I am a plant man, my father was not. I hope that my sons will find the path of the plant teachers as favorable as I do. There is a richness among the plants, a sense of balance and control. The plant teachers are all around us, yet only a few of their praises are sung by the masses. The most potent and mind expanding plants are of immense value, but the plant teachers can be with you throughout each day in a gentler form. Plants that are known to follow humans from place to place are often referred to as camp followers.
Plants like burdock or plantago species (Plantain) that you find around human dwellings can be the most potent teachers available to you as an herbalist or someone on the plant teachers path. Our bodies must be in a sufficient state of health in order to grow spiritually. These plants teach and inform your body, gently guiding it towards wholeness. Without fail throughout the globe, the plant healers turn to the kitchen herbs and the camp dwellers to solve their ailments and often leave the extremely potent plants for very specific work. For the those that crave the connection to the plants and long to hear their voice.
Take a bite of the bitter leaf of the dandelion, feel the rush of saliva to your tongue, and the shiver down your spine. This leaf is both a plant and a pattern, a pattern within in the form of life. When the patterns of health and function within you are out of balance you can correct this with the teachings of the proper plants. To consume the plant is to consume the pattern that this leaf contains, an energy form on a molecular and biochemical level. The energy form of the plant is burned in the fires of your metabolism and transforms within you transforming the state of your tissues in the process. I am constantly in awe of the power of the most gentle plants, so unassuming yet unequivocally powerful. Though the most powerful plant teacher may have drawn you to this path, don’t overlook the plants at your feet.
Written By Cory Jennings