Marigold
I’ve spoken about how I believe plants ‘speak’ to us. They can speak to us in different ways. For me, it usually happens when I’m out walking. Sometimes it’s the plants in my own garden that capture my attention, or a plant out in the wild that I see every time I am out. Maybe it’s the way the sunlight hits the petal, or the colors , or a plant that flowers for the first time. In the last months of the gardening season Marigold has spoken to me. I have been saving the seeds for the past few years and planting her in my garden to help repel bugs. But she started screaming at me to notice her just a little bit more.
A sample of the marigold ink once it’s dried.
Last month, I made a beautiful, bright yellow ink from her blooms and created several abstract landscape artworks from her colors. Her colors shifted slightly with the addition of baking soda.
A collection of ink pieces from October 2020. All created with homemade inks from the plants around my home.
I made a flower essence using her fresh blooms under the Full Blue Moon during Samhain and have been taking it for about a week, it’s affects still revealing itself to me.
Taking the Essence of Marigold can help with:
honoring and releasing things that no longer serve you
accepting the physical death of a loved one
releasing jealousy
connecting to inner joy + happiness
manifesting abundance
tapping into the beauty + warmth of the sun
listening to your own inner voice/wisdom
Due to their warm colors, the Marigold is often associated with happiness, joy, warmth, passion, + creativity. It can also mean earning the affections of someone through hard work, they can also mean a drive to succeed. It could mean remembering the dead and can also mean cruelty, grief, + jealousy. The Marigold flower was also used as a sacred offering long ago.
Marigold is also known by it’s scientific name, Calendula. The flower is antibacterial + antiseptic and can be used for wound healing and skin soothing. It would make a good addition to my soothing salve formula, which you can find the formula here as well as infusing the flowers in oils for a skin loving body oil or soap.
Interestingly, one of the ‘hidden’ meanings I discovered during my research was that the Marigold is telling you to share the beauty you have inside you with the world. I think that is some pretty potent medicine.
One of the meanings of the Marigold is to share your inner beauty with the world.