Plant Allies

I have been experimenting with using  plants as allies for meditation and visionary journeys. I’ve had some interesting  results  which I’m keeping for my  personal record. I’ll say something now about techniques and approaches, partly to get them clear for myself and partly in case anyone else wants to pick up from them and ask questions or make helpful suggestions.

 My basic approach is to identify suitable plants and find ways of relating with them. Books on plant lore and advice on gaining plant allies are available, but they only tell what worked for others. It’s useful to read as much as you can but not to take everything you read on trust. You need to find out what responses you can get yourself from different plants.  Approach plants in your garden, in the woods, in a local park, even in a weedy patch in a street corner, to find out which ones you can tune in to.

I have had best results from native plants growing wild and I have put some of the best ones in my garden in a special place with a seat nearby so I can meditate near them.  There are also places in the woods where certain plants and trees grow where I like to go and be quiet with them.

Sometimes you need to get closer using bits of crushed leaf for the feel or the scent or the moisture. This can be done indoors. You can also burn dried leaves in a thurible. I won’t go into eating plants now .  If you are using dried plants out of season it can also be useful  to have a picture to look at, preferably of the actual plant you are using when it was growing.

Last there is the question of buying essential oils and commercially available forms of plant essences. These are good for extra atmospheric background but not instead of actual plants. Essential oil in water in a burner or flower water put on the skin can be good, though you have to be careful what you are buying as sometimes what is sold is ‘chemically identitical’ fragrance rather than real extracts.