All plants are sacred. All plants are intelligent in nature. All plants are capable of communicating with their surroundings and with us. They form relationships with the other plants around them and the earth that sustains them. They have the ability to find the nutrients they need to survive, and the ability to adapt to the changing weather. They are brilliant, every last one of them.
You do not necessarily need to use the visionary plants, like peyote, ayahuasca, etc., to have huge spiritual or physical shifts in your life. I have been asked many times to be a part of these celebrations and rituals, but they did not feel right for me. Sitting with everyday herbs like, calendula or yarrow, tasting them and making medicine with them, can offer just as much healing as the visionary and ceremonial plants. I’m not saying that these traditions, rituals or ceremonies are not needed as they absolutely are. They are here for a reason, they are sacred and there are people who need that medicine. They have their purpose and their offerings too. What I am saying is that this is not the only way to achieve that spiritual awareness and connection and that we can experience the healing, the shifts and the messages in our own backyards, if we open ourselves up to it. We can access it at any time.
How? By taking time out in nature. By quieting our minds. By spending time in nature and opening ourselves to the heart and rhythms of the earth. By opening our hearts to their essences, their energy and spirits. By asking them to communicate with us, to share their wisdom, to teach us. Plants are sacred teachers, living for hundreds of thousands of years and consistently adapting so that they can survive. They have such potent medicine, they are just waiting to be noticed and asked to share.
Communicating with plants is just like communicating with our Higher-Selves, Spirit and our Ancestors. It is a language that is learned through time, commitment and trust in ourselves and what the plants have to offer. It is a practice that grows and evolves over time, a sacred relationship. When they communicate with us it can be through a song (their own song or lyrics from a song that you know that pops into your head), a quote, a vision, a feeling, a colour or a conversation. It is paying attention with all of our senses to determine the meaning of their signs and symbols. We can learn and heal so much from sitting with the plants, ingesting the plants and making medicine with them.
“The body of the plant cures the body of the person. The spirit of the plant cures the disease”
- Stephen Buhner
I will be opening up my home and gardens starting next spring and summer for days of teachings, medicine making and plant sitting. Until then - please share, ask questions and let me know what you would love to learn. Help me put together the lessons by sharing what you need.
“The role of the true herbalist is the depth of communion with plants. To go into the heart of the wild and be touched by its presence within us. To receive deep transformational healing guided through their love, to be instructed in the ways of the Earth through their wisdom, and to be called to share those blessings, is the path of the plant healer. These teachings and healing give birth to the healer. The plants fill the heart and soul with so much joy, so much vision, so much flowering, that this healing must be shared with others. People do not become healers, they are healers innately. It is a deep calling of the heart that requires no justification, only experience and instruction.”
- Sajah Popham
Blessings,
Ashley
