Our Plant Teachers
Welcoming the Elders

Re-Entering the Plant Realms for Spring

After a long winter’s rest, we prepare to welcome the plants again as they stretch out green bodies to meet the sun… We begin to see little mugwort sprouts coming up, tiny beginnings of nettles peaking up through the wet leaves… motherwort still green under the quickly melting snow. In the spring we prepare ourselves for another season of growth, harvests, and incredible beauty. Eager to enter the realms of the plants again, receiving their healing energy, and watching them blossom around us.

Let’s begin this year’s journey by calling in the spirits of the plants we love, and any of our other ever-compassionate and ever present guides. We call our allies close and ask the elders to take our hand… We ask them to guide our way forward as we continue learning and bringing plant medicine to our communities. We are here to share seeds, laughter, balms, harvests, medicines we’ve made, prayers, gratitude, ceremonies, and love. We are here to help support those in need. We are here to help relieve suffering when we can, bringing the strength and generosity of the plant communities.

We ask the wisdom of the plants to speak and move through us.
May we give back with gratitude, helping to serve the ecosystems love.

This year I invite you to meditate on what you envision offering the communities you live in… How do you see yourself sharing the plants with others? What feels most juicy and nourishing to you on different levels? Feel into what your body and your heart long to spend your days doing… feel into brings you the most peace and joy. Are there certain aspects of working with the plants that gets you most excited and engaged? Close your eyes for a moment and take a slow deep breath. Allow a vision of you sharing the plants with others to appear from within you… Where are you, and what are you doing?

Let us also listen deeply to what is needed right now in our communities, with all voices welcomed and included. I am continually asking what is most needed… listening and observing to what it being asked for. I think about what I can offer to human, animal, and plant communities to support the regeneration and healing needed. Throughout the decades, throughout the months and weeks, I am listening and asking. Planting threatened plants, feeding animals and creating habitat, building healthy soils, spreading nutrient rich plants that feed the whole ecosystem, growing food and medicine.

How are you inspired to share the healing plants with others?

All of us can share the plants, no matter how experienced we are. Just as any child can share that dandelion is edible and healing to our bodies, so can you. The medicine of plants is not secret. These traditions are as old as the plants and animals who eat them… We are reminding people of what has been forgotten when we shut ourselves away from the natural world. Trust your body knows the way back. Let it guide you when you feel lost. Put your hands and body back into the soil. Back into the massive arms of the green… and let yourself be held by the wild again.

Open up the ears of your heart and listen… Drop what you are doing. Go outside and breathe. You are home.

In the spirit of regeneration,
Sage

Video ~ Welcome to the Circle

The Gateway
Video ~ Opening Prayers

We gather in sacred space to receive…

The Council Fire

Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Place your hand on your heart, and breathe warmth in. Send love and tenderness to your whole body and being. Imagine a sacred fire held inside of your heart. This is your home. Your safe space to always return to.

Behind your eyes imagine a warm fire burning in a small circle of stones.

See a landscape you love stretching out around you.
Feel the warmth of the fire spreading through your bones, and know you are on sacred ground…

Offer the fire some blessing herbs,
and watch the healing smoke spread out in all directions.

See plants you love growing around you, receiving the energy of the sacred smoke as it swirls around them.
This is where you can rest.
Let yourself receive here the care that you need.

Come join me at the council fire…

Behind the veil, the medicine keepers, our elders, step forward to join us around the fire. We see them stretching out in all directions, all around the world, through time and space. We send them blessings and gratitude. We are together in spirit.

We gather to the council fire and invite in the spirits of our plant elders to share their wisdom and medicine. We call on the lineages of medicine we each come from and the healers that walked before us. We offer our love, blessings, and gratitude for all of the medicine we receive. We offer our service to continue carrying the wisdom and traditions of the healing plants for future generations.

We invite in the elders close. The spirits of the plants encircling us.

The council fire burns always, beyond the veil… Inviting me close. Calling me back home. Home to my family and to the circle of elders who have watched and cared for me since the beginning. They wait with open arms, holding me while I rest by the warmth of the fire. Here is where I begin every journey, and where I always return. The animals and plants gather around me, their wisdom and strength anchoring me in the great family of all beings.

We are home.

For thousands of years we have been gathering around the sacred fire to connect with each other, to share, and receive comfort. We tell stories, share wisdom… laugh and cry together. We rest in silence by the light and warmth of source. Fire has been our constant companion. Protecting us, feeding us, keeping us warm, and helping us draw together as community. We have always had an intimate relationship with fire. Many fires were tended so they never went out. The fire often reminds us of home and hearth, where we gather with family to eat. The fire reminds us of the warmth of the sun, that feeds the plants and all life here.

The council fire is where we gather to offer gratitude, and to learn from our elders. We listen to their stories, receive what they want to share, and offer thanks for all that is sacred. We light the fire and make offerings of thanks to the fire. We acknowledge our impact and what is burned. We treasure and appreciate the light and warmth given. Welcoming the spirits of nature that surrounds us, calling loving ancestors, and sending blessings out in all directions.

The Sacred Drum

The drum is a tool we have used for thousands and thousands of years to call the gathering of our communities, both in the spirit realms and our earth family. The drum invites us into sacred space, welcoming our loving guides and ancestors close. The drum marks the transition from every day life into sacred time and space for ritual, healing, connection, and prayer. I always start with a basic heart beat rhythm that draws me into my heart and breath. We sink up our drums together, and then let them find their own path and rhythms as the drums sing.

Ancient heart beats

The drum is also one out our oldest tools for consciousness shifting. The sound of drums alters our consciousness from the thinking mind to dreaming mind, and allows us to listen more deeply to the hidden realms of the spirits that surround us. Its beating creates a trance-like state, while staying grounded in our bodies and pulled closer to the earth. The drum invites us into the present moment, and connects us to the natural world we are surrounded by. 

I think of the drum as a representation of the sacred wheel, the council of all beings drawn together in circle. When I hold the drum to my heart I imagine my heart at the center of the drum, beating steadily, sending love to the whole earth. 

Blessing your drum 

Hold your drum to your heart and breathe for a few minutes. Pour some of the energy of your heart into it. As you embrace the drum, feel the circle of life held in your arms. Call the council of all beings into the spirit of your drum. Imagine you are embracing the universe in all directions. Feel the power and energy within your drum. Call its spirit in…

Choose an herbal oil to bless your drum with. Rub the skin with oil, sending energy through your hands into the drum as you bless it. Breathe in the scent of the oil and imagine the plants wrapping around your drum. Ask the plants to clear and bless your drum. After you have massaged the oil into the drum let it rest on the altar or in sacred space in your garden, absorbing healing energy. If the drum is made of hide the oil will moisten the hide and help to keep it from drying out and cracking. Make sure if your drum is made of a hide not to allow it to get rained on or too dried out in the sun. Take care of your drum as a friend! 

Video ~ Spirit of the Drum

The Sacred Wheel

Creating Sacred Space for Healing

The wheel is where we return home to our center. We draw close to the sacred fire and feel the wheel move around us through the seasons of our life. At the center we are always held by the light of spirit. The universe spins and unfolds around us in shows of light and color. Nature grows, blossoms, and releases seeds all around us. Our families grow and expand, while we remain always at the center of the wheel, held by the light of spirit. We see our life and path ahead as non linear… but a dance of ever evolving change and transformation. There is no beginning and no end. Always, the turning of the wheel.

The Wheel is a portal.

When we enter the circle, we enter sacred space. A boundary is held between us and the outside world where we can journey with the spirits and open ourselves to receive. Within the wheel we invite healing energies to enter, activating needed transformation and change. The sacred circle is a place to offer prayers and communicate to Spirit. It is our place for ritual and celebration, pouring blessings out in all directions surround us. When we are in the wheel we ground ourselves in connection to all that surrounds us… inviting our allies and Gaia family to gather in sacred community with us. We honor all beings as equal, none above the other. All our elders represented around the circle, stretching through time.

Enter the Sacred Circle.

This month I invite you to create a wheel somewhere on your property, in your home, or in a natural setting you spend time regularly. The wheel could be made out of flowers, stones, salt, moss, branches, leaves, candles. Be creative and use your intuition in creating the circle. Place a candle or offering at the center of the wheel. I recommend spending 5-10 minutes in the circle daily, burning blessing herbs and sitting in meditation with the plants. 

Welcome in any loving guides, animals, plant allies, and healing energies that surround you. Place your hands on your heart or drum and send out your welcome and love to all of them. Imagine a circle of light radiating out from your heart .

Call in any healing energies you are wanting to invite in for your own personal healing, and the healing of the collective. Ask for any guidance you are seeking around. Listen from your heart and rest in the sacred space you’ve created with any guides who arrive. Let yourself communicate with them freely until you feel ready to close the ceremony.

Offer more blessing herbs, with gratitude and love. Send blessings to the council of elders that surround you, and leave your love and gratitude there at the wheel for all the spirits there to receive. Close with drumming, a song, blessing herbs, or more offerings.

The portal has been activated.
The elders holding your hand as you enter…

The Wheel Journey

The energies of the wheel are powerful and transformative… Do not underestimate their impact. (Be careful when you are calling in the fires of the South, we don’t want them to come to us too strongly!) The wheel can set in motion important change we need in our lives and in the world. While it is always turning and moving, we can affect it as well. When I was a child in the 80’s I was in love with spin art. We placed a piece of paper on a spinning wheel, and added paint to it slowly. The paint would spin in all directions, blending and mixing layers of color one on top of the other. It was beautiful. The wheel is the same… The energy we add to it flows out in all directions touching and changing all it touches. We have an impact on the world and in the universe. The light and love we create is felt and received.

Let the spirits feel you radiate out from the light inside of you.

As we enter the sacred wheel and begin to journey through it, I invite you to keep a journal of prayers you write at each direction. Write down your journeys, tea meditations, and reflections. Welcome the medicine from the directions to flow freely to you. Invite the medicine of the sacred circle into your life, and the healing power of the elements.

Journey to the wheel in spirit, and create a physical wheel to hold you. Enter the circle, make your offerings to the spirits, and call in what you are needing for yourself first. The wheel is safe space for you to receive and connect. Speak directly to Spirit, and ask for the support you need. Call in the medicine you can carry to others, and trust what is placed in your hands is meant to be there. Humbly offer your service and your gratitude for any medicine and guidance given.

A doorway is opened… and a path is shown.

Walking the Medicine Path

Visioning Your Practice

Trust your path is unfolding in perfection… as slow as it may feel at times. As fast, wild, unruly, or unstable as it may feel. No one said it would be easy. You are more brave than you think. We are here to carry the medicine our ancestors have carried for thousands of years. This path of compassion and healing is chosen, as it is offered. Even if the path forward feels covered in mist and mystery, you can trust you are being guided continually towards what your soul is meant for.

We are the ones who feel the whispers in the woods, who remember we can hear many different languages older than human tongues. Like me, you also find incredible comfort in wild nature and the company of the plants. Their language is something your body and heart has felt since you were a child. This connection you have is alive and rooted so deep inside you. Nothing can break it.

Everyone’s journey will be different, and everyone’s practice will be different.

In many ways it feels like my practice is about continually returning to myself and my personal truths. Our job is to feel inside of our heart and body what resonates, no matter what the outside world might be telling us. Some of what you see others do will resonate and inspire you. Some of what they are doing will not feel right to you… What nourishes each of us is different. What each of us are meant to offer is different and special. We each are beautifully unique, and can offer our own experiences, gifts, and insights. A diversity of perspectives is treasured and important. We cannot have only select voices heard. There is not just a small few whose wisdom and voices matter, no matter what society might tell you. All of our voices matter and are important. One size does not fit all.

Your practice is about what nourishes YOU. Trust what nourishes you will also feed others! Many of us will be hungry for the same medicine. Feel into how you’d like to share plant medicine with your communities by feeling into what nourishes you the most. We give what we have received. As we continue to receive the plants over the years, they move through us to others who need them. We are extensions of their hands.

What do you most love about plant medicine? Do you see yourself offering medicines, growing gardens, harvesting in the wild, leading mediations, plant walks, tea, ritual... What you are most drawn to and love is what you should share! Let it come from your heart and what feeds you the most. Think about what you most enjoy doing with the plants, and what aspects of their medicine you are most drawn to.

Tips for Growing
a Plant Medicine Practice

Trust your Timing
The path of herbalism takes years, I might say decades and a whole lifetime! It should not be rushed. We learn based on our experience, using the herbs ourselves, and seeing how they support others. Trust you will receive what can be shared with others. No one knows everything there is to know about plants, or has experienced supporting every illness there is with plants. Everyone is still learning. Practice herbalism for years… and share what you learn as you learn it. Share first with friends and those you know, learning from what they experience with the herbs. As your confidence and comfort level builds, reach out to a wider population. If you are not feeling ready keep learning, experiencing first hand, and getting to know the plants!

Share from Personal Experience
Go at your own pace, and know the limitations of your own experience. Root in what you do know deeply, and what you have experienced with the plants. Begin to share with others what you hold dear. You don’t need to know everything in order to share the plants. Learn as you go, and be clear about what you know and what you don’t know. Remember experienced trained doctors don’t know everything about healing or illnesses would quickly be healed without any issue. Trust in thousands of years of herbal medicine used in homes around the world for thousands of years. We use plant medicine because we know it helps. You will know and trust the power of the plants as you continue to work with them!

Healthy Boundaries
You are not there to fix anyone, and cure their illness or suffering. You are bringing some plants that might help them, nourish, and support. The plants and the person themselves are doing the main work healing. We are just recommending our plant friends from first hand experience, and we can’t control if a particular plant does help someone. We cannot control everyone’s illness and experience, no one can… we can only try to offer what we can. Be clear with anyone you recommend herbs to that you are only sharing from personal experience, and you are not a trained doctor. Make sure anyone on medications is also seeing a holistic MD or Naturopath trained in western medicines. Share the plants knowing the incredible gift you are passing to someone, and make sure not to take on more of their care than you should.

Who are you Serving?
Think about your specialties and interests, as well as your unique wisdom and experience you’ve gained in life. What have you personally been through and received from the plants? We all have very special wisdom and experience we have gained through our lives, our family’s lives, and I would say through lifetimes. You will serve others best who have had shared experiences with you. We know what we have received. Even if everyone will experience the plants differently, we can share with confidence what we have come to experience ourselves.

Understanding the community you wish to serve.
Get to know the community you wish to serve, developing relationships and connections. Listen to the needs or support desired, not what you think is needed. Connect to people within the community to help you better understand and serve their needs. Seek to collaborate with those already working in the community and those who are interested in working with you. Get to know the local plants readily available there… Local is always the most important. People need to see their medicine growing, and remember they have direct access to it. We need to remember it is always available for free.

Develop a sense of place, invest in place and community.
We are meant to serve our local communities, including the plants and animals there. Get to know your immediate community and surroundings. Get to know the people, plants, and animals in an area you wish to serve. Who are the community members around you? Learn their names. Spend time getting to know them. There are many helpers and resources already there. Your role is often to connect others to what already surrounds them. Invest in the plants and people in your community. We are where we are for a reason. We are needed there. Every one of us is needed.

Look for underserved populations
Let’s make sure what we offer can be accessed by those who need it. Offer what you can for sliding scales, give opportunities for work-trade, scholarship, and payment plans. You need to be supported and paid for what you offer, that is very important. We can make sure those who can pay more do, which creates space for others who have less. You may want to volunteer medicine and healing sessions or consults (even if informal), plant walks, classes etc. while you are learning. This allows more people to have access to medicine they need!

Pay Attention to Basic Needs
Often people & communities need basic needs met, which includes healing plants as food and medicine amongst other things such as homes, safe spaces, access to education, job safety and wellbeing, safe family and home environments etc. Remember that plant medicine cannot solve all issues. A lot of what is needed for healing is much more basic. We need community. Love. Safe space. Physical touch that feels good. Laughter and play. Deep rest. Good food. Clean air to breathe. Clean water to drink. A warm home to come in from the rain. All of us need these essential things to be well and thrive. Do not forget this.

Know your Place
Understand plants and therapies are supports and helpers, while honoring the complexity of someone’s healing journey and life. You are never there to fix everything. Or take away what someone is struggling with. Do not let your ego take over and make you think you are there to do more than you should. Know your role and your place… Respect someone else’s being, life, and experience to know you are not there to control it, fix it, or solve it. There is nothing to solve. They are simply needing support and help as they bravely dance through the wild ride of their life… You are not the hero. You are just a helper bringing some good medicine.

Know Yourself
Continue to learn about yourself. Listen and learn from what is held inside of you… all of the wisdom and voices that reside there. Trust what lights you up, what excites you, and fills you up. What do you desire to spend your time doing? What are you trained in? Is more training needed in certain areas that you feel passionate about? Listen continually to what feels in alignment with your heart, body, and soul. It will change over the years, so your job is to keep listening. How do you want to spend your time with the plants? Let yourself continue falling in love with what feeds your soul.

Supporting Yourself Financially
We often need to do multiple things to make enough money to support ourselves. This might mean doing plant walks, writing books, selling medicine, offering healing sessions or consultations, facilitating plant journeys, or teaching. There are so many ways to share the plants with our communities. Notice what other people are offering and see what looks appealing to you. We aren’t all meant to give the same things! Often just one way of sharing the plants is not enough to pay your bills, so you likely will need to do various things for a while. Notice what other people are charging, based often on their level of experience in the field. You may want to keep your prices on the low end to start, increasing as you gain experience over the years, while trying to keep what you offer still accessible.

Perspective & Patience
It takes time to build a business. Be patient. You want to devote a minimum of 3-4 years to build a business, and 7 years average to see it thriving and self-sustaining. That is with a lot of work and time put into it. My work evolved organically as I also worked other jobs to pay bills and build up experience. Give your practice the time it needs to grow and mature. Nothing is born fully mature and established. Enjoy the early parts of the journey… Trust me small is beautiful. It is magical. Do not rush, or you will miss some of the best parts of the path ahead.

Marketing
Give yourself time to get the word out about your offerings. Marketing is very important and takes time to do. While it’s not my favorite thing, I remind myself that marketing is a way to relay the spirit of what you offer to those seeking it. We need to reach out to our communities directly. You will benefit greatly from having a website, instagram, fliers, and facebook. Word of mouth will spread and help you reach people, but it will help a lot to work on not just what you offer, but getting the word out that you are offering it. Look at what marketing works for others and receive help if you need it!

Donation & Trade, then Sliding Scale
When you are starting out you may want to practice first by asking for a donation, or trading with others. Then move to a sliding scale. Give yourself the freedom to learn and experiment without having the pressure of what someone is paying you. The time I spent offering sessions by donation was so important to my growth and experience. Share with your friends first, let them be your practice! Learn safe dosages and adjust amounts as you learn what is working well.

Holistic Medicine
Incorporate different holistic therapies together, with the plants as one of the main therapies you are offering. Know the plants don’t work alone, and you will not be the sole practitioner someone is working with. We always all need a team! If you have other practices to offer such as energy healing, massage, sound healing, cooking, art, movement, etc. to share as well, mix them in with the herbal offerings you give.

Creating Physical Space for Healing
Find the right space to hold sessions or consults, places to sell your medicines or to teach classes. Start small and allow for a slow increase in size. Small groups and one on one sessions are wonderful. Starting big can be hard, so don’t feel badly about small groups. You will often enjoy them more than when you have larger audiences. It is also easier to find space for less people to be in… and in general it can be difficult to find the right spaces to give your offerings. This takes time and patience, with trial and error. Try to create space to meet with people that is close to live plants or a garden if you can. Bring the dried and live plants to people, and have them surrounding you. You’ll need a kitchen, and electric hot water pots are your friends! You will often transport medicine making supplies and harvesting tools around with you. Or they all might just come to your home and garden. You don’t need to be commercial. Personal and intimate is beautiful.

Time & Planning
Plan to market a class or your services hard and strong for minimum 3 months before you start for anything longer than a 2 hour class. Knowing when you start out at first it will be slow, and by offering sessions by donation and for trade, your confidence builds and word of mouth spreads. You will need time to share your offerings. It is a mistake to give yourself 2-3 weeks to market something you offer, because you’ll be disappointed and discouraged if you have to cancel from lack of attendance. Give people time to find you.

You Are Not for Sale
You do not need to sell yourself as a product. With social media it may appear that way, but trust me you do not need to become a brand. If you feel good sharing a lot of your face and image do it! We are all different and enjoy different ways of sharing ourselves. Just know that you are not an article for public consumption. Give yourself privacy where you want it. I personally do not like a lot of eyes on me, I love the feeling of privacy because I’m very distracted by so many others. Being a bit hidden feels more peaceful to me. But we are all unique and have different needs. We are made different from each other. Trust yourself with what feels good to you to share.

Wise Wo/man Tradition
There is no perfection. There is no perfect health. There are no perfect healers or perfect herbalists. There is no guru or master to save anyone, and you certainly don’t need to try to be that for others. We are here to live wildly, to gain wisdom often from mistakes, to humble ourselves, and keep learning. We are all equal. We have different gifts and unique wisdom, each of us. Trust you have incredible, wild, messy, beautiful, and very special things to offer. No one is like you. There is no replacing anyone. It is not a competition or a race. Be patient… Life humbles all of us. Be gentle on yourself. We need all of us giving what we can, and sometimes what we can give needs to first me to ourselves or our loved ones. Turn to the wisdom of our elders, the medicine people who came before us. They know we all need support and care taking.

Give Back.
Serve the Plants Themselves
Our practice is also about serving not just our human communities. We are here to serve the wellbeing of the earth, the plants, and the land we love. Let this be at the heart of your offerings. We have to teach sustainable harvesting, and be aware of our impact on ecosystems and plant communities. When we speak to the plants, we give them voice and teach others to hear it. The plants can advocate for themselves directly and ask for what they need. We are not just here to take, we are here to give back with love and gratitude.

Learn from walking the path yourself…