There are many powerful plants, capable of bringing shamanic connection t0 wild nature, growing just outside your door. It is true that the local plants and animals in our immediate area are the most powerfully capable of bringing spiritual and physical support into our lives. This is why I value most receiving Cortes Island deer hides for my drums, because these creatures ingest the same rain-soaked sun-dappled plants that nod to my passing when I walk through the forest. We are fed the same energy and the vitality of our mutual home radiates out from the drum to feed me.
This is why I
chose palm frond spines to become the “yarrow stalks” for the traditional
reading of the I Ching book I found while on holiday in Hawaii. The book and the spines are related in the
energy they share, and are therefore able to speak with the same vibration when
I ask that Oracle for advice, as an occasional change from my Journey Oracle
card deck.
Martin Prechtel said we need to “ask the
plants we grow, eat, and work with to adopt us.” This is wise counsel for our
relationship to the plants in our own backyard.
When we ask the wild current if we can become its child, we become the
fierce shining warrior energy of the hummingbirds that depend on this delicate
flower when they first arrive from migration.
When we are adopted by the sword fern our creative efforts become filled
with its ornately curling and unfurling stories. Scotch broom is a mother that brings us such
a bursting, expanding growth—we may find others are a bit overwhelmed at our
own outpouring. And who could resist
being adopted by a mother skilled in the lacy weaving of grasses to support her
winged children? When we seek a shamanic
connection with wild nature, we ask to be the child with wings who can soar
into realms beyond our place and time.
