Thank you for sharing! I love reading that Vasilisa (fabulous name!) is giving bread back to you, but more, is nourishing a deeper intimacy with food, and perhaps even, healing your gut. There is little more challenging to our experience of eating than digestive issues--the body in this expression, rejecting what we intake. My sense is that gut stuff is the canary in the coalmine, signaling sensitivity to how the human is treating life itself. Those of us with gut stuff are the canaries, and could it be that intentional intimacy turns the tide? And surely, it makes sense that life's first and smallest creatures help us digest and make the world our living tissue. . . .
And once more in turn Renée, thank you for awakening the further challenge of tuning in to that sensitive (yet sensational) "canary song" of intentional intimacy!
I'll sing the tune! At first note to my own expression.
Renée I loved this ! I love your deep relationship with the very base lines of nature, the fact that you look deeper into the traditions of beliefs and question them wholly.
Indeed, I am envious (kindly so because we each have our different strengths and understandings) of your knowledge. I have played - with my lack of knowledge it can be cooled nothing else - with SCOBY fabrication for years. As a child I made ‘potions’ with petals and plants, roots and leaves, stealing from the my mothers always well stocked pantry any number of liquids to add to help preserve my always failing experiments. Mostly these sprouted mould and would be discarded, but some developed, a SCOBY. I had no idea what this was at such a tender age and considered it a failure also… years passed and I grew.
In my late twenties I was given a SCOBY for making my own kombucha and it wasn’t until I saw this soft living creature that I realised what I had created as a child. My experiments were revisited once again. With much success, Now I have several, one is many years old, I call her grandma - for surely it must be feminine to create so many babies? She was made from apple cider vinegar, it took many years for the vinegary taste to dissipate but she is now, in my humble and unlearned opinion acceptable in flavour.
I am intrigued by your use of honey, for it is true to say I have had no reasonable successes myself here and yet I am still convinced that this shouldn’t be so. I must and will begin my playful experiments again! You say you believe honey has a living memory that could be recalled… this, quite apart from everything, excites me immensely.
And, here, after reading almost all I find a name I know, not just a name but a truly admirable name, why am I not surprised that you have worked with Kimberly! Of course two brilliant ladies would find each other - my delight is doubled!
Thank you for sharing your similar passion for mixing potions as a young child and now, your seasoned grandmother scoby of tempered flavor. I love reading about your experiments and that in hindsight, you learn that you had stumbled across making ferments as a young girl.
Honey: my sense is that it needs to be local honey, which already has a “relationship” with the natural yeasts, etc in the air. I would imagine you’re calling from local honey (just from knowing a bit about your life world there) and of course, it should be raw. You could ‘harvest’ a couple of well-established scoby’s from grandmother and add to a new brew sweetened with honey—not too much. The well established scoby’s could help with getting a honey base going, making sure ambient air temp is warm enough, too.
Isn’t Substack amazing for bringing us all together?
Oh what a wonderful exploration and discovery, Renée! Pure living alchemy.
I had noticed this post (the title!) and bookmarked it for later reading, but for some reason too many other posts got in the way. So thank you for reminding me.
"Skin as a conversation between self and world"
"plants and friendly microbes speak a language the human body understands"
"life is what we disaffectionately call germ, the common ancestor to every living expression."
Wow! These are essential principles. This is a post I'd like to reference in some future chapter.
Thank you for your curiosity and venturing into 'forbidden territory'!! That's where we make new discoveries, right? That's where all new discoveries come from.
Thank you for your close read and poignant reflections here: "Pure living alchemy." Yes. As is so when we begin to synchronize ontopoietically with the words of another!
It is so true that the 'forbidden territory' is the field pregnant with possibility. Let us go there in discovery and await revelations! I see this profoundly in your work, and so, thank *you*!
It's the terra incognita, the land of unknowing, into which we are both drawn, and where we inevitably meet. I love it! Hearfelt appreciation back to you, and to the space inbetween us where new revelations are bound to spring up!
This is a fascinating essay Renee, I appreciate learning how you created CURA/live. Having tried, and loved, the serum it's amazing to know how it came about. I'll be sending an email to put in my order, thank you!
A funny side note is that, despite making my kefir each morning and moving the mother to a new jar, I never knew what SCOBY stood for until I read this!
Thank you, Donna! It was a gift to see this thread go all the way back to my early youth, which I might not have seen otherwise. I'm so glad you love the serum, Donna. Thank you for sharing. I will email you.
Pure brilliance, Renee! ♥️♥️♥️ I have so many things to say and not sure where to start. I'm positively giddy after reading this. I guess I'll start by saying that when I read this sentence: "That life is what we disaffectionately call germ, the common ancestor to every living expression" I was transported to some timeless place, some spaceless moment. All was silent and still as I watched my work with the ancestors unfold in every direction to include every speck of life. And then, like a rubber band, I bounced back to here and now, only now I could feel the ancestors swimming in my gut and blood vessels. Wow. Oh my gosh, and then the part where you talked about the microbes and yeast creating plant cells gave me chills. Indeed, in the beginning is relation. This is the how and the why of all. Also, I've recently met a woman on Substack whose writing continually prompts me to want to bring the two of you together. I'm going to paste a link to one of her recent posts in another comment. Finally, I so very much want to try curalive! I will email you for the deets. I'm so grateful to be in the world with you and to get to witness the way your mind works. 🤗🥰
"I was transported to some timeless place, some spaceless moment. All was silent and still as I watched my work with the ancestors unfold in every direction to include every speck of life. And then, like a rubber band, I bounced back to here and now, only now I could feel the ancestors swimming in my gut and blood vessels."
This is glorious! Your work with ancestors takes us courses deeper through us here.
And you write this:
" Indeed, in the beginning is relation. This is the how and the why of all."
I am aware that this is at the heart of your work, dear friend.
Thank you for referring me to Veronika! I will explore her work, and in fact, just a few days ago, she subscribed to Beyond the Comfort Zone, perhaps on your recommendation.
I will email you about the serum. It would thrill me for you to give it a try.
And I'm so grateful to be in the world with you. Our minds resonate!
Calling all humans who rejoice in the quiet, but powerful, language of earth and her many inhabitants. What a deeply inquisitive, relational process! I've tried this serum and am IN LOVE. It's alive with not only the intelligence of sympoiesis, but also the joyful wonder @reneeeliphd conjures in her living lab. It tickles me to no end that my own potent, wild-harvested calendula oil is now part of her magic.
Your words are a magic potion. Thank you for kindnesses! And I'm so grateful that we discovered in conversation our mutual love of the healing language of plants. I truly believe this batch of CURAlive is the best yet, and I'm crediting that in no small meaure to your potent extract.
Wild experimentation!!! It's provocative to say the least - in terms of how I can relate to my own 'motives' of food!
(In healing chronic illness - my in-gestion has been limited)
I've lately been able to include homemade Sourdough in my diet - and this relation with my starter has developed a deeper intimacy to food.
Yet, this here - from you - takes that inner/outer co-operation with my 'Vasilisa' (starters name) to another layer of intimacy.
Bless you
Jacob,
Thank you for sharing! I love reading that Vasilisa (fabulous name!) is giving bread back to you, but more, is nourishing a deeper intimacy with food, and perhaps even, healing your gut. There is little more challenging to our experience of eating than digestive issues--the body in this expression, rejecting what we intake. My sense is that gut stuff is the canary in the coalmine, signaling sensitivity to how the human is treating life itself. Those of us with gut stuff are the canaries, and could it be that intentional intimacy turns the tide? And surely, it makes sense that life's first and smallest creatures help us digest and make the world our living tissue. . . .
I so appreciate your comment, Jacob!
With love,
Renée
And once more in turn Renée, thank you for awakening the further challenge of tuning in to that sensitive (yet sensational) "canary song" of intentional intimacy!
I'll sing the tune! At first note to my own expression.
Singing the tune with you, Jacob!
Renée I loved this ! I love your deep relationship with the very base lines of nature, the fact that you look deeper into the traditions of beliefs and question them wholly.
Indeed, I am envious (kindly so because we each have our different strengths and understandings) of your knowledge. I have played - with my lack of knowledge it can be cooled nothing else - with SCOBY fabrication for years. As a child I made ‘potions’ with petals and plants, roots and leaves, stealing from the my mothers always well stocked pantry any number of liquids to add to help preserve my always failing experiments. Mostly these sprouted mould and would be discarded, but some developed, a SCOBY. I had no idea what this was at such a tender age and considered it a failure also… years passed and I grew.
In my late twenties I was given a SCOBY for making my own kombucha and it wasn’t until I saw this soft living creature that I realised what I had created as a child. My experiments were revisited once again. With much success, Now I have several, one is many years old, I call her grandma - for surely it must be feminine to create so many babies? She was made from apple cider vinegar, it took many years for the vinegary taste to dissipate but she is now, in my humble and unlearned opinion acceptable in flavour.
I am intrigued by your use of honey, for it is true to say I have had no reasonable successes myself here and yet I am still convinced that this shouldn’t be so. I must and will begin my playful experiments again! You say you believe honey has a living memory that could be recalled… this, quite apart from everything, excites me immensely.
And, here, after reading almost all I find a name I know, not just a name but a truly admirable name, why am I not surprised that you have worked with Kimberly! Of course two brilliant ladies would find each other - my delight is doubled!
With love Renée- thank you xx
Susie,
Thank you for sharing your similar passion for mixing potions as a young child and now, your seasoned grandmother scoby of tempered flavor. I love reading about your experiments and that in hindsight, you learn that you had stumbled across making ferments as a young girl.
Honey: my sense is that it needs to be local honey, which already has a “relationship” with the natural yeasts, etc in the air. I would imagine you’re calling from local honey (just from knowing a bit about your life world there) and of course, it should be raw. You could ‘harvest’ a couple of well-established scoby’s from grandmother and add to a new brew sweetened with honey—not too much. The well established scoby’s could help with getting a honey base going, making sure ambient air temp is warm enough, too.
Isn’t Substack amazing for bringing us all together?
Thank you, friend,
Renée
Oh what a wonderful exploration and discovery, Renée! Pure living alchemy.
I had noticed this post (the title!) and bookmarked it for later reading, but for some reason too many other posts got in the way. So thank you for reminding me.
"Skin as a conversation between self and world"
"plants and friendly microbes speak a language the human body understands"
"life is what we disaffectionately call germ, the common ancestor to every living expression."
Wow! These are essential principles. This is a post I'd like to reference in some future chapter.
Thank you for your curiosity and venturing into 'forbidden territory'!! That's where we make new discoveries, right? That's where all new discoveries come from.
Veronika,
Thank you for your close read and poignant reflections here: "Pure living alchemy." Yes. As is so when we begin to synchronize ontopoietically with the words of another!
It is so true that the 'forbidden territory' is the field pregnant with possibility. Let us go there in discovery and await revelations! I see this profoundly in your work, and so, thank *you*!
It's the terra incognita, the land of unknowing, into which we are both drawn, and where we inevitably meet. I love it! Hearfelt appreciation back to you, and to the space inbetween us where new revelations are bound to spring up!
So very indeed, Veronika.
This is a fascinating essay Renee, I appreciate learning how you created CURA/live. Having tried, and loved, the serum it's amazing to know how it came about. I'll be sending an email to put in my order, thank you!
A funny side note is that, despite making my kefir each morning and moving the mother to a new jar, I never knew what SCOBY stood for until I read this!
Haha! Fantastic. Now you know! And you can enjoy your kefir all the more. (maybe)
Thank you, Donna! It was a gift to see this thread go all the way back to my early youth, which I might not have seen otherwise. I'm so glad you love the serum, Donna. Thank you for sharing. I will email you.
With love,
Renée
Pure brilliance, Renee! ♥️♥️♥️ I have so many things to say and not sure where to start. I'm positively giddy after reading this. I guess I'll start by saying that when I read this sentence: "That life is what we disaffectionately call germ, the common ancestor to every living expression" I was transported to some timeless place, some spaceless moment. All was silent and still as I watched my work with the ancestors unfold in every direction to include every speck of life. And then, like a rubber band, I bounced back to here and now, only now I could feel the ancestors swimming in my gut and blood vessels. Wow. Oh my gosh, and then the part where you talked about the microbes and yeast creating plant cells gave me chills. Indeed, in the beginning is relation. This is the how and the why of all. Also, I've recently met a woman on Substack whose writing continually prompts me to want to bring the two of you together. I'm going to paste a link to one of her recent posts in another comment. Finally, I so very much want to try curalive! I will email you for the deets. I'm so grateful to be in the world with you and to get to witness the way your mind works. 🤗🥰
Jenna,
You write:
"I was transported to some timeless place, some spaceless moment. All was silent and still as I watched my work with the ancestors unfold in every direction to include every speck of life. And then, like a rubber band, I bounced back to here and now, only now I could feel the ancestors swimming in my gut and blood vessels."
This is glorious! Your work with ancestors takes us courses deeper through us here.
And you write this:
" Indeed, in the beginning is relation. This is the how and the why of all."
I am aware that this is at the heart of your work, dear friend.
Thank you for referring me to Veronika! I will explore her work, and in fact, just a few days ago, she subscribed to Beyond the Comfort Zone, perhaps on your recommendation.
I will email you about the serum. It would thrill me for you to give it a try.
And I'm so grateful to be in the world with you. Our minds resonate!
With a huge smile,
Renée
Here is the link I mentioned. Knowing your love of language and etymology (not to mention the fact that Veronika references Gebser), I think you'll enjoy this one: https://open.substack.com/pub/veronikabondsymbiopaedia/p/symbiopoiesis?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=62nzv
Got this. Thank you!
Calling all humans who rejoice in the quiet, but powerful, language of earth and her many inhabitants. What a deeply inquisitive, relational process! I've tried this serum and am IN LOVE. It's alive with not only the intelligence of sympoiesis, but also the joyful wonder @reneeeliphd conjures in her living lab. It tickles me to no end that my own potent, wild-harvested calendula oil is now part of her magic.
Hi Kimberly! I love that you and Renee are working together. This warms my heart so much!
Isn’t it wonderful!!! So many webs to weave together over here.❤️
This little corner of the universe is a good corner of the universe.
I'm just appreciating that a year ago, none of us knew one another. Now look at us!
So grateful to come to know you both.
Kimberly,
Your words are a magic potion. Thank you for kindnesses! And I'm so grateful that we discovered in conversation our mutual love of the healing language of plants. I truly believe this batch of CURAlive is the best yet, and I'm crediting that in no small meaure to your potent extract.
So much gratitude,
Renée
the Doctrine of Signatures:
“There is no real manifestation of life . . . that does not show us, in a rudimentary or latent state, the characters of the other manifestations.“
Max, I'm glad you wrote this. Thank you.
Ancient understandings threading through. . .
Sending hugs from a warm and sunny North Carolina with wonder how the weather is in your place I so quickly came to love,
Renée
very pleasant for January
I love this!!!......
"Over these years, I have come to see
skin not so much as an outer shell prone
to bumps and blemishes, rashes and
lesions, but as a conversation between
self and world, world and self. And I have
come to understand that those uncomely
expressions are a hunger for nourishing
relation more so than an assault by the
elements and that the more we carry
within us the message of assault, the
more the body will express this message."
Mary Davis, I love *you*!
Safar, there's a whole world of -poiesis just waiting for your wonder, right there in your kitchen!