Rejoicing a Treasure Conserved
As some of you may know, I am currently dealing with an especially difficult Faerie Physic case right now—possibly my most vexing to date—and it has taken a lot out of me. Between this work, and my paying work that I still have to keep up with to make a living, I have been burning the candle at both ends. In this time of stress and danger, I felt strongly compelled to turn to my chief Herbal Ally—the Ghost Pipe.
Despite the population of Ghost Pipes that I spent years stewarding in a devotional capacity being entirely depleted last year in what I believe was an unethical foraging harvest, I felt a strong call to revisit the site and look for any plants that may have managed to survive somehow.
After making my way to the forested site mentioned above, I began my search along all the places I previously saw colonies growing, but dishearteningly, I found nothing. Finally, I remembered the time a year ago that I felt called to spread seeds from the previous year's pods along areas that I intuitively felt would support Ghost Pipe cultivation. At the time, I didn't realize how fortuitous this act of sowing would be, as it was only a few months later that the area was ecologically divested. Remembering this, I went to a particular spot that I remember spreading an especially large amount of seed powder in, and I was literally choked up to discover, not only a young colony of Ghost Pipes just beginning to peak their heads above the soil, but a small snailshell (which have an especially powerful and longstanding role in my tradition as Fae Omens of the wild).
After lowering myself to the ground in worship and offering up prayers of gratitude and joy, I carefully concealed the area with bracken ferns and marked it with a subtle arrangement of sticks that I implanted in a nearby mound of earth. As a lovely bonus, I stumbled upon a small patch of Gnome Plants while marking the area for later notice—with these plants often showing up in my Craft as meaningful Fae Omens in their own right.
I will be returning often to check on and nurture this population of nacent Ghost Pipes, as well as doing whatever I can to conceal and protect it.