I walk through the woods searching for a good place to harvest Devil’s Club, Oplopanax horridum. I investigate the root connections looking for a spot where the stems have grown tall and fallen over making new root junctions. If you can find a mature root in between two well-rooted nodes, you can take the central piece while doing minimal harm to the above-ground portions of the plant.

I make prayers and offerings and ask for permission to harvest. As I am cleaning and clipping the roots I’ve removed from the stand, I have a sense that something is not right. I know that something is going to happen. All of my senses activate. I move into a state of complete alertness. Devil’s Club has been teaching me many things about protecting my boundaries and about having a keen awareness of my surroundings. When I am with him I am able to work with a 360 degree view sonically, energetically, and visually, and though I feel strongly that something or someone is near, I am not able to hone in on just what it is that is attracting my attention. I just know that something is up. (more…)

Plant Teacher Circle 1.19.10
Cottonwood Bud
Populus balsamifera

The swelling of the buds of the Cottonwood signifies the coming of Spring and the beginning of the harvest season. The smell of the buds always brings a smile to my face. There is a sweetness mixed with a quality of warmth that makes me feel like everything will be all right.

During the plant meditation last night I experienced the presence of Cottonwood as an unshakeable, deeply grounded, completely firm, and noble being. I was immersed in a holy silence far removed from any thought or concern. I was aware of my body in that I felt my entire being becoming more and more solid–a heaviness that tuned me into the feeling of being a very large tree.

I could feel the presence of the others in the room as if they also were trees. Being there in a grove of my kin, sharing space with these other beings of dignity, further increased my feeling of stability. It was a different type of connection from the one I experienced with Cottonwood’s frenetic cousin, Quaking Aspen Populus tremuloides. With her I felt literally connected. The lines of individuality were blurred, but with Cottonwood there is a very distinct sense of unique identity. (more…)