'A Golden Substance'

Lonicera japonica

The Japanese Honeysuckle is considered an 'invasive' species in the United States; regardless of its unpopularity with the horticulture crowd, each year when the honeysuckle blossoms begin to unfurl late spring, and the woods become corridors of scent & memory, nostalgia wells up inside of me, and I am grateful for this simple little gift from nature.

While the flowers continue to bloom, I find delight in each trail that has an avenue draped with white & gold vines. I breathe the cloying sweetness deep into my lungs, immediately transported to childhood games when my sister's and I would would pluck the flower at the stem and gently suck the honeyed nectar at the base of the stamen. The vanilla scent is intoxicating and wild.

Honeysuckle is used in Chinese medicine, and called jin yin hua which translates to gold silver flower. Elegantly so.

Ram Dass offers a guided visual meditation where one visualizes the universe's spiritual substance "as a golden mist that fills the air."

"With every breath, don't just breathe in air; imagine you are pulling into yourself this golden substance...Breathe in the energy of the universe, the shakti of the universe...Each time you breathe out, breathe out all of the things in you that keep you from knowing your true Self...Let the breathe be the transformation."

When I read those lines I am reminded of the honeysuckle's scent. I hope that if you find a trail blessed with lonicera japonica, you will breathe deeply of that golden silver flowered substance, and feel the shakti of the universe.