Medicine At Our Feet…featuring Dandelion

For the last several years I have been teaching an herbal apprenticeship called Medicine At Our Feet and without fail one of the most impactful classes is the one with dandelions. 

At the beginning of this session I invite the participants to drop into Silence, not because talking is bad but because we are learning to hear the voices of the other Beings. Walking with Silence drops us into our senses and it is through our senses that we experience our journey along the path to a meadow on the mountain.

To walk with Silence in a group can be unsettling to some and a relief to others. To be with others socially typically means filling all the air space with conversation. Yet walking together in Silence feels like a reverence…that we are entering the home of all the Beings who live here… and in quieting our vibration we begin to resonate with the frequency of the Place and in this way we see, hear and feel more.

After some time, we arrive in a meadow so full of dazzling yellow flowers that we can barely see the green grass they are embedded in. Often there’s an exclamation now, from the students, as the sight is breathtaking. Before putting a lot of words around this plant we’ve come to learn from, I send the group out to wander individually until they feel called to sit with dandelion. As with all the plants we sit with, I remind them to give an offering and to Listen to what these friends have to share.

Eventually we return to a circle to hear the stories of what each person experienced. There are always tears, anger, disbelief and newfound awareness. The fact that we have been conditioned to hate this sunny, little, yellow flower hits many as a betrayal. Some become aware that if we have been conditioned to hate and kill these flowers with chemicals, how else have we been conditioned to turn against Nature and Life?

Many decide to write letters to dandelion, asking for forgiveness and vowing to be an ambassador for this plant. Some decide to educate others after we talk for an hour about all the ways dandelion is used for food and medicine. We talk about how interesting it is that this plant who helps to detoxify our livers also works to detoxify the Earth.

I share with the group how it came to be that we, as a culture, despise this happy little sunshine flower. That back in the days of royalty the kings and queens separated themselves from the peasants by creating lawns where they could luxuriate and play games. This separation was also one of distancing themselves from wild nature.

Meanwhile the “common” people couldn’t afford to have lawns, as they were too busy working. It wasn’t until 1830 that the mechanical mower was invented making it easier for working class people to keep a lawn. And then came the chemicals and now $137 billion is spent yearly in the United States to contend with weeds such as dandelion.

One year a woman in my group sat bewildered as she recognized that this dandelion before her was the same dandelion who showed up in the produce department. The fact that she had been spraying dandelions on her lawn and then buying them at the grocery store hit her hard. She vowed to teach her friends about this insight and make some food from dandelions to share with them.

Cultures around the world have always used dandelions for food and medicine. Dandelion not only stimulates the liver, gall bladder and kidneys but is also beneficial for the digestive and lymphatic systems. Specifically, dandelion root contains inulin, a plant sugar and known prebiotic, that provides the food beneficial bacteria need to repair and support a healthy gut biome. As well, dandelion root can help stabilize blood sugar levels, reduce hypoglycemia and possibly prevent adult onset diabetes. And as I have seen with each class, dandelions, particularly the flowers, have the capacity to open a door in consciousness allowing repressed emotions and memories to surface so they can be worked with and released if necessary. The list of health benefits goes on and on. Perhaps the fact that dandelions are so readily available is a sign of how much they are trying to get our attention to offer their medicine to us.

So next time you see this sunny, little, flower popping up on your lawn or in a meadow, I invite you to sit down, soften your gaze, breathe deeply, drop into your heart and let yourself feel what it feels like to be in the Presence of this medicine at your feet.

Dandelion Flower Fritters

Group 2
Mix together:
1 cup flour of your choice
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Group 1
Mix together:
1 egg
½ cup milk (cow, soy, almond or rice)
2 T melted coconut oil or ghee

Combine group 1 with group 2 and fold in 1 cup of dandelion flowers. Make patties and fry up in coconut oil or ghee. Serve savory or with maple syrup.

I made these fritters for my dad decades ago when he came to visit me for lunch at the farm I was working at. He loved them and didn’t bat an eye when I told him they were made with dandelion flowers!

Essay and recipe written by Constance Lynn
Edits and design by Tessa Barkan