Plant Spirit Medicine: working with local plants

We are well on our way into October, one of my favorite months, as the liminality of the Otherworld begins to shine through. I've already begun to more acutely receive the tugs and whispers of the particular plant spirits that work strongly at this time, especially Elder, or the Elder Mother.

When I developed Call Into Darkness: Deepening Plant Allyship 4 years ago, it was through these very tugs from the spirit world. I listened, and this 6-week class emerged. It’s one of my favorite creations, at one of my favorite times of year.

Plant Spirit Medicine has become popular now, with the rise of popularity and accessibility of the "big" medicines, like Ayahuasca. While I think it's wonderful that so many people are understanding that the plants have consciousness, have big teachings for us, and can really help us heal if we listen, I do wish more folks would understand that these teachings and relationships are available with all plants, everywhere.

Yes, the big psychedelics have a certain type of power that can crack open even a doubtful mind, but there is a different type of power in the more subtle medicines, that can actually be more powerful depending on what you need and where you are on your healing path.

It is a power that can ease-fully seep into the deeper cracks in the psyche, gently unwinding a pattern without a major upheaval. Gently guiding you to assume a new way of being in your body, a new way of perceiving the world without it feeling life-shattering.

Big psychedelics have a time and a place, when done with integrity, and in a way that supports the local, indigenous communities, and doesn't exploit them. I’m very grateful they exist, and that so many people have had deeply transformative and life-changing experiences.

And I also believe it is extremely important to develop relationships with the plants that live alongside you in your everyday world. The plant medicines you can access freely and plentifully. The plants that you can know, in the physical world. With whom you can form a bond of reciprocity. You can grow them around you, visit wild stands easily, and help support their thriving through your offerings and generosity.

This is one of the ways we can embed ourselves back into true relationship with the living land that we’re a part of.

Working with plant spirit medicines is one of the ways that we can hone and fine-tune our intuitive senses. It’s one of the ways we can gain confidence in our ability to perceive and receive subtle and energetic messages.

I have learned *so much* from my relationships with the plants that grow around me.

*They’ve helped illuminate and heal old childhood, ancestral, and past life wounds

*They’ve shown me how to work with my own energy body, clearing, cleansing, healing, and honing my energy

*They’ve taught me how to perceive the subtle energies in others, enhancing and guiding my energy work and bodywork practice

*They’ve welcomed me into a space of being intimately a part of this land, and provided a profound sense of belonging that I’ve never felt anywhere else

*They’ve held me through some of the most intense and challenging transitions in my life

Sometimes we need to stop looking outwards, casting our attention to some mysterious, far-away land, and come back into alignment, presence, and relationship with what’s right in front of us.

This is part of the intention of Call Into Darkness: Deepening Plant Allyship. As a way to connect and commune with the plants that grow not just in the Pacific NW, but also many other lands as well.

We will work with:

Elder

Yellow Pond Lily

Hawthorn

Quaking Aspen

Western Red Cedar

Black Cottonwood

These medicines will take you on a journey of healing through the darkest 6 weeks of the year, and provide you with guidance and companionship that is deeply nourishing and transformative.

There are limited spaces in the class due to the limited resource of my personal wildcrafted tinctures. I make sure these plant medicines are crafted with intention, relationship, and care, and that means I don’t make huge batches each year.

So register early if this is calling to you. We begin 11/7, with early bird pricing available until 10/17.

As always, I donate 20% of proceeds from this course to Indigenous organizations, so know that a part of your energy exchange is going directly to support the thriving of Indigenous communities.