My knowledge about the nature of plant spirit guides is driven by firsthand experiences working with the exchange of energy between the world of physical form and its source essence. Fortunately, it just takes one moment of stillness for the aperture of awareness to remain open as the mutual interdependence between all expressions of spirit to become self-evident. Spirit guides assist us in unconditionally falling in love with where we are and to stop waiting for objects, people, and experiences to make us happy. Primarily, they transmit the truth about our connection with the divine via both sound and light vibration. A shamanic drum beaten at approximately four beats per second is highly effective in stimulating brain wave activity in the lower theta range, where the deep, dreamless sleep of delta brainwave activity moves into awake but relaxed and aware creativity. Plant spirit guides are attentive to that range of sound vibration. Their message is that we are beloved children of the universe and perfect expressions of life’s unified existence.
As a young boy, I was drawn to the sights and scents of the plants and flowers in our family gardens. I was particularly fascinated with how they seemed to shimmer and glow. One afternoon apropos of nothing, I was keenly aware that the whole world, including my physical body, was a part of the same luminous substance that was glowing and vibrating everywhere, including the spirits of nature that appeared in the world. Plants and plant spirits communicate their wisdom or “medicine” biochemically and through sound oscillations and light vibrations. When our attention is rooted in spirit, there is no distinction between its various expressions in the material world. It is the same spirit that animates the entire ecosystem of the planet. To truly appreciate that all nature is one nature, we must commit to casting aside the habituated patterns of ordinary perception that refer to a personal self.
Plant Spirits appear here in the world of form to both heal our wounds of separation from our innate divinity and to facilitate an opening to our divine perfection. A simple example of that knowing was self-evident while recently cutting and collecting wood for kindling in the woods adjacent to my home. A few of my fingers were bruised to the bone during the endeavor and started to throb with pain. Immediately, I focused loving attention on the pain rather than berating myself for the accident. I noticed that the fingers were pulsing in harmony with the peaceful rhythm of the woods. It was a sublime biochemical exchange of energy, in concert with a subtle fluctuation of both sound and light energy. I was keenly aware that all the plants and trees in the woods were not only transmitting healing energy but were communicating with each other in a profoundly healing and loving way. I pondered what had transpired, and it was apparent that I still held onto the idea that “I” had somehow done something to deepen and subsequently lost my connection with spirit. The fixation with being a separate entity is too full of self-importance to humble itself and simply flow with the seamless unity everywhere. All seemingly distinctive forms that appear in the world are eventually seen to flow together into oneness. Spirit appears to guide us home to a place we can never actually leave.
I have studied and used myself as the subject of healing experiments with psychoactive plants with shamans worldwide, over the years. Those highly respected and transformative plant spirits still tools occupy a small but respectful place in my healing toolbox. In my role as Shaman, we as humans, and such plant spirits, are co-evolving together. I live in the Sonoran Desert, and I am struck by how psychoactive plants nurture each other by growing together in communities. They communicate with me regularly, largely because I make the time to regularly hang out with them as part of the plant/human community.
If you’re just starting to talk to plant spirits, make sure you head to a place where you feel comfortable. It might be easiest to start in the privacy of your home. If you have houseplants, you can start with them. Or go outside and connect with a plant that’s in your garden. It can be a potted plant or a plant on the ground. They’re all alive, and they all have spirits. If you’re starting with a houseplant, water it (if it needs it) and tidy up the surface of its soil if it needs it. Give it some love. Sit quietly near the plant and meditate with them if that helps clear your mind. Re-learn how to communicate. It’s like learning a new language. And it’s a lot more subtle than communicating with people. Learning a new skill takes time and patience.
Some people that use my counseling services supplement that with plant spirit healing. As we start to feel feelings all the way through, it is very helpful for the body, mind, and spirit to work in harmony so that old and toxic energy can be cleanly released. Plant Spirit Healing is a process of holistic healing based on the Chinese five-element healing system. Traditional Chinese healing attributes health to the natural flow of energy or chi. All of life and all of nature are dependent upon the rhythmic and harmonious flow of chi. This life energy defines health and disease. It brings into balance the energies of the body, mind, and spirit. Plant Spirit Healing treatments are based on my herbal knowledge and an ability to call on our plant allies in the physical and spirit worlds.
The five elements govern our lives and the lives of everything we know. Each element corresponds to a season of the year, a color, an odor, a sound, an organ system in the body, an emotion, and much more. It is through the weaving of these elements together that we achieve our highest balance and health. The wide incidence of chronic and persistent physical and emotional illness in our culture clearly indicates that our spirits need attention. When treating a client, my primary focus is on healing the spirit. Working with the spirits of local plants, I facilitate the release of the deepest, earliest illnesses and imbalances by bringing your flow of chi into balance.
As the spirit becomes more vibrant, the mind and body follow suit. People receiving treatment report significant changes in their life, greater mental and emotional well-being, and subsequent changes in physical symptoms. Please note that healing involves opening a pathway to the passion for life. This does not mean immediate relief from symptoms. If we come face to face with the energetic essence of symptoms, they can often temporarily become more acute. There is also a brief physical assessment and an examination of the balance of energy flow in the body, mind, and spirit, primarily through pulse diagnosis. I focus on the place (causative factor) within our system where we go into and out of physical, emotional, and spiritual balance. Treatment can be done energetically or with extracts or tinctures infused with the spiritual essence of the healing plants infused in them.