Plant Spirit Medicine

Plant spirit medicine. What is it? And how it reset me.

Years ago I worked with Elliot Cowan in upstate New York at his Blue Deer Center. Elliot authored the book, ‘Plant Spirit Medicine”.

Elliot was a apprentice in the Huichol tradition of healers.

As a tsaurirrakame-mara’akame and elder in the Wixárika (Huichol) tradition

He taught plant medicine at his Blue Deer center. He taught me how to dialogue with the spirits of plants. I was new to plant medicine and very curious about this work with a whole lot of skepticism thrown in.

Elliot guided me in establishing a relationship with plants. Not unlike learning how to understand and care for pets. To actually communicate with a plants individual / species spirit.

MARY

During my last year of my training with the Foundation of Shamanic Studies I was looking at the cannabis plant. Although the FSS did not offer any training or education around cannabis it seemed to me that this plant also should have a spirit.

  Now I have not been involved with cannabis since my early college days over forty years ago. I enjoyed it so much that it effected my time at school a little too much. So I stopped using it and started to pay more attention to my school work.

So I decided to apply my shamanic understanding from FSS and my new found ability with working with plants from Elliot and see if I could communicate with the spirit of cannabis.

Wow …. not surprisingly cannabis is a female spirit I guess the name Mary Jane wasn’t by accident. She appeared to me as a young woman full of vitality and enthusiasm. She told me in no uncertain terms that she wanted to have fun … I remember hearing Cindy Lauper’s song  playing in my head, ‘ girls just want to have fun..’ Spirit will do that.

She also told me to pay attention to her because if I didn’t she will start to run away and take me with her. Now remember I am ‘journeying’ here.

As I thought about what Mary Jane just told me another spirit stepped in.

If you have journeyed before you understand how things happen in the spirit realm. This spirit is/was a Spanish gentleman well dressed wearing a hat with a feather plumb. He seemed to be from an earlier era in time. He introduced himself to me as Carlo and told me with concern that I should bring him along when I took Mary Jane out. She does have a tendency to take over the physical body without  one noticing her.

I remember coming away from this journey both in awe and slight reluctance. I really was not interested in getting ‘stoned’ and carried a fear around being in a plant induced ‘altered state’.

But how cool was that !

I was just given a whole lot of information. I needed some time to integrate that information and decide on a course of action.