Fruiting Bodies Collective

Photo by Bankim Desai

Plant Medicine and Respect

Plant Medicine and Respect. These are the first words that arose when I came into contact with Fruiting Bodies Collective.

I have been greatly influenced by many anthropologists and historians over the course of my life. I have come to realize that “history” is told from a certain date forward based on a collective agreement. However, when looking into plant medicine one must travel from this moment, through the past, to obtain the future. This medicine work is a collective of thoughts, experiences and memories which have come to me through various people, journeys, cultures, stories and extended periods of self-reflection and exploration.

Ceremony in Modern Life

What if we truly understood how the conscious consumption of plant medicine can be ceremonial? There is ceremony in all things, if we are willing to see it. Even the simple act of cooking, in today's modern age, is a ceremony. When we touch products, plants, or ourselves, we are performing ceremonies. The ceremony always returns to nurturing the intentions of love, healing and community. Whether we are unceremoniously slathering lotion onto our skin or placing a bowl of soup in front of our children, exuding nutritious warmth and love, there is a ceremony in all of it.

These plant medicines and ceremonies are ways for us to heal ourselves. They are ancient practices which are asking to be explored and honored. These are roots, seeds, and matter that have undergone an extraordinary amount of trauma and wounds themselves, and survived despite the lands traversed or the time passed. The moment these seeds hit the earth, creation and a sea of opportunities, lessons and ceremonies unfold unto us. We are in the midst of one of these moments.

The grace we must have for ourselves in using these plant medicines is the awareness to acknowledge and walk humbly with these plants, to move forward together, as a collective. Respecting both plant and being. As individuals influenced by materialism and capitalism, we only achieve anger and fear. Mama Gaia and these beautiful plants are calling us back. Will you answer? Have you answered? Will you allow yourself to answer?

Important Considerations

As we continue to approach, get comfortable with, and create regulation around these ancient plant medicines, we must respect that there is a happy medium of compromise. We have our modern health system which separates systems and symptoms, yet we are remembering how our intricate bodies and spirits work. Plant medicine is a whole other world where all is integrated. There is no body separate from the soul, or vice versa. One must be in tune with the whole self to journey or thoroughly receive the lessons plant medicine has to offer.

Similarly, whom you journey alongside or or choose to aid in your experience is as important as how you choose to consume the plant. Intention is supremely relevant in these ancient practices as they are essentially manifestation tools. Any convolution of that will yield nothing but disappointing results.

I thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts, words and look into my soul. I am an infinite being here to shed light, as are you, my fellow star seed. Otherwise, we would not be where we are, which is perfect and divine in its timing.

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