SACRED NATURE | TAMARACK TREE

As the late summer vibes started to hover over my heart while at our family cottage, I couldn't help but sort of pace the property taking in all the magic.

Horsetail / snakegrass / puzzlegrass (some of the most ancient plants), dragonfly (one of the oldest bugs) nymph shells that survived a summer of rain and wind still clinging to surfaces from months earlier, tamarack leaning over and into the water, lily pads seeming undisturbed by the cooler temps.

How old is this place? How many critters and humans have made contact with this particular plot of earth? How sacred is the nature right here? How not random is it that I'm here right now?  How sacred am I? 

And that got me thinking, naturally, about the name where the cottage lives: MEDICINE LAKE. Why was it named that? Where is that documented? My searches proved fruitless, so I was left to my own conclusion-making. 

There's medicine, or magic, in the tamarack water. 

Tamarack swamps make the lake water a red / brown, and while the bluer lakes like to brag, tamarack is known for a long list of medicinal properties when made into tea.

"Mshkiigwaatikohns is the Anishinaabemowin word for tamarack tree; translates to “swamp tree” in English. Mshkiigwaatikohns medicine was provided to early settlers by First Nation peoples in order to prevent and treat scurvy. Mshkiigwaatikohns have antiseptic properties due to the natural occurrence of bornyl acetate, a volatile oil that acts as an expectorant." Via @pinnguaq https://pinnguaq.com/learn/mshkiigwaatikohns-tea-traditional-nerve-medicine/

So maybe swimming in this water is not the same as receiving the medicine by way of tea or tonic, but I'd like to believe that there's still a little extra magic in the tamarack water.