It was during my first trip to ‘the Kimberley’s’ that I fell in love with them. Dominating the rugged and dry landscape, the boab trees commanded my attention. There was something about their bulbous shape that just made me want to hug them. This I did, more then once and with their wide girth my hands never fully surrounded the trunk. Adding to my joy and never ending sense of wonder was the uniqueness of each boab, never did two ever look the same.
Whilst the boab trees scattered the land, it was an incredibly rare sight to see a boab flower. The pods that encase and protect the seed have a soft velvet cover. They hang delicately from the branches in stark contrast to the solidness and security that the round trunk provides. Whilst I had seen images of the flowers in books and read of their healing potential and indigenous connection it was not until my next trip a few years later that I would witness a boab flower in full bloom.
During this second trip, I was moving through an incredibly difficult period with my marriage ending only a few months prior. I headed to this region as I knew the land would be very healing. It was a true gift for me to witness a boab in full bloom, it felt like an offering from the Gods. I resonated with the flower and reflected upon her process of blooming. What an incredibly amount of tension and force would be required for her to break free from the protective shell, a shell that once protected and kept her safe yet now it was limiting. As a seed within the pod, she hung unwavering throughout the rains, scorching sun, humidity and winds. Clinging to her one substance, the tree. Yet she knew she was more then the seed. Patiently she waited until it was her time to push through the shell and break free. She was still part of the tree, yet she was expressing her uniqueness and shone for those with eyes to see.
The reflection given to me was clear. I too needed to break free from the shell, to become who I could be, to bloom beyond what I knew was possible. It would take incredible effort and force; tension would be present through the breaking down of old ways. Yet it was a process already underway and one that could not be stopped.
My love and connection with the boab tree went to a whole new level throughout that trip. She is a healer for me. Some pods had dropped to the ground and opened revealing the innerness. Soft and velvet the petals still wrapped upon themselves, frozen in time. Yet those that bloom are exquisite to behold, the large fragrant flower with its fleshy white to cream petals commands your attention. Its numerous stamens shoot upwards towards the sky.
It’s a powerful healer as a flower essence as it can assist in the breaking of strong, deeply ingrained negative family patterns. Resulting in deep personal transformation, it is a profound healer working initially on the spiritual level, and then working its way down through the emotional and mental bodies.
If you are finding it difficult to break free from limiting and/or repetitive patterns, behaviours and mental mindsets perhaps consider the boab essence?
The Doctrine of Signatures is interesting in so much that you will often seen groups or clusters of boab trees. Like a family quite often becoming enmeshed in one another, the boab essence addresses this restriction.
Personally the boab flower essence is the one constant on my bedside table. Its incredibly powerful and supportive through the personal transformation processes. Sometimes ‘the ties that bind’ also restrict and prevent your growth.
The boab provides the strength needed to release the old way and enable more of your true spirit self to anchor.
It was through reading Ian White’s ‘Bush Flower Healing’ that I became aware of the connection the Indigenous communities have with the boab. The traditional birthing practice in these local communities involved the use of the boab flowers. If they were in season, the woman would dig a hole and line it with boab flowers. The woman in labour would then squat over the hole and deliver the baby into the cradle of flowers. As the baby was birthed its first contact was with the boab flower, a cleansing of family patterns. Truly wonderful.
I do have a love affair/obsession with boab trees, even to this day 7 years on from my first encounter images of them adorn my study. I make no excuses for this strong connection with this tree that I feel.
A true gift that when prepared as an essence enables us to step fully into who we can become.