A Practice of Communing

When the soul is present, nature is alive

Forget what you think you know about the natural world. Nothing animate can teach you something about the living world. This is where we find the diverging point between knowledge/intellect and wisdom. Wisdom is rooted in experience, knowledge is gained through studious analysis. Wisdom is effortless, knowledge is rational effort. What we are exploring here through true communion with the land’s spirits moves beyond the intellect and deeper into soul's wisdom. No words or humans can give you what it has to offer. It lives in a realm beyond words. It is unique to each individual. Yes, there are patterns. Overarching and universally felt energies. Yet the way they are perceived and absorbed is as unique as the being showing up for them. Only the earth itself in all its vitality and breath can unfold its secrets to you directly, as you humbly open up to its magnificence. 

Here is another way that wisdom challenges the depth of knowledge, it is gained through scholarly means. It misses the direct contact with that which you desire to learn from and through. Wisdom is received through your own interaction and relationship with the land. There is depth because there is an intimate, felt comprehension and thus an insightful integration. When getting to know and desiring to learn from the land, refrain from inserting your ideologies and instead listen openly and allow the land to speak to you on its own terms. Hear with the ears of a child. Acknowledge that, in this moment, you know nothing, and are but a humble student. Show up with an open heart and open ears. Acknowledge the land, these beings, as your equals. There is no hierarchy upon the land. Everything simply is. Feeding each other within an interconnected web of relations. 

Open your senses, for they are your guide and tie to the earth's divine sensory flow. Here we are listening to elders and teachers share rather than reading from a dead thing a dead analysis of something once alive. They wait patiently for you to speak. For you to ask. They long to be remembered. They long for us to remember.

Communing with plant spirits asks for closeness and vulnerability with the natural world. These spirits do not speak to those who remain distant and distrustful. Instead, you must open your heart. Open your senses. Show up with soul. Open your relatedness with who you are, and where you come from. The natural world lives within us as we live within the natural world. Connecting with all her spirits is returning home, communing with family. It is not a coven designated only for a select few. Oh no, it belongs to us all. It opens to us all. Yet few listen. 

Walk along a path in a park or forest or wherever you find yourself. Before you begin, thank the spirits for their welcoming, for now, you dwell within a sacred place, a wild place, a living place. Tune into your senses. As you walk, root your awareness into these sensations, noticing the sounds that surround you, the smells that fill your olfactory. Pay attention to what you see around you, what catches your eye. Perhaps stay for a while in one spot and look into the details of a leaf or the colours of a bug. Every point is a tiny little universe to explore. Let yourself. Take your time and allow your heart to guide you through the journey. The pulls of spirit that direct you. Notice how the earth feels beneath your feet as you walk. Notice how your feet hold you, and how the earth holds your feet. How the bark on a tree feels grazing upon your fingers. How the breeze feels along your skin. 

On your walk, you will notice a particular attraction to a certain friend, a plant or a tree or whoever they may be. This is an irresistible pull, one that draws you close unlike the other places you have walked by so far. They call to you now. Go to them. As you slowly approach this plant, remain rooted in your senses. Remain present as you sit with them. Now notice this being that has called you over. How they are growing, what beings surround them, the colours that they hold. Notice what details come up for you with vibrant clarity. Greet them as you would an old friend. Begin to slow down, your breathing, your thoughts. Notice what comes up, even the quickest passing thoughts may hold a message for you. When/if you feel it is right and okay, touch their leaves, noticing how they feel along your skin. What sensations come up. When/if you feel it right, put one leaf in your mouth and notice what tastes surface. Smell the plant, what do you smell? As you sit with them, reflect on what feelings begin to surface in your being. Communication may come in all forms. A feeling, a sensation in your body, a sudden urge to put your hand on your ear or your heart or your eyes. A sudden deep breath, or perhaps very shallow breathing, a memory or a thought that comes up. Notice all things without expectations of what they should be. Maybe in this moment you don't understand them, that's okay. You don't need to understand just yet. simply receive, be open, allow. Allow it to unfold as it may. 

Tune into the subtle changes in your being. The emotional body and feelings that begin to surface are the plant's messages. This is how they share and how they communicate. A big way that plant and spirit medicine deliver to us messages and insights is through ~emotions~. Where we humans live largely within the mental body, they live within the emotional. That is the language through which they communicate. It is the root of their medicine. So tune in. Notice. And in this way, you may also offer them messages through your own emotional field. When you feel ready you may reach out to the plant as it has reached out to you. Begin to breathe into your heart space and allow the electric energy to expand towards the plant friend so that your energies intertwine and interact. Begin to communicate back to the plant. Notice still what comes up in your being. Notice how the plant reacts to this. And thus a conversation takes place. Or perhaps more so a communion. Something beyond words. Stripped to the essence. (there doesn’t necessarily have to be a word to define it. It just is)They understand you through your emotional body, so what signals are you sending? May it be one of love. These initial meetings and experiences with plants, remember them. They are the foundation of your further understanding and relationship with those plant spirits. On these expereinces you continue to build your relational wisdom.

When a relationship has been established you may begin (if it feels right) to ask questions and learn from this spirit what it offers you.

A plant that you notice calls out to you rather often and intentionally can be found to be a very powerful medicine for you or may have something rather important to share with you in these moments.