“There are so many ways people can manifest as clinical herbalists, as scientists, as researchers, folk herbalists, traditional herbalists, there’s so many ways…but the most important thing (and where we are fed so deeply) is when we develop that heart on heart relationship with the plants.”
-Rosemary Gladstar, Plant Spirit Herbalism Summit 2022
To say I’ve been inspired by this week’s Plant Spirit Herbalism Summit (which is still ongoing!), would be an understatement. But it’s also brought up a topic that I’ve been trying to put into words for some time now. And that is:
How do we develop meaningful relationships with the plants around us?
Once you spend any amount of time in the realm of herbalism, you’ll start to hear a lot about plant allies, plant meditations, and deepening your connection to the plants. Which can all really feel like a tall order— especially if you’ve never thought of plants in that way before.
It’s an easy thing to overlook, especially in a time when we mostly look at plants for what they can do for us, or what they’re “good for.”
“This goes back to tapping into your intuition. Because plants? They whisper. So you have to be still enough to listen.”
-Vivian Mac, Plant Spirit Herbalism Summit 2022
But what if the next time you pulled the root of a plant from the earth you acknowledged it as a death? Or when harvesting bits of leaves you thanked the plant for sharing its abundance, and poured a bit of water from your bottle? These are ways of being in reciprocity with the plants, and witnessing them as living beings.
We have the tendency in our culture to assume human life is at the very top of the pyramid, followed by animals and then at the very bottom—the plants.
But plants are actually some of the oldest life forms on this planet, and with that heritage comes deep wisdom that as humans we can only begin to understand. Which is why working to foster connection with the plants around you, especially those that grow just outside your front door—can be one of the most rewarding practices on your spiritual path.
'“Plants that grow around us, plants that are our neighbors, those that when you step outside your home they’re right there, you go on a walk in your neighborhood and they’re right there, those are the plants that are our guardians. Those are our messengers, they’re living with us and because they're alive and we’re alive there is a connection, and that’s what we need to sit and understand. What are they saying? What’s the connection?”
-Olatokunboh Obasi, Plant Spirit Herbalism Summit 2022
3 Ways To Create & Build Your Plant Connections
I. Spend time observing plants
One of the greatest gifts we can give to anyone or anything is our attention. What we attend to. And one of the best ways to get to truly know a plant, is by paying attention to how it grows throughout the year. Find a local plant that you’ve felt curious about, then spend a few minutes every week checking in with it.
What does it look like? How has it changed? How has the weather affected it? How is it moving and growing and interacting with the environment around it? All of this information will help you better understand the cyclical life of that plant, as well as to deepen your connection with it.
“People need to sleep with plants and sit with plants and drink the plant, not be so caught up in the monograph of the plant but in the essence of the plant itself, and see it in the nighttime and in the daytime and when it’s raining and its full sun. What changes happen around that plant? That’s part of the language of the plant. People can build a deeper connection by their observations in the different circumstances.”
-Olatokunboh Obasi, Plant Spirit Herbalism Summit 2022
II. Try a plant meditation
You may be surprised by the changes that take place in your spiritual and physical body after spending more time in nature with plants. One way to take this connection even deeper is to sit in meditation with one or two of these plants.
Find a comfortable position near the plant, close your eyes, and consider for a moment that your out-breath is quite literally the plant’s in-breath and vice versa. In the carbon-oxygen exchange that happens with our plant allies, we are sharing in a reciprocal relationship. Focus on that relationship and build on it. What is it about the way the plant is growing or changing that relates to the ways in which you might be growing and changing? What messages come through?
III. Allow your physical body to interact with plants
Besides actually sitting with plants, there are other ways to deepen your connection with them. When herbalists mention having “plant allies” they often mean plants that have helped heal them in some way. It might simply be from a plant meditation they’ve done, but more than likely it’s because they’ve taken the plant into their physical body—either as a tea, tincture, or even in an infused body oil.
If there’s a plant you’ve been drawn to or curious about, spend some time educating yourself about it. Is there a safe way to deepen that physical connection? Perhaps a tea you can make from its leaves or roots, or a body oil you can purchase from a local herbalist?
You can even create a small ritual around this, just by noticing how your body feels after drinking the tea or using the oil. Where does the plant feel like it’s going in your body? What is changing within you?
“There’s this important mirroring process that happens with the plants. I experience this when I tune in deeply with the essence of a plant, and ask myself ‘Who is this being’? I understand myself better, I understand my own nature better, and I understand the nature of what it means to be in relationship with any being anywhere.
-Sara Artemisia, organizer of the Plant Spirit Herbalism Summit
To catch the full recordings of the speakers quoted here, and for more free herbal education, be sure to tune into the Plant Spirit Herbalism Summit (available online from 3/18/22 - 3/20/22).
All photos by the amazing Annie Spratt.