Plant Medicine

As Spring turned into Summer and I began this closer study of plant medicine, I urged and watched the seeds and plants in the garden to reach up to the sun. These teachings opened me up to a new way of gardening that I have been enjoying tremendously. The garden became a holy experiment where the determining factors of success were good communication and reciprocity. I enjoyed planting each squash, bean, corn, tomato, as if they were my friends or children and thanking them, comforting them and urging them to grow strong. When I go into the garden each morning it is like taking a walk to visit friends. I tend to them and say good morning and they show me their latest creations and colors. These plant friends of mine have shown incredible response to this attentive care and affection. I have never had a garden that produced so quickly and vibrantly. 

This is the first year that I have grown the three sisters together. I have grown squash and beans but I never felt like I had enough room or sun for corn. I have longed for the perfect time to begin my relationship with this trio. I began by moving the soil to create mounds. These mounds became home to the seeds and starts and I tucked them into their sweet earthy beds with prayers and love. I watched daily with anticipation to see them grow and witness their dance. The corn grew fast and tall, reaching up for the sun and preparing to be a support for the beans. The bean was slower to grow as it reached and wound its way around the corn finding its own path to the light. The squash spread out slowly at first creating a cool shade that helped the dirt stay moist and kept the weeds away. Now the squash spills out the side of the garden beds continuing to grow and reach, creating new roots where it touches the ground so not to take too much of the water from the corn and beans. The beans provide nitrogen to the soil allowing all three sisters to thrive. Together they are stronger than they would be on their own. Their dance of reciprocity in the garden teaches us to support each other, nurture each other, give each other strength so that our gifts can grow and ripen. Ultimately they give freely their gifts teaching us that it is important to work together to hone our gifts and to share our gifts with the world and receive the gifts of the world as well. 

I have been quietly learning to communicate with plant people more and more and as I do I’ve noticed how much stronger our relationship is. I have overflowing baskets of fresh produce to share with family and friends and there are herbs like St. Johns Wort sitting in oil, preparing to be made into medicine. Plants that used to be neglected are showing up like old friends that I haven’t talked to in years but have a mutual understanding of each other none the less. 

I have also begun to meet new plants. One morning while admiring the beauty and sweet aroma of the roses in the corner of our property I looked down and was overjoyed to come across a flower that I had never seen before. Her beauty was so subtle, so quiet and dainty and yet her energy overwhelmed me with Love and Gratitude. This sweet flower looks like it could be related to a bachelor button. Its deep blues and violets were accented with a subtle milky white and the green center shot out like love from the center of the heart. The leaves of the flower were like little wisps, presenting themselves as a matrix of lace holding up this sweet flower. I came to find out that they are called Love-in-a-mist and the name couldn’t be more perfect. These small and delicate flowers had a profound message for me. There is always Love and there is Always beauty. Sometimes we get caught up in the mists of our existence but if we are able to take a look beyond it is there, and it has always and will always be there. There is so much to be grateful for. The small things, the in-between moments, a feeling or experience that may seem fleeting- all are there giving us a sense of beauty, strength and awe.

I had another amazing experience with plant spirits when I began the inner inquiry about wether or not it was the time for me to establish my relations with sacred plant medicine. I have had some relations with the medicines but my inquiry was leaning towards the peyote and ayahuasca as it has come to introduce itself to me in dreamtime. On the day I was able to ask our dear teacher about this and explain my process thus far I had three snakes come to visit. Yes- three snakes on the same day! One snake, my daughter found in the school garden and brought home. It was so small that it wrapped itself around her finger. She called it noodle and kept it for a day before returning it to the garden. The second snake was a large orange corn snake the my oldest daughter’s friend gave to her. We went and picked it up from her house that same day. I was surprised by the sudden and irrational fear I had towards this animal. When we got home and were in the front yard with the snake, my husband rode up on his motorcycle and pulled a gopher snake out of his saddle bag. This snake showed up at his feet when he was leaving a friends house. Wow- I had never had a snake in the house and on this day that my inner inquiry was about this sacred plant medicine these three messengers showed up. 

I became ultra aware that my sudden fear of snakes was irrational but I was obviously working through some sort of process. After a couple days of sitting with the idea of going into ceremony with the sacred medicines after so many years of letting that idea go, a lot of fear came up around it. What I found was that most of the fear wasn’t actually my own but was coming from a place of collective consciousness and social conditioning. We have been taught to fear the dark and all that is unknown and unfamiliar. Even snakes are looked at as evil or dark creatures. As a society we tend to be afraid of anything that represents the dark, unconscious and earthy realms. Snake medicine is transformation. The snake sheds its skin many times in its life constantly being reborn again. This is a powerful teaching about letting go and releasing old patterns and ways of being that no longer serve us. The snake also represents the primal earth as she is always so close to the ground and connected to the earth.  I feel like these snakes showed up to help me work through this process and shed the fear about going inward to my own primal nature and connection to Earth and her medicine.. When the fear was gone I had a dream where I was given a small tin full of peyote buttons. 

I am looking forward to continuing this conversation with the plant nation as they have so many amazing teachers. I now recognize that there is always a message for me about where I am on my path and if I don’t know where to look for the next piece I can sit with nature and pay attention and listen to the trees and the plants all around me. If I am willing to slow down and listen, there will be a teaching, a revelation or simply an understanding and love shared.