"There is only one active ingredient in plant medicine: friendship. A plant spirit heals a patient as a favor to its friend-in-dreaming, the doctor"
-Eliot Cowan (Plant Spirit Medicine)
As I walk into Temescal Canyon in the local Santa Monica mountains where I grew up, I am like a child filled with curiosity, excitement, and wonder. I am eager to learn, and I know I will, just like I always do when I befriend the plants. It's just a question of what will I learn today? What wisdom and medicine will the plants bestow upon me today that I can offer to my clients?
I see my friend hedge mustard. When I was a child, my oldest brother and I walked together in the Rancho Palos Verdes hills and came upon this plant. My brother said it was ok to taste the flower and we did! Now, I'm not sure if this really happened or if it was a dream I had as a child. It doesn't matter, either way it was a true experience that I had of the plant.
That is when hedge mustard and I first met. And just a few years ago we met again on this path in Santa Monica and reconnected. He taught me about the suffering of our people and that many are lost. He taught me about the value of money and letting it push you up, rising with it. A mountain of gold.
I wonder what I will learn today?
I come across California Juniper. I remember visiting the spirit of this plant out in the desert at Vasquez Rocks, maybe 40 minutes away. He taught me about boundaries. What is appropriate? Getting up in someone's face? Or being too far away from them? Also about determination. He said "Sometimes it is important to be pushy". A plant in the desert knows a lot about what it takes to survive. And, from what I can tell, our people can benefit from this wisdom.
"Plants... are not under the illusion that they are separate from the rest of creation. Observe how any plant interacts with soil, air, minerals, animals, and insects. Everything around it is enriched and benefited by its presence".
-Eliot Cowan (Plant Spirit Medicine)
I continue down the path, open, connecting, merging with nature. Which plant will become my friend? And what gem of knowledge is in store for me and my current and potential clients?
I wonder what I will learn today!
-Courtney Shelburne
Plant Spirit Medicine Healer
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