Stillness as the Gateway to the Heart
Teachings from the Spirit of Western Trillium Flower. Our eco-energetic insights to guide us into the month of April, as well as news and updates for Energetic Ecology.
Western Trillium (Trillium ovatum)
Botany and Distribution of Western Trillium
There are many flowers I look forward to in the Spring, but perhaps none more than the Trillium flower. While there are numerous species of Trillium distributed throughout the United States, Western Trillium, Trillium ovatum, can be found primarily along the West Coast of the United States. While some plant identification books say that it populates West of the Cascade Mountain Range between Washington up through the coastlines of Canada, I have found it to also inhabit forests as far South as the California Redwoods and throughout Oregon. They engage in multiple communal relationships - including ants, whom are responsible for 30% of their seed dispersal; Trillium is also dependent upon soil mycorrhizae to facilitate the uptake of nutrients.
Western Trillium is characterized by its showy, 3-petaled flower which grows amongst 3 large, tender green leaves on a stalk that typically grows under 2 feet, depending on light conditions. As the flower grows older, it turns pink. Trillium is known for growing in moist to wet woods, along stream banks, as well as shaded open areas at low to middle elevations. Typically you will only see Western Trillium growing wild in relatively undisturbed old growth or second growth forests, making it a relatively rare sight. Because of habitat destruction, Trillium is understood as a threatened species of flower in many regions, endangered in others, and in some states is illegal to harvest any part of the plan. and so great care should be exercised in engaging with them. I encourage not harvesting any part of this plant. If you’d like to add Trillium to your garden (sourcing from a reputable nursery), I recommend this excellent guide on growing threatened medicinal plant species by my favorite seed company out of the Pacific Northwest, Strictly Medicinal. There are multiple varieties of Trillium that grow here in the Pacific Northwest, including T. hibersonii and T. chloropetalum. All species of Trillium belong to the Liliaceae family, commonly known as the Lily family.
Western Trillium, just like the trees and forest that towers around them, is indeed a reflection of slow emergence. It can take up to 5-10 years for a single Trillium plant to produce its first flower, and the individual plant themselves can live to be 70+ years old.
Traditional Uses and Folklore
Because T. ovatum and their sibling species begin emerging and flowering from late March to May, they are often some of the very first signs of Spring (often before Winter has truly released its grasp on the land) among the forest floor. They have been given the common name of “wake-robin”, as their emergence is often accompanied by the returning birdsong of the robin.
Traditional uses by multiple Indigenous tribes here throughout the Pacific Northwest Coast, such as the Makah, Quinault, Kwakwakaʼwakw, and many others, include assisting with childbirth to stop bleeding & hemorrhaging. For this reason, the white explorer Merriweather Lewis (of the Lewis & Clark expedition) gave Western Trillium the common name of “birthroot”.
While I was unable to find any primary sources for folklore about Trillium (more broadly and not just T. ovatum, here are a few links that describe different meanings and traditional uses from the Pacific Northwest Coast Indigenous tribes, Midwest Indigenous Tribes, Christian Europeans & white American settlers, and others.
“Myths of the Pacific Trillium” - from the website Rose & Emerald
“Trillium” - from the website Thoughts From the Orchard
“The Folklore and Legend of Trillium” - from the website Norm Hamilton Photography
Stillness as the Gateway to the Heart
Our Eco-Energetic Insight for the month of April, guided by the wisdom and medicine of Western Trillium.
Upon the forest floor, shaded by the canopy of cedar, hemlock, and douglas fir - an angel emerges from what may seem like an other world - and indeed, many of us can agree that there is something quite “otherworldly” about Trillium.
It seems whenever I stumble upon them in the forest, they aren’t something I was looking for, but rather a spirit that chooses when, where, and who can find it. As one of the first signs of Spring to come in the dense old growth forests, Trillium (in my opinion) brings a different message than many of the other early risers; she brings a message not just from the forest, from the season, nor from the Earth itself. She brings a message from something that is omnipotent, elusive to that which consciously seeks it, yet simultaneously omnipresent at every moment - Spirit.
Within the first sight of Trillium in the Spring, we are confronted with an ungraspable Presence; they remind us that there is something here that is greater than the sum of all its parts - Earth, Water, Fire, and Air.
I think that Trillium shows herself not to those that go to the forest seeking medicine or answers, but rather seeking stillness as a gateway to their heart. When our eyes meet hers, we witness a spirit so pure that, without any effort, she disarms us, allowing us to see the purest parts of ourselves.
Sometimes we haven’t seen nor felt this part of ourselves since before the coming of Winter, and for some of us, Winter may have lasted many years.
Our thoughts and emotions can entangle themselves so tightly around our hearts, whom is the Keeper of our Spirit. The heart lovingly holds it within, where no one can see it - sometimes out of genuine protection, while other times as a habituated response to Life itself. It can be difficult to cut back, prune, or burn the thorny branches of the Himalayan Blackberries (an invasive species here in the Pacific Northwest), but we must- even if just for a few moments - so that our Spirit is not starved of the Light that deeply longs to reach within from beyond the forest canopy.
Trillium, emerging from the forest floor, is surely not without complexity, and yet is perhaps aesthetically, one of the simplest of plants. Their simplicity seems deliberate and uncomplicated, as if it is unafraid to fully reveal the most sacred parts of itself. As its 3 petals reach toward any bit of sun it can receive, it feels to me as though the 3 petals are an offering dish. Perched on a single thin, spindling stalk, they lift their offering dish high to the forest spirits, land spirits, sky spirits, and star spirits. “Here, please see me. This is what I have to give”.
And what it gives is all of itself.
The deepest and most profound manifestations of stillness and quiet can be found amongst the forest floor, and yet Stillness here does not omit the existence of Aliveness. Stillness exists amidst the Aliveness. And similarly, we too, must find stillness in what it means to be alive.
Our hearts are not just a physical organ within the body, but a center of energy that acts as a portal to the aspects of our Spirit that are more-than-human - the purest and most otherworldly parts of ourselves. Not just connecting to our heart as the center of our emotions and feelings, but our heart as a gleaming shard of a star from the skies lovingly encased by a fleshy vessel of cellular tissue and blood.
There are parts of us, too, that are greater than the sum of our parts; parts of us that are not just Earth, Water, Fire, and Air, but also something else.
But in order to find this something else, we must be still. We must want to find stillnessamidst being the sentient, participating observer of a physiological ecosystem that is constantly buzzing with Life - blood circulating, chemicals and hormones being transferred from one place to the next, the dying and regeneration of cells, dying and regeneration. Our minds and hearts often landscapes constantly filled with thoughts & emotions that pass through us less like a soft wind rolling over prairie grasses - and more like gusts of wind ripping through, pushing and pulling anything in its path.
Trillium reminds us that the path to Stillness is allowing the parts of our Spirit that are contained within the Heart to emerge - for a moment, for a day, for a season, for a lifetime, for many lifetimes - and how that process does not need to be as complicated as we make it out to be in our heads. Her 3 petals and 3 leaves teach us that this process can be as simple as finding a quiet place and allowing the petals that covet our spirit within to unfold. But just like Trillium herself, our spirit will conceal itself until we are truly ready to reach the stillness that it can provide.
As I have been working with Trillium over the past few weeks, I have recognized that there is a distinction between the spirit and energy of my heart, vs. the spirit and energy of my soul that is contained within it.
For me personally I don’t believe it's true that the heart always knows what it wants… but the soul does,
and my heart whom feels that life is uncertain, whom is always pulled in many directions, who fights or runs away to be alone when she is hurt; she can always place her trust into the gentle hands of the soul, whom never reveals the map to us directly, but can always be relied upon as a compass through which we navigate our lives.
And just like Trillium, our soul does not readily reveal itself to those looking for answers, but rather to those looking for the quiet, for the stillness.
Trillium Flower Essence
I’ve collected and prepared a small batch of Western Trillium flower essence. If you’d like to cultivate a relationship with Trillium, feel her energy, and the energy of the place this particular flower dwells (the Sauk River Valley, photo taken of the particular flower at the top of this essay), you can purchase a small bottle on my website linked here. This flower essence will only be available for the month of April.