Connecting with Plant Allies (Guest Post by Beth Katherine)

*Note: As a student of herbalism studies, I’ve been learning lots of fascinating things about forging a magical relationship with plants. So I am excited about today’s guest post. In this post,  the fierce and beautiful priestess-mermaid soul, Beth, shares some profound insights about plant allies and her connection with the Western Red Cedar. ❤ Jodi

 

CONNECTING WITH PLANT ALLIES by BETH KATHERINE WATSON

Most of us are unfamiliar with the idea of a ‘Plant Ally’ – but the term has been well known and well loved in many parts of the world for thousands of years.

 A Plant Ally is a plant that an individual is uniquely drawn to – at times, it may even feel like this plant is calling them. When the individual takes notice of such a plant, and consciously chooses to explore their relationship with it, magic ensues. Forming a true relationship with a plant ally, as Susan Weed says, takes years and years. From sleeping under the stars with said plant, to watching it unfold season by season, as it grows and changes, to internally taking it’s medicine, to simply meditating with it to hear it’s wisdom and have conversations, there are numerous ways of getting to know your plant ally.

It’s a lifetime journey in many cases – getting to know a plant ally is a commitment, it’s a love story – yet the process is worth it, for in my experience, connecting with a Plant Ally elicits many of the same feelings as a human to human love story. We’re all souls after all.

An individual can have many plant allies over the course of their life, and we are not limited to getting to know just the plants that speak to us. Sometimes, it is a worthy endeavour to spend time with a plant that seems a little more foreign to us. More often that not, though, it’s the ones who we’ve been interested in for quite some time, that have the most to give.

Although I’ve had a few different plants come to me, through dreams, books, or meditations – namely Yarrow and Juniper – there is one that stands above the rest, simply because it has interwoven it’s way so completely into my life.

This plant is the Western Red Cedar.

I took notice, specifically, of the beautiful Cedar tree, on a trip to the West Coast of Canada, back in 2011. Although I was not into plant medicine at the time, something struck me about the tree, and I decided to take a few of it’s branches home to Southern Alberta with me, so I would not forget the magic of the coast.

I ended up hanging the branches next to my bed, where they stayed for over a year. I did not know then, that I was undertaking an significant act of initiation with a plant ally – keeping it next to you while you sleep.

Over the next few years, I took many more trips out to the coast, continuing to notice the Cedar tree, and watching my love for her grow.

Upon finally moving to the Pacific Northwest last year, I became more fully, and more consciously aware of my desire to be around Cedar. At that time, I had begun my studies in Plant Medicine, which is a continuing journey, to say the least.

I knew that the best way to investigate a relationship with a plant was to meditate together, as had been taught to me by the plants themselves, as well as the herbalist teachers I was starting to surround myself with.

Connecting with Cedar - Pic courtesy of Beth
Connecting with Cedar – Pic courtesy of Beth

So last year, I started to spend more time with the Cedar, and still, the journey continues. I’ve made dreamcatchers from her, kept her under my bed, beside my bed, over my bed. I’ve smudged with her, drank tea from her leaves. I’ve made essences from her bark, and her spiritual medicine. I’ve read with my back against her trunk, and taken photos of her striking beauty. But through all of this, the most important act I’ve done with the Cedar, is to meditate with her.

“Cedar, like all plants, holds incredible wisdom. Each plant has a different frequency, and therefore, each plant has a different gift to give.” ~ Beth Katherine

The incredible thing about Cedar, is that she has a rainbow of gifts. The Natives of the Pacific Northwest thought of her as somewhat of a Grandmother – a kind, wise, and elderly all purpose healer. They made clothes with her bark, drank her tea, built with her wood, and in many ways honored her as the pillar of their culture.

My own experiences with Cedar have shown me, time and time again, of her kindness, her intrinsic wisdom, her ability to repair the auric field, and cleanse and revitalize anyone who comes willingly enough near her medicine.

Cedar Plant Ally - Pic courtesy of Beth
Cedar Plant Ally – Pic courtesy of Beth

There have been many things she has taught me, and some of them have completely changed the course of my day, my week, or my outlook on a certain situation. One blog post is not enough for these stories, but hopefully, the truth of these words inspires you to investigate your own relationship with plants.

Have any been calling to you? Has the Dandelion reached out to you, with it’s sunny disposition, and deeply rooted way of persevering? Has the Wild Rose sung to you? Offering it’s connection with the Great Mother, and gently caressing your cheek with it’s pink tones of love?

There are so many plants around us, and yet, we often take little to no notice of them. Over the next few weeks, especially as we emerge into spring, I challenge you to become more aware of the plants around you. Are any of them drawing you in? It’s a subtle process – the plant world is deeply embedded in the otherworld. But once you begin the journey, you may find that it’s possible to develop a lasting love affair with a plant.

And that is one relationship you might be deeply willing to invest in. 

***

ABOUT AUTHOR

Connecting with Cedar - Pic courtesy of Beth

Beth is a fierce, deeply spiritual and creative priestess-mermaid  soul. She is a intuitive mentor based in Tofino, BC, Canada. Beth helps young women develop their gifts, trust their intuitive guidance and launch their life purpose into the world. She is passionate about doing her bit for Mama Gaia and the oceans when it comes to environmental issues. Beth is also  a Women for Whales ambassador. You can connect with Beth via her website: http://www.bethkatherine.com, like her Waves of Fire  facebook page or follow her on Instagram

Guest Post:Theapoetics and the Woodspriestess by Molly

*Note: Today, I am so excited to share a guest post from Molly, the owner of the Woodspriests blog. I discovered here blog late last year and read it religiously. It is always a source of inspiration. As mentioned in my previous post, I simply love her writing, the poetry and the experiences and insights she shares about connecting to the woods, Gaia and Goddess wisdom. I hope that your enjoy this wonderful treat.   

Guest Post: Theapoetics and the Woodspriestess

by Molly

Twelve years ago when we decided to buy some land on which to build our home, one of the deciding factors was the cool big rocks on the hillside behind where we imagined building our house. Over the years, we would go out and walk through the woods and stand on the rocks and I often said that I wanted to create a sacred space down there to visit regularly. As I realized later, there was no need to “create” the sacred space, it was already there! Following two miscarriages, I would often go to the woods to sit on a chair-shaped rock and connect with nature and my body. During my subsequent pregnancy with my daughter, I would return to this place to sit and connect with my baby and prepare for her birth. After she was born, I brought her to these rocks and these woods to “introduce” her to the planet. At some point at the end of 2010, I suddenly “heard” the words priestess rocks when I was standing out on these large flat stones that look out over the horizon. It felt like their name, I suddenly knew it…

Pic courtesty of Molly
Priestess Rocks Pic courtesy of Molly

In late December 2012, I decided to begin a year-long spiritual practice of “checking in” every day at the priestess rocks in the woods. I committed to spending at least a few minutes there every day, rain or sleet or shine, with children or without, and whether day or night throughout 2013. My idea was to really, really get to know this space deeply. To notice that which changes and evolves on a daily basis, to see what shares the space with me, to watch and listen and learn from and interact with the same patch of ground every day and see what I learn about it and about myself. I wanted to really come into a relationship with the land I live on, rather than remain caught up in my head and my ideas and also the sometimes-frantic feeling hum of everyday life as a parent and teacher. When I went down to the woods to “listen” to this idea, I spoke a poem that included the word “woodspriestess,” and I thought…maybe this is what I’m doing…maybe this is who I am. As planned, I maintained my practice throughout 2013, eventually spending approximately 330 days in this same place in the woods (some days were missed due to traveling).

I tend towards a Goddess-oriented, panentheistic, spiritual naturalism. When I enter the woods, I often experience what I have termed “theapoetics“–spontaneous, spoken aloud poetry that brings me into direct connection with that which I would call the Goddess. In an excellent anthology of essays by priestesses (or “sibyls”) called Voices of the Goddess there is a section that makes me reflect on the theapoetical experience:

The Goddess grants her gifts of creativity in many ways, but the personal invocation, the inspired lyrical utterance is always nearest to the surface. This poetic wellspring is part of the sibylline legacy and there is no denying it. It speaks the language of the blood and belly as well as the language of the crystalline stars. It is a weaving song that meshes heaven and earth with the underworld. Poetry is the mouthpiece of the metamemory, the deep, ecstatic memory of an oral tradition that remembered the Goddess daily in domestic and tribal rituals. Since there are not Goddess rituals or liturgies from former times, we have written our own, often drawing directly upon the raw material of personal experience…Poetry can both bless and uproot, it can extol or refute. It is the true voice of the Goddess speaking through her sibyls. Personal or prophetic, poetry is communication with a deeper level of understanding. It is a gateway for the Goddess to pass through. –Caitlin Matthews in Voices of the Goddess

While I wouldn’t venture to call myself “prophetic,” I do experience something personally very important to me there in the woods. When I wrote about theapoetics for Feminism and Religion, I included this poem:

Goddess Direct

Goddess, where are you?
I am within you and around you
in your heart that seeks answers
and connection

Goddess, do you exist?
Yes, I am as real as your own heartbeat.
I am here in the bird’s song
I am here in the breeze that touches your face
I am as solid as the stone you sit on

I am that which weaves the Whole.
I am that which holds the All.
I am that which flows,
dancing lightly
through the heartbeat of every form on this earth

I am within you and around you
beneath you and above you
I am your home

I am that which you seek
I am that which you know
And, I love deeply, richly, and well.

via Theapoetics By Molly | Feminism and Religion.

Several months ago, one of my Facebook friends posted a link to an article that posited an explanation for how human create the “imaginary friends” that are then termed their “gods.”

“Consider how some people attempt to make what can only be imagined feel real. They do this by trying to create thought-forms, or imagined creatures, called tulpas. Their human creators are trying to imagine so vividly that the tulpas start to seem as if they can speak and act on their own. The term entered Western literature in 1929, through the explorer Alexandra David-Néel’s “Magic and Mystery in Tibet.” She wrote that Tibetan monks created tulpas as a spiritual discipline during intense meditation. The Internet has been a boon for tulpa practice, with dozens of sites with instructions on creating one…” via Conjuring Up Our Own Gods – NYTimes.com

Despite my own sense of certainty that Gaia is there, very directly observable in the actual living of life, the very fabric of being, and the touch of the wind on my face, I felt silly and juvenile when reading this article. “Oh…” I thought, “perhaps what I’ve been doing with this year-long woodspriestess experiment is merely cementing my relationship with my imaginary friend?”  So, I went back to the woods and I waited. And, an answer came:

Imaginary friend?
I think not
I am the ebb and pulse of all existence
of all life
the invisible web
weaving its way
throughout you and around you every day
I am here in the call of that crow
the hammer of that woodpecker
the bird song
the leaf fall
the raindrop’s skim
I am present in the very pulse of your heart
That is it.
That magic of creation
The weaving
The web
Goddess
She who holds eternity
and can never be tamed.
Reach out
I’m reaching back
Never doubt this again.

After a pause, sitting there, keeping contact with the rock, listening to the sounds around me and feeling my pulse beat in my wrist, I spoke again:

The sensation of being held is real
the sensation of being known is real
the love you have experienced in my embrace is real
your body sitting on this rock and being in contact with this planet is real.
Invisible friend?
I am Life itself.
I am Breath itself.
I am Gaia.
And your heart beats in time with mine.
Woodspriestess.
I called your name.
Listen.
Listen and you will know…

(http://witchesandpagans.com/SageWoman-Blogs/imaginary-friend.html)

I still hesitate to claim that I write poetry and I do not particularly think of myself as “poet.” These words are something that just comes out. Something that emerges. Something that is created in a very different manner than the rest of my writing. It actually feels like an altered state of consciousness that “writes itself” and when I go back to listen to what I said, I’m often surprised or feel like I’m listening to someone else speak. That’s theapoetics. Go sit in the woods and see what happens when you open your mouth.

***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

mollynov-083 (1)

Molly is a priestess, writer, birth educator, and activist who lives with her husband and children in central Missouri. She is a breastfeeding counselor, a professor of human services, and doctoral student in women’s spirituality at Ocean Seminary College. Molly and her husband are in the process of launching Brigid’s Grove: http://brigidsgrove.com and she blogs about theapoetics, ecopsychology, and the Goddess at http://goddesspriestess.com.

A Cloudy day and the week ahead

What are your intentions for the week? How will you factor in the things that serve your life purpose and fill you with inspiration and joy?

My focus for the week is on writing. There is something about a cloud day that awakens the writer in me. The rain brings a certain stillness. I sit listening of the sound of raindrops, the feel of their wetness, the scent of their freshness.  I have no idea why, but my creativity seems to flow better in weather like this – cloudy or rainy. It also seems draws out the wild woman in me. The woman who loves going on nature walks in the soft summer rain. The woman who loves to blow bubbles and watch them rise and float, unscathed by the falling drops. The woman who turns the lights of at night, opens the curtains and just sits watching the lightening as the heavens soak the Earth. In those moments, the power of the Goddess is so alive and vibrant.

So much is on the cards this week…

Firstly, this week, I am looking forward to sharing a guest post from Molly, the owner of the Woodspriests blog. I simply love her writing, the poetry and the experiences and insights she shares about connecting to the woods, Gaia and Goddess wisdom. I am thrilled to have her contribute on my blog.  

I’m currently hard at work, putting together the new Gaia Flow e-course that I plan to launch in March this year. This four week e-course is designed for women. It is an invitation to come home to yourself, deepen your connection to Spirit, tap into your Divine feminine aspect, as well as contact your inner Wild woman.  I am pretty excited about the course and can’t wait to share it with everyone once I’d done.

I’ve also been selected to contribute to a new book anthology that will include a collection of spiritual awakening stories that is set to be release in June 2014. So, I’m truly grateful that I’ll get to write and share my own story, my spiritual journey and the role the a deep connection with the Earth played in it.