Treat Your Plants As You Would Your Guests

Plants are like people, they do not like to be habituated or taken for granted. When your vessel is pure, you are more attuned to the medicine plants have to offer. Any plant may have a message to impart to you. Poison ivy teaches us about self protection. Emetics teach us about purging negative beliefs, and ask us to be brutally honest with ourselves. Ever been clinging to a toilet, vomiting, reduced to a groveling, "Just give me one more chance to make it right" or, in a deep catharsis, "Everything is clearer now, I see what I must do, let me live to see tomorrow". We have come to label plants 'food', 'weeds', 'alcohol', and 'drugs', but these labels are as far reaching as labeling people by their income at any given moment 'poor, middle class, and wealthy', or 'small, medium or large'. Such distinctions are dismissive, perhaps even slanderous. Most weeds such as dandelion are powerful potent doctors or plant emissaries after all. For example, dandelion is anti-tumor, lithotriptic, hepatic, alterative...a very good friend to have at your dinner table indeed.

Being creatures of habit, a delicate balance must be achieved between comfort and change. If we don't take chances and challenge our beliefs in life, we become stagnant or go through periods of slow growth. Susun Weed, made some good points in my interview with her. She said something to the effect of, life is dynamic tension and in constant flux. Only when you are dead are you truly balanced. Why do people strive in the Heroic medicinal model to achieve balance? While I am a huge promoter of balance, and also believe in dynamic tension and the coexistence of these polarities. But, it's an interesting thought. One can't become too dependent on circumstances, or the methodology of external forces, to find comfort and stability. Life quickly becomes boring and banal when it is predictable anyway. Order, safety and some a modicum of predictability creates environments where we can thrive and be open. One must find that centered place within, be it in the eye in the storm or in an underwater sea cave.

Plants teach us about adaptability. Plants will come along for the ride with you on the physical plain, but by acknowledging their medicine and wisdom to work their magic in your life, their spiritual essence will be felt whereby a healing can occur. From the use of chamomile tea to henna hair day to cranberry extract, we can develop relationships with plants. For deep healing to occur with medicinal foods and plants, one must honor the plant and treat it as you would your guests. It is advisable not keep them hostage for your habitual dependence. Do not hold them captive, let them impart their wisdom, and give it time to sink in. The best advice might be, learn to listen. Let your plant emissaries choose you, just as your angelic guardians have.

Plants contain life force energy and the consciousness of divine love. Plants do everything your ideal lover might. In their way, they say: "You are perfection;" "I acknowledge you in your purest essence;" "I love you with every fiber of my being." And of course, they can 'kick your ass' if you're out of line. That might be their message for you and part of your lesson. Think about a time when tequila, a hops libation, mushrooms, kava kava root, or some other lovely plant cradled you in it's loving bosom. Go back to college or high school if necessary. Ah, good. It read your mind, it was deeply empathetic, it knew just what to do to help you feel better, it even enjoyed hanging out with your friends. And plants are brave, they say it, they spray it, they think big. Think about the growth of a oak, from acorn to towering oak. They have wonderful imaginations. We give so much credence to man-made creations, non-entities with no consciousness whatsoever, yet generally speaking our collective perception of plants in the Western world is so warped that we feel uncertain making assertions based on our own experiences and intuitive knowledge. We must give credit where credit is do.

The vitality of plants is a reality. Their wisdom and life force is imparted to us. This phenomenon is not exclusive to the consumption of these articles, but also is symbolic and ceremonial usage as well. Some plants are so poisonous they will kill you. Some plants are so healing they will cure you of cancer. Plants can acknowledge pain in your emotional body, and release it from your being. I have witnessed deep healing with plants. Toast to them. Treat them as your allies, and your distinguished guests.