach me in this moment? And what is my responsibility in engaging with nature, or what is my responsibility to the ecosystem that I live in and to the larger planet as a whole. And so, from the herbal perspective, you know, this, all of this energy between Saturn and Uranus, and Jupiter, and Uranus, it's like this tug of war between trying to grow really fast, and then trying to kind of like, batten down the hatches, you know, like, restrain and get to work and get serious all the while there's this Uranian, like, you know, energy stirring it up. And so one of the things I think will be most helpful for people in terms of herbs and an herbal perspective is that, we have to think about the long goal and the long view here, because this is going to be a year where things are not, you know, it's not going to be an easy pass. And so one of the things I think, would be very helpful is a movement called the Slow Living movement, and it's something that I become more and more interested in, which is this idea that we humans, we're kind of living ahead of ourselves, like, we're always kind of like, one step ahead or trying to get at the next thing or buy the next best, whatever. And so the slow living movement is this call back to living simply living within your means. Living in a way that's sustainable, that's respectful of the earth. And it's something that I know a lot of people are being more drawn to. And so I think like from the big picture, if we all think about what are the ways that we can ground ourselves and really study the way that we live in our bodies, number one, how are you taking care of and living in your body? And then thinking about how is the way that I live in my body and the decisions I make, how is that impacting the world around me? And is it creating positive impact or potentially some not so positive impacts? And so what are the ways we can relook and re-examine our relationship with the natural world. I also was thinking about the literal lessons from the plants here as they relate to the Jupiter Uranus and the Saturn Uranus dynamics. So, so humour me for a bit here as I sort of talk a little bit about you know, plants symbolism and, and how it relates to these these transits. But, you know, the the energy between Jupiter and Uranus as Acyuta pointed out this sort of like sudden growth and you know, this this kind of abundant energy, but it's kind of rebellious. You know, if you think about a plant, I've grown, you know, I've had gardens everywhere I've lived since I was in my early 20s, I've worked on farms and gardens in Australia, Costa Rica. So I've lived in and worked with a lot of plants in my years. And what happens when plants grow too fast is two things. They'll number one, they'll get leggy. Now, that sounds kind of sexy, but it's not, it's actually a very bad thing when plants get leggy. So when a plant gets leggy, it basically means that it shoots up too fast. And the stem is not really strong enough to support itself. And so this Jupiterian, energy can be like, boom, like idea, quick growth. But if it's left unchecked, then when it comes time for that plant to flower, it won't have enough strength to hold the flowers or hold the fruits. And so I think that's one lesson is, you know, again, when we think about slow living is okay, am I growing too big, too fast? What are the checks and balances that are in place?

Ashley 12:03
Now, the other thing that can happen to plants is that they become rootbound. So if a plant grows too fast, in its roots, and no one's looking at the container that it's growing in, the roots will get all bound up, and they won't have anywhere to grow to go, they'll use all of the nutrients in the soil, and then the top of the plant will start to die. And so from up above, it's looking at, you know, like, why is this plant sick? What's going on, nothing has changed. You know, it doesn't look like much has changed above. But there's been so much growth below, and no one's been keeping an eye on the pot, that it will kill the plant. So this sort of rapid growth that can happen in either direction, needs to have a mindfulness around it so that the plant can be supported through its growth cycle. It doesn't take over and then end up eventually harming the plant. Does that make sense?

Acyuta-bhava Dasa 13:01
Yeah, sure does. Yeah, that's a really nice analogy, actually. Because you have such ascensional growth with Jupiter, Uranus. And then you have such contractive like, let me know, the revolution isn't up, the revolution is down, it's consolidating, and those are tugging against each other all year, and it would be possible to spill out in either direction.

Ashley 13:22
Yeah, yeah. And then, you know, the Jupiter, Uranus. You know, this dynamic, this sort of like, disruptive constriction, or like natural disasters. You know, I was thinking about like, the Saturn, Uranus energy with plants, this unexpected challenge is actually something that creates great resiliency. And so everyone knows dandelions, and you know, like, you know, if a building is torn down, you know, dandelions, and a lot of, you know, plantain, there's a lot of plants that will just grow instantly, they like disruption, they like challenge and it really helps them to grow. And, you know, even if most plants do really well with some type of restriction, so even though it might be very disruptive in some way, you know, I was really thinking about this from a plant's perspective, as being something that could be very fortifying and very strengthening for our internal character and sort of our internal environment. Having these you know, red lights that we keep hitting over and over again, you know, might actually be a blessing in disguise and may, you know, again, help the plant to change the way it grows, change the way it engages. For people, change their jobs, change their nightly routines, things like that, that can be very, very helpful but need something to push against.

Acyuta-bhava Dasa 14:45
Nice, nice. Yeah. Analogies from the plant world never failed. They're always so good. Yeah.

Ashley 14:51
Yeah. So, again, when I'm thinking about, you know, herbs. I don't feel like there's like, there's like a single herb that will make all of this stuff go away and and you'll just cruise through these transits with no problem and 2021 will be ideal if you just take this, I know sorry. No, I don't think so, not for this year. But I do have some pieces of it pieces of advice that might be helpful in thinking about how we can cultivate a good relationship with plants. And again, with this idea of slow living. And the first the first thing is to grow your own plants. And that would be my suggestion for everyone out there that's interested in herbal medicine, is try growing some herbs, this would be a really good year to get your hands in the soil, even if it's potting soil. I mean, I lived in apartments with, you know, just windows where I would have to grow all of my herbs and medicines. So you know, it doesn't, you don't need to have a yard and, you know, eight hours of sunlight to grow medicinal plants. And so you know, this would be a really good year to build your own inner resilience, simplify, make your resource chain a lot closer to you. So you don't have to spend a lot of energy to go out or resources to go out. And it also will help you to forge a relationship with the plants because there's really no better way to get to know these herbs than to grow them. So there's a few suggestions I have for really easy to grow plants. So I brought this upstairs. So this is a little clipping of Tulsi. And so this is a sacred plant. And it's in the mint family. It has a number there's a number of different species but really all of the holy basil plants, the Krishna, the Vana, the Rama, all those varieties, Kapoor grows really well in the United States. It's an easy one to grow outside. But all of them can be grown indoors. Some of them are a little bit more temperamental, but mostly they do quite well. And what I really love about Tulsi, there's so many things, but one is that it makes really great cuttings. And so if you cut it, you can see here, see how it's growing these little roots. Can you all see the little baby roots? Isn't that sweet? Oh, it's a little baby. So this, this little baby, you know, I just cut it from our mother plant. And so she's gonna grow some roots and then I can put her into soil and I'll have another Tulsi plant and they'll just continue to grow like that. And Tulsi is a really nice one to grow this year because it's a protective plant in the bhakti yoga and in a lot of yoga traditions, it's considered to be a sacred herb that will protect your household and just with all the Uranus energy just feels like it'd be a good idea to have like a sacred plant, you know, in your vicinity for that, for that protective energy. Medicinally, Tulsi is an adaptogen, which means it helps you adapt to stress. It works on the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis, which regulates cortisol. And so you know, if and when we're under a lot of stress, especially when there's new things coming up, then our cortisol levels go up, and then they come down, and it's this up and down crash that is really taxing to our nervous system and to pretty much you know, most of our systems and can really disrupt sleep too. So this herb, medicinally helps to regulate that it helps you not go so high and not drop so low, so kind of keeps you more medium kind of like cruise and along rather than then falling and climbing. It also does the same thing with your blood sugar, which is so neat. So instead of having blood sugar spikes and crashes, Tulsi also has been shown in a number of clinical trials to help regulate blood sugar. We know when blood sugar is dysregulated we can have mood swings, and all sorts of temperamental outbursts and so to have a plant that will help you to kind of keep everything calm, and even both sort of neurologically and physiologically but also with you know, blood sugar and hormonally. It's a really, really nice plant. It's also carminative. So it helps with digestion. I could go on and on. But I think the main those are kind of the main things, the main medicinal values of this plant, and it grows nicely indoors in pots. If you grow some varieties, you might like the traditional Tulsi ocimum sanctum you may need a grow light if you don't have a really good source of sunlight. But again, a lot of the other varieties are quite easy to grow and then if you don't feel like you're quite ready for holy basil or you know you're like Oh, that sounds okay but not quite for me. Then you might also want to try growing just really really easy herbs with a lot of medicinal uses like lemon balm is a great one to grow, I think for this next year and peppermint. Lemon balm because it is a anti-anxiety, it helps to calm the nervous system. It helps with sleep, it's safe for children. It's also really nice and baths you can make an herbal tea, there's so many different things you can use it for.

Ashley 20:16
And then peppermints really easy to grow as well. And that are most of us know, peppermint will will help with crampy stomach pain and digestion issues. But it's also a really nice one for decreasing tension and spasms and helps to diffuse heat and tension out of the body. So those would be three plants I think would be a really nice ones to kind of if you're, if you're interested in growing herbs, have those on your windowsill or have those in pots on your porch and you'll get to know those three plants really well.

Acyuta-bhava Dasa 20:49
Great. That is fantastic advice. And I love the idea of anything that can help us this year with the regulation of highs and lows because this is such a year where the Jupiter Uranus combination by whole sign throughout the year is going to be and then even when Jupiter moves into Pisces briefly in the spring into early summer, you're going to get a few little months there where Jupiter is just giving us a sneak preview in Pisces then it retrogrades back into back into Aquarius but when it moves into Pisces, it's in a sextile relationship with Uranus. So it's not going anywhere all year long. It's we have the whole sign aspects from Jupiter to Uranus, a lot of expansion, a lot of excitement, a lot of growth, a lot of verticality, essential growth, which typically with Jupiter is going to mean more of something or higher with something and then there's you know, and then Saturn Uranus which is like the revolution of consolidation. You think about you know, minimalist movements, Marie Kondo the revolution, where you say I'm getting rid of anything unnecessary, and that's the revolution that's going to create more freedom but it takes this big contractual squeezing, almost. So that in eliminating and, and saying goodbye to things that aren't necessary any longer and that kind of consolidation is just as radical and exciting this year, but it's it's in the opposite direction as in some ways as Jupiter Uranus and so that, that tension that up and down, up and down to have cool even you know, kind of cooling temperature but I mean, just like even should have steadying presences. We have Tulsi in our home altar that we're growing. That's a part of the Bhakti tradition as Ashley mentioned. And but I just love how you describe Tulsi and what she can bring to the to the to the picture this year.

Ashley 22:39
Yeah, yeah. And I just you know, I feel like these plants have a lot to teach us and slow growth is I think the key you know nothing You know, there are some plants that shoot up really fast but the majority of them I mean it's weeks and months and some plants even years before there's any fruit or any seeds and you know I think taking the the long view here. And you know, I just know for myself having so much energy in you know some of my Mars in Aries like you know, I like to go fast and when I get when I start to get inspired it's like you know, I've really had to learn how to hold that back and temper that because it only ends up crashing me into a brick wall. You know, because like, if you go faster, if you go too fast and you haven't really looked at the plan ahead and that you you don't look at well what are the repercussions of this action like the long term repercussions and so you know, again, if we think about slow measured growth, paying attention to the containers, paying attention to our health, you know really thinking about the time it takes to grow a garden and to have a feast at the end of the season. You know if we can keep that in mind while all of this Iranian energy is around us, we might not get so thrown off and you know walks in nature I think would be really good. You know if you could get that on to your regular schedule just getting outside and you know letting nature kind of show you how it handles change how it handles growth that I think those will be great teachings for us in the year had

Acyuta-bhava Dasa 24:24
Brought to you by my wife's double Taurus Sun and Moon. If you want a very steady I mean even though you were mentioning your Mars in Aries but your your approach to teaching herbs and to helping people relate to nature is is very Taurean in the sense and that's why it's a good it's really a good match for the Uranus in Taurus energy. One of the combinations that I think of right now, you know they have car commercials where it's some luxury sedan or Something I don't know. And they'll say, It rides quietly, right? So you could be going 7580 miles an hour down the freeway, but inside, you know, it's just totally silent, totally peaceful. And that might be another way of looking at this year is not, it's because there are going to be periods of like really rapid accelerated growth and expansion. And sometimes we're just along for the ride and, and so I don't want to present the idea as if you Everyone should be totally measured and conservative and very well planned and thought out, there's going to be moments where inspiration just comes in. But do we have a vehicle, a container, in our lifestyle in our house, growing plants in the house can contribute to this plant allies can contribute to this, where the environment is stable, the energies might be taking off, but we have a way of processing them or moving along with them that creates stability. Another image you might think of would be like there's, you know, there's aeroplanes, of course, that are moving ridiculously fast, you know, three 400 miles an hour, some of those fighter jets, they move so fast, inside the cockpit can be safe and still and quiet and controlled. And so I also wonder about that combination this year. And just some of these things can be setting us up for success when those periods come because there will be rapid periods that come this year. But how we've prepared for those and how we manage or handle those energies is the equivalent of finding a stillpoint while moving at the speed of light. Does that does that make sense?

Ashley 26:32
Totally. Yeah, no, I think that's that's a really great analogy the vehicle and yeah, I mean, we want to have a smooth ride. I mean, that's kind of what we are often. That's like, what we're what we're after is how do we create a smooth cruising altitude, where we can still get where we're going, but, you know, avoid turbulence. And yeah, it sounds like this year, we're going to hit turbulence. But you know how well we're prepared for that, and internally, is going to make a big difference. And, you know, I mentioned tulcea as an adaptogen. But there's a lot of other adaptogens, too, that people might want to take to build that inner resilience. I don't have any affiliation with this company, but I really like their medicines. They're called Herbalists and Alchemists. And it's a company that David Winston who's a really well known herbalist, makes just really good quality, high quality herbal tinctures. And he has one particular blend called calm, adapt. So maybe this will fly off the shelves after this talk, but it's a really good one, because has a blend of adaptogens and call me nervine. And I feel like those are the kind of two entered, like the two types of allies we're gonna want to have with us, you know, kind of more like, you know, that would be like the quick thing we can do rather than the whole conversation we've been having. But you know, if you're really like, okay, that all sounds good, and I'll get started on that. But is there something I can take internally every day that will help me with these tumultuous energies and help me keep that peace? That Calm Adapt tincture is a really nice one. So and if you can't find that, let's say you live in another country, just look for an herbal blend that has a has both adaptogens and nerve ions. And if you're an herbalist, you know plants, you can just make that on your own. You know, if you're going lemon balm, and you're going Tulsi, there you go, you've got a nervine and an adaptogen right there. So I just wanted to throw that in, because I know some people really are like, you know, give me something I can do now. And that would be the Yeah, that would be that would be an answer for that.

Acyuta-bhava Dasa 28:39
Brilliant, anything else you want to add? Before we close?

Ashley 28:44
You know, one thing I was thinking about, with, with all the Uranian energy is we have to be careful of stimulants right now. So caffeine, you know, coffee is or you know, the coffee or the it's a plant, it's an herb and I love all plants. So it's, you know, I don't discriminate, you know, this plant is evil, this plant is good, but some plants are better at certain times and for certain people than others. And I just really have a have a sense that this year would be a good year if you're considering lessening your dependence on caffeine or your consumption of caffeine that this would probably be a good year to maybe make a pivot to herbal teas or, you know, to a coffee substitute or something like that. Because every time you know, when when we drink a lot of caffeine and it really stimulates our nervous system. It also depletes our adrenals and our deep you could think of it like your savings account gets depleted every time you take a cup of coffee, you know if you're if you're not like a coffee, heavy, earthy, like you know, nothing will rattle you type. If you're not like that, then caffeine and coffee is going to deplete you everyday a little bit by a little bit. So for those of you listening, they're looking for a new year's resolution, that could be a good one. And there's great coffee substitutes out there. I drink rasa that's like one of my favourites, there's dandy blend. There is teeccino. I'm sure throughout Europe and you know, the Middle East, there's a number of other like chicory and dandelion root coffee alternatives, but I think now would be probably a good time to make that switch. And so yeah, I think in closing, though, I just, I'm excited for the year ahead, you know, even though you know, it might not be an easy start, especially with January, like everything like Mars, and everything's kind of gonna take off. You know, I think we do have a lot to be hopeful for and a lot to be excited about. And, you know, the Saturn energy to not be afraid of it, I think it's really going to help give us a lot of resilience and a lot of clarity around what it is we can do and what it is we're capable of, and, and give us some really clear insights and clear vision. So I think I'll just end end with that.

Acyuta-bhava Dasa 31:19
Thank you. Yeah, you know, it's if the change is worth making, then it's worth the time that it will take. There's a hexagram in the I Ching that I want to leave you all with today. It's hexagram number 51. I can't pronounce the Chinese but it is called the arousing and it is a the trigrams put Thunder over Thunder if you know the eaching at all. And it's the thunder is also called the arousing and the judgement of the hexagram reads "Shock brings success. Shock comes. Oh Oh. Laughing words. Haha, the shock terrifies for 100 miles. And he does not let fall the sacrificial spoon and chalice." This is a really interesting hexagram people have written a lot about obviously a lot more than I could do justice to in a short period of time. And my understanding is also limited by my experience. But what I would say about this hexagram and why it matches with this year is that shock can bring success. And in success we can, we can fall off the horse shock can be success can be shocking, good things can be shocking. Breakthroughs can be shocking. And even really good things can "traumatise" or throw us out of our centre as well as bad things. But the good things sometimes we don't anticipate the excitement that comes that can also throw us off centre. This hexagram shows a picture of a young person who is learning to attend to a ritual. And there's this massive Thunder Strike. And it's a that's like an auspicious Omen in a sense that there's this auspicious Omen, but he has to stay focused and and not get excited by the kind of compliment of the sky. God's saying, boom, as you're doing the sacred offering. He has to just do it like, like nothing was happening at all. Or, on the other hand, part of the image is the picture of everyone in the neighbourhood kind of going like Haha, like nervously laughing. So there's a weird way which shock has a lot of ways of working with us. It comes through both the positive and the negative, it disrupts us in both positive and negative ways. But the important thing when shot comes is to stay balanced to stay in the centre and to to keep walking one step at a time as mindfully as we can. That's that I think that's at the heart of what we're talking about today. What we hope these plants will help you with and some of the way that you can work with these energies over the year ahead. So thank you so much for listening, everybody.

Acyuta-bhava Dasa 34:07
I want to remind you that one of the reasons we also had Ashley come on today is because through my Kickstarter, if you are interested in studying herbal medicine, Ashley teaches a one year long herbal apprenticeship programme online. You get to work with the plants you get to learn how to use plants in basic, you know medicinal herbal remedy kind of ways and grow them and work with them personally. It's a really experiential class you get to see actually work with some live clients in the class all sorts of good stuff that's on sale through the Kickstarter for I think about $800 off the normal cost and that's for three more days or two more days about that by the time you hear this. Could you just say a few words before we go Ashley about your herbal apprenticeship and what the experience is like for people?

Ashley 34:56
Yeah, it's um I mean really What I have heard from my students, you know, they really love that they get to know all the different parts of herbal medicines. So we spend a lot of time not only looking at, like the history and the folk uses of medicine, but we spend time understanding human physiology, like how the body works different body systems, we spend time looking at the chemical constituents, what are the compounds in these plants? And how do they actually tweak and affect, you know, different pathways, we learn botany and that's one of my favourite parts to teach, because I'll teach you how to identify plants in nature. And, you know, there's nothing better than going out and where you once saw just a swath of greens, suddenly, you can pick out different plants and know them by name. And that's just, it's such a cool process, because then you have plants, plant friends around you all the time, you can say hi to them by name. So we, you know, again, we cover a lot of different ground, we learn how to make medicines, you'll learn how to make tinctures and savs, and lotions. And as a tutor said, you'll also be taking the plants individually. So we'll give you a list and you will find the plants local to you. And you'll do plant diets will you'll actually take them into your body. And with the group, we'll talk about how does it feel? What does it do? What does it taste like? We'll talk about the energetics. And so you'll get a really embodied experience of 15 plants and then those plants are kind of your starting point for year one. And then we add more plants on if you're interested in the year two course. But yeah, that's that's kind of the gist of it. It's really a you know, we take a little slice of all the different pieces of herbal medicine and we put it together, and classes run on Saturdays from 11 to 130. And that's Eastern Standard Time. So 11am to 1:30pm. Eastern time. And so we start on January 23. So even if you miss the Kickstarter, there's still time to enrol. And you can go to my website, skyhouse herbs calm and click on the apprenticeships and then you'll see them there. I also have blogs that I post, I have my own YouTube channels, if you want to hear more of me blah, blah, blah, about plants, you can do that. Just search skyhouse herbs on YouTube.

Acyuta-bhava Dasa 37:22
I love your blah, blah, blah, it's my favourite. And in the meantime, yeah, we'll put the links for all of these sites for Ashley's herb school into the comments section of this post. And then if you want to get about $800 off her apprenticeship, it's usually 1800s down to 1000 just during the Kickstarter each year. You can follow the link to the Kickstarter and pick up that reward and you'll be enrolled in her January programme this coming coming year. So thank you everybody so much for listening. Thanks Ashley for being here. She's two doors away from me right now.

Ashley 38:02
It's a pleasure. I'm so glad that we got to sit. two rooms away and chat are about the favourite things we like to talk about.

Acyuta-bhava Dasa 38:08
Might be the most adult time that we get for like the rest of the week. All right, well, take care everybody. Thank you so much for listening and have a great year ahead. Bye.