Magical Monday Mushroom Meander with Ghost Flowers

 
 

Okay so technically I took these pictures on a Wednesday (September 8th, 2021 to be exact) and while these little beauties are often mistaken for mushrooms, they're actually classified as a flowering plant, but it is Monday today, I did meander when I took the photos, and I have some magical information about them so I'm making the title work! 😂

For my regular readers, remember when I mentioned during my latest Wednesday Walk that I had a file with a bunch of mushroom photos that I'd planned to use for a WW post, but I couldn't find it? Turns out if you name the file, "Edited for future post" and don't name any of the photos files with anything beyond a number, then it makes it hard to search for... 🤦‍♀

However, I'm happy I found them! Since I have about 50 photos ready to go, I thought I'd just focus on the ones I took of a specific one that I've already identified, and save the rest until I can get IDs on them.

And per my usual FYI - these were taken in the woods behind my Durham, NH home with my Nikon, also using my tripod. All were resized, then cleaned up a bit with PicMonkey - mostly the exposure and sharpness, but with a few other tweaks like vignette filters for the corners here and there.

Magical Monday Mushroom Meander with Ghost Flowers

 
 

1. I already shared this picture in my September post, Green trees with hints of fall foliage for @parul2411’s #ThursdayTreeLove but thought I'd share it again, especially since the last share was essentially a mirror from my WordPress blog post. The original caption was, "here's one of the ghost flowers that I've been searching the woods for forever! I'm pretty confident now that the group I found last time I visited the woods, which was pretty close to this area (picture #38 in that crazy big post), was actually some newly growing ones (which also go by the lovely name of Corpse Plant 😜 ), and I have a bunch of additional photos I took for another post that I'll put together soon. So stinkin' excited about finding these!"
 
 
2. So looks like today is going to be that additional post! And can you see why they're frequently confused with mushrooms? Or confuse people entirely as to what they are? Pretty sure the first time I saw them, I referred to them as "ghost roses." 😂
 
 
3. In reading about them, I've seen it mentioned many times that when you touch the Ghost Flower, it turns black because it's so fragile. However, I wonder if it's also just part of the natural process, as I've noticed they gradually turn black over the course of the summer.
 
 
4. And this year is the first time I've noticed ones with such a distinct pinkish hue - in fact, I shared a picture in a different post earlier this year and wondered if it was actually a Ghost Flower since it was so rosy colored.
 
 
5. Now I feel completely justified in calling them, "Ghost Roses."
 
 
6. Hard to tell in this shot without zooming in, but there are lots of little clusters of ghost flowers in this clearing - it's the most I've ever seen at one time in one area.
 
 
7. So weirdly pretty!
 
 
8. The acorn cap on the ground should help give a bit of perspective of how big (or should I say small) they are.
 
 
9. The sun was playing hide-and-seek that particular day, but it nicely showed up to give me this nice backlit shot of my Ghost Roses Flowers. 😊
 
 

And as for the magical part...

I've been meaning for ages to look up the magical properties of Ghost Flowers/Indian Pipes, and finally did so today. While I definitely don't plan to try to ever harvest these (it's my understanding they're almost in the same class as Lady Slippers as far as being slightly endangered/fragile/difficult to transplant), I thought it would be cool to know their witchy significance. Here are a couple of some snippets from The Druid Garden

 
 
From A Druid’s Primer on Land Healing, Part VI: Working with Sites that Will Be Destroyed

Working with Ghost Pipe to Distance the Pain. One particular plant spirit energy is good for this kind of work, especially for when the destruction starts happening or is ongoing. Its a plant called Indian Ghost Pipe, Ghost Flower, Indian pipe (Latin Name: Monotropa Uniflora). This plant, when used for human herbal healing, offers distancing from pain and suffering or, as Sean Donohue writes, it helps in “putting the pain beside you.” Ghost pipe also functions as a plant that helps cross the boundaries between the worlds, very useful when destruction is imminent or just beginning. I have worked extensively with this plant over a period of years, and I have found it to be an extremely potent ally for land healing work–both for you as the healer and for the land.

 
 

From The Druid Retreat for Spiritual Work and Healing, Part I: Why We Go on Retreat, Preparation, and Herbal Allies

Indian Ghost Pipe. I have written about Indian Ghost pipe or Ghost flower before, and this is a fantastic plant ally for your retreat. The principle of Ghost Pipe is simple: it provides us distance and perspective, both physically, but also emotionally and spiritually. Ghost pipe helps us get into the retreat space and stay in that space, giving us the “up on the mountaintop” perspective we seek during retreat. Ghost pipe can be found and eaten, tinctured, or smoked in a herbal smoking blend. Beware, however-this is a delicate plant, a sacred one, and you need to cultivate a sacred relationship with it. Please take only what you need of this most sacred plant and treat it with the utmost respect.

 
 

From The AODA’s Seven Element System: Above, Below, Within, Earth, Air, Fire, Water

Spirit Below. Ghost pipe (monotropa uniflora). Another plant imbued with spirit, ghost pipe is a parasitic plant that feeds on dead plant matter (and thus, does not have chlorophyll, giving it a “ghostly” appearance). Part of why I selected this plant for spirit below is that has tremendous medicinal virtues associated with grounding–this plant is often used for people who need to come back from a bad experience (mental, alcohol/drug-induced or otherwise) and it helps them bring their way back to a place of stability–in a way that no other plant does. It also has an enduring nature; even through all seasons

 
 

Last snippet from Medicine of the Spirit: Plant and Flower Essences – A Druid’s Guide to Herbalism, Part III

Plant and Flower Essence List

Indian Ghost Pipe (Monotropa Uniflora): Offering distance and perspective on current or past situations; offering distance from pain, breaking through addictions

 
 

I'm so glad I decided to check out the magical properties, because this is an awesome website/blog with lots of excellent information on it. Even better - the latest post is from yesterday, so the author is still actively posting - yay! In fact, I'm getting this post in under the wire because I got lost reading through many of the older posts, before hitting the "Follow" button so I can check it out some more later.

Thanks for coming along with me on my magical Monday mushroom meander with Ghost Flowers!

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