Lavender
Lavandula spp.
bathe me in twilight
she walks in on pointed purple slippers
assessing what is needed, guiding you to relinquish what is too heavy.
there is a lack of frivolity here. no dilly dallying or time for whispered sweet nothings.
she comes with a gentle discernment, sobering your senses, sharpening your wits.
placing her pencil behind her ear and rolling back her shoulders, smoothing your temples with her sedating touch.
leaving you with a pleasurable bite in the back of your jaw and a lighter step.
the name “Lavender” originates from the latin word “lavare” meaning wash or bathe.
“In Medieval and Renaissance Europe, washerwomen were known as "lavenders" because they spread their laundry over lavender bushes to dry for the scent it gave.”
High Country Gardens
“The Lavender” Eugene de Blaas
botanical identification
flowers: small and tubular with a spike inflorescence, ranging from pale lilac to deep purple
leaves and stem: thin, long and narrow leaves, greenish-gray in color, with square stems.
harvest by eva and dylan in PA - lavandula intermedia
harvest at Duvall Herb Farm, WA - lavandula angustifolia
lavandula angustifolia
lavandula intermedia garbled and ready to be vacumn sealed
her offerings
forms - tea, tincture, topical, flower essence
embodying duality and versatility
parts used: flowers, sometimes aerials
energetics: cooling, bitter, drying
- stimulating and uplifting while also being profoundly relaxing
- antibacterial, anti fungal, antiseptic
- yes she tastes floral but also has a prominent bitterness that can be useful to relieve indigestion and calm muscle spasms
- hydrosols put her aromatics on display in an approachable way and can be used in drinks, as a facial toner, and in lotions and creams
- small amounts of EO used on small burns for pain management and to disinfect wounds
- use in baths, insect repellant, hair rinse, mouthwash, the list goes on and on!
“The night is fresh-washed and fair and there is a whiff of flowers in the air. Wrap me close, sheets of lavender. Pour your blue and purple dreams into my ears. The breeze whispers at the shutters and mutters.”
Amy Lowell
lavender being hung to dry for tea
“Lavender Fields with Rising Sun” Vincent Van Gogh
clearing patterns and soothing woes
LAVENDER
The twilight hangs like smoke in the streets,
Pearly, veiling all the stretches in illusion;
And the new-lit lamps are the glow of hearts
That grip unseeing and unseen.
At the corner a lean young girl offers me lavender,
Offers me youth and romance to hold in my palm, closed-
thus.
She gives dreams to the world,
She who knows nought of dreams-
Gives gardens and waters, and the young shy moon
Hung in laurels;
Gives the smoke of evening in the willows,
And the complaining stream,
And the lavender’s subtle reawakening of old, dead thoughts.
(1917)
Archie Austin Coates