WildWisdom – Nature Speaks   To friends old and new and those never met. I’ve just spent 5 glorious sunny days doing a stall at All about love festival in Cambridgeshire, UK. It’s a festival inspired by ‘’conscious’’ rave culture (the drugs have changed and people are aware of spirit and take plant medicine). It took me some umming and arrring to decide whether or not to go as ‘teacher’ plant medicine isn’t my thing and too much time in intense environments can overload my sensitive batteries, plus prolonged subjection to spiritual waftyness can permanently damage the aura.  Despite my judgmental opening statement, I don’t mean any offence by it, did you see the comedian Rach Cox at the festival? She was great! She expressed everything I feel about the scenes in a funny, offensive and get over yourself kind of way, whilst also hinting at her own flaws. Come on we’re all wankers aren’t we? but some are more wanky than others, just recognise it in yourself and you can start being real too.  Something that has become clear to me recently is how utterly unique we all are, what works for some may not be for others and how some people perceive, others do not, and the way in which we all function is different, even so I am going to lay down my thoughts and feelings on ‘teacher’ plant medicine and the popular faddy spiritual culture that is here, ultimately a good thing I guess, better than it not being here at all.Ele’mentalUnderstanding that we all see things differently, for a myriad of reasons thus having different opinions and views on things.  One way in which we can begin to navigate our differences of opinion and become more aware is through understanding our own and others primary elements. When we clash in conflict of others beliefs we are not excepting another’s view point. We can learn to hold our views a little less tightly allowing others to see the way in which they see, after all they’ve walked a journey we have not and each individual is free to view things as they see it. Thats not an invitation for oppressive or abusive behaviour, action may be required when someone is simply being a dick. Working with the Elements for better communication and compassion is in the last section. Aya, Aho, Pedro, Potato. First off maybe I’ll offend you with my views on teacher plants and the wift and waft of spiritual ego. Too much Shanti Devi not enough Sea Shanti.  In terms of what some call ‘’teacher’’ plant medicines,  I do think they have a role in opening people who have come from a party scene or from a view of life that perhaps needed a break through to a deeper reality. I’m sure people have found great healing benefits in the taking of these medicines. I’ve never personally felt called but have felt a strong calling to this land and its medicine. What strikes me about the scene is (in general and this can be said for a lot of spiritual scenes within the Western Hemisphere) is that it often isn’t grounded in sense of location or real connection to this land. I see a lot of lip service paid to the spirits of the land but no real listening and connection. The land where we stand and our inner core is where we experience connection to nature, it speaks in subtle and not so subtle ways, the unfolding of life is miraculous and mysterious yet we often miss it for rushing or not being open to its depths. The ‘practice’ then is of being with what is in front of us in a calm, relaxed yet focussed way, a tentative listening state. Our attention and intention plays a role in the actual unfoldment of the natural world around us, synchronicity speaks to us in various ways through the plants, trees, animals, through the outer aspects of the environment. I would bet that the level of awareness that we exhibit is then reflected back through the beings, spirits and matter around us. Our bodies,(including higher non physical aspects of self) are the instrument with which we perceive and transmit and so it is to have a simultaneous awareness of both our inner and outer environments. It truly is inside of us and becoming efficient in our everyday living is the path to a grounded, balanced and powerful way of living in spirit. Another aspect I perceive about the taking of ‘teacher’ plants is in safety of where we are travelling, I’ve come to the belief through personal astral experiences via lucid dreaming, intuition and hearing from peoples experiences that we are seeing a large manipulation of our consciousness on the astral plane and I believe a lot of it is coming via plant ceremonies, as well as at festival sites where large concentrations of people in altered states are congregating. Tapping in to individuals energy fields and syphoning off peoples life force, entity possession and manipulation is a reality that I think we are going to be coming to grips with over the coming years, it seems to be on the increase or perhaps we are becoming more aware of it as we move through this time where the inter dimensionality of reality comes clearer into our focus.  Cracking open the gates of our awareness via plant medicine and other psychoactives may give us a glimpse behind the veil and we may be able to work some shit out and may be have a break through and healing but there are gentler ways that build incrementally and don’t run the risk of psychosis. We can grow in awareness and allow the teachings to come, grounded in this moment with this land we stand upon with the teachers that are present all around us, the medicine of this land is strong, you have to quieten down to hear it.  As I’ve said I recognise we all have our own unique situations and reasons for choices and I’m simply sharing mine here. I’m no angel, I’m sure people would be quick to shoot me down for drinking ale and smoking a rolly when I feel like it, and in fact on occasions taking illicit substances when the whim has said so, my hedonistic twin does still rise occasionally but this isn’t in the context of a spiritual connection it’s in the context of enjoyment and in moderation I don’t do these things to connect, connecting is everyday. Its simple, its sacred and it doesn’t have to look like its sacred. There’s a very fine line between what’s being genuinely sacred and what comes across as ego fakery, pomp and ceremony.  Simply everyday awareness. For those who have followed my waffle previously I’m going to bang on about peripheral vision/ hunter gatherer states of awareness yet again so feel free to skip on to the next paragraph if you’ve heard it all before. This state has its origins in our ancestral past and present.. when humans do what humans were designed to do originally; to hunt and gather food and tend the land. We don’t need to hunt and gather to learn this state but the act of hunting and gathering produces a highly focused yet relaxed state of presence, our peripheral vision expands our awareness beyond the bodies physical senses and switches the nervous system in to a relaxed state, we tune in to our outer landscape whilst simultaneously holding presence within our inner landscape, connection and communication is then experienced in the visceral moment. The plants, trees, animals, land, spirit speaks. We need to quieten down enough to truly listen to the whispers, then from this space we can learn to sing the song of our own souls calling and begin listening to the spirits of our own bioregions. We are surrounded by a multitude of non physical beings and dimensions which from a grounded state can help with our evolution. Medicine in our own backyard There are many ways to journey with the healing plants of this land, to familiarise ourselves with the medicine within our own back yards is truly a journey to sovereignty and wisdom and helps inform our health and wellbeing but also our connection, sense of place and our evolution. I truly believe that entraining i.e. synchronising ones energy with a plant, tree or aspect of nature, simply by sitting and allowing our biorhythms and energetic body to resonate with said beings informs our health, awareness and even changes our DNA. An important thing at a time when technological and pharmaceutical agencies are creating things that appear to be synthetically altering the human genome.  Consciousness is the key to it all, Nature is everything, we are that nature and to realise ourselves is a process of increasing awareness. Listening to the land we live on reflects what we need. We have evolved in a biological symbiotic relationship with the medicinal plants, they gift us healing and growth, we offer them love, life, breath and tending. They also offer us shelter, clothing and food and much more. Be in love with a plant and watch it show you its bloom. They’re deep high beings of earth, some connect us to cosmic aspects some to earthly elements, we are often attracted to plants which show us something that is inside of us, as well as plants that don’t feel so easy. This is the same with ur human kin, plants are just far easier and more enjoyable to behold for some of us.     Working with the elements for better communication and compassion. We are all a unique complex mixture of bio Chemistry, learnt patterns and behaviours, upbringings and environments as well as the different compositions of the elements. All of these aspects inform the way in which we present to the world and within our relationships. It’s not always easy to relate with other humans, we are complex creatures. The elements are a simple way of understanding ourselves and others, the way in which we move, the way in which we express, the ways in which we love. Using the elements as a guide we can bring it back in to context of our true elemental nature. Though as is with nature none of this is fixed, it can be fluid and evolving. We each contain the elements in varying degrees and these degrees can change under circumstances and situations. As a way to navigate our constitutions we can look at our main element or elements and understand how we interact with people and how we show up in the world.  Have a look at what you think is your main element below? It can be more than one and we also may have elements that are more dominant in different areas of our body and psyche. A water element in the heart for example could show up as someone who expresses through their emotions when they communicate. The Elements – The following are some guides to the elements, its not an exhaustive list but gives some characteristics and the opposing qualities and nature of the element.  Air –Qualities. The air element relates to thinking, to the intellect, it’s invisible, light, allowing, let’s go. See’s the big picture, connects dots, knows. Shadow. Over thinking, obsessing, ungrounded, wafty, no direction. Fire –  Qualities. Relates to passion and drive. Heart, focus, intent, Burns brightly with direct power. Shadow. Abrupt, insensitive, burns too hot, anger, rage. Doesn’t stop to give space. Water – Qualities. Relates to the Emotions. Deep feeling perspectives, emotional intelligence, compassion. To flow, creativity. Shadow. Over emotional, taking things too personally, stagnant/ sloth.  Earth -Qualities. Grounded, clear, focused, logical, knows the steps to take, solid. Shadow. Stuck, unmoving, rigid, unwilling to open the mind to other possibilities. It’s not that we need to change the shadow or transmute it, we can do this by simply becoming more aware, by observing our tendencies we become less reactionary and habitual. This contemplation helps us to see things from another persons perspective as well as our own and we can begin to hold our own opinions and others more lightly. The wild herbs of this land are great for working with the elements, we can work with a herb that has the predominant element that we require to learn about and begin entraining with that herb, embodying that element. Ingesting the herb and journeying with the herb in various ways to go deeply within its medicine as well as working directly with the element or other aspects within nature which show themselves to us for teaching.   Check out the website for more waffle on working with the subtle energies, nature connection adventures, working with native medicinal plants, labyrinths and more.  Much love, Be real, be honest, be true. Mark http://www.wildwisdom.org.

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