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Hi'iaka's Healing Herb Garden : Column Index : 2005 : Jan05
Coming Soon...
Ask a Plant Spirit for Help with Healing
If you believe that human beings and animals have souls, then it might not be too great of a stretch to imagine that plants have souls or "spirits" as well. In his groundbreaking book, Plant Spirit Medicine, Eliot Cowan presents his experiences communicating and working with plants and plant spirits in a way that truly changed my life when I read it.
Ordinary People Can Easily Connect With the Willing Spirits
I was skeptical of this new age-sounding stuff at first, but the more I read, I understood that Mr. Cowan is an ordinary person with "a middle-class childhood... trained by my parents only in the rational materialism of the day, and I was not initiated into any native American tradition." So how does it work and how can you and I take advantage of the healing benefits that plant spirits are eager to give us?
What is Plant Spirit Medicine?
Eliot says that plant spirit medicine is a "magico-religious rite in which plant gods bestow their grace," which we can invoke with song, drumming, tinctures and other methods such as the laying on of hands or through dance. "I did not invent plant spirit medicine," says Cowan; "all around the world there are shamans who heal with the spirits of plants. This is one of the great medical traditions of the planet."
Local Plants Are 1000 Times More Effective
When you buy dried herbs, they are usually from faraway parts of the world. They might also be old and ineffective. I always say that "fresh is best" and encourage everyone to use freshly cut herbs, fruits, vegetables, and other things that grow in Hawai`i. They don't necessarily need to be native plants, but I believe that the plants that have evolved here are more powerful and special than those that have been imported. A British professor of acupuncture told Eliot that "if you use herbs, use local ones, because they are not ten times stronger, they are 1000 times stronger than the plants that grow someplace else." And a Mexican Indian healer named Don Enrique Salmon told him, "When I'm healing someone, I prefer to use plants from the area where the person lives. I have the person pick the plants that I'm going to use in my ceremony. I think it helps them feel the medicine spirit of the plant to know where the medicine is coming from. A lot of the white man medicines, you don't know where it comes from. It comes from some lab. Sometimes they do come from plants, but they killed the spirit when they turned it into a pill or some liquid in a jar."
A Recipe for Plant Spirit Healing
When Eliot Cowan asked another Mexican shaman, Don Lucio Campos, "when you heal people, do you make them eat or drink their medicine?" Campos replied as he tapped his forehead with his index finger, "No! I do my work purely with intention!" And it's easy for you to do the same, without any special training in how to be a shaman.
Cowan gives these simple instructions:
1. Put yourself in an open and receptive state, with thankfulness in your heart.
2. Go for a walk outdoors where there are many different kinds of wild plants growing and wander with no particular destination.
3. When you come to a plant that is attractive to you, approach it and then introduce yourself by name and explain that you have come to learn from the spirit of this species. Thank the plant for summoning you and for any help it may be willing to give. Since you are asking for a gift, it is good manners to offer one in return: sprinkle the plant with something of value to you, such as some `awa powder.
4. Try to identify the plant using a field guide and study the plant closely. You can make a drawing of it, noticing the shapes, colors and geometry. Observe what kind of soil it grows in, and the type of light it prefers. Smell the plant and then ask for its permission and forgiveness before you carefully taste a tiny bit of the flowers, leaves and roots (making certain from your plant guide that it is not harmful or poisonous in any way; you might want to take a plant expert friend with you on this journey).
5. Next, begin to connect with the plant. "Be still. Take your time," Cowan advises: "become the plant."
6. Return to a quiet, comfortable indoor place. You can play a tape or CD of drum music if you like. Lie on your back with a pillow under your head and knees. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, relaxing more deeply with each one.
7. Imagine that you are entering a hole in the earth such as a cave, and then continue into it. When you see a light, go towards it. Cowan says this is the dream world of shamanism and to be patient if you don't succeed the first time.
8. Start looking for your plant. Approach it, introduce yourself and ask for its help, explaining that you have come to learn. Listen intently if the plant speaks to you, but often the transmission comes in a non-verbal form. After you ask your question, whatever happens is part of the answer.
9. When you feel your dream is complete, thank the plant spirit for its help, then quickly retrace your route, and return to your conscious body.
10. Write about the experience in a notebook and then start to interpret what happened. "Your dream may be self-explanatory or it may require a lot of thought. Some dreams yield their meaning only after they are illuminated by strange coincidences that happen later. This can take months or even years. Be patient," Cowan concludes.
This column is based on information from the book Plant Spirit Medicine by Eliot Cowan, published by Granite Publishing, LLC in 1995.
Ask a Plant Spirit for Help with Healing
If you believe that human beings and animals have souls, then it might not be too great of a stretch to imagine that plants have souls or "spirits" as well. In his groundbreaking book, Plant Spirit Medicine, Eliot Cowan presents his experiences communicating and working with plants and plant spirits in a way that truly changed my life when I read it.
Ordinary People Can Easily Connect With the Willing Spirits
I was skeptical of this new age-sounding stuff at first, but the more I read, I understood that Mr. Cowan is an ordinary person with "a middle-class childhood... trained by my parents only in the rational materialism of the day, and I was not initiated into any native American tradition." So how does it work and how can you and I take advantage of the healing benefits that plant spirits are eager to give us?
What is Plant Spirit Medicine?
Eliot says that plant spirit medicine is a "magico-religious rite in which plant gods bestow their grace," which we can invoke with song, drumming, tinctures and other methods such as the laying on of hands or through dance. "I did not invent plant spirit medicine," says Cowan; "all around the world there are shamans who heal with the spirits of plants. This is one of the great medical traditions of the planet."
Local Plants Are 1000 Times More Effective
When you buy dried herbs, they are usually from faraway parts of the world. They might also be old and ineffective. I always say that "fresh is best" and encourage everyone to use freshly cut herbs, fruits, vegetables, and other things that grow in Hawai`i. They don't necessarily need to be native plants, but I believe that the plants that have evolved here are more powerful and special than those that have been imported. A British professor of acupuncture told Eliot that "if you use herbs, use local ones, because they are not ten times stronger, they are 1000 times stronger than the plants that grow someplace else." And a Mexican Indian healer named Don Enrique Salmon told him, "When I'm healing someone, I prefer to use plants from the area where the person lives. I have the person pick the plants that I'm going to use in my ceremony. I think it helps them feel the medicine spirit of the plant to know where the medicine is coming from. A lot of the white man medicines, you don't know where it comes from. It comes from some lab. Sometimes they do come from plants, but they killed the spirit when they turned it into a pill or some liquid in a jar."
A Recipe for Plant Spirit Healing
When Eliot Cowan asked another Mexican shaman, Don Lucio Campos, "when you heal people, do you make them eat or drink their medicine?" Campos replied as he tapped his forehead with his index finger, "No! I do my work purely with intention!" And it's easy for you to do the same, without any special training in how to be a shaman.
Cowan gives these simple instructions:
1. Put yourself in an open and receptive state, with thankfulness in your heart.
2. Go for a walk outdoors where there are many different kinds of wild plants growing and wander with no particular destination.
3. When you come to a plant that is attractive to you, approach it and then introduce yourself by name and explain that you have come to learn from the spirit of this species. Thank the plant for summoning you and for any help it may be willing to give. Since you are asking for a gift, it is good manners to offer one in return: sprinkle the plant with something of value to you, such as some `awa powder.
4. Try to identify the plant using a field guide and study the plant closely. You can make a drawing of it, noticing the shapes, colors and geometry. Observe what kind of soil it grows in, and the type of light it prefers. Smell the plant and then ask for its permission and forgiveness before you carefully taste a tiny bit of the flowers, leaves and roots (making certain from your plant guide that it is not harmful or poisonous in any way; you might want to take a plant expert friend with you on this journey).
5. Next, begin to connect with the plant. "Be still. Take your time," Cowan advises: "become the plant."
6. Return to a quiet, comfortable indoor place. You can play a tape or CD of drum music if you like. Lie on your back with a pillow under your head and knees. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, relaxing more deeply with each one.
7. Imagine that you are entering a hole in the earth such as a cave, and then continue into it. When you see a light, go towards it. Cowan says this is the dream world of shamanism and to be patient if you don't succeed the first time.
8. Start looking for your plant. Approach it, introduce yourself and ask for its help, explaining that you have come to learn. Listen intently if the plant speaks to you, but often the transmission comes in a non-verbal form. After you ask your question, whatever happens is part of the answer.
9. When you feel your dream is complete, thank the plant spirit for its help, then quickly retrace your route, and return to your conscious body.
10. Write about the experience in a notebook and then start to interpret what happened. "Your dream may be self-explanatory or it may require a lot of thought. Some dreams yield their meaning only after they are illuminated by strange coincidences that happen later. This can take months or even years. Be patient," Cowan concludes.
This column is based on information from the book Plant Spirit Medicine by Eliot Cowan, published by Granite Publishing, LLC in 1995.
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