What are the steps to spiritual communication with plants?
Do we need to know a lot about horticulture?
How do I know if I'm just making it all up?
In this session, I'm sharing a lightly edited recording of a recent Enrichment session I led within The Numinous Network on connecting with and communicating with plants. I'm offering this sneak peek because it's free Week in the Network from Sept 17-23 - listen in to find out more!
Notes
Plant Spirit Healing: A Guide to Working with Plant Consciousness, Pam Montgomery
Communicating with Plants: Heart-Based Practices for Connecting with Plant Spirits, Jen Frey
Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Unlikely Peace at Cuchumaquic: The Parallel Lives of People as Plants: Keeping the Seeds Alive, Martin Prechtel
Edible and Medicinal Flora of the West Coast: The Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, Collin Varner
Luschiim’s Plants: Traditional Indigenous Foods, Materials and Medicines, Dr Luschiim Arvid Charlie, Nancy Turner
Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do Is Ask: Anishinaabe Botanical Teachings, Mary Siisip Geniusz
TNP202 Maeg Keane on Connecting with Jupiter
Review The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes and Rituals for the Wheel of the Year
Homework for this Lesson
Reciprocity
Ask your plant friend what they’d like. Maybe they want to be tended a certain way, maybe they want you to draw them. Stay with the question – at first they might say something like, I want you to take care of yourself, I want you to relax. That’s all good to know, but stay with this question of what you can do for them or offer to them until you get an answer that is truly something they want just for them. When you have the gift, present it to them. Spend time in this space, speaking aloud your gratitude. What do you notice in the days after?
Plant Limpia
Plant bathing: It can be as simple as placing the plant in water, then sprinkling water on you. After you've cleansed yourself, keep a portion of the water and add to it an equal portion of vodka. Place in a spray bottle to cleanse yourself whenever you need to release energetic build-up (spiritual hygiene) or when you are preparing yourself for ritual (purification). Could also infuse a plant in water that is at least 100F, strain, then keep in the fridge until you want to use it. Add it to your bathwater at particularly meaningful times or whenever you’re in need. (Make sure it’s not made from a plant that can cause contact dermatitis).
Plant Dieting
This is a way to really meld with the energies of a plant over an extended period of time. It will take several days or perhaps even weeks just to prepare all of the items you can with a single plant. Then, once all of the your preparations are ready, you would have a retreat day with that plant, ingesting it in all the ways. You will need to source a good beginner's herbalism book to learn how to make tinctures and oxymels, etc. Some recommendations would be:
Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner's Guide: 33 Healing Herbs to Know, Grow, and Use
Ava Green and Kate Bensinger's The Comprehensive Guide to Herbalism for Beginners: (2 Books in 1) Grow Medicinal Herbs to Fill Your Herbalist Apothecary with Natural Herbal Remedies and Plant Medicine
To undertake the ritual of plant dieting, first as your plant ally for a good date to enter into this day-long ritual. When the time comes, begin by eating some of the plant, then make a tea from leaves and drink. Then enjoy some tea made from the roots. After that, perhaps later that day, ingest a tincture. After that you might put balm or oil on your body, followed by some essence on your tongue, perhaps some medicine made of honey infused with the plant, then have an oxymel drink or other fermented version of the plant. Finally, do a trance journey to connect with the plant spirit in the Otherworld. Complete your ritual by thanking your plant ally and following any instructions they gave you.
Make a Plant Essence
Flower essences carry the energetic imprint of a plant and are meant to be ingested. They address emotional symptoms, not physical.
Below are some basic steps to making a Mother Essence, Stock Essence, and Dosage Essence - some simple basic herbalism so you can work with a particular plant all month and notice how that not only deepens your understanding but also expands your intuitive awareness of this plant and others.
Begin by asking your plant ally when is the best time to make an essence with them.
Mother Essence: Sterilize a two ounce bottle in boiling water. Fill a small clean glass bowl with about a cup of non-chlorinated water and place it on the ground beside the plant. Collect a few pieces of the plant and place them in the bowl. In order to preserve their pure essence, do not allow the plant parts to touch the ground. Ask the plant for guidance - is there any additional information they'd like to provide about how to make this essence with them? When the plant informs you the essence is ready, fill your two ounce bottle 40%-50% full with good quality brandy* (consisting of 40% alcohol by volume - ABV). Top it up with the essence water, using a fine mesh strainer to ensure no plant material enters the Mother Essence bottle. Your remaining essence water can be poured back into the ground at the foot of your plant, (and you can also take a sip of it, if you feel it's safe and the plant is edible). Label your bottle as Mother Essence and the name of the plant.
Stock Essence: Fill a half-ounce bottle with 60% plain non-chlorinated water and 40% brandy, then add 3 drops of the Mother Essence. Label this bottle as Stock Essence plus the name of the plant. you can use the Stock Essence as a daily point of connection with this plant, trying a single drop on the tongue the morning of one day, noon on another, and night on the next. Journal anything you notice over the weeks, particularly your dreams and coincidences relevant to this plant and its teachings. This stock level of dilution will last at least a year, (some say up to 10 years if stored in a cool, dark place and in a dark glass bottle).
Dosage Essence: Fill a clean, sterilized half-ounce bottle with 70% non-chlorinated water and 30% good quality brandy. To this, add 3 drops of the Stock Essence. Standard dosage is three drops on the tongue three times a day for a month. Notice any changes, synchronicities, messages and dreams. The dosage level of dilution will last for about 2 months. After that, gift the liquid back to the plants and soil.
*If you would prefer not to use alcohol in your essences, you can use vinegar.
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