Arnica lanceolata in the field…photo credit Kelley Ingols 2024 Medicine At Our Feet apprentice.

The day I left to camp for a few days while collecting plants, I told Matt that if the humidity was any sign of the likelihood of rain then we were in for a good storm. Upon arriving at the trailhead, the first thing I noticed was how dry the earth was with grasses and yarrow crunchy underfoot. Despite this, the wildflowers were in full bloom, a dazzling array of reds, purples, yellow, pinks and whites and amongst this pallet of color was sunny yellow arnica and seeing them I vowed to collect the next morning after some settling in.

Yet during my afternoon teatime, the anticipated (but unforecasted) rains began. Delighted and unprepared, I huddled in the aspens receiving the drift of moisture on my face and after some time I made my way to setting up camp. After hours of rain into the night I knew come morning that my plans to collect plants would have to be modified. When morning came I anticipated that the clouds would lift and we would be back to full summer sun. Based on this I took off for the other side of the mountain, giving the plants some time to dry off before arriving at another place prolific with arnica and pontentilla.

By noon my prediction was countered with thunder and more rain! light rain, yet rain enough to have me questioning if I’d be able to collect arnica at all, since my intention was to make a fresh oil infusion in the field and for this it’s best if the blossoms are dry.

I continued on, collecting potentilla (bush cinquefoil) into my basket as I went and eventually arrived at a meadow of Arnica lanceolata….For years I’d been wandering the mountain courting arnica and making offerings to heart leafed arnica (Arnica montana) which is commonly used for balms and oils yet which grows sparsely here. Then there was a moment when this plant started courting me! And I learned that they are lanceleaf arnica and they grow prolifically on our mountain.

Arnica is specifically gifted in treating impact injuries. Their medicine is warming and stimulating and moves the blood stagnation that results in bruising. I have used this for myself and others with magical results! photo credit Kelley Ingols

I’ll never forget the day I introduced my apprentices, from Medicine At Our Feet, to arnica on a walk and one woman squealed with glee to discover that the product on the shelf in the store is actually a plant who grows in the wild. I love moments like this when not only is medicine demystified but students learn how to make their own from ethically wildcrafted plants.

So on this day when I arrived in the meadow of arnica, my delight was matched with knowing they were still a bit damp for oil making. “What do I do?”, I said out loud. The response was, “you can sit with us”. And then the guidance came to wait an hour or so and during this time the sun might come out long enough to burn off the last of the dampness.

Following Arinca’s guidance I settled in for teatime and opened my awareness to the place. Upon sitting, a weasel in their tawny brown coat ran towards me and made eye contact before ducking into a currant bush…and then I noticed marmots running through the grasses and birds singing in the shrubs around me.

Towards the end of an hour the sky got lighter and I sensed the sun was about to part the clouds, so I sat longer and moved to sit on a rock in the middle of the arnica patch. With just a few moments of sun, the scent of arnica blossoms filled the air and after a little more time I made my offering of tobacco and began to collect.

While collecting, three young marmots went in and out of their burrow in the bushes, and once in a while they would get up on a rock to watch me and then fall to the ground in a tussle with each other, then upon standing up they’d touch noses. Their playfulness and innocent nature made my heart smile and I felt this love from being in the presence of the marmots permeating the medicine I was making with the arnica.

As I walked the two hours back to camp receiving the exquisite scent of aspen, spruce and fir that filled the air after a rain, I reflected on how all I encountered on my journey to arnica went into medicine making…infusing the oil with the exuberance that infuses my heart….such as witnessing a hummingbird building a nest in an aspen tree…young deer in the early morning meadow mist, the rumbling of thunder, the gentle rain…fields full of blossoming yellow and pink roses and wild flowers, bird song, water song and wind song, aspens trembling in a breeze song…chimpmunks chirping to call out to their pals…the toss and tumble of young marmots…the recognition between me and weasel…My heart so full, my soul so deeply satisfied with the magic of medicine making and then….the thunder returned and the clouds released the rains again….soaking me to the bone, happy as can be.

Magical Medicine Making....Featuring Arnica