Nine of Air
The Nine of Air energies prompt: Know love, know grief. Claim your underworld crown. “You are the sky, everything else is the weather.” Pema Chodron
Nine of Air: Swords
The Nine of Air energies manifest in the Pomegranate.
Pomegranate
Let go of what you can not control. Pomegranate is the tree that leads to Demeter’s agonizing loss in the Greek myth. Her daughter, Persephone, consumes the seeds and seals her fate as queen of the underworld.
As a hike through the desert will prove, pain is one path to wisdom.
When heartache enters your life, do not turn away. In The Prophet Kahlil Gibran says, “The deeper that sorrow carves grief into your being, the more joy you can contain.”
Do not hurry your grief. Pomegranate fruit must be harvested at just the right time; it will not ripen off the tree. You will live through shattering experiences and still stand proud. When you are ready, quench the thirst of guilt, regret, and worry. Invite in forgiveness.
Qualities
| Neutral: Positive | Neutral: Negative |
| light at the end of tunnel recovering letting go of negativity/ stress | fear anxiety terror negativity deep unhappiness stress burden overwhelmed at breaking point inability to cope or face life mental anguish guilt regret remorse focusing on past subject of gossip |
Crafting With the Nine of Air
The Nine energies feature fruit bearing trees. They are the treasures of the sustainable food forest. Fruit trees are often the central point on a guild, a permaculture term used to describe a grouping of plants grown together to increase longevity, production, and sustainability. The trees are supported and surrounded by ground covers. understory herbs and vegetables, pollinators and more. These trees are beneficial to all beings. They stand by themselves yet in service to the whole.
The plants of the nines celebrate the herbcrafter’s triumphs. She is now able to enjoy the fruits of her labor. She is able to handle her grief, is nurtured and taken care of, and is able to nurture others without depleting herself. The maturity of the Nines is made possible by saying “yes” to the invitation of the Sevens and overcoming the challenges of the Eights. The Nines also represent the culmination of the herbcrafter’s adventures through the three minidramas. She has been introduced to the ways of the healing plants and learned to work well with others. Now, she revels in the completion of her journey. In the Nines, the herbcrafter awakens to the power of the soul.
Craft
- Write your grief with a feather in pomegranate juice.
- Tear open a pomegranate. Enjoy the seeds; claim your underworld crown.
- Drink pomegranate juice to calm the spirit and heal the heart when it is overcome by emotion.
Mini Meditation
Meditation
Get into a relaxing position and close your eyes, make sure you are a comfortable temperature and not likely to be interrupted.
- Take three deep breaths
- Feel your tension melting away.
Imagine yourself doing one of the crafts mentioned above. Use your imagination. Make it as elaborate or as simple as you like. Have whomever you would like to be there come and share the time with you.
Imagine what it would look and feel like, as if it were really happening. Use your five senses and imagine all the sensory details as though you are really there.
Be creative and indulge in this moment.
Spend as long as you like in this visualization and feel the benefits of crafting with nature. Think about your meditation as often as you like as you go through your day. If possible, create it in reality.
The Herbcrafter
Herbcrafter
An herbcrafter is an afficianada of the botanical realm. She is in love with plants and longs to know them more deeply.
Her approach is driven by a playful, wild spirit.
The herbcrafter embraces the plant world as her teacher and friend through observation and botany, gardening and wildcrafting, medicine and kitchen craft, fiber arts and weaving, art and magic.
She recognizes herself as part of nature. She seeks reciprocity in all things. Through the relationship with the botanical world, she learns how plants and people can be of service to one another.
We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.
Jim Rohn