In Community with the Earth Mother

Human beings have always had an intimate connection with the Earth, as we are of Her. In every culture, there is a spiritual story about a tree: the Tree of Knowledge in the garden of Eden, Yggdrasil, Xmucané’s Light Tree, the Giving Tree—the list goes on. Why are we so spiritually connected to the plants that live around us, namely trees? How come they have left such an impression on us?

Plant spirit medicine is the spiritual collaboration with plant spirits in order to create harmony on Earth. Those well versed in plant spirit medicine, called medicine people or witch doctors, could use herbs to heal people, or they could work with plant spirits in another way to bring about good fortune for their communities. Medicine people are a highly respected demographic as they have undergone various challenges and been initiated, and they have existed in almost every cultural group globally. There are the Sangomas of southern Africa, the Ifa of Western Africa, the Aino of China, the Shinto of Japan, and the Lakota of indigenous north americans, just to name a few.

Plants themselves are not as inanimate as western society would have you believe. In fact, scientists are studying plant behavior in effort to gain more insight into how intelligent plants are. They’ve confirmed that plants are self-aware, communicate with other plants, and even have something like a brain.

Plants communicate through chemicals, like pheromones. When a plant is unable to smell its own chemicals, it omits more of the chemical—similarly to how you speak louder when you have on headphones.

However, plants also have a more interconnected communication system through mycorrhizae roots that connect entire forests and allow plants to share nutrients with a friend or poison an enemy. The chemicals are like talking in person, the roots are like the internet.

Every plant has a root apex, a particularly long root that the plant draws most of its nourishment from. The root apex wiggles around like a worm, searching for nutrients deep in the soil. In the transition zone of the root apex, near the tip, scientists have discovered electric activity, or action potential, identical to the impulses our neurons produce in our brains.

Not only are plants conscious and aware and in community amongst themselves, but they are also in community with you. The Earth, a responsive and nurturing mother indeed, grows plants with the specific medicinal qualities around those who need them.

For instance, dandelion is a great cleansing herb. It cleans and thins the blood, which could help those with kidney issues as well as those with heavy menstrual bleeding. If dandelions proliferate in your yard or garden, perhaps your body or spirit has been requesting a detox. In a consultation with a shaman or medicine woman, one of the first things they’d do upon arrival is look at the plants growing around your home!

Ayurveda is a school of herbalism that treats the entire body by balancing the quantity of certain energies within the body. You can manipulate your energetic balance by consuming certain herbs and foods.

Our energetic constitution, or prakruti, consist of 3 doshas: Vata (air), Pitta (fire), and Kapha (earth). All else within us is considered Ether, or space. Usually people have a high concentration of 2 doshas, and very little of the third. The goal is to have each dosha balanced—in order to increase one dosha, another dosha must decrease. Plants have their own prakruti and we can eat, drink, smoke, or rub them on our bodies to help us balance our tridoshas.

Simply by adding certain snacks to our diets that are specifically tailored to our individual bodies, we can radically improve our overall health and drastically reduce unpleasant symptoms.

Because of our deviation from the natural order and our exploitation of the plant spirits, human beings have disrupted the order. This disharmony manifests as a myriad of sicknesses, from poverty to depression. Plant alliances help mend this tension. Everyone has at least one plant ally, the plants whose energies we resonate with most or can serve us best in our cosmic journeys.

We are to connect with our plant allies and embody their spiritual teachings in our daily lives.