At our twice-monthly Shamanic Drum Circle this week we were lucky enough to be gifted with a large bag full of the herb rosemary. One of our tribe had been shaping and tending her beloved garden and had found the scented cuttings to be too beautiful to throw away so she brought them for all of us to share. Drum circles used to be planned like lessons with clear intentions and structure but we, long ago realised 'who were we to know what it was that we needed?' and began leaving it to the wisdom of the Universe to give us our session. To that end we each took a piece of rosemary in our fingers. We mindfully held her, taking time to notice the soft leaves that, when stroked in one direction, yielded soft and willingly but in the other, were far less compliant. Rosemary does not like to be rubbed the wrong way! We took in her dark, cool waxiness, her woody stems and deeply inhaled her pungent scent. We let her speak to us and we felt energised.
During Drum Circle we let the soporific beat of the Shamanic Drum take us into blissful altered awareness and we journeyed. This is a meditative practice where, rather than disciplining our thoughts to return to the object of focus, we go where they go.
This particular Summer evening at Drum Circle, we journeyed with the spirit of rosemary.
It was a magical experience. Every one of us took the plant into our waking dreams that evening and received wisdom, guidance healing and nurture. Each experience was different and everyone was given what they needed.
As we sat together in sacred space, our little Shamanic family, we shared our individual stories of the journey as the room filled with the beautiful scent of this herb that came to us not by accident but by divine timing.
What can plant medicine do for you?
There are layers of plant medicine, all of which can be beneficial and any combination of which can be woven into our lives. When we bring all of our interaction with plants into consciousness, plants are medicine - always.
Plants oxygenate the air that we breathe. Since breath is synonymous with life - without plants we would die. Breathe deeply with gratitude for that which we often take for grated.
Plants nourish us at mealtimes either directly as food or indirectly having nourished the animals that give us meat. Let food be your medicine.
Western medicine often uses ingredients from plants. Many modern drugs originated in their raw forms in ancient cultures and have been studied for evidence, their ingredients harvested and packaged for consumption in the modern world.
Plants offer beauty in colour, shape, movement and scent. They are a delight to all the senses!
Herbalists use tinctures, teas and balms to bring balance back during times if dis-ease.
Essential oils are used for restoring harmony and creating ambience.
Vibrational plant essences are used, in the belief that they offer their energy to facilitate emotional clearing.
Homeopaths use plant memory for restoration of balance.
Shamanic healers use plants for their spirit in artful dreaming and meditation for guidance, healing and nurture just as we did during our circle.
However you feel about any of these practices from appreciating the air in your lungs to meditating with a piece of rosemary, all of them are conscious.
There are about 380,000 known species of plants in the world.
When we bring plant energy into our consciousness we are truly blessed in more ways that we can count.
Try this:
Set the intention to bring plants into your consciousness.
When you eat, eat mindfully. Take in the wide variety of colours and shapes. Notice how the plant feels in your fingers or the texture on your tongue. Is it light and crispy or soft and velvety. Is it sweet or bitter? What scents accompany the taste? Do you feel full? Are you satisfied?
When you walk around your garden, yard or take a walk in your neighbourhood, notice the plants that speak to you as you pass. Do they offer you their scent? Their vibrancy in colour and form? Do they reach out and stoke you as you pass, or leave their blossom, seeds or sticky buds all over your clothes? Do they sting? Are they buzzing with insects? do they yield tempting fruit?
Are your houseplants loving their life with you? Do they greet you each morning with the comfort of consistency and steady growth and development. Is your relationship with them symbiotic? Do you both gain from the experience of living together? Do you nourish each other?
What is you relationship with the plants that surround you?
Which plants are you drawn to?
Do you love the trees that root themselves deep within the Earth and reach towards the cosmos with their highest branches like a conduit between Heaven and Earth. Or do you love the moss that covers the rocks in the woods with the velvety coating that makes it a pleasure sit sit and rest a while as you pass through.
Plants are vital to our existence on this human journey and bringing ourselves into a conscious relationship with them restores peace and harmony and reminds us that we are all one.
Each of us is an integral part of this vast Universe. Respect and gratitude for every living thing with which we share the Earth, grounds us and helps us to appreciate being part of something wonderful and mysterious that is so much bigger than our individual cares and concerns.
My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece — Claude Monet
For more insights and a host of tools and techniques for exploring the Self and improving your human experience see our book:
Ladies...thank you so much for this. I'll joyfully integrate this into my daily routine at once! 🌻