Alder and Usnea: Cage. Armor.

This is a rib cage. Caked on green powdered Usnea filling up the entire cavity and lungs. From the back of the spine to the front of the sternum. No space, no breathing room. Heavy and masculine. Strips of Alder bark buckling up a closed shell with jagged sharp edges, ripped open over the heart and solar plexus, disabling love and personal power. Protruding, stabbing, threatening. Capping the top and bottom. Blocking the throat chakra so you can't speak your truth. Blocking the sacral chakra so you can’t release. Trapped energy. Constricted, condensed, compacted, compressed. Endure. Hold in. What is my cage I can't break out of?

Usnea is a lichen that hangs from trees and cleans the air. He is called the lungs of the forest and is also respiratory medicine. He is antiviral, antibacterial, and antimicrobial and a physical and emotional expectorant. He kills anything that is infecting the lungs and expels physical and emotional waste from the lungs. Usnea is grief medicine. Grief is stored in the lungs, the weight of sadness and loss so heavy it crushes your chest and makes it hard to breathe.

Alder is an extremely strong tree. Their roots are so strong that when they hit rock, they don’t go around the rocks or push rocks out of the way, they EAT the rock. Quickly. They break down the rock, pull out the minerals, ingest it, digest it, and disperse the nutrients through the mycelial network in the forest to other trees and plants. Strong masculine action energy to face challenge head on and aggressively break it down into manageable pieces and use it to nourish rather than block. Break through.