Radical Botany

‘And you? When will you begin that long journey into yourself?’ – Rumi

In April 2013 I began a journey that I thought would take me to the Hoh Rain Forest on the Olympic Peninsula, instead the path led through the Hoh to southern Ireland, the land of my grandfather and grandmother and then I was brought to my new home on an incredible farmstead outside of Port Townsend, Washington.

So enthralling was this journey that I felt frozen in the ability to write about it.  This was a new experience, not being able to write.  I have been journaling for the last 30 years and in the last year I was left frozen, a block of a kind.  I could not think of the words, only experience the sensations.  All the time I journeyed I felt the part of the observer being rushed along and not by my own accord. It was as if some spirit teacher had taken my hand and pulled me to places I had never seen before.

You see this journey was so compelling that I was bedazzled by my environment. It was as if I was given a gift and asked to open a door with the promise of exploring a few native plants but as I opened the door I was extracted from my old life and taken to places I never thought I would know. When Spirit calls do you say “not now there is no time”?  I was called by plant spirits to journey.  I did not know when I called out to Devils Club and Elderberry that they would show me a path to an ancestral home and a new way of living.   According to my friend and fellow herbalist, Sean Donahue, Devil’s Club (Oplopanax horridus) helps people reclaim their power and assert their right to be in the world. He told me that when you ask to know and see Devil’s Club you are asking to reclaim your power.  Last year I searched for Devil’s Club in the Hoh Rain Forest and I was not prepared for what happened once I found it.

During this last year there were few words to tell you about this journey, even though I thought of you all often and wished that I could update my blog with the details.

And now, one year later in April 2014 I have come out of the journey to tell you what I saw.  And as always, it was native plants that were my guides.  It was native plants that called to me.  In the Hoh I searched for Devils Club, in County Cork Ireland I searched for my grandfather’s old stone house and found native elderberries.  And on this beautiful wild farm that I now reside, I found whole communities of plants, forests, bogs, bear, unique pollinators, rare frogs, salamanders and a life of community.

In the next few weeks I will be writing about my journey beginning with my trip to the Hoh Rain Forest of the Olympic Peninsula.  I hope that you will check back often and journey with me.  Because I have a message from Spirit that is worth telling – Namaste

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