There is something so intimate and vulnerable about milkweed seed pods.
Much can be said about the milkweed family of plants (Asclepias spp.). They’re vital to the monarch life cycle, as well as other butterflies and many pollinators. A beautiful native plant throughout much of North America, milkweed shoots and immature pods are edible. The plant also has many medicinal uses. In fact, the genus name honors Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine and healing.
And those lovely seed pods.
The pod casing itself develops during the summer. So soft and tender, often in subtle pastel colors, and with a distinctive horn shape. They grow full and ripen in the late summer and early autumn. The cool, crisp air causes the pod to harden up and dry out.
Then one day a hairline split opens, and gradually exposes tens and hundreds of seeds with fluffy silk parachutes. Having been packed together so tightly in that safe space it takes the seeds and silk a little while to dry out.
When the pod is open just enough, some silk strands catch the breeze. They start to get pulled out a bit. Then a bit more. Until enough strands are exposed to the breeze and the first seeds suddenly take flight. Those first adventurers tug on other seed fluffs, and create a domino effect of release. Soon the pod is obscured in a mass of billowy fluff, dispersing more and more seeds that dance on the air like faeries. Traveling near and far, delighting both children and adults.
The empty pod is smooth on the inside, but with indentations that mark where the seeds were once embraced. A cocoon for seeds.
Such intimacy. Such vulnerability. And such beauty.
It evokes childbirth. And the birth of change.
Have you ever felt like you’ve been ripening for something? Like you could split right open? It’s an intensely vulnerable time.
But, like the milkweed, it is in our nature to open ourselves. To allow our tenderness to breathe. To acknowledge the importance of our growth, and our expansion. To discover the sheer joy of release. To the delight of our Soul.
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