Medicine making as a practice

I’m going to share some of what I put into this medicine, about the refinement of the practice of making it, the quality of and the integrity of how I source the materials, the intention, the prayer infused and the connection I cultivate with the people who carry it out into the world.

I’m inspired to share this because I’m seeing a lot of commercially produced medicine chocolate on the market now.

I don’t like it. It rubs me the wrong way to see mushrooms commercialized, but, at the same time, I laugh at myself and my purist preferences and I see the bigger picture. The mushroom is here to spread spores, and thrive. To colonize. And it has a sense of humor. It’s doing what it does.

The mushroom medicine I craft is special.

I want to share what I’ve discovered that works, and what I do, currently, to craft it.

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Waiting and listening is key.

I no longer make medicine ahead of time. I wait for the invitation, for someone to request it, for a specific purpose.

I sit with that invitation to craft and feel into if it’s right. I wait for the answer to become clear, it’s not about the story level or what makes sense to others— it’s does it feel true to or not.

Sometimes it takes time to know.

The mushrooms: I either grow them myself or I’ve sourced from a grower with a passion and service orientation that I know and trust. The hands that this medicine moves through need to align with my values.

The mushrooms I source are not cheap.

They are grown with care. The strain varies. Whatever mushroom I am working with needs to feel right.

I clear space for the actual medicine making. This clear space is created not just by cleaning the kitchen, my body, my clothes, but also creating energetically clear space. If I am carrying a charge, I don’t touch medicine.

The act of crafting is a prayer, and it’s not separate from life.

I make these in my home kitchen, with life happening.

In this prayer, I’m imaging the people this chocolate will be delivered to, who will take it into their bodies, what might be surfaced for them to feel and explore. I feel them in my field. I invite opening and integration for them.

Sometimes I sing hum, whistle as I’m working, or I listen to music. I might open the window.

I intend to move at a pace that the energy determines. Not slow, and not rushed. Rushing ahead of the current is a deep pattern in me.

I get back aches and neck aches as I’m making medicine chocolate, almost every time. This is not something that happens to me with any consistency, any other time, in the kitchen for otherwise. I work with that discomfort, taking breaks to move what is stuck.

Each medicine bar is bespoke.

I have a base recipe and process, but i also experiment, as my intuition moves me.In the handoff to the traveler, I share whatever came up in the making, I listen to what they have to bring, sometimes it’s related to journey work or their intention. Other times, simply what is alive for them.