Happy New Moon – July 14, 2026
Yellow Dock
This beautiful yellow dock plant showed up in the alley outside my garage this spring. Lots of people would put it in the weed category. But since my definition of a weed is a plant in the wrong place, it can’t be a weed. It’s fine outside my garage.
Yellow dock (Rumex crispus) is part of a large family of plants with the name Dock. The “crispus” in the botanical name indicates its curly leaves. It is also called curly dock. Rumex crispus has been used in many different cultures and at different times for a range of conditions. According to the Botanical Institute it may reduce inflammation and work as an anti-oxidant. Most notably, it is a tonic, which purges the blood of toxins and also a laxative. Both conditions are about releasing and letting go.
Messages from the Plant World
It is a common knowledge among plant people that if a plant shows up unexpectedly in your yard (or on your walk) that it might have a message for you. When this yellow dock showed up quite dramatically in a place I see daily, I knew the message was about letting go. Like most people, I have accumulated books and possessions that need to move on to new homes. But I knew this message was more than about collections in my home.
I find myself at a place (and maybe you can relate) of having to re-order my thoughts about the world, and let go of previous assumptions. The re-ordering is both personal and global. On a personal level is the task of letting go of the things I have no control over – like the trajectory of other people’s lives, especially if what they are doing feels worrisome. There is also a letting go of expectations that just because things were a certain way in the past means they will continue on that path. Life and relationships are full of surprises.
My list of global things I need to release includes the idea that humans respond to facts and logic. Many, in fact, do not. I would add to that the idea that the majority of people have some level of empathy. I know that many people are empathetic, but I’m not longer sure it is a majority. It feels sad to give up those hopeful ideas, but current events make it hard to think otherwise.
As you can see, that is a lot to work on! But yellow dock’s message is NOT about feeling down about any of these things. The message is to let go and move on in a positive way.
How do we implement yellow dock’s message of letting go?
I think one way to embrace the message is to remember that we are letting go every day. We breathe in, but then we exhale. Skins cells are shedding every day. Hairs fall out as we brush. Life is a constant flowing back and forth of taking in what we need and letting go of what we don’t. So letting go is a natural process. However, on a personal level it can feel very hard and a little disorienting to fully realize that things are not what they seem.
If we are letting go with some sadness, taking the time to grieve is important. Creating a ritual of release or writing a letter of closure to the person, situation, or event can be a helpful step. Depending on the situation, we can explore holding gratitude for the experience and insights. For example, I can hold gratitude that there are still many empathetic people in the world. It may not be a majority, but empathetic people are showing up every day to make the world a better place.
And then we need to chart a new path. What does it mean to move forward without this feeling/person/event/way of thinking in our lives? We can create a kind of roadmap on paper capturing all our ideas.
I love to work with colored pencils on large sheets of paper to create a kind of map. I am NOT an artist and you don’t need to be one either to create a visual representation of next steps for yourself. Give yourself permission to release your inner critic. With colored pencils in hand, new ways of seeing the world and proceeding may emerge on the paper. Write at the top of your paper, “What Next?” or “Where Do I Go From Here?” You can begin by just doodling and see where it takes you.
Whatever you choose to do, remember that letting go makes space in our lives for other ways of being. That open space may generate the wisdom about how to proceed in an imperfect world, with imperfect people. Yellow dock can point the way.
Garden Experiment Updates
Just a quick update on some of my summer projects. I have two kinds of cotton growing in pots on my patio where they get mostly morning sun. They seem happy enough there as the afternoon sun here in Denver is so intense. I don’t know if I’ll get any cotton “fluff” from these plants at all, but it is fun to see what they look like.
The Japanese Indigo is struggling a bit with the heat. I was hoping to get enough that we could dye some fiber with it, but I’m not sure we’ll get there. And I planted annual red poppies, like the ones we saw last year along the train tracks in Italy. They are doing great, but have to be kept under shade cloth to protect them from the blazing sun. (We’ve had close to 100 degree days in Denver and most of my garden is under shade cloth.)
About this Blog Post & and Qigong Practice
This post is part of my lunar blog series. I post each new moon as it is a great time to begin projects and set intentions with the increasing light. Topics are related to plants and ideas featured in my book, Growing Mindful. Other topics are related to mindfulness, gardens, qigong, and intentional living. For more details and a list of past lunar blog posts, click here.
About Qigong – I lead qigong at Bluff Lake Nature Center in Denver on the last Sunday of each month. You can find the schedule in announcements on the home page. I have also partnered with other graduates of the IIQTC (Institute of Integral Qigong and Tai Chi) to offer virtual HeART of Body Compassionate Self Care Practice Circles based on qigong and tai chi. Check out the information here: Global Healing Circles or contact me if you need more information.
