By Katrina Matos
California poppies make friends wherever they go, whether in sunny gardens, in the hard-packed and trash-strewn dirt next to highways, or cultivated in various places outside their home territory. The carefree flutter of their yellow and orange petals lifts my heart and anchors me in the present moment. Since moving to the Northern California Bay Area in the fall of 1991, California poppy has become a longtime friend.
It is one of the first wildflowers to announce the arrival of spring each year, and the colorful flush of California poppy splendor is on display as summer waxes. Distinct groups of Native American people have used this wildflower plant, and still use it today, for pain relief, to reduce anxiety, and improve sleep. Where I live in Sonoma County that would include the Pomo people, as mentioned in the USDA entry for California poppy in their online database. The Luiseño (Payómkawichum,) Cahuilla, and Ohlone people are also known to make use of it.
Others have learned to use California poppy in much the same way, as its popularity has spread. It is indicated for easing insomnia, especially of the nervous, mental, can’t-turn-my-brain-off type. In my personal experience with using this plant in tea, it does smooth out the rough edges for my nervous system. It helps my brain ramp down and my muscles soften for sleep.
California poppy plant is edible, with a bitter flavor from the berberine content. Some people use the seeds in their baking. It is soothing, non-addictive, and gentle enough for use by children, being in a different genus than the Papaver family of poppies. The flower is phototropic, opening and closing with the presence and absence of sunlight. California poppy is beautiful, bright, and tough.
Common names include Golden Poppy, Flame Flower, Copa de Oro (Cup of Gold), and Dedal de Oro (Thimble of Gold). According to my Botanical Interests seed packet, “early explorers called the poppy-covered hillsides ‘Land of Fire.’”
It is easy to connect this plant to the energy of the sun and the element of fire. California poppy would make an excellent symbol for The Sun card in Tarot. The flowers seem to both absorb and radiate solar energy with exuberance the same way they do everything. They speak to me of the simple pleasures of being alive in each moment, of warmth and joy, the shining of one’s core self and an easy, continual flow of receiving and giving.
Deepening Our Friendship
One summer I made it a point to observe California poppy closely. The leaves of the plants are feathery, like miniature ferns, gray-green in color and very “airy” in their energetic impression.
The flower petals range in color from yellow to orange, although modern versions have been bred in other colors. Some petals open so extravagantly, they become convex. The petals swirl together in a more closed up fashion on cloudy days.
The base of the petals rests on a circular platter which is usually a pinkish-red. I discovered that in floral anatomy the part that holds the base of the petals is called a receptacle, and this unusual round shaped platter is what distinguishes the California poppy from others in the Eschscholzia genus. I think of this platter as a satellite dish, in keeping with my impression of absorbing and reflecting solar radiance.
Before the flowers open, they are encased in a light-to-medium green conical sheath (the calyx). With the pink-red receptacle at the base, they look like miniature witch hats, with a green body and a red brim. I find this completely “enchanting.”
The seeds are held in very skinny pods that can be a few inches long. One of my deep summer pleasures is to stand barefoot in the dry heat of a summer afternoon and listen for the crackle-snap of pods bursting open and scattering seeds, which can travel as far as 6 feet from the parent plant. It seems a very appropriate match with the enthusiasm, spontaneity, and creativity of fire energy.
A Gift from A Friend
There came a summer afternoon when I stretched myself out, face up, on the flat sun-warmed stones of our low garden wall, next to an orange patch of blooming poppies we had planted. I melted into a limp, heavy heap on the stones, sharing the sunshine with the poppies, birds, trees, and insects with time stretching into an eternal moment, all thoughts gone. I felt like a puddle of sunshine.
The feeling came to me very clearly that this was a gift from California poppy, part of this plant’s sharing of its energy. What a gift indeed, to stop thinking for a few moments, to feel the pleasure of daydreaming and the sensations of your body, receiving impressions from the world around you.
California poppy seemed happy to have me share this experience with others, so I created a short, guided journey based on that gift. Are you ready to daydream? You can make a recording of yourself speaking the words of the journey below and then play it back to lead yourself into a light trance.
California Poppy Journey
Lay stretched out on your back or stomach, or in whatever position feels most comfortable for your body right now. Let the warmth of the day seep into your muscles and bones or imagine the warmth of a sunny day seeping into your muscles and bones. Notice any aromas, sounds, or sensations in your surroundings. Feel yourself melting into a soft heaviness, as you follow your breath into deeper and deeper relaxation.
Let an image of California poppies come to you, shining in all their exuberant yellow and orange splendor. With their saucer shape and petals thrown wide, they simultaneously take in and give back the energy of the sun. As you breathe and bask in the warm sun, imagine that you, too, exist only to drink in and radiate out that solar energy. You drift away from any thoughts that float by, conscious only of the fact that you exist.
You are alive, warm, relaxed and blissed out on sunshine. Feel yourself floating in your own saucer of sunshine, just like the poppies.
There is nothing you need to do at this moment. You only need to be…let yourself drift….
When you are ready, give a heartfelt “thank you” to the joyful poppy, to the life-giving sun, and your own spirit flame. Let yourself slowly drift back to your everyday consciousness, to that faster flow of time and your day-to-day thoughts. Notice how you feel.
Making New Friends
Would you like to take this journey with the poppies in my own Sonoma County garden and listen to my voice lead you through? Email me at , and I will send you a link to a 6-minute video meditation with my sunny California friends. In the meantime, I invite you to look around your neighborhood and choose one friendship to cultivate more deeply, with your other than human nature family.
Katrina Matos helps people refill their reservoir of beauty and hope, of balance and purpose, by deepening their relationships with their other-than-human nature family through her nature-inspired distance energy sessions and food grade herbal skin care. Her work is for people who talk to their plants and listen when their plants talk back. She is a Reiki practitioner, esthetician, massage therapist, and lifelong treehugger. You can find out more about her, plus how she works and plays at GreenSpiritCraft.com.
