The Synergy of Rootwork

From time to time I find myself pausing to ponder the beauty and mystery of the universe: how energy works, the way in which everything in our environment is connected, the simple yet awe-inspiring moments where you just know that there's a God (sunsets tend to do this for me).

I was having such a moment this morning as I was considering our relationship to cause-and-effect in the world, and the methods that we can use to influence positive outcomes in our lives. Rootwork, in my experience, is one such method that is both subtle yet powerful in its efficacy. A working, when well planned and executed, softly influences the energy of the universe, something like tossing a stone into a pond and watching the ripples unfold. It is nothing more than a suggestion we make, but it is real, and can be very effective. For me there is great mystery and holiness in that.

So I decided to pull a card from my Halloween Oracle, while holding this topic gently in my mind, and I pulled: Barmbrack.

Halloween Oracle; S. Demarco, J. Manton
Rootworking tools

Barmrack is the name of an yeasty Irish fruit bread that is traditionally made at Samhain (Halloween). Before the bread is baked various objects are inserted into it, such as a toothpick, a coin, or a ring. If a party-goer received a slice of bread with the toothpick they could expect a year of disputes ahead (similar to the Birchrod in Lenormand). If they received the coin, they could expect money, and if the ring, a marriage.

In the Halloween Oracle this card is subtitled "Sweetness and Synergy" and refers to value and power that exist in the present, as opposed to worrying about the future. The author, Stacey Demarco, writes:

"We have the tools to change our future should we choose. The sweet energy of barmbrack - all the ingredients including the objects [baked within] are more complete and powerful together than they are individually."

This is a beautiful representation of what rootwork is and does. Rootwork is a ritual process of utilizing roots, herbs, stones, and things made with natural essences (such as oils) in combination to help achieve a specific end (such as finding work, improving finances or business, healing those who are ill, and even for protection). The ritual of rootwork - the careful and purposeful selection of materials, the process of preparation, the focus and intention of the worker and the work itself - is like a sacred dance, a weaving of energy where each element merges and combines to create something greater than the sum of its parts - powerful synergy.

Witches Are Healers

Yesterday morning I woke up and went straight to the kitchen to begin to prepare a brew. My youngest child developed a rather nasty cold, full of congestion and coughs and the day before I had prepared a batch of tea using elderberry and elderflower, lemon balm, echinacea root, peppermint, mullein, and a couple of other herbal goodies. After giving him three or four cups throughout the day I started to see a significant improvement in his congestion and coughing, and that night he slept fairly well. So I was motivated, and first thing in the morning set myself to making a new batch of the same wonderful tea.

Healing tea a'brewing!

Fortunately my son loves tea, and didn't mind drinking so many cups of "the same flavor." So I began my day yesterday by preparing a second round of healing tea, during which my husband laughed and said "te ves bruja de verdad!" (You really look like a witch!) I suppose it was seeing me standing there surrounded by herbs, roots, and berries, hand-mixing a special concoction into a muslin tea bag, the steam of boiling water curling around me. I smiled. He likes it when I get "witchy."

Straining arnica oil

Later in the morning he set out to the store to pick up some groceries and I asked him to buy some lemons and garlic for an anti-cold drink I was planning to make for myself that day (after tending to the little one, I was starting to get that "feeling" in the back of my throat - the one that tips you off that you might just get a cold, too, if you're not careful). I remembered that I wanted to apply more oil to my High John pocket piece, so I sat down for a moment to tend to that. My husband had been gone for a while when I suddenly realized that I was missing an ingredient for the arnica salve I wanted to prepare to help him combat some shoulder pain he was having. As I settled down to pick a Halloween Oracle card-of-the-day (focused on the question "what will the predominant energy of my day be?") I phoned him quickly to ask him if he was still at the market. He was, thankfully. And as I was telling him what I needed him to purchase and where he could find it, I pulled…the Witch! Yes, I laughed at that!

Halloween Oracle - Stacey Demarco

On page 70 of the accompanying book Stacey Demarco writes: "Through spells and rituals and even through herbal recipes (yes, often brewed in a cauldron!) they weave the powers of this world and the next in synergy to solve problems and heal." Talk about fitting! I work with herbs (and other things) regularly but yesterday I spent quite a bit more time than usual on my own brews and healing applications, so it was a perfect reflection of my day thus far.

Eventually I prepared myself for teaching, and set off for an afternoon of guiding, directing, and instructing a group of adolescent males (fun, but I usually leave those sessions rather hoarse!). As I left class and was standing outside waiting for Jorge to swing by to pick me up, I was scrolling through my favorite app, Zite, and found an interesting article about the survival of the American indigenous midewiwin society, the shamanic healers of the Anishnaabe and other Algonquin peoples of the northeastern region of the current-day United States. I remembered studying this society when I was probably 13 years old, and drawing a picture of what a midewiwin ceremony might have looked like. I hadn't really heard anyone speak (or write) of this society very much since then, so it really brought me back in time. The article was focused on how the midewiwin practices suffered but were not completely lost when Christianity spread through northern parts of North America via the French settlers and jesuits.

By the end of the day I was sprawled across the couch watching the latest episode of the Lifetime show "Witches of East End." Silly, kind of soap-opera-ish, but somewhat entertaining all the same.

In multiple ways that Witch card was wonderfully apt, with many relevant themes having been woven throughout my entire day, from start to finish. And while I don't have a particular label for myself in terms of what I do and how I practice ritual, or work with plants, I realize that much of what I do is in line with how many people describe witchcraft (and hedge witchcraft is a pretty accurate self-description, I suppose). Perhaps I prefer more benign-sounding names like "root worker" or "healer." In the end, however, they all share a common source, and in some way or another any of those titles may be correct. Witches are healers. Shamans are healers. Root workers are healers. And I was perfectly happy being a witch for a day ;)