Magpie Medicine and Finding Your Worth

On Taoist alchemy and the magic all around us

Once upon a time, a wild magpie sat on my man Mike’s shoulder…

Magpie is a very shamanic bird, highly intelligent and capable of great creativity. With starkly contrasting blue-black and white feathers, Magpie symbolizes the perfect harmony of yin and yang energies. 

So how did this magical bird end up perched and pecking at Mike’s ear?

A few years ago, my partner Mike and I were sitting outside on a deck high in the Colorado Rockies. It’s not unusual to see magpies in those mountains, and I always enjoyed watching their morning antics. 

This particular day though, one brave magpie came closer and closer to us, curiosity encouraging it towards the limits of human interaction. 

It started by pecking my toes, which I found hilarious. 

And then it hopped on Mike’s shoulder!

It sat there a long time, talking and pecking at his ear. Jumping down and then back up again. Looking into both of our eyes just a bit intensely...

We remained in that excited yet kind of frozen state, amazed and quietly giggling at our animal encounter. 

What does it mean???

I believe that anytime we have an unusual animal experience, there’s meaning in it for us. And this was certainly unusual!

the actual magpie on its approach

Now I know plenty of people want to dismiss this idea — they’ll say things like, “must’ve been hungry” or “I guess those magpies are getting too used to people”.

I’m going to give you some advice: Don’t share your magical moments with people who will automatically explain them away.

Magic is real, and the more you allow your heart to delight in the magic moments that you’re gifted, the more magic you’ll continue to attract. 

So what message was Magpie bringing us? 

I think there were a lot of layers, actually, with different nuances for both Mike and I.

For me though…study. Magpie is an incredibly intelligent and gifted bird, always learning and cultivating creative strength. It was encouraging me to do the same. 

Part of this had to do with my shamanic path.

And part of it had to do with perfumes. 

Which is actually an essential part of my shamanic path.

The connection might not seem obvious, I know. But sacred aromatics are an integral part of how I weave energies in and out of astral and physical realms. They are how I communicate with spirit. How I channel healing from spirit to Earth.

A few months after this magpie encounter, I attended an in-person training with one of my mentors, Roxanna Villa. 

Roxanna is an exceptional natural perfumer, and apprenticing with her is an alchemical container in itself. 

During that particular workshop, the spirit of Magpie appeared in my visions. Magpie wanted a perfume — a spirit animal perfume that would transmit her many gifts through sacred aromatics. 

After the first day’s training, I went home and journeyed to ask Magpie what aromatics she wanted me to include. 

The answers came through clearly and strongly. 

Magpie’s fragrance was to be a chypre, a classic French-style perfume distinguished by a foundation of oakmoss, labdanum, patchouli, and bergamot. (You can learn more about natural perfume fragrance families here.)

But here’s the really trippy bit: Magpie requested a very specific trio at its heart. 
I don’t usually share too much of my secret perfume recipes…they are my art! But I’ll tell you right now what came through:

Jasmine. Juniper. Clary Sage.

I could smell their fragrances as the images of these plants arose in my mind and their names came through my ears. 

These were the essences Magpie most wanted to represent its medicine. 

When I created an accord with these three oils at the workshop the next day, it smelled insanely good. I remember mentioning my blend to Roxanna, and neither of us really knew if that strange combo of fragrances would smell super good or need some tweaking. 

But wow. I was stunned. When I passed the accord to Roxanna, her eyes got big. “What was in that again?” she said. Thank you Magpie!

But the craziness doesn’t stop there…

It turns out that juniper berry and jasmine essential oils are a known combination in the Jade Purity Taoist tradition I would later be studying. 

In short, this particular combo of oils can help you claim your worth.

What a gift Magpie offered us with her perfume.

This magical bird wants all of us to know our own magic more clearly…

Cultivating Self-Worth with Taoist Alchemy

There’s a particular esoteric branch of acupuncture that deals with the Eight Extraordinary Vessels (8X) — these are really deep, spiritual meridian systems within the body, to put it suuuuper simply. 

And, there’s an ancient, shamanic branch of working with the 8X that utilizes essential oils and hydrosols to harmonize their flow.

As with any other meridian or set of acupuncture points, working with the 8X can have physical benefits — yet it's the spiritual healing involved with this system that I find most interesting.

One of the eight vessels is the yin qiao vessel. When there's an imbalance in the yin qiao vessel, the core wound manifests as the belief that something is inherently wrong with you.

Think of those who crumble under criticism, or are constantly apologizing…. Tough love is not the way forward with a yin qiao imbalance. Rather, we want to help those who are suffering in this way to see their inherent beauty, to embrace life with self-worth and confidence. 

Here, shamanic anointing practices become invaluable.

One of the key points that we work with to harmonize the energy of the yin qiao vessel is Kidney 6, located on the inside of the foot near the ankle bone.

credit

The English translation of this point is Shining Sea — and when anointed, the shining sea becomes a mirror for your own true nature. 

And your true nature is magnificent. 

The shining sea of your own luminosity reflects your own beauty back to you — because beauty is your true nature. 

How lovely is this? When you see that the beauty of the world is the same as the beauty within, the blocks to true self-worth and confidence begin to melt away.

And in keeping with this theme of beauty, the two oils classically used to harmonize the yin qiao vessel were considered to have two of the most beautiful fragrances: juniper and jasmine.

Juniper and jasmine. The two oils at the heart of my Magpie perfume.

In Taoist alchemy, juniper is known as a deeply healing oil and is said to have the most beautiful scent. The sweetness and beauty of jasmine is thought to help people see their own inner goodness more clearly.

By anointing Kidney 6 and other key points along the yin qiao vessel with these two oils, we help those — who, through life’s pain and programming, have learned to believe that something is wrong with them — to see their true essence. And their true essence is inherently worthy.

When I created my Magpie perfume, I really hadn't started studying Taoist alchemy in much depth yet. Every ingredient I added was a request from Magpie herself — and while I knew everything smelled good, I didn’t realize how medicinal the perfume was becoming.

This is the magic of botanical perfume.

As I followed Magpie’s instructions, I naturally harmonized the juniper and jasmine at the heart of this perfume with a variety of essences used in Taoist anointing traditions — bergamot to uplift and move, oakmoss to nourish and ground, lavender to harmonize, and more.

Oh, and remember the third ingredient in Magpie’s perfume, clary sage?

Though not one of the primary two oils used for this vessel, clary sage an important plant in Taoist essential oil alchemy, known for nourishing yin and balancing hormones — both beneficial qualities for yin qiao health.

While anointing specific acupuncture points with juniper and jasmine can provide powerful, targeted treatments for people who really need them, simply enveloping our auras in the blessings of these plant healers creates change in our lives.

In this way, perfume itself becomes medicine for the spirit.

And this is what perfume has always truly been.

In the earliest civilizations, perfume and medicine were one and the same, and both were sacred.

(And I hope it goes without saying that I’m referring to natural perfumes here — the synthetic fragrances that have twisted our sense of smell are not the mystical healers that we find in true plant allies.)

When I created Magpie’s perfume, I was thinking of the bird Mike and I had met in the Rocky Mountains — not about the importance of this bird is in Taoist culture.

Countless myths feature Magpie playing a key role in moving between the mortal and spiritual realms, symbolizing yin and yang with its black and white feathers, and generally showing up as symbol of luck and longevity and all good things.

Of course this bird of blessings wants us to celebrate our worth!

Magic and beauty are all around us, in ways more mystical and layered than we can even imagine.

May you see your own magnificence reflected in the shining sea of your luminous true nature.

P.S. Magpie perfume quickly went out of stock, but you can get on the waitlist for the restock here :)