Plant Medicine

I write a fair bit about evidence-based complementary medicines. I enjoy research. Yet much of my own life is lived on another level, more in the energy world. The subtle worlds of nature, energy, prana. My inner life. The plant world around me.

Such as the gotu kola plant that I am watching grow all over the outdoor fireplace lately. I pick a few leaves and put them in a salad or casserole, to help with the connective tissue issues of menopause. But I also delight in the way it is growing wildly in my garden.

The borage that is popping up now, which the bees love. I only planted it in the front yard, but somehow it is now growing in the backyard too.

The joy of our rose and macadamia cottage garden, and its prolific flowering. Roses have been recognised for their heart-healing medicine for hundreds of generations. You don’t always have to swallow a medicine, to receive its blessings and healing properties. You can also notice it, sit with it, recognise it, talk to it, and receive it.

I love the creative burst of kitchen time on the weekends. Making pesto with end-of-summer basil. Baking cakes and cookies and sharing them with family and friends.

Going for a daytrip drive across country with Dave, my beloved. Enjoying and appreciating each other’s company, and the landscape at the end of the dry season.

The marigolds are thriving in random corners of the garden. They have thrived all through this recent hot summer. Marigolds always bring the joy of light, in my mind. As my eyes sweep across the gardens, that golden light, the joy of marigolds peep out here and there. I receive it.

I talk to all my plants and love being surrounded by their different energies. Dave and I have built gardens full of abundant fruits, vegetables, herbs and bushtucker plants too. The plant world is alive with nuance and so nourishing to tune into. We both walk past all the gardens every day and share what we notice as we connect at different times. We have a large backyard bath from which we can enjoy the garden.

“Did you see the first guava on the guava tree?” “The lime tree seems to have a problem, let’s see if anyone on that gardening group knows what it is.” “Why hasn’t the Irish strawberry fruited yet?” “The chamomile is coming back as the weather gets cooler.” Mango (our dog) ate the pomegranates, “we need to put a fence around it”. “Have you noticed the yellow Jared rose and all its new growth?” “Did you notice the smell of honey coming from the beehive today?” “Shall we plant an illyarrie to feed the bees when not much else is flowering?”.

I have always loved the plant world and growing herbs and vegetables. Now I recognise how much tuning into the plants around us- all of them, whether we know their medicine or names, or not- is healing. As we live more cerebral lives with computers and technology, the plants are just here. We cannot live without them, they are foundational to human life on planet Earth, yet we often do not notice or value them. Or recognise how we can communicate with them. That they are willing if we are.

Sometimes it is hard to get out into the pristine natural bushland, but we are surrounded by plants even in the city. Lately the red flowering gums as well as the illyarries, and the menzies banksias have brought me a lot of joy, even when stuck in traffic.

Healing comes in so many more forms than tablets.

Love is medicine. Doing what you love is, too.

Connecting with plants is medicine.

Gardening, which is really co-creating with Mother Earth, is medicine.

Making food with love for those we love is medicine.

Connecting with friends is medicine.

Holding hands can be medicine.

A large part of the chronic illness on the planet, is caused by the general disconnection from Nature. We don't even notice Her and Her daily plenty that gives us Life.

Using natural medicine can be wonderful, but can have its dark side. Buying endangered plants from the other side of the world is still natural medicine. Supplements in plastic bottles, or using fossil fuels for transport is still natural medicine. But the rosemary in the backyard, can also share its very real medicine with us, if we can be curious.