I went for a walk the other night, after posting about my intent to start learning the names and properties of local flowers. The first flower I came across was the Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus Ficaria), with its petals closed because the sun was no longer out. Apparently, they are common as muck.
Only when I got back home did I realise that we have plenty of these cheerful yellow flowers in our garden. In fact, there are more of them than dandelions… so how come I hadn’t noticed them until now?!
Reading up on the Lesser Celandine, I found out that it is also known by the much less attractive name Pilewort. A traditional remedy of Lesser Celandine by herbalists is to treat piles. Good to know. In case I ever get any. Because you never know.
In need of alms?
Another totally unappealing use for this flower that I doubt will recur in modern days (but again, you never know after WEF’s promise that we will ‘own nothing and be happy’) is rubbing the juice on your face to make it look blistered. This will help you attract more alms when you are out begging.
Solar Plexus Chakra Healing
But don’t let this information fool you into thinking that the Lesser Celandine is anything less than totally magical. This is what I found when I meditated on the flower:
Lesser Celandine is one of the best third/solar plexus chakra flowers for aligning us with only letting the good stuff in.
Lesser Celandine opens its petals gradually to the sun around 9-10 AM and closes them again in the evening. So too we can monitor the environment and choose to dial down what we take in through the SP chakra when there is no incoming warmth or good cheer. It is okay to discriminate what we take in and process in our energy fields!
Esoterically, Lesser Celandine corresponds with Scorpio and the process of elimination (hence the cure for piles). Interestingly, one of the main themes of Scorpio is power. Personal power is also a main theme for the yellow solar plexus chakra, though Scorpio energy corresponds with the root chakra.
Flower Essence
You can create a flower essence from Lesser Celandine to strengthen your solar plexus chakra. I was curious to see if you can also buy them online, and you can indeed. Here is but one example with the description “Benefit – To boost our confidence by finding the strength and courage to overcome life’s challenges.”
Edible Delight?
Another thing that makes Lesser Celandine truly magical in my eyes is that I found out that it is edible. I now have loads of FREE food in my garden! I might try adding the leaves to a stir fry. Because you have to heat them – otherwise they can be toxic. The good news is that you only need to heat them to a lower temperature for the toxicity to disappear than for the Vitamin C to die so a stir fry should do the trick. Probably best not to overdo it though, to see how well I tolerate this plant. It might be safer to stick with the Flower Essence!
What the Tarot Has to Say
I also pulled a card from the Frideborg Tarot to see what else this lovely flower had to offer… and only got The Empress (my Soul Card)! This tells me that creating a Lesser Celandine Flower Essence can also inspire greater levels of creativity. No mean feat for a rather tiny yellow flower that some consider a weed!
