Autumn Equinox: Healing Ritual with Elderberries
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The feast day of Hildegard of Bingen (September 18), the harvesting of my elderflower bush, and the Autunmn Equinox (~September 21-23) are all aligned curiously close. The former invites us into the wisdom that coursed through the life of a particular life; the latter reminds us of the wisdom that runs through the rhythms of the seasonal world. What with the reality of COVID and forest fires in the mix, I can’t help but think that the best seasonal ritual for this Autumn Equinox is to be safely tucked inside in our kitchens, making up a batch of healing elderberry syrup.
Fire of the Holy Spirit,
life of the life of every creature,
holy are you in giving life to forms.
Rivers spring forth from the waters
earth wears her green vigor.
—Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard is a personal heroine of mine. Her intimate connection to the land, understanding of Sacred imminence, knowledge of herbal healing, and bold teaching that all of nature is numinous made her a prophetic voice in her 12th century German time. Her place-based knowing is both timeless and universal, and offers us much in our current age.
Hildegard is a guide for how to live an ecstatic life. I do not believe that she was divinely chosen or any more unique than you and I. What she did do was fully give herself over to the magic and mystery of living an interconnected life with the land. And in this emplaced and enmeshed interrelationship, she became witness and conduit to vereditias, the greening power of God that flows through all of life. This is something that is for all of us! We need only get out to the garden, become intimates again with the plant world, and lean into the wild knowing that God is here, as present as the ground beneath our feet.
Hildegard as healer and mystic poses a challenge for us today. We have much to learn from the wisdom expressed in her visionary theology, which makes ecology a spiritual and social task. Hildegard lived in a right relationship with the natural world. She embodied a mutual meant-for-ness, and as a result of her sense of belonging to a place, she became a channel: the imminent sacred and the transcendent communicated to and through her. We each have this potentiality. If we could recover her ancient ways and methods of communing with the divine through our local lands, perhaps we too could develop a stronger prophetic voice and political agency to confront the destructive forces operating in our world today.
Hildegard is noted for having the first literary reference to the healing powers of Elderberry in her medical treatise, Physica. She lays out the healing benefits of this gorgeous berry that comes into fruit just around the time of the Autumn Equinox. In light of our times—global pandemic and the fires ravaging the West—it feels right to light up the stove instead of the bonfire, and create a healing remedy as a ritual for this turn of the seasonal year.
Homemade Elderberry Syrup
With the change of the seasons towards Autumn often comes the beginning of "the cold" season, the seemingly incurable cold that one gets with living in the damp Pacific Northwest. In addition to the common cold, we are also all living during a global pandemic. Never before has our health been so interconnected to the health and well being of one another. Our family has found that daily doses of Elderberry Syrup is just the remedy to keep wellness around a while longer, and fortify and nourish our bodies during this COVID era (in addition to wearing masks, physical distancing, and avoiding large crowds of course). Several years ago I planted our own elderberry patch and from this amazing bush we gather elder flowers in the summer for water infusions for a refreshing drink on a hot afternoon or an invigorating facial spritzer to calm sun-kissed skin. We also use the flowers to make a delicious speciality seasonal sugar for baking.
The berries are packed with antioxidants and flavonoids, and contain 87 percent of the daily value in vitamin C, and high amounts of vitamin A, potassium, iron, vitamin B6, fiber, and betacarotene. This is one amazing berry! Want to know something else interesting about this berrying bush? As a moniker, the term "elder" is derived from the Anglo-Saxon "aeld," meaning fire, because the hollow stems of this plant were used to gently blow on flames to intensify the fire (and yes, my children do this too!). Native Americans once used elderberry branches to make flutes, so the tree was sometimes called "the tree of music." I'm so grateful for my elderberry patch and for the health and happiness she shares with my family. In these ways, there is resonance with
Here is our favorite recipe for Elderberry Syrup:
Collect berries from bush after introducing yourself, asking permission and expressing gratitude.
For easy removal of berries from stems freeze first in a brown paper bag. A good shake will detach most berries from the stems.Those that do not detach easily with a shake can be easily plucked off the frozen stems with your fingers or fork. This is a meditative practice! Enjoy the work of this preparation.
For every cup of ripe elderberries add 1 cup of good filtered water to a stock pot.
Add a couple of cinnamon sticks.
Add a dash of cloves
Add a finger size of grated ginger.
Bring to the boil.
Then simmer (lid off) for 30-45 mins, (make sure it's not less time simmering or it won’t destroy toxins that will make you ill if you eat the raw berries) .
Remove from heat.
Now mash.
Strain into a mixing bowl through a fine mesh sieve.
Wait till mixture is a little cooler then add one cup honey and mix (the general ratio is 1:1:1, berries:water:honey).
Pour into dark glass bottles or glass jars. Cap. Keeps in fridge for months.
A tablespoon a day for preventative measures. If you are sick then a few tablespoons a day until you are better. Various opinions on how long it lasts. Also delicious over vanilla ice-cream, drizzled over yogurt, or dashed in some sparkling water with a splash of cream for your own Hildegard Soda!
“To be of the Earth is to know the restlessness of being a seed the darkness of being planted the struggle toward the light the pain of growth into the light the joy of bursting and bearing fruit the love of being food for someone the scattering of your seeds the decay of the seasons the mystery of death and the miracle of birth.”
