Lungwort : Pulmonaria officinalis
~hope and guiding light in darkness~
Also known as “Mary’s Milk Drops” and “Our Lady’s Tears”, Lungwort essence opens a gentle beam of essential “divine” light into our hearts and lungs so we may become receptive to inspiration and the courage needed to move closer to source just as a drop of mother’s milk on the lips of a child turns them toward her breast for more. It gives us hope, opens, and leads us.
Lungwort is native to the places in European forests where the canopy opens enough to let a beam of light shine through. The 3rd photo is Lungwort leaf on the forest floor in a Tuscan forest where I found it in an opening of light. The flowers unfurl in a spiral pattern like a gentle organic unfolding. Sometimes the work of opening and making contact with our own light and the light of the universe can feel like an overwhelming task. And the light itself is so powerful that it requires a strong heart to stand in its presence. Becoming ready for this is a journey that requires patience, faith, and persistence as well as a strong container. It’s easy to lose our way and Lungwort offers us a sparkle of the divine to let us know we’re on our path.
Lungwort is also associated with the lungs, also in the heart chakra, as the spots on its leaves indicate pockets of mucus to be expectorated from infected lungs. Lungwort essence aids us in “coughing up” old ways and ideas that have been keeping us stuck and in “the dark" not allowing us to breath in deeply and fully as well as exhale completely. It removes the heaviness of despair particularly around unexpressed grief, alleviates depressed moods, and opens us to the possibly of celebration of life, instead of resistance, and freely breathing in the light of the world as well as letting our own light out. This enables a sense of freedom and release as well as confidence that we are capable of being fully embodied and standing in our own power.
Lungwort supports the regulation and balanced rhythm of our breath and can be combined with breathwork, smoking cessation, and the healing of both chronic and acute lung ailments. We carry both and grief and worry, especially when associated with trauma, in our lungs. It’s a normal stress response to hold one’s breath when in fight or flight, when we’re scared, and if equilibrium doesn’t reestablish we can become stuck in a pattern of holding our breath all the time. The holding of the breath affects the muscles around our chest and diaphragm that can result in tightness and imbalance further perpetuated the state of dis-ease. Breath holding also signals to our nervous system that we are experiencing a threat resulting in ongoing neuro-emotional dysregulation aka chronic stress and anxiety. This is a pattern that develops over time to protect us and enable our survival. Our survival and protective mechanisms are needed and life-saving so Lungwort allows us to understand that our obstacles, our despair, and even self-harming behaviors such as addictions are forms of dislocated self-love just waiting to be transmuted or redistributed.
Dosage: This is a stock bottle so can be taken directly by the drop; 1-3 drops under the tongue or in water 2-3x per day or as desired. It can also be used to make a dosage bottle if that is a practice you're familiar with.
This essence is a “stock” bottle. A stock bottle is a dilution of the original “mother” essence made by taking 7 drops of the mother and putting it into a 60:40 ratio of spring water to alcohol and potentizing it by shaking. This stock bottle can be further diluted into a dosage bottle by taking 3 drops of the stock essence and putting it into 1/2 ounce of spring water.
Ingredients: Lungwort flowers in spring water and Brandy