By Linda Crider
I call myself a “plant medicine woman” because I have worked with the healing power of plants for most of my adult life as a gardener, student, teacher, and practitioner. Now that I’ve reached the three quarter-century mark, I can honestly say that although I had found my life’s purpose years ago, there was another path to explore. As many of us discover, just when you think you’ve reached a saturation point, there’s always more to learn.
My love for plants began at an early age when I first discovered how being in a natural setting, even if that just meant walking a few steps to the foliage at the edge of my backyard, was both uplifting and consoling. I now can see how my young heart understood that nature was full of potential friends and allies in the form of trees, plants, and flowers. And just like their human counterparts, some of them came and went rather quickly, while others stuck around for a longer time.
I spent years studying which herbs and other forms of plant medicine offer healing for both physical and emotional issues, and how they can help the body and mind reach and maintain the balance necessary for health and well-being. I began using this medicine for myself and my family, as well as teaching classes for anyone interested.
Like most plant lovers, I talked to the ones I cultivated in my home and garden, but I never considered listening to what they may have had to offer in response. Of course, I recognized them as life forms and felt their presence, but I didn’t acknowledge them as the conscious, intelligent beings that I now know them to be. That was the missing link.
My recent training in spiritual healing practices opened my eyes to this. It has enriched my life and added a much-needed dimension to my botanical medicine work. I learned what shamans and healers from native cultures have always understood — that all life is sacred —and that coexisting with the green beings on a more reciprocal level will benefit both people and the planet.
For those who prefer more empirical evidence, science has been slowly catching up to the idea that the plant world is full of sentient beings that communicate with one another. In the last twenty years, a branch of science called Plant Neurobiology has emerged. Studies are now being conducted on how plants process and share information to thrive individually and as part of an ecosystem. It’s only a short step to realizing how we can all benefit from what they have to teach us.
As I continue to explore and share this innovative way of experiencing how the natural world offers its support, I see that by expanding our connections to the plant kingdom, we can tap into this healing wisdom as individuals seeking personal plant allies as well as members of productive local and global communities.
Learn more at: https://www.plantmedicineandmagic.com/