Sacred Plant Initiations
This wonderful new book from medical herbalist, medicine woman and also my own teacher – Carole Guyett, for me heralds the beginning of a new wave of teachings being brought forth or possibly just being re-remembered from the plant kingdom. The Green Renaissance is upon us!
At this critical moment in our own evolution it feels as if once again we are being guided and supported with the higher consciousness of the plant and fungi realms. Through connecting ever more deeply with the consciousness of plants, flowers, trees and mushrooms, we are being shown the possibility of how to reconnect with our true selves and in the process of that, initiate great healing both on an individual and collective level.
Carole guides us through this process by showing how dieting with native plants can help establish those deep connections to nature. At her centre in Derrynagiattah, Co.Clare, Ireland she has been running ceremonial plant diets with non-psychoactive, readily available, native plants for a number of years now. Here in her first book she uses the 8 Celtic Fire Festivals as a wheel for the year and picks out the most interesting and suitable plants that she has dieted with various groups over the years, to produce a methodology that we can all at once engage with and start to use wherever we may live – city or countryside. We are taken a magical journey that introduces us to such wonderfully familiar plants such as Primrose, Dog Rose, Oak, Blackthorn, Elder, St Johns Wort, Angelica and Dandelion. This process allows the participant to form a deep connection with the spirit of that plant and in turn this can allow healing and moments of realisation to be brought forth.
Interspersed with personal anecdotes collected by Carole from the participants over the years this book is both a wonderful introduction to the world of plant spirit shamanism and also a ‘how to guide’ for the budding practitioner. Carole’s amazingly wide knowledge of both herbalism and shamanism shines through as she shows the importance of working with deep respect and powerful intentions when interacting with these highly evolved beings. With the explosion of interest in sacred plant medicines and entheogens such as Ayahuasca in the West, Sacred Plant Initiations reminds us that we don’t need to travel half way around the world to drink strange and wonderful jungle brews to have a deep and life-changing experience from working with plants. All we need to do is look outside our window and we will see that there are many friends waving to us from the garden, gently encouraging us to come on over and meet them face to face, so that they may share their lives and secrets with us.
Book Details: Carole Guyett. Sacred Plant Initiations. Bear & Company (23 April 2015). ISBN-10: 1591432138. ISBN-13: 978-1591432135
Review Details:Sacred Plant Initiations was reviewed by Davyd Farrell, organiser and co-founder of The Shamanic Lands & Plant Consciousness events,for Indie Shaman magazine.
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