Welcome back to the Wisdom of the Apothecary.
The door is open once again,
And today we are stepping past the shelves of herbs and amber bottles to spend some time with one of the oldest and most recognizable objects upon the apothecary table.
The mortar and the pestle.
And I've brought something rather special from my own apothecary to share with you today.
Here is my mortar and pestle.
And.
.
.
We can see three different teachings held within this beautiful object.
The mortar holds and contains and protects.
And the pestle.
Presses and moves and releases.
And this beautiful banded calcite crystal carries the wisdom of layers,
Memory and transformation.
And together,
Oh,
Together their rhythm becomes hold.
Soften and continue.
So this is beautiful.
The mortar is the bowl part,
The part that receives and holds,
And while the pestle is the lovely little rounded tool normally used to crush and grind.
And together,
The mortar and pestle have been across cultures and generations to prepare herbs,
Seeds,
Spices,
And remedies.
And this particular one.
I don't use it in the kitchen.
I only use it for crushing a few of my herbs and spices very,
Very gently because calcite is quite a soft stone and it is very heavy.
This piece is very,
Very heavy and beautiful,
But it is more a symbolic thing for me in my apothecary.
It's a place where I can put some flowers or a written intention just something chosen for a beautiful ritual.
You can see the beautiful layers flowing through the stone.
It is just wonderful.
It's creamy whites,
Honey golds and earthy bands all held together within the same vessel.
And before anything is placed inside the bowl,
It is already carrying a The story of present pressure.
Layering and transformation.
And when we think about pressure,
We usually think about the weight of expectations and responsibilities and difficult circumstances.
There is certainly a kind of pressure that overwhelms rather than transforms.
It exhausts the body,
Clouds the mind and leaves us with very little to give.
And the Apothecary doesn't ask us to glorify that kind of suffering or pretend that every hardship arrives bearing a beautiful lesson.
Some experiences are just simply painful and some burdens are too heavy and some things should never have been ours to carry.
But the mortar and pestle show us that pressure can take more than one form.
There is crushing pressure and there is purposeful pressure.
And an apothecary doesn't strike wildly at the ingredients.
The movement is measured and the pressure is adjusted.
And tough seeds may need a firmer hand,
While delicate petals require gentleness.
Through a little pressure.
And nothing is released.
Too much pressure and the ingredients can become damaged or scattered or wasted.
And there is wisdom and knowing how to firmly to press and when to soften the hand.
We may become so accustomed to pushing ourselves that we use the same force for everything.
And we do.
We push through pain and tiredness and grief and uncertainty.
We treat ourselves like stubborn roots that must be ground down rather than delicate flowers that need to be handled with care.
And the mortar and pestle remind us that strength.
Doesn't mean applying more force.
Sometimes strength is knowing when effort is needed and when continued pressure will only cause harm.
And the mortar itself carries an important part of this teaching.
It is the vessel.
That holds everything safely while transformation takes place.
And without the bowl,
The ingredients would scatter across the table.
And we all need some form of vessel when life is changing us.
You know,
That vessel may be a trusted friendship.
It could be a journal.
It could be a creative practice,
Or just a quiet room,
Or a small daily ritual.
It may be the familiar structure of morning tea,
An evening walk,
Or a few peaceful minutes with our hands wrapped around a warm mug.
The vessel doesn't remove the difficulty.
It gives the experience somewhere safe to be held.
And this is one reason small rituals can matter so deeply.
They create a container around feelings that might otherwise seem too large or shapeless.
Grief may still be grief,
But lighting a candle gives it somewhere to rest for a moment.
Uncertainty may remain,
But writing on a page allows circling thoughts to leave the mind.
And weariness.
May not disappear but Preparing tea slowly can create a beautiful boundary between one part of the day and the next.
And when I look at the bands within this calcite,
I am reminded that none of us arrives at the moment.
Is only one thing.
We are made from layers.
There are seasons of courage beside seasons of weariness.
Joy rests beside grief.
And the person we once were remains beneath the person we have needed to become.
The bands don't compete with one another or try to erase what came before.
And together they create the beauty and the character of the stone.
And my beautiful banded calcite mortar and pestle remind me that healing doesn't always require removing the old layers of our story.
Sometimes healing means allowing those layers to belong while continuing to form something new with greater tenderness,
Wisdom,
And care.
A traditional mortar and pestle also teaches us about patience.
You know,
Grinding something by hand requires the same movement to be repeated.
And at first,
Very little may appear to happen.
And then the texture slowly changes.
The edges soften and the fragrance begins to rise.
And healing can happen in much the same way.
It is really one grand moment in which everything is suddenly resolved.
More often,
It is created through modest acts repeated over time.
Resting before exhaustion becomes complete.
Speaking one honest sentence,
Setting one boundary.
Accepting one offer of help.
And returning to the same compassionate practice even when its effects are not immediately visible.
And the repetition is not evidence that we are failing.
The repetition is often the work itself.
There's another teaching held within the mortar and pestle.
Being broken open is not always the same as being destroyed.
You know,
A dried herb releases more of its fragrance as it crumbles and a seed may need to crack.
For what it contains can be reached.
And this doesn't mean that people must be broken in order to become wise.
Definitely not.
It means that when life has already cracked something open within us,
We may eventually discover qualities that were previously hidden.
Compassion may emerge from knowing pain.
Courage may heal it,
Reveal itself after fear.
A clearer sense of what matters may appear after the unnecessary has fallen away.
And the hardship itself may never have been welcome,
Fair,
And needed,
Yet something valuable can still be reclaimed from what remains.
And for today's simple apothecary practice,
I'm going to place some beautiful rosemary petals into the metal importer portal.
And I'm going to.
.
.
Just press.
So you can see I'm just pressing lightly.
And just.
Just pressing down,
No crushing or circling.
Just pressing.
And that.
.
.
Ah,
Brings the beautiful fragrance of rosebuds into my room.
Census.
It's just amazing.
And so this time,
The mortar is simply just going to hold it,
Just while it got pressed a little bit.
And the banded calcite carries the story of all the layers we have gathered through our lives,
While the rosebud represents the tenderness that has survived within us.
The rose may appear delicate,
Actually,
But delicacy is not the same as weakness.
And even after the flower has dried and its season of blooming has passed,
It still holds its shape,
Its beauty,
And the faint memory of its fragrance.
Oh,
It just smells beautiful.
And together,
The mortar and the rosebud remind us that transformation doesn't always require more pressure.
There are parts of us that have already endured enough.
You know,
They don't need to be pushed or corrected or broken down any further.
They need a safe place in which they can be held with care.
A small bowl can be used in the same way at home.
It doesn't have to be one like this.
It might hold a dried flower or a leaf or a crystal or a folded piece of paper,
Representing something tender that deserves protection.
Not everything placed within a mortar has to be crushed.
Some things are transformed just by pressure.
Other things are transformed by finally being treated gently.
And that brings us to today's whisper from the apothecary.
The pressure that you have lived through.
That doesn't define your work and within a safe and gentle vessel.
Even what has been broken may release a strength.
Fragrance.
And wisdom the world has never encountered before.
Thank you for joining me in the Poth of Retable today.
And until the doors open again.
May you know when to press forward and when to soften your hand.
May you find a safe vessel for all that is changing within you.
And may you trust that small,
Repeated acts of care are already transforming the life you have lived.
Until we meet again,
Namaste.
