Tag: Healing

Blossoms and Blooms in the Fassi Spring

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Credit: Maaria/Barakah’s Womb

I sometimes feel that in all the grief and sorrow of these times, it might slowly be becoming impossible to connect back into older and wiser ways of being, I wonder if without knowing it, the possibilities of a bigger and deeper world might be slipping away from me, one short year at a time. I know that like many, but also in my own ways, the times are heavy, and I feel the weight of it pass, whilst sensing the unknowability of it all, or indeed, the lack of barakah in it. It had been two springs since I had spent a full distillation season in Fes with the flowers, and whilst I have been distilling other plants since, a part of me wondered if their secrets were slipping away from me too.

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Lemon Balm: A Translation from the Garden of Blossoms

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Description:

From the genus of fragrant herbs, and there are many types of it. With a fresh scent, it is found in gardens. It is formed of many creeping branches that spread widely across the soil. It has a white blossom and the leaves are similar to that of marjoram.

There are two main types: one with a small leaf, known to the people of Fes as clove herb, and one with a larger leaf, known as the barbaris herb. Its name in Farsi means that of royal scent, and it is known as the one that brings joy to the sad-hearted.

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On the Sacred Loci of the Henna Souq, Fes.

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A Homecoming

The Henna Souq has a determinable atmosphere, defined by the wind in the leaves of its two plane trees and the towering building of the 13th Century Maristan at its heart. Lining the small square are little shops, some of them no bigger than three metre square, of which around half are cosmetic herbalists. There is also the old weighing scales, which are still used today when large quantities of herbs are brought here by merchants. It is the home to Simohammed, a friend to many in the city, who operates one of the shops alongside his brother. Always inviting visitors to sit and drink tea with him, it easily becomes a rest-stop on a day of earnest wanderings up and down the hills of the medina. The chance you get to sit in the presence of the square is often enough to reveal just a hint of its magic. 

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The Boiling Pot: Spirituality and Herbal Distillation

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Distilling with Sherifa

It’s an overcast day in March, occasional clouds drizzling soft trills of rain onto the courtyard.

Optimistically, I set the alembic up in a corner, knowing that unless it pours, we’ll be safe under the cedar beamed edges of the open roof.

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Brewing Soulful Moroccan Tea

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Morocco is famous for its tea.

Walk through any Moroccan market and you’ll find fresh fragrant mint being sold in huge bunches, piled high and sold for a dirham.

As you move around the medina of Fes, you’ll find carts laden with fresh herbs. Marjoram, Thyme, Rosemary, Verbena, Pennyroyal, Wormwood and Sage.

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