Plants: The First People

By Marta Williams

From an indigenous viewpoint, plants—the oldest beings on the earth—are keepers of all wisdom and are capable of thought, emotion, and intention. Modern culture defines nature as mindless, spiritless protoplasm. Yet, we had to be taught to believe this. As children the trees were our best friends, we talked to the flowers and the animals, and we experienced nature as magical and alive with emotion.

Some may recall only a glimpse of this, others remember it vividly, but we all have this experience buried away. It is the natural dynamic between humans and nature—we have just silently agreed to deny and ignore it. What would happen if we chose to relate this way again? And how can we repair the bridge to this other world?

As a teacher of intuitive communication with animals and nature, I know that if people are open and willing to experiment, it’s possible for them to intuitively hear the messages of the plants and animals. It was probably through such dialogue that ancient people first discovered the medicinal uses of plants. But we modern humans will also need to relearn how to be in equal partnership with nature. Here are my suggestions for reconnecting to the natural world through the plants in your garden and in the wild.

Believe It

There is growing evidence that plants are sensitive to the environment and to our emotional state, and thrive when we talk to them and love them. If you don’t already believe this, behave as if were so. Pretend like the plants (and insects and other animals) in your garden are able to hear you when you speak out loud and able to perceive your thoughts, visual images, and emotions. If you stay with this experiment for a few weeks, you may receive convincing feedback in the form of changed behaviors of plant or insect pests, revival of ailing plants, and an overall magical feeling to your garden.

Interact As If It Were So

Try relating to the plants and animals in your garden and in the wild as if they were equals. Talk to them about your life and who you are. Send them a feeling of love and companionship. Imagine a vision of how you want your garden to look and ask the plants to help you create that. Hang out with your plants. Sit with them, take a nap in the garden, and sing to them. Talk to the spirit of the land beneath you about your dreams and hopes. Be grateful and express your gratitude often.

Negotiate

If you are having a pest problem in your garden, try negotiating a solution. Readers of this journal would likely choose organic pest control, but try first just talking to the offending party and asking for their cooperation. Find out what they want and need—follow your guesses on this. Then suggest a compromise that both of you can live with. Be very respectful, grateful in advance, and allow enough time for things to shift.

About Herbs

Growing your own herbs is a more respectful and sustainable practice than wild harvesting. I spoke about this with herbalist Karyn Sanders who operates the Blue Otter School of Herbal Medicine in Northern California (see www.karynsanders.com) and hosts The Herbal Highway, a weekly radio show. (Listen online at www.kpfa.org). Karyn, trained from childhood in herbology by her Choctaw grandmother, maintains that cultivated herbs can be just as strong as wild herbs. She advises that you establish a good relationship with your herbs and work to reproduce the conditions they have in the wild (i.e., surround them with natural associated species and don’t baby them or overwater them like they are vegetables). Herbs grown by organic herb companies are equally potent, says Karen, and buying cultivated herbs helps set a trend away from wild harvesting, thereby reducing environmental damage and the potential for extinction of native plants.

Under her grandmother’s tutelage, Karen had to tend a stand of herbs for four years, before she could harvest in the wild. She had to prove she could help create life before she was permitted to take life. In the Indigenous way you ask the herb if it agrees to be harvested. Karyn once traveled three days across country and hiked another two days to a reach a particular stand of herbs. Once there she asked for permission to harvest and the plant refused, so she hiked back out and drove home. Karyn told me that typically when Westerners ask for permission to harvest, it’s always, “The plant says yes!” Instead of wildcrafting, she recommends just going and sitting with wild herbs, talking to them and becoming friends, and then working to protect their wild habitat rather than removing them from it.

Gardening from the Heart

What’s most important is how you feel when you are in your garden. Make it a joyful experience. Have fun and don’t get too linear or programmed. Let yourself be more like a child. Plant in circles and mounds and let some of the weeds stay. Recreate the magic of your childhood in your garden. Send love to your plants and make them your family. At the end of our interview Karyn said to me, “Most of us had dysfunctional families, through your plants you can create a functional one!”

Marta Williams is an animal communicator and biologist who lives in Northern California. The author of Learning Their Language: Intuitive Communication with Animals and Nature, she lectures, teaches intuitive communication with animals and nature and offers consultations for animals by phone or by email worldwide. Visit her website at www.martawilliams.com or call her at (707) 829-8186.