Spearmint Medicine - Sharpening the Inner Senses
Perhaps one of the most prolific of all Lamiaceae family plants, you know, the mints, is Spearmint. This hearty perennial herb roots in and gets bigger year after year while saturating any garden or wild space with their verdant green presence. I love Spearmint- textured leaves, beautiful flower stalks, and a fragrance that stirs my senses physical and subtle. In this post, I’d like to share a bit with you from a recent community class I did on the wisdom of Mentha spicata- focusing on some very powerful things I’ve learned and received from working with this most ubiquitous of plant spirits. I’ll also be sharing with you my Hymn to Spearmint which I wrote for our monthly plant spirit journey with this sacred plant. You’ll find a music-backed guided audio version of this hymn in the class below.
Before we get started, a gentle invitation. If you feel like you don’t like Mint- I understand! But please do yourself a favor and try a warm cup of Spearmint tea at least once… you might be surprised!
Spearmint Speaking Up
Recently, our plant spirit journey group spent a month sitting with Peppermint (Mentha piperita) learning from them through study, meditation, ritual, and working with their remedies. You may know by now that I love all the members of the Mint family, and Peppermint is one of my personal favorites as an ally to help introduce folks to the way plants get our attention and then communicate to us through the liminal spaces of the heart. I didn’t have any intention of having a separate sit with Spearmint only because in most of our trusted materia medica and extant plant lore, these two plants are treated as interchangeable. Even within Traditional Chinese Herbalism there is only a slight difference between Peppermint and Spearmint in their energetics: the former being cooler, the latter being warmer and more diffusing. Otherwise, they can be brought into medicine interchangeably.
But, just when I think I have a plan, the plant spirits pop in and say what they want to say in their own special ways. And in this case, Spearmint kept creeping up into my sits with Peppermint making it clear that they wanted to have some time as the focus of our attention. Since the materia medica and materia magica texts for these herbs are so similar, I decided to have folks in our group not so much focus on Spearmint alone, but spend time comparing, contrasting, and exploring the nuances between them- learning how and why these two plants are actually very different from one another and creating space to really get to know each of them directly.
Throughout this process I have learned so much about Spearmint and have reinforced some older wisdom I received from this plant in previous personal journeys with them. I have been thrilled to be able to share this with you all. One of the main things that I’ve been working on with this most aromatic of plants is the tonifying, sharpening, and clarifying of all our senses-
Sharpening the Senses
If you’ve ever had the wild pleasure of rustling some Spearmint leaves between your hands and inhaling the fragrance that quickly permeates, you know that this herb brings an uplifting and energizing power. This is a clue to some of the deeper ways Spearmint (Mentha spicata, M. crispa, M. viridis) brings their medicine and magic into the depths of our being when we work with them in more intentional ways. Often times, what a plant does in the spaces around us can be a direct meditation on what they’ll do when they’re invited inside of us.
The strong Spearmint aroma will fill up a room when the fresh leaves are chopped or when a jar containing the well-harvested and dried leaves is opened. Similarly, when brought into the body physical Spearmint will diffuse, expand, and permeate- easing through blockages, moving into nooks and crannies within, and eventually reaching the exterior parts of us where they relax the fascia and skin to allow pores to open and release- diaphoresis.
While moving through the body in this way, Spearmint comes into contact with two levels of senses- the physical Lic-based systems of sight, touch, taste, scent, and sound, and then the subtle senses which we might call the intuitive system rooted in the heart. Both of these sense-systems are worked on by the mere presence of Spearmint- each being woken, sharpened, stimulated, and tonified. In my work with this plant, I have experienced that physical vision, the nuances of taste, olfactory processes and depth, sensitivity of skin-touch, and the sounds of plants moving in spaces are all heightened and clarified with the support of Spearmint.
On a deeper level, Spearmint will then continue into the spiral of self and work on the domains of the Hyga and the Mynd- the intelligence and the mind which dovetail with the inner faculties of sensing through intuition and inspiration. Here, Spearmint will explore the senses of the soul and do several things, which have been poetically shared with my by this plant in the following ways:
Open what has collapsed
Untie what has been knotted
Release what has been kinked
Sharpen what has been dulled
Clarify what has become muddy
Focus what has become blurry
These powers can of course affect physical senses, but here they are focused on the senses within- and more importantly Spearmint teaches that they work on these faculties as they relate to plant spirit work! In other words, Spearmint helps to open, attune, and refine our inner senses so that we can in turn sense the power of all the other plants we might work with. Amazing!
For folks who are new to plant spirit communication or who have been struggling to bring the experiences they have into a more clear focus, this is an exceptional ally to connect to and learn from- Spearmint medicine is potent, quick, and effective when approached with feelings of kinship, excitement, joy, and hope.
Experiencing Spearmint
To really allow the medicine of Spearmint in and to experience that medicine in ways that are both personally transformative and effective in sharpening our senses, there are a few simple things you might try…
Sit with Spearmint as they grow in the ground. Rustle the leaves to spread their aroma through the air, then simply breathe with them: offer your exhalations as a gift of live, receive their blessings on your inhalations in love and trust. Follow the breath and the ritual of breathing into the medicine of this plant.
Sip warm Spearmint tea with the prayer of the medicine flowing all the way through your whole being and helping to open, refine, and sharpen your intuitive senses- especially as they relate to working with plant spirits.
Harvest a Spearmint leaf with respect and craft a simple blessing ritual whereby the leaf is touched to spaces that represent your physical senses, and then finally to your heart which is the seat of the intuitive senses. By blessing, we pay attention and affirm which shakes the dust off and strengthens what we focus on.
I also invite you to read through the Hymn to Spearmint below which I wrote for our online community. You can do this while sipping tea, smelling the plant, or just thinking of them. Below, you’ll also find a free class on Spearmint which includes a guided audio version of this hymn.
Hymn to Spearmint
Spearmint, to your verdant spirit we call…
Great giver of heart’s rejoicing, lifter of spirits, joy-bringer-
Mentha spicata, crispata, viridis-
Verdant pleasure of garden and meadow…
Sweet Spearmint, cherished among plants, Famous among garden kin…
Your spear-shaped leaves with their serrated edges are a delight to the sense of touch; thick and textures leaves radiate brilliant green light and intoxicating aromas-
Your pale purple flowers are a beacon to every insect, bird, human, and land wight- captivating our attention you call us in to bless us endlessly.
Mentha spicata, spear of the green realm
Into my whole being I invite you with love and trust…
In sips of tea and with deep inhalations of your sacred aroma,
drawing you into my heart I mingle my energy with yours-
meeting you in the sacred center, at the world tree, at the center of the cosmos, I listen from all parts of my being to the wisdom you offer…
Mighty spearmint…
as you flow through my whole being you create space for all good things to happen-
you open the collapsed,
you untie the knotted,
you release the constricted,
you uplift what has fallen.
Great spear,
You sharpen the senses physical and subtle…
Each of the places where I connect with other become clear, open, and ready-
You brighten my eyes and sharpen my vision
You clarify my scent and deepen my breath
You stimulate my skin and bring power to all touch
You excite my tongue and bring endless mysterious tastes
You quiet my mind that my ears can hear both loud and quiet…
As you circulate through my being, great Spearmint, you sharpen, and quicken, and strengthen my senses of spirit- blessing the thinking spaces of my heart, head, and belly.
As your brilliant green power flows through me, I am brought fully into the moment and am engaged with the wholeness of things…
My senses clear and open to receive the deep wisdom of the green realm.
Make clear all blockages,
Make open all constrictions,
Make free all limitations
that the denizens of the green realm who grace me with their presence of spirit and of medicine can be fully realized.
Hail Spearmint, Mentha spicata, crispata, viridis…
My whole being dances with energy as an offering of gratitude to you-
Spearmint within me, and me within Spearmint.
Great ally of the green realm, may the ways between us be ever open!
