Plant Spirit Medicine, Part 2: Cultivating Relationships with Plants

In Part 1 of this blog series, we came to a definition of plant spirit medicine as a shamanic approach to working with plants, understanding them as conscious beings who can become our teachers and allies. By engaging with plants in this way, we can begin learning directly from them. As we discovered in the previous post, shamans, healers, and herbalists from many traditions maintain that the plants themselves can teach us about their medicinal uses.

Although knowledge of medicinal herbs for physical healing is certainly valuable, plants can teach us much, much more. When you enter into relationships with plants, they can also teach you about yourself. Much like yoga, herbalism can be a strictly physical practice (which has plenty of benefits all by itself), or it can become a much deeper journey, a path of spiritual self-care and personal growth that can take you to some surprising places.

I have found that plants have a rather uncanny ability to hold up a mirror and show us things about ourselves that need to be healed or examined more closely. In this way, plants are a type of oracle. In fact, we can think of plant spirit medicine as a form of divination—and as I propose in this post, divination itself can be viewed as healing modality.

Plants are message-bearers who, with an open mind and a little practice, we can learn to understand. And sometimes, the message is the medicine.

Making Friends with Plant Allies

When we undertake spiritual work to connect with spirit guides and allies, the process is similar to making friends with humans. Once the connection is made, it must be nurtured and maintained over time. We wouldn’t think of someone we only met once as our best friend. While having a single experience with a plant spirit can be magical and powerful as a stand-alone event, it becomes much more meaningful when we turn the connection into a relationship.

In the words of author Eliot Cowan (1995), “There is only one active ingredient in plant medicines—friendship” (p. 4). In other words, it is actually the relationships we have with plants that allow for their healing effects on any level, physical or otherwise. The relationship itself is the medicine, and any healing we receive from plants depends upon this connection. Traditionally, shamans are the ones who maintain these connections with plants, and in turn, the plants provide healing for the shaman’s clients as a favor to their friend, the shaman.

But you don’t have to be a shaman to enter into relationships with plants. All you need is an open heart and mind, and the willingness to spend some time and energy cultivating these relationships. As with our human friends, a major component of friendship is spending time together, making the effort to get to know someone.

Most plant spirit medicine people agree that a “plant spirit” is representative of the entire plant species, not a single plant specimen. In other words, the spirit of Oak is present within each oak tree; the spirit of Mugwort lives within every mugwort herb. Of course, plant spirits are not confined to the physical structures of the plants, just as our consciousness is not confined to our brains. They are multidimensional beings and can be reached simply through thought and intention. The more we pay attention to them, the more they begin to show up for us in various ways.

Getting Started: Finding an Ally

For those who are just getting started on this journey, I suggest getting to know a single plant ally first. This gives you the chance to forge a deep connection with one plant at a time, rather than flitting around like a butterfly from plant to plant and never getting to know any of them very well. After all, we are only human; although our souls are eternal, our time and energy are not. Most of us have plenty of demands from the outside world and have to fit our spiritual work in edgewise. Starting with one plant makes our practice more manageable, which in turn makes it more likely that we will maintain the connection. And don’t underestimate the power of a single plant ally!

This might be a plant you already feel a kinship with, or one that seems to be tapping on your shoulder through synchronicity or perhaps in your dreams. Maybe it’s an herb you’ve been using medicinally, or a favorite tree in your backyard that has always felt like a friend. You can also find a plant ally through my guided meditation, Meeting a Plant Ally, which takes you on a relaxing, healing journey to meet and commune with a plant spirit. This meditation doesn’t specify which plant; it just opens the door so that any plant spirit can come to you. It can also be repeated as a regular practice to help you maintain the relationship over time.

Spending Time Together

Once you’ve found your plant ally, spend time together as you would with a friend. You can visit the plant in person or in meditation; the next post in this series will explore specific types of meditation and other practices for connecting. What matters is your intention to connect.

Visit your botanical companion even when you’re not asking for anything. It’s fine to ask plants for assistance, such as for physical or emotional healing, advice, guidance, protection, or inspiration. In fact, people have been appealing to plants for millennia, but nevertheless—friendship goes both ways. We don’t want to be “that friend” who only calls when they want something, right?

I’ve found plants to be extremely magnanimous beings, willing to give of themselves generously again and again. Looking back at my own life, I realize that they’ve been helping me long before I was aware of it (and perhaps even when I didn’t deserve it). Still, now that I have consciously recognized plants as sentient beings, I try to maintain reciprocal relationships with them, just as I would with a human friend.

Visit your plant allies often. Bring gifts. This might be a physical gift laid beneath a special hawthorn tree, or an offering placed on your altar to honor the spirit of Calendula. As plant spirit healing teacher Pam Montgomery (2008) tells us, “Traditionally, tobacco, cornmeal, chocolate, jade, or turquoise beads and candles are used to feed the plant spirits. Ideally, the gifts you offer are ones you have made with your own hands” (p. 101).

Personally, I’m inclined to think that it’s less about the specific gift that is offered and more about the intention and gratitude behind our gifts. Give what feels appropriate, what feels good, to you. When it comes to physical offerings, I’ve left everything from water to moon blood to coins. You can also offer energetic gifts during meditation. It can be as simple as offering up heartfelt gratitude and love. Some people sing devotional songs to plants, or ritually tend a plant as an act of devotion.

Sometimes, I will simply ask what the plant might want in return for their help. Try it—the answers might surprise you!

Practices for Connecting

In Part 3 of this series on plant spirit medicine, we’ll dive into specific meditative practices for connecting with plant allies. From shamanic journeying to spirit dose meditations, we’ll explore different meditation styles and practices that can help you open up to plant communication and forge relationships with our beloved botanicals. In the meantime, I encourage you to find a plant ally and start making a new friend!

References

Cowan, E. (1995). Plant spirit medicine. Swan Raven & Co.

Montgomery, P. (2008). Plant spirit healing: A guide to working with plant consciousness. Bear & Company.