Ancient shamanic practice compelled the magician-healer first to make contact with the spirit of the plant to ask for its help before administering the herbal cure. This practice is alive today in Mexico among the traditional Indian shaman healers-principally the elder Huichol Indian shaman and plant spirit healer Don Guadalupe Gonzales Rios. Elliot Cowan reveals these ancient practices and guides the reader in the effective use of the wild herb plants in the area in which he or she lives. the result is a wonderful psychic and spiritual approach to holistic healing
Whether you live in a mountain cabin or a city loft, plant spirits present themselves to us everywhere. Since its first printing in 1995, Plant Spirit Medicine has passed hand-to-hand among countless readers drawn to indigenous spirituality and all things alive and green. In this updated edition, Eliot Cowan invites us to discover the healing power of plants—not merely their physical medicinal properties, but the deeper wisdom and gifts that they offer. Enriched by many new insights, this guide unfolds as a series of chapters on how plant spirit medicine helped Cowan resolve specific challenges in his own healing journey and in his work with others. In the telling, we learn how plant spirits can directly communicate with and aid all of us, including: Plant spirit medicine's five-element view of healingWays to assess our own states of health and balanceReceiving guidance from plants, including those found within herbal preparationsNew passages on community and sacred plants such as peyote, marijuana, and tobaccoAdditional interviews with plant shamans across diverse traditions, and more
A hands-on approach to working with the healing powers of plant spirits • Explores the scientific basis underlying the practices of indigenous healers and shamans • Illuminates the matrix where plant intelligence and human intelligence join • Reveals that partnering with plants is an evolutionary imperative Indigenous healers and shamans have known since antiquity that plants possess a spirit essence that can communicate through light, sound, and vibration. Now scientific studies are verifying this understanding. Plant Spirit Healing reveals the power of plant spirits to join with human intelligence to bring about profound healing. These spirits take us beyond mere symptomatic treatment to aligning us with the vast web of nature. Plants are more than their chemical constituents. They are intelligent beings that have the capacity to raise consciousness to a level where true healing can take place. In this book, herbalist Pam Montgomery offers an understanding of the origins of disease and the therapeutic use of plant spirits to bring balance and healing. She offers a process engaging heart, soul, and spirit that she calls the triple spiral path. In our modern existence, we are increasingly challenged with broken hearts, souls in exile, and malnourished spirits. By working through the heart, we connect with the soul and gain access to spirit. She explains that the evolution of plants has always preceded their animal counterparts and that plant spirits offer a guide to our spiritual evolution--a stage of growth imperative not only for the healing of humans but also the healing of the earth.
An in-depth look at the role of plant spirits in shamanic rituals from around the world • Shows how shamans heal using their knowledge of plant spirits as well as the plant’s “medical properties” • Explores the core methods of plant shamanism--soul retrieval, spirit extraction, and sin eating--and includes techniques for connecting with plant spirits • Includes extensive field interviews with master shamans of all traditions In Plant Spirit Shamanism, Ross Heaven and Howard G. Charing explore the use of one of the major allies of shamans for healing, seeing, dreaming, and empowerment--plant spirits. After observing great similarities in the use of plants among shamans throughout the world, they discovered the reason behind these similarities: Rather than dealing with the “medical properties” of the plants or specific healing techniques, shamans commune with the spirits of the plants themselves. From their years of in-depth shamanic work in the Amazon, Haiti, and Europe, including extensive field interviews with master shamans, Heaven and Charing present the core methods of plant shamanism used in healing rituals the world over: soul retrieval, spirit extraction, sin eating, and the Amazonian tradition of pusanga (love medicine). They explain the techniques shamans use to establish connections to plant spirits and provide practical exercises as well as a directory of traditional Amazonian and Caribbean healing plants and their common North American equivalents so readers can ex-plore the world of plant spirits and make allies of their own.
Inside these pages are woven together the voices and stories of many people whose lives have been touched by plants in general and plant spirit medicine in particular. These include contributions from some of the many wonderful herbalists using plant-based medicine in a way that goes beyond the physical, biochemical model. The stories are arranged in chapters that take the reader on a journey to discover this medicine of our time. It is sometimes said that in the time of greatest need there is the greatest help, and plant spirit medicine has certainly emerged at a time of great need and challenge, and it is taking root and growing. The plants themselves, sentient and alive, are calling to many to awaken to a deeper experience of the energy of nature and of our human place in it. This can be felt and understood in direct relationship. The elemental forces that manifest the seasons offer a doorway to move into this perspective. For all the many reasons people may seek out the medicine, there will always be something deep and interesting to learn from an experience of it once we have made the connection. Anyone can learn to communicate directly with plant spirits and befriend them in a way that opens rich dimensions and, over time and with persistence and patience, a quiet revolution of perspective can result. Becoming a healer, however, and practicing as one is a more committed business that requires dedication, perseverance, and sacrifice. It also holds many rewards. Plant spirit medicine offers the healer the framework of an elegant and rigorous methodology within which to access and effectively channel the energy of the astonishing realm of plant spirits. In the unfolding of our own journeys as healers and receivers of the medicine we witness an unfolding of consciousness in ourselves and our patients that offers something truly hopeful for the journey of the planet.
Explore the mystical realm of the plant kingdom, and discover a hidden source of power and healing. Born with the ability to see and hear spirits, intuitive Laura Silvana's mediumship abilities extend into the world of nature. Her fascinating true story includes knowledge gained from a spirit shaman who taught her how to work with the beneficial energies of plants. Silvana tunes in to individual flowers and herbs and lets the spirits of the plants speak for themselves. For example, dandelions possess a whimsical vibration to help counteract despair. Lilacs offer contentment and stability during times of transition. Red clover is a powerful healer that inspires courage, will, and determination. This guide reveals the spiritual and emotional healing properties of 30 versatile plants and gives simple instructions for making plant spirit remedies at home. Both the plants and the ailments they treat are cross-referenced so you can easily find the information you seek.
Use the healing energy of plants through the remedies, rituals, and inner life of the natural world. Legends, shamanistic principles, and imagery old and new reveal the significance of plant spirits, and how to interpret their message. Related techniques such as chakras and meditation, along with charts and sidebars, guide practical work with spirit bundles, smudging, aromatherapy, infusions, tisanes, and homeopathic preparations. A plant encyclopedia includes over 100 revered species.
Consulting plant spirits for spiritual and psychological guidance and healing • Reveals how, by communing with the deva or spirit of a plant, we can call forth its medicine without even needing to ingest it • Includes wisdom from the devas of 13 herbs, such as rosemary, datura, and uva ursi • Empowers readers with the tools to develop their own inner resources for healing in relationship with the plant devas around them Each plant has a story to share with us, a healing story to guide us in trying times, a spirit medicine for the New Earth that is presently unfolding. Herbs are some of the most powerful allies we have for these transitional times--we just need to learn how to listen as they share their knowledge with us. In Wisdom of the Plant Devas, Thea Summer Deer reveals a new dimension of herbal medicine, one where the plant’s spirit is consulted for guidance and healing beyond the physical. Examining the botany, modern and traditional uses, history, and folklore of 13 special herbs, such as rosemary, uva ursi, and datura, she shares divinations and messages from their devas, or plant spirits, explaining how these stories carry the herbs into our lives, letting them work their magic on us. Exploring herbal medicine from an energetic perspective, she reveals that by communing with the deva of a plant, we can call on the plant’s physical, psychological, and spiritual medicine and guidance--without ingesting it or even being in its presence. Detailing the sacred space of a Medicine Wheel Garden, whether in a backyard or our imaginations, she connects us with the devas and empowers us to seek our own answers with their much-needed spiritual guidance and divinatory advice. Creating a bridge between botanical medicine and plant spirit medicine, she shows how by coming into community with the devas and co-creating with the world of nature, we can gain tremendous insights to help heal our hearts, our minds, and our spirits and consciously evolve as together we birth the New Earth.
• Presents meditation journeys with specific plant and tree spirits, such as Mugwort, Rosemary, Dandelion, Yew, Elder, and Wormwood • Details how to achieve a calm mind, cleanse your energy field, and connect with your heart in preparation for meditating with the plants • Includes a progressive series of introductory meditations, adapted from wisdom traditions, to lay the foundation for working with plant spirits In this book, Emma Farrell explains how to take your connection and relationship with nature to a deeper level and access plant spirit healing through meditation with plants. Exploring the nature of plant consciousness and how plants perceive, she details how to achieve a calm mind, cleanse your energy field, and connect with your heart in preparation for meditating with plants and trees, showing how the plants can support us not only in the cleansing process but also in teaching us how to sense what is in our energy field. Offering a progressive series of preparatory meditations adapted from shamanic and indigenous wisdom traditions, the author reveals how to lay the foundation for working, communicating, and developing relationships with plant and tree spirits--for personal development, spiritual connection, and inner peace. She then presents meditation journeys with specific plant spirits, focusing on the frequencies within the plant’s bioresonance that will assist you. For example, the meditation with Mugwort works with the plant spirit’s qualities of alignment and self-awareness to assist you with grounding and developing inner vision, while the meditation with Dandelion helps you break old habits by working with the plant’s qualities of release, reconnection, and fearlessness. Revealing how each plant is an expression of the soul force of Mother Nature and carries a unique blend of her medicine and wisdom, this book details step-by-step how to effectively work with plant spirits for emotional and spiritual healing, enabling you to awaken the eternal spirit, or soul, to become truly multidimensional and whole.
