PLANT SPIRIT SHAMANISM: Developing and exploring your connection to the Spirit of Plants Traditional cultures regard plants as being alive, and conscious. Although this world view is ridiculed in our Western culture, many of us still feel and are aware of a spiritual connection to the world of plants. This article explores ways to deepen our profound connection with the plants

1. Developing and exploring your connection to the Spirit of Plants
Plant Spirit Shamanism
Howard G. Charing
Traditional cultures regard plants as being alive, and
conscious. Although this world view is ridiculed in our
Western culture, many of us still feel and are aware of
a spiritual connection to the world of plants. This
article explores ways to deepen our profound
connection with the plants.

2. PLANT SPIRIT SHAMANISM: Developing and exploring your connection
to the Spirit of Plants
Traditional cultures regard plants as being
alive, and conscious. Although this world
view is ridiculed in our Western culture,
many of us still feel and are aware of a
spiritual connection to the world of plants.
This article explores ways to deepen our
profound connection with the plants.
“Every tree, every plant, has a spirit. People
may say that the plant has no mind. I tell
them that the plant is alive & conscious. A
plant may not talk, but there is a spirit in it
that is conscious, that sees everything,
which is the soul of the plant, its essence,
what makes it alive. The channels through which the water & sap move
are the veins of the spirit.” Pablo Amaringo, Ayahuasca Visions
We humans have a special relationship and dependence on plants. Since
our beginnings, they have been the source both directly and indirectly of
our food, our shelter, our medicines, our fuel, our clothing, and of
course the very oxygen that we breathe.
The first and possibly the most important key in developing your
relationship with the Plant Spirit or mind (and what really helps to ‘open
the door’ ie. makes the connection work), is a benign attitude and to
have good intentions and feelings towards the plant.
In addition our rational logical thinking mind is not in ally in this
endeavour, so avoid analysing and rationally trying to understand what
is happening. Go with your feelings, trust your feelings – don’t dismiss
them.
In many respects this is an approach to perceive the world around us in
a new and different way. When we were children, the world we
perceived was novel and in a way untarnished. As we grew up the world
lost its freshness and novelty so to speak, so when you enter into the
communion with the plants this is a way to evoke that child-like manner

3. of perceiving the world with a new and
pristine vision that many of us have lost in
the maelstrom or banality of life.
The plant consciousness or spirit,
communicates with us when we are in
relaxed, gentle trance-like, or dream state.
So the person, who holds the desire to
commune with the plant, needs to know
how to move into an altered state.
Moving into an altered state of consciousness can be achieved gently,
for example by going out in forests, woodlands, or a park; and walk at a
slow and steady pace. Gradually the rhythm of this slow and steady
movement will bring you into an altered or heightened state of
awareness. When you feel or sense this subtle shift, lift up your eyes and
look around. Allow yourself to be drawn to whatever tree, bush, or plant
attracts your attention; you may experience this attraction as akin to a
little ‘tug’.
Now go and sit with the plant. Use all
your sensory and tactile faculties to
engage with the plant.
Visual – Study the shape and form of the
plant. Maybe the plant grows alone or is
in a cluster. Look at the form of the
leaves; look at the spaces (the forms
within the forms) between the leaves
and branches. The latter is part of a
practice called gazing, which offers a
way to perceive patterns outside the
consensually agreed shapes and forms.
Smell – Our olfactory nerves go directly
into the region of the brain called the
limbic system. The limbic system is also called our ‘primitive’ brain, as
its structure is below the linguistic and ‘higher’ functions of the cerebral
cortex. The limbic system is the location of our primal (primate)
emotions, and primal needs. The sense of smell is our only sense which

4. has this access to our primal or unconscious mind. Breath in the
fragrance of the plant, allow any feelings, memories, images, and
associations to arise and experienced.
Tactile – our sense of touch. Gently move your hand towards the plant,
maybe you can discern a movement, or sense a connection between the
respective fields of energy, yours and that of the plant. Touch the plant,
leaves or bark with your fingers. It is possible that you may sense the
flow of energy within the plant, into the earth, and up into the sky.
Taste – Place a very small piece of the plant against your tongue and
gently taste it. The taste may be acrid, bitter, hot, sweet, sour, or sharp.
The taste may attract, be neutral, or repel you. This tasting will give you
an indication of its character or ‘personality’. Exercise caution with this
practice as there are poisonous plants, do not eat or swallow the plant!
When you have completed these practices (which form part of the
Amazonian plant apprenticeship ‘plant diet’) take some time to meditate
or embark on a shamanic journey to encounter the spirit or
consciousness of the plant you have been working with. To quote the
Amazonian Shipibo maestro Guillermo Arevalo regarding the plant
spirits, “They are beings, which have their own forms or they can be like
human beings with faces and bodies. When the spirit accepts the dieter,
and the dieter has the will, the spirit grants them energy. The path to
knowledge opens, the healing takes place, as case may be”.
Howard G Charing: is an accomplished international
workshop leader on shamanism. He has worked some of
the most respected and extraordinary shamans &
healers in the Andes, the Amazon Rainforest, and the
Philippines. He organises specialist retreats to the
Amazon Rainforest. He is co-author of the best-selling
book, ‘Plant Spirit Shamanism’ (Destiny Books USA) 2006.
He co-authored the ‘Ayahuasca Visions of Pablo
Amaringo’ (Inner Traditions USA) 2011.
Visit Howard’s Blog: www.shamanism.wordpress.com
The Ayahuasca Visions of Pablo Amaringo: www.ayahuascavisions.com
Howard’s Visionary Art Gallery:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hgcharing/sets/72157620870862800/