I talk a lot about the similarities that these exceptional teas offer. The impact on our bodies and minds regardless of which of the 5 you choose to drink. But beyond taste, why choose one tea over another? When I reflect on how I choose which tea to drink, one of these questions might be going through my head….
What space do I want to open up? Shall I seek some wisdom from my body or from my spirit?
What feeling do I aspire to have today? Do I need grounding or do I need to be dynamic?
This might also be about connecting elementally, like do I need more fire or more Earth energy? Or I might connect to our totem animals- do I need the owl’s wisdom or the rabbit’s agility?
What would best support the stuff I am working on myself? For example, if I’m grieving I might choose the tea that feels most appropriate for letting go. I might consider the energy of the seasons to help me connect to which tea. But regardless of my process, it all comes down to an intention, a conscious decision as to what tea might help me best make contact with myself and the world that day.
So what is the purpose of this conscious choice? More often than not our rituals offer a way for us to send an invitation to the universal fabric, asking for it’s help in bringing something of the unknown into the known. But we also need to find a 'language' that can help us make sense of the things that it shows back to us, a language that helps us explore the the many questions that fill our lives, practically as well as existentially. But we have to find an appropriate ‘language’, one we understand, and this is how I have come to understand the purpose of spiritual practices. They act as the decoders to unlock the mysteries of our personal and collective experience of living.
And we are all unique, so the possible ‘languages’ are infinite, some speak through the body, some through the mind, some through the plants and trees and some through the ancestors. For some people, their language might be transmitted through a particular meditation practice, a weekly yoga class, dancing as if no-one is watching. For others it may be sitting by the ocean, putting bare feet in the soil, wild swimming or journaling. These regular practices are the touchstones that draw us onward, that help lead us towards our wholeness and humanness by helping us deepen our knowing through a ‘language' we can live by.
So returning to the teas as I alway do, the reason we have an ATTIC Tea, with all 5 teas blended together, is to support and anchor this huge array of possible spiritual practices with their own unique way of talking to us. For by harnessing everything, all the universal energies, animal totems, seasons and emotions, this particular blend can help create the liminal space, regardless of what is needed to be heard or experienced, and hold you within it as you open up to, explore and integrate whatever moves from the unknown into the known, through the practices and rituals you choose as your language.
Our call to wholeness is a universal human experience. We must ask ourselves, what am I becoming on this journey? What is the best direction of travel?This is where the concept of ‘everyday soul medicine’ shines a little brighter. Our job at ATTIC is only to offer an invitation on behalf of the tea, to allow it to walk alongside you on this journey.
Speaking only from my own experience, I believe there is a wonderful lens the tea offers, a way to perceive and experience life and to be gently guided along, that only people who drink tea everyday can really discover. The stories of our being that come into focus more clearly because of the tea’s natural gifts to us. The tea meets us where we are every day and embraces us as we are, celebrating us and keeping us strong and calm and centred. How can we not be seduced by that.
Anne x