Gingko or Ginkgo - Biloba

I wanted to share a little tasting experience I had of my own today as people have shared so much with each other, Rachael and myself at our tastings.  

Before everyone starts telling me off having now consulted with a herbal professional I realise I picked the leaves a little too early. Rach has some dried but I wanted to try fresh, so went with it anyway.

A bit of background might be appropriate first. My father-in-law gave our eldest a ginkgo tree for her 8th birthday after she asked for the oldest tree in the world. She is now 16 for some context.

So we planted it at the front of our house. Not well thought, as it faces north, northeast and what west light might have come into it was blocked by other trees.

Anyway, the poor thing sat there for years getting about 4 weeks of an hour or so of light in a season if it was lucky. That was until last autumn when our neighbours chopped down their trees.  (hideous giant leylandii, 30ft high)

This year that poor little ginkgo doesn’t know what’s happened. He has shot forward in his newfound abundant sunshine. have never tried ginkgo before. I have heard it is used much in Chinese medicine and seen as a bit of an all-rounder on health. But that is the extent of my knowledge. So I’m going into this tasting a little on the blind side.

 Pre-meditation: Smelled of mushrooms, earthy but light Tasted similar but fruity too. It zinged through my teeth straight toward my head. Buzzing gently. Sat warm in my stomach. Could feel my hands, arms, feet and legs warming, and enlarging. All nice.

 After I meditated on and with this herb it seemed to glow through my aura, vibrating at higher and higher levels. Felt lovely. The feeling in my hands and feet of warmth/heat grew tremendously.

The ginkgo took me to a wooded hillside. Warm summer afternoon. I was in a small clearing but saw lots of lush greenery in the shade. The ginkgo, I noticed, was in my hands. When I opened them a sparking, bright yellow and white ball/formed. It was still but moved spokes/forks/beams outwards energetically in all directions.

Difficult to focus on but there was a form within. Dancing back and forth. It reminded me of a reiki symbol I use frequently to bring lightness, joy and energy to a healing/clearing session. My solar plexus, heart and throat chakras lit up/jumped forward. Felt warm and gentle but with a rising wildness/mischievousness.

 This is where it got a bit weird. Out of the woods strode a…mountaineer. Quite modern in style but he was wearing a white cap, which I still now think might have been a tied hanky. Don’t judge me and was holding a long ornate staff, which he used as he walked. It was calved with feathers and other stones and things hanging off it. It seemed to have a life of its own. It vibrated. He had a rough face that had seen lots of outdoors. He walked over, smiled, reached out and, without breaking his stride, opened his hand and blew…sparkling gold glitter at me. And was gone. Oh! Bye then.     

My hands were covered with gold glitter/dust as was my mouth. But it tingled very pleasantly and seemed to expand my lungs. A memory came up immediately. I was about 6 and in Cornwall with my mum and dad not long after we moved there. We were crossing a field full of cow pats, making our way to an estuary. We spent the day there. My dad was fishing, mum was sunbathing and I was looking for crabs under the slimy, muddy rocks.

I sat with this when an emotion of deep sadness came over me. I was aware this was one of the few times we were actually together and yet we were not really together. My little me was happy enough. The sadness was all the now me. I cried.   

This scene dispersed and seemed to flow upwards into my head. My head felt like an onion shape and flames flowed up now engulfing my head. I knew this flame also had something to do with my ego. It felt as though it was the fuel for the now uncomfortable feelings creeping on through my body. I took a breath and let this go. Used some reiki symbols and other techniques to bring a balanced feeling back in.

Everything settled. I cried again. But it felt good. Release.

My eldest came to find me then and asked if I wanted to go on a late-night walk with her to see some shooting stars this evening. I said yes. Gave her a big hug.

Love and light blessings Max