Remembering Nature When She’s Been Separated From Us

Kennae is wearing cranberry leggings and the camera is angled at her barefoot. She is walking in grass forward.

One of the best decisions I ever made was to become an herbalist. I chose to learn as an apprentice under the tulage of Marysia Miernowska at the School of the Sacred Wild. Leading up to the beginning of our course we began our pre-course work and that included reading Eliot Cowan’s Plant Spirit Medicine. I did begin this book thinking we would literally just be discussing herbs and plants and perhaps their classifications but I got so much more and soul deep work, y’all.

“We are a part of nature.” Eliot Cowan

    Healing work is what returned me to healing in relationship with the Earth. I was leading a workshop and teaching on the importance of knowing your history, your lineage (as a method of not participating in cultural appropriation) and even the land you are on as a start to decolonizing work. Being a person in a white body and wanting to learning to be in relationship with others of the global majority does not mean to sacrifice your life or wellbeing, it certainly does not mean being oppressed by others and it does not mean giving up your advantage (which cannot be done). SO what’s next? How do we learn to do this work where there is space for all of us and the depth of us without harming others, well nature herself has the answer for us.

Have you ever heard the sun say, “I cannot shine, I will take away from the radiance of the moon?” How about hearing a sunflower say, “I cannot stand tall, I will tower over the grass.” NOPE, me either. Nature shows us how even plants or creatures of other variations, classifications and the like can exist in some kind of harmony without any one having to play small or be reduced as less than. Unfortunately, living in a society created on the basis of conquering and colonizing there is no way to believe we can all equally exist but I and so many others (activists, organizers, dreamers) do believe. I will leave you with these words from Eliot Cowan himself.

“Somewhere along the way, we lost the experience of unity. We live our lives propping up the pathetic lie that we are different from everything else….. Difference breeds indifference. If you think the forest is not you, you are more willing to exploit it or let others exploit it for you.”

If you haven’t noticed, this book is highly recommended.