Odious Rot issue 2 feature in Weapons & Self Protection 

“On a small Northern island where plant life is minimal, energy is stored with potency beneath the surface. Buried in volcanic soil and dark sands, roots live in deep incubation and mineralization for most of the year. The flowering season is short as plants rise to the surface providing radiant ground cover and nourishment. The wild plants that grow here in Iceland are particularly potent and chemically active due to their extended incubation time in fertile soils and their adaptation to survive complex weather patterns in the arctic freeze. Moss and fungi protect and nourish root systems, storing water and subtle knowledge for plant life. There is a calling I feel to understand, uplift, and cherish these ancient plant beings that store infinite cellular intelligence and memories. Stories of the land are imprinted within fossilized lava, river beds, and wind patterns shaped by mountains and the sea, iterated upon by plant and mycological life. I commit to studying and learning the land to love it more fully, with forever-expanding reverence and respect as I feel increasingly supported within the network of life around me. It’s a way to connect on a molecular level, appreciating and embodying the unique essence of this place. Working directly and solely with plants from my home lands, I explore ways to weave the intelligence of my ancestors with modern scientific discoveries of plant potential. There is an innate knowing, an instinctual recognition that takes place learning about these plants that have been encoded in my lineage and evolution. I extract wild plant material into tinctures, tea, broth, oil, vinegar, and honey. I formulate to bring vitality to body systems as a whole and for specific purposes both physical and energetic. Creating personalized blends for my community is my main practice, along with sharing formulations made with particular effects in mind. Tincture formulation is my most active practice, creating encapsulations of a moment in time and the chemical activity embedded within it. I’m increasingly interested in methods of grounding into my direct environment, through herbal integration, meditation, and movement practices. As we merge deeper with the earth through conscious integration of plant codes, we activate our innate recognition of the land and the stories it carries, and our cellular remembrance of memories deep within our inner ecology. We shift into a more clarified state of being, promoting ease in systemic function. Herbal immersion within our direct environment calls for use of all of our senses in discovery, and immediately brings us into the present moment. My work considers first and foremost the sun and seasonality, as the foraging time is brief and the plants have their own timelines of potency. I gather only what I am choosing to be in relation with, and always ask for inner permission. I also consider the innate changes of the environment and the lifetime I will spend learning the finer details of it all. Earth immersive practices such as these are inherently therapeutic and nourishing, and I aim to bring others closer to their own methods of experimenting and healing in the company of plants. Understanding the patterns of the plants promotes inherent learning of our own inner landscapes and the deeper details of our own existence.” -Erla Sól