Plant Medicine
- Also see:
- Ayahuasca
- Coca
- Fly Agaric
- Peyote
- Salvia Divinorum
- San Pedro
Plant Spirit Medicine uses the spirits of plants to bring us into balance and harmony. It is an ancient practice found in shamanic communities all over the world. Each region has their own plants they work with and connect to.
Integral to any ayahausca ceremony are sacred chants sung by the shamans to call the protective jungle spirits, summon the essence of nature, and to provoke the mareacion or effects of the ayahuasca by making a plea to the spirit of the vine. In the words of Javier Aravelo, quoted in my book, Plant Spirit Shamanism, icaros “render the mind susceptible for visions; then the curtains can open for the start of the theatre”
The Energy and Experience of the Great Spirit is not something so foreign that it’s accessible only to a favored few. That is simply not true. It is an Experience accessible to us all. One has to trust in the process – apply significant concentration and intent – respect The Grandfathers and their ancient ways – their Folk Technologies - and one must try their utmost to be impeccable.
How do we appropriately access and experience a “Power Place?” It is with great reverence, respect, and humility that we must exercise our approach. But it is also with the impeccability of a Great Warrior that we are allowed to receive the messages meant not only for ourselves, but for all of us – for all people – for the collective consciousness. And the messages always carry with them something we all desperately need: healing.
"Although the use of hallucinogenic drugs such as ayahuasca is common, many cultures use a strong repetitive rhythm or beat to create that state; the Native American Ojibwa wanbeno, for instance, use drumming, rattling, chanting, naked dancing, and handling of live coals.7 Drumming is particularly effective in producing a highly concentrated focus; a number of studies have shown that listening to the beat of a drum causes the brain to slow down into a trancelike state.8 As Native Americans discovered, even intense heat, as in a sweat lodge, can transport individuals to an altered state."
"Whether the plant is to heal the body or the spirit, or whether it is part of an apprenticeship, what makes it work is your good intention towards the plant. They are beings which have their own forms, or they can be like human beings with faces and bodies. When the spirit accepts the person, and the person has the will, the spirit grants them energy. The path to knowledge opens, and the healing takes place."
