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Plant Spirit Shamanism: Traditional Techniques for Healing the Soul Paperback – August 3, 2006
Purchase options and add-ons
• Shows how shamans heal using their knowledge of plant spirits as well as the plant’s “medical properties”
• Explores the core methods of plant shamanism--soul retrieval, spirit extraction, and sin eating--and includes techniques for connecting with plant spirits
• Includes extensive field interviews with master shamans of all traditions
In Plant Spirit Shamanism, Ross Heaven and Howard G. Charing explore the use of one of the major allies of shamans for healing, seeing, dreaming, and empowerment--plant spirits. After observing great similarities in the use of plants among shamans throughout the world, they discovered the reason behind these similarities: Rather than dealing with the “medical properties” of the plants or specific healing techniques, shamans commune with the spirits of the plants themselves.
From their years of in-depth shamanic work in the Amazon, Haiti, and Europe, including extensive field interviews with master shamans, Heaven and Charing present the core methods of plant shamanism used in healing rituals the world over: soul retrieval, spirit extraction, sin eating, and the Amazonian tradition of pusanga (love medicine). They explain the techniques shamans use to establish connections to plant spirits and provide practical exercises as well as a directory of traditional Amazonian and Caribbean healing plants and their common North American equivalents so readers can ex-plore the world of plant spirits and make allies of their own.
- Print length280 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherDestiny Books
- Publication dateAugust 3, 2006
- Dimensions6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
- ISBN-101594771189
- ISBN-13978-1594771187
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Review
"This is an incredible book, a book with depth that speaks to the soul. . . . The knowledge in this book could very easily be put to good use in everyday life, which makes it a 'keeper; for any healer's library." ― Bonnie Cehovet, Angelfire, Sept 2006
“Plant Spirit Shamanism explores not the usual medicinal qualities of plants, but shamanic communications with the spirits of the plants themselves. . . . Healers will find this essential to understanding plant processes.” ― Diane C. Donovon, California Bookwatch, Nov 2006
"A practical and useful guide for healing on a deeper level, using Mother Nature's power." ― Vicky Thompson, New Connexion, Nov-Dec 2006
"Healers will find this essential to understanding plant processes." ― California Bookwatch, Nov 2006
"The book is not simply a dry academic discussion of these topics, although that alone would be intrinsically interesting. Instead, it provides cross-cultural perspectives on all aspects of plant-spirit based healing. . . . Whether you want to learn to practice plant-spirit medicine--or simply want to gain a better understanding of it--this book will be a useful addition to your botanical library." ― Dennis J. McKenna, Ph.D., HerbalGram, Journal of American Botanical Council, No. 78, May/July 2008
"Ross Heaven and Howard Charing create a cross-cultural distillation of plant shamanism to reveal the essential core of the techniques and the basis of the healing process." ― Alec Franklor, Edge Life, No. 187
“[Ross Heaven and Howard Charing] explain the methods shamans use to establish connections to plant spirits and provide practical exercises as well as a directory of traditional Amazonian and Caribbean healing plants and their common North American equivalents, so readers can explore the world of plant spirits and make them allies of their own, through various dieting techniques. Books like these are pretty difficult to come across. This one outlines the practical instructions one can apply in a ritual context to that which you seek to attract into or repel from your life.” ― Odyssey Magazine, October 2013
From the Back Cover
INDIGENOUS CULTURES / HERBAL HEALING
"Plant Spirit Shamanism takes readers into realms that defy rational logic and scientific theory, showing graphically that we humans are not the only intelligent life on this planet. From their extensive travels to indigenous cultures that understand life very differently from those in the ‘developed’ world, the authors reveal a wealth of plant knowledge that has been lost to Western civilization. This book is both a fascinating read and a considerable challenge to the orthodox mind.”
--Leo Rutherford, author of The Way of Shamanism and Your Shamanic Path
In Plant Spirit Shamanism, Ross Heaven and Howard G. Charing explore the use of one of the major allies of shamans for healing, seeing, dreaming, and empowerment--plant spirits. After observing great similarities in the use of plants among shamans throughout the world, they discovered the reason behind these similarities: Rather than dealing with the “medical properties” of the plants or specific healing techniques, shamans are communing with the spirits of the plants themselves.
From their years of in-depth shamanic work in the Amazon, Haiti, and Europe, including extensive field interviews with master shamans, Heaven and Charing present the core methods of plant shamanism used in healing rituals the world over: soul retrieval, spirit extraction, sin eating, and the Amazonian tradition of pusanga (love medicine). They explain the techniques shamans use to establish connections to plant spirits and provide practical exercises as well as a directory of traditional Amazonian and Caribbean healing plants and their common North American equivalents so readers can explore the world of plant spirits and make them allies of their own.
ROSS HEAVEN is a therapist and workshop leader specializing in personal development, healing, and shamanism. He offers indigenous medicine retreats and workshops worldwide. His books include The Spiritual Practices of the Ninja, Darkness Visible, and Vodou Shaman. Howard G. Charing is a director of the Eagle Wing’s Centre for Contemporary Shamanism, has taught at Dr. Michael Harner’s Foundation for Shamanic Studies, and leads workshops and medicine retreats in the United Kingdom, the Peruvian Amazon basin, and the Andes. Both authors live in England.
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
from Chapter 2
THE SHAMAN’S DIET: LISTENING TO THE PLANTS
When the spirit accepts the dieter and the dieter has the will, the spirit will grant him energy. The path to knowledge opens and the healing can take place.
--GUILLERMO AREVALO, AMAZONIAN SHAMAN
This chapter will open you further to the spirit of the plants through a process known as the shaman’s diet. This body of practices involves certain actions and restrictions on the behavior of the shaman-to-be so he (or she) can learn from his plant ally how to use it for healing, and how to strengthen himself physically, psychologically, and spiritually.
One of the great revelations (and comforts) that we can experience while working with plants in this way is that we are not separate from the natural world at all; we are all connected. Here, we have included a few exercises to enable you to work deeply with your plant allies and experience more of this connection for yourself.
A few obvious comments first:
1. Work with plants that grow locally.
The healing needs of the various cultures will differ from one another. Sometimes this is a matter of climate and other physical factors. Wherever we are, though, shamans tell us that the Creator knows and has met our healing needs and so local plants will always be stronger and more appropriate in our diets and cures.
2. There is power in every part of a plant.
Nothing need be discarded and we can learn from each flower, root, leaf, or fragment of bark. Even common plants (or so-called weeds) have spiritual and medicinal properties. Choose the plant that calls to you, irrespective of its status in the Western world.
3. The process of selecting a plant to diet is intuitive and emotional, not rational and cerebral.
Your choice might result from many factors--the color or scent of a plant can be meaningful to you, or perhaps there was a flower you loved as a child and would like to know more about now.
How to Diet
As our example, let’s take rosemary. Its distinctive scent is invigorating and stimulating, and maybe that sense of revitalization is a quality you want in your life. You feel that dieting this plant would help and you are drawn to it emotionally.
If you now “tune in” to or research this plant, you discover that rosemary has long been known as a blood and nervous system stimulant. Oil of rosemary is used in salves to treat rheumatism, nervous headaches, muscular aches, and sprains, and when added to baths it helps tone the skin. Your research shows that your emotional perceptions were right. So you decide to diet it.
Make Friends with the Plant
First, spend some time simply being with the plant. Look at it, noting its shape and colors, run your hands through its leaves, feel how smooth the body of each one is, but how sharp the tip, like a needle ready to inject its health-giving properties. Inhale its scent as you visualize its stimulating and purifying qualities entering your body. Be playful and invite the plant to become your friend and teacher.
Gather the Plant
Before you pick any part of a plant, tune in to it again and it will tell you the best time for gathering it. Night gathering tends to infuse a plant with gentler and more “feminine” moon energy, for example, whereas picking at midday will mean it is charged with powerful and “masculine” sun energy. By the same token, gathering early in the growing season will give you a subtle, “adolescent” energy which is not yet fully developed (but that may be exactly what you want), while picking toward the end of the season--in the plant’s “old age,” as it were--will mean a plant filled with wisdom but whose energy is now returning to the soil as it begins its winter hibernation. There will always be an optimal time to gather, according to your needs, and the plant itself will reveal this.
Once you have taken what you need, air-dry the leaves, which you can then store in a moisture-sealed glass jar. Once they are dry, the active ingredients in the leaves will also be released more easily into water or alcohol.
Prepare the Plant
There a number of ways to prepare a plant, as we have seen. The easiest is to make an infusion. This is simply a tea made by steeping the leaves in freshly boiled water for ten minutes. As a guideline, use about an ounce (around 30 grams) of dried plant to two cups of boiled water, which will provide three doses of plant infusion.
Another method is to make a macerado, or tincture. Here, you macerate the leaves and stems in alcohol.
Whichever you choose, remember that your intention is always the most important ingredient, so hold in mind your purpose for dieting the plant as you go through each stage of preparation. In this way, you reach out to the spirit of the plant and inform it of your needs.
Diet the Plant
Each morning before breakfast, take a half cup of the infusion or, if you have made a macerado, a half shot glass (about three teaspoons). Do the same in the evening.
After a week or so, you may start to find your life taking on some of the qualities of the plant itself. In the case of our example, as rosemary is stimulating, you might find that there is more going on around you, or that you have more “get up and go.”
As you maintain your practice, there will come a moment when you sense the plant actively reaching out to you. At that moment you will know that the plant is your ally--the door will be open for you to learn its ways, how it will help you, and how it can guide your deeper journey into the plant world.
Product details
- Publisher : Destiny Books (August 3, 2006)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 280 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1594771189
- ISBN-13 : 978-1594771187
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #734,913 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #663 in Shamanism (Books)
- #1,255 in Ecology (Books)
- #5,755 in Ethnic Studies (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
www.thefourgates.org
Ross Heaven's interest in plants, healing and spirituality started early in life when his family moved from the city where he was born to a strange and timeless village on the borders of Wales. There he met and was informally apprenticed to a sin eater - a spiritual herbalist and "devourer of human sin" whose job was to restore balance to the soul. Ross spent 10 years with this healer learning the folklore and wisdom of the plants and immersing himself in the spiritual practices of an almost extinct tradition of Celtic shamanism, a story told in his book The Sin Eater's Last Confessions.
His interest piqued, Ross took his degree at a university now recognised as a World Centre for Excellence in transpersonal psychology. His decision to study there was based on a whim, a synchronicity, but it turned out to be one of the best decisions of his life, enabling him to combine psychology, anthropology, philosophy and religious studies to create what he has come to regard as a "DIY course in shamanism".
He threw himself more deeply into the study of spirituality and the healing traditions, training in imagework, herbalism, massage, yoga, tai chi, the Eastern philosophies and becoming a senior in five martial arts before heading for the jungles of Peru in search of new answers and new direction.
Drinking ayahuasca and San Pedro there helped him "find himself" and in fact the direction was simple: to return to the plants and become a healer. He has now helped hundreds of people to heal and trained hundreds of others in traditional soul-healing methods through his workshops and books such as Plant Spirit Shamanism: Traditional Techniques for Healing the Soul, Plant Spirit Wisdom and The Hummingbird's Journey to God, the first to be written about healing with San Pedro, the "cactus of vision".
Ross conducts ceremonies throughout Europe and facilitates group journeys to the Amazon and Andes for people who wish to experience ayahuasca and San Pedro themselves on his Magical Earth and Cactus of Vision programmes. Increasingly, he is fascinated by the healing potential of San Pedro and has witnessed many "miracles" in those who have drunk it, including recoveries from trauma, abuse, addiction and conditions such as diabetes, paralysis and cancer. Some of these healings are recorded in his book and in articles and interviews such as this: http://www.realitysandwich.com/flight_hummingbird.
Ross divides his time between Europe and Peru where his retreat Centres offer healing and training to others: The Hummingbird in Spain (http://www.thehummingbird.org/) and El Colibri, a beautiful new medicine Centre close to Iquitos, Peru (www.ayahuascaretreats.org).
His website is www.thefourgates.org or you can email him for more information on courses, trips and events at ross@thefourgates.org.
FREE ARTICLES
* 'Heaven and the Hummingbird': An interview with Ross about the healing power of San Pedro. http://www.realitysandwich.com/flight_hummingbird.
* 'San Pedro the Miracle Healer': An interview by Ross with an Andean San Pedro healer. http://www.erowid.org/cgi-bin/search/htsearch.php?method=and&restrict=&format=long&config=htdig&exclude=&words=ross+heaven
* 'Plant Medicines and Shamanic Healing': An article on the healing rituals of ayahuasca. http://www.erowid.org/cgi-bin/search/htsearch.php?method=and&restrict=&format=long&config=htdig&exclude=&words=ross+heaven
Howard G. Charing is an international workshop leader on shamanism, author and visionary artist. For over thirty years he has worked with some of the most respected and extraordinary shamans & elders in the Andes, the Amazon Rainforest, and the Philippines.
His books are; Plant Spirit Shamanism (Destiny Books USA) 2006, The Ayahuasca Visions of Pablo Amaringo (Inner Traditions USA) 2011, and The Accidental Shaman (Destiny Books USA) 2017. Forthcoming publication July 2022 the Amazonian Angel Oracle. He has written numerous articles that include original source field interviews of indigenous shamans. Howard’s personal website features his workshop programme, his visionary art, and a solid selection of articles and interviews.
In 2016, he organised the first major conference in East Europe dedicated to visionary consciousness. This conference featured luminaries such as Graham Hancock, Dennis McKenna, Jan Kounen, plus many others.
Howard's website: www.hgcharing.com
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I'm very glad that I read it because it totally changed the way I look at plants, and our earth now. Before plants were just green things to me, they were just there. I never realized how truly alive and 'intelligent' they are.
I loved reading this book, very enjoyable read and fascinating. the more you read, the more you begin to appreciate the beautiful and fragile nature of our world. I really came to appreciate plants a lot more. I'm glad I'm a vegetarian, because I can see how healthy plants can very positively affect the human body.
EDIT: I have since learned some things about one of the authors, namely that he is not as much of an expert on ayahuasca as I had thought, when I first read this book. The author in particular is Ross Heaven.
I really recommend anyone who is interested in this topic to read other books. This is a good book, but not a higher authority. this book is the tip of the iceberg as far as this subject is concerned!
I believe (and this is also mentioned in the book, page 53, on the challenges westerners face when it comes to the shamanic diet. Shaman Javier Arevalo also speak of this on page 87) that it would be very helpful for a lot of readers - myself included - interested in the topic of this book to seek out the kind of experience mentioned in Charings preface in order to connect to the "other" world, cosmic consciosness, higher self or God if you will in a direct and authentic way, thereby creating a new inner pesonal psycho-spirtual framework and then proceed from there.
To quoute Terence McKenna in the beginning of the preface: "We are not talking about passive agents of transformation; we are talking about an intelligence, a consciousness, an alive and other mind, a spirit.... Nature is alive and is talking to us. This is not a metaphor"
There are interesting interviews throughout the book with various indigenous practitioners of shamanism, plant healing and magic. The authors theorize about how and why plant healing and magic works and how to communicate with plant spirits. They write about using intention and love as a language in communicating with plants/plant spirits.
In chapter 1 there is mention of some interesting experiments in plant-human relationship/communication by Cleve Backster, Alfred Vogel and a student of his Vivian Wiley. One thing these experiments show is basically that plants are sensitive to human intention, that they react in some way to our thoughts by some unexplained means. (suggestive of an interconnectedness between all living things in spirit, a theoretical basis for magic to be effective and a part of the shamanic worldview.) From the point of view of the traditional materialistic worldview this concept is - as one would expect - met with strong scepticism and thus these experiments are as far as I can tell not accepted by the scientific community in general. The chapter ends with an invitation for us readers to try a similar experiment on our own. (page 50)
Chapter one also includes practical guidelines to making "mojo-bags" and "offerings" to influence and direct the forces of the universe, for example in healing, luck, love and personal success.
Other interesting points discussed in the book is the evolution of the human species and the possible role of psychedelics in brain development. I quote page 81: "we have been hardwired for the sacred" (This is along the lines of Terence McKennas ideas in his book Food of the Gods)
A very interesting discussion on the ethics of pusangas (magical potions that for example can make people attracted to you) takes place in chapter 5. On the surface, pusangas may seem like a method of manipulating other poeple and thus may be thought of as unethical. However, another perspective is mentioned page 155: Pusangas do not change the other person, they change *you*, it makes your natural ability to attract other people come out. In other words, the magic takes place within *you*.
I am an open-minded person, but I am somewhat sceptical to some of the things in the book, no doubt because of my atheist upbringing in our western society. It often (if not always) comes down to personal experience when breaking with the old ways (the western materialistic worldview) and becoming aware of the larger spiritual side of existance (the shamanic/transpersonal worldview). I have limited personal experience. For example I hold it as highly likely that consciousness survives bodily death but something like magic is still an area where I have a relatively high degree of scepticism but also ignorance. I do however have a theoretical interest in it and this book gives me an increased understanding and insight. It may even make me curious enough to further explore magical/healing rituals because it does make a lot of sense within a larger framework (the shamanic/transpersonal worldview) that something like magic would actually have a real effect, that plants have spirits we can communicate with and that can influence our lives if we ask it of them.
Some questions arise as I read the book:
What factors influence magic?
To what extent does: personal belief, sociocultural upbringing, group psychology, "hardwired" ESP-abililies, effect outcome?
What about shamanic initiation, spiritual opening, altered states of consciousness in relation to magical practice?
To what degreee does that increase the effect of magical practice? (concievably as a result of believing in it more because of the expanded worldvew that frequently results from such experiences)
What about the shamanic worldview and the law of karma and reincarnation, can past life experiences be the cause of disease aswell as spirit intrusion and soul loss?
I feel the authors should have explored these questions more. Shaman Javier Arevalo talks a litte about the western lifestyle in relation to working with plant spirits on page 148: "To control oneself is fundamental to having the strenght to work with the spirits, but city people [Westerners and Peruvians with westernized lifestyles] do not take responibility for themselves and their power wastes away. Now they don't even know what they want or what is good for them or how to get it [because we give control of ourselves over to society and the goverment]".
Key to making magic work according to one don Eduardo of Cusco is your own belief in it (Page 151): "You must believe without an atom of a doubt [because] lack of faith robs your spirit of power". If this is the case, then it puts the western would be magician/shaman in a difficult position. Having been raised in western society it may prove quite a challenge for him to break with the old world and be reborn into the world of magic and spirits. As mentioned previously, Ayahuasca may provide a sort of gateway for this purpose, in my opinion this point should have been more prominent.
Overall, the book is an easy and interesting read. It presents ideas in an easy to understand way. As a practical guide it gets 5 stars, however the theoretical part should have been more elaborate and could have been more convincing and it gets 3 stars.
Everything, including plants and flowers, has consciousness and has the ability to communicate with other sentient beings. The shamans listen to the wisdom of the plants. Through their spirits the shamans have been able to determine the answers to questions about the brain and our universe that modern science still hasn't figured out with any clarity.
Plus, any book that quotes the late comedian Bill Hicks is definitely worth of 5 stars.