Welcome to musings and a poem inspired by the virtues of Queen Anne’s Lace and Carrot seed essential oil. Both plant and the essential oil from its seeds catalyzed mid-summer musings on my recent Luna Aroma podcast. What do you think about Queen Anne’s Lace: a pesky roadside weed or an elevating harbinger of womanhood and maturity?

August is a reflective time for me, and I don’t think it’s because I’m a Leo. It is more-so the recognition of the turning of the year; only a few months of the calendar year remain. The days are noticeably shorter, plants are reaching the apex of their maturity, seeds are ready to be released and fall to the ground. In this way, August is a symbolic time of adulthood and maturity. The stars seem bigger, the Milky Way is more apparent in this part of the world. We can take reflective pauses before hunkering down and getting back to work as cooler weather sets in. So, what’s all this have to do with Queen Anne’s Lace and Carrot Seed essential oil?

Carrot seed essential oil, obtained from the seeds of Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota subsp carota) is an oil unique unto itself. For a seed oil, It is deeply earthy and grounding, as if it dares to pretend it is from a root. Many “grounding” oils offering energetic support for introspection and going inward are often root or wood oils rather than seed oils. But things are never that “cut and dry,” are they? Two other plants from the same plant family (Apiacae) that support inward tending are Angelica (root and seed) and Galbanum. Each has its own personality. But this is about Daucus carota subsp carota and its deeply calming, supporting essential oil that helps slow down time with an offering to hold protective space. This reflective time of year amongst all of the Queen Anne’s Lace inspired a poem that seemed to spill from my pen!

On Queen Anne’s Lace

Your lace beckoned across the field.
A red pinprick drop of blood perfectly placed in your center.
Evidence of your destiny. 

Your umbels came flush, new, green, 
Whispers of uncertainty,
Folded in on themselves, encasing your secrets, a promise of protection.

Then the blood came, 
Initiation rites. The red tent beckoning,
From one phase to another. 

Around the red rites of spring your white lace grew,
Expanded, attracted. 
Unabashed, you took in the sun and gave nectar in reciprocity. 

You were told there is a price to this life, this glory.
To fold back into the earth.
But your work is not done.

The seeds must be set,
The cage must form-- 
The green seeds slowly turn to brown.

Folding into your center, 
The red dot now gone--
The time of holding has begun.

Tend to your seeds, the next generation,
You pass down your wisdom--
Your secrets shared; the rites of passage known.

You celebrate your descent
 back into the Earth by hosting insects
within the protection of your cage.

Maybe I’ll see you after you’ve gone,
The frame of your cage dusted with the first snow;
A memory of your verdant life.

Do you have a connection with or thoughts about Queen Anne’s Lace and other “weedy” road-side plants? Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment. Before you leave–take a Plant Talk tour with Carrot seed essential oil and join me for Luna Aroma’s mid-summer episode on the Essential Aromatica podcast. Ciao for now!