Summer to me means sweet corn! Since I was a little child, I have always loved corn and feel fortunate to live in a place with some of the best tasting sweet corn. As much as I love eating corn, I have disliked husking corn. The worst part was the corn silk. Removing these strands was time consuming and frustrating as they would stick everywhere and make a horrible mess. As I child I wished that corn did not have this silk and hoped that someone would figure a way to grow corn without silk.
As I started my herbal studies years ago, I discovered that corn silk is really good medicine, especially for the urinary tract. Corn silk is often used in cystitis (or bladder infections), to help with enlarged prostates, UTIs, kidney infections, kidney stones, and any time there is painful urination. Corn silk is very soothing to the bladder and urinary tract. Suddenly, I found a new love of corn silk and was very grateful for his medicine. However, I can't say that I enjoyed husking corn any more. And while, I gladly ingested and shared this medicine, I didn't want to be bothered with harvesting and drying my own. Especially, since I could buy a big bag of it for a few dollars.
Last year, as I was husking corn, I thought how silly it was for me to be throwing this good medicine in the compost when I could be drying it and putting her in teas. I did this even more this year, saving the corn silk from the corn as I husked her, grateful for the delicious food we would eat and the healing tea we would drink. My perspective on husking corn was beginning to change. It was now, a holy act of harvesting medicine, just like when I harvest Tulsi or Mugwort or other Loves. Below is a picture of a basket of corn silk that I harvested last week.
I have been spending a lot of time with Corn this year and reading a remarkable book The Unlikely Peace of Cuchumaquic by Martín Prechtel. Part of this book is the story of the Sacred Birth and Death Corn of the Tzutujil Mayans of Guatemala. This corn is needed for the birth (and naming) and death rituals. It was believed to have been completely destroyed during the internal wars of the 1980s in Guatemala. However, one farmer managed to hide her and grow her and keep their tradition alive. It is really a powerful and beautiful story about the importance of Seeds and the connection of People and Plants (the subtitle is "The Parallel Lives of People as Plants: Keeping the Seeds Alive") and ultimately of honoring the Holy.
As my relationship with Corn has been deepening, my perspective towards corn silk had another shift. I walked by this basket filled with her and was stopped in my tracks by her beauty. I suddenly needed to run my fingers through her and caress her. I was no longer looking at a basket of an annoyance or even medicine, but saw the hair of the Mother. I whispered prayers of gratitude and Love to her. I was excited to have her in my house!
I also had to laugh at my previous disdain for her and learn another lesson about perspective. For she didn't change. Her medicine, her sacredness, her beauty, her Hair was always there. I couldn't see it because my perspective was limiting, I was only willing to see the waste of time and the mess. When I could open myself to see more of her and appreciate her gifts, that is when I was able to truly see her.
This happens so often in our lives. We want to focus on the bad or the annoying, sometimes because we think this makes us feel better. However, what this does is blocks us from truly seeing the Beauty and the Holy. We also tend to take things for granted. You know the famous saying, "You don't know what you have until its gone." It doesn't have to be this way. Imagine waking up every day, truly grateful for what is in your life and for the people you share it with. Imagine rather than being annoyed by your partner or your children, you appreciated their uniqueness and their gifts. How would your life shift?
I think we live in a magical world of infinite wonder. And most of us only barely scratch the surface of this. I think incredible doorways of possibility could open up if we are willing to broaden our perspective and recognize the Beauty, the gifts, and the Holy that surrounds us (and is in us).
Yesterday, I had another remarkable experience with corn silk. Over 3 years ago, the Birth and Death Corn of the Tzutjil came into my life. I have learned so much from the amazing seeds of this Corn. This year, I was finally able to plant her. I have been so excited to watch her grow, singing to her, caressing her, thanking her, offering my prayers to her. I planted her late and have been hoping that she will produce ears with Seeds. Yesterday, as I went to greet her, I got a surprise:
Corn Silk!! Now I see her as Hope and potential.
I give great Thanks to the Corn Mother and her infinite patience with us Humans as we struggle for centuries (if not longer) to remember her Sacredness and ours as well.
"Every field was a Temple."
-Martín Prechtel
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