nettle flagellation

Last evenings foray resulted in a bare arm covered in nettle stings..ouch! One of the perils of having a hard to access nature shrine i'm afraid. Recently, my 6 year old son asked me, 'dad, you said nature is good for you, so is it good to be stung by nettles?' I had to smile! I went on to explain about the fact the nettle as a species, has probably been around a mighty long time and over some of this time it probably grew into having these stings as a form of protection. I mean, not many people are willingly going to walk through a large stand of nettles, so they tend to thrive once established out in the wild.It also brought to mind a programme i watched a while ago where some participants in a jungle ceremony preparing to ingest the hallucinogenic vine ayahuasca, were being flagellated with bunches of nettles to bring any resident evil spirits to the surface for purging.interesting! Well, I am not about to undertake a nettle whipping, as the two dozen little bumps on my arm were painful enough, but maybe there is something in it- and if so, then my sons logic is not too far from the truth. Actually, more or less every time i go to my sanctuary i end up with a scratch or a graze, a bite or a sting. From a nettle to a hawthorn spike, or a plain old midge bite. Just one of those things, as i said, but worth it, for the peace of the place when i get there.