Walking through The Witcher

As a nature-informed therapist, working with clients who identify as "indoor people" is a delight. I appreciate the challenge of findings ways to build a bridge to the outdoors based on their existing interests and personalities. Sometimes the bridge is small and simple: grow flowers in our therapeutic gardens that reflect a client's favorite color. Help clients harvest herbs that are part of an old family recipe. Help them find a bird whose flight pattern mimics how they're feeling on a given day. Sometimes the bridge is elaborate and obscure, like knowing which plants from the The Witcher video game are, in deed, real plants.

As a forager, I frequently familiarize myself with the flora and fauna in my neighborhood when I go for walks. This curiosity and commitment to cataloguing my resources is how I stumbled onto a wide-spread carpet of quarter-size yellow flowers. To my surprise, it was Celandine, an invasive species in our region and a popular alchemy ingredient from Lambert in The Witcher universe. It covers the riverbanks of the Monocacy River in the spring if you happen to be in the area.

I would not have made a connection between this weed and pop culture, except that I have the good fortune of being surrounded by people who do not share my interests and can teach me a thing or two. This lucky discovery brings me hope for connecting with clients who find safety and groundedness in the fantasy world, because Celandine means we can walk through the fantasy together in our nature-based sessions.