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©2007 by Kathleen Harrison and Paul StametsThis issue of Vibration Magazine is focusing on "Nature-Centered Wisdom." As such, we are exploring relationships humans have had with all types of plants, including those that are considered sacred by a variety of peoples. The editors' are not promoting the ingestion of these plants, as some are illegal to even possess much less consume in many countries. We are instead educating about their historic use. Our regular readers are aware that no part of the plant is used in making an essence, but newcomers might want to see our FAQ. 
KAT HARRISON: Over the last 35 years, I learned a lot by observing indigenous people who honor and use sacred plants in a very appropriate way. It has been said about the conquest and colonization of the Americas that Europeans eagerly grabbed the land but forgot to ask for the operating instructions. A significant part of those operating instructions had traditionally come through the use of the sacred plants that had been here and in use for eons. We still haven't really asked for the operating instructions. We didn't know that there were any, and this has led us down a trail of large-scale destruction of the ecosystems. I just came back from the Ecuadorian Amazon, and I can't tell you how disturbing it is to see hundreds of roads and big, black pipelines ravaging the rainforest. The people there are still trying to figure what's going on. They're still taking ayahuasca and looking into their dreams and visions for guidance, but their world is being ripped apart. The ancient sacred plants can offer us a deeper kind of wisdom about the places we live in. They can show us that all things are alive and constantly talking with each other, and that we need to honor those conversations, even if we can't understand them. Part of the operating instructions for how to do that can be transmitted by these plants and fungi, so we need to listen to them and to the people who have been using them for so long and who have developed the tools to access and interpret their wisdom. We need to help those native voices be heard, especially because their lives and cultures are under siege. For a number of indigenous cultures, their main sacred plants and the rituals associated with them form the core basis of their world views. I have found this to be universally true among people who use these types of plants throughout the Americas, from the indigenous peyote-using cultures in North America to the ayahuasca-using tribes in the Amazon. They use these plant allies to go beyond a daily perspective and achieve a larger view, to step back and ask, "What is my work here? Am I on the right path? How am I doing with my relations, my community, and the larger world?" We so-called Westerners from more privileged societies now have access to a great gift. We can be eco-tourists and go experience these plants, but part of the charge of receiving such an incredible gift is that, collectively, we have to take it very, very seriously. It can't just be about our personal growth and individual concerns. We, too, just look at the bigger picture and must each take on the charge of what we are going to contribute. 
PAUL STAMETS: Some of the indigenous peoples of the Americas really knew how to listen to the intelligence of the natural world. I think plants and mushrooms have intelligence, and they want us to take care of the environment, and they want to communicate that to us in a way that we can understand. When I use these mushrooms and other compounds, I get the message that this planet is really in trouble, that we're approaching a huge catastrophe, and that we're all in this ship together. I get the sense that all these spirits are speaking to me, that the planet is calling out to us, asking us for help, to control our consumption, waste, and pollution. But we are so incredibly busy in our culture, we don't know how to sit, be silent, and listen. For some of us, though, these plant allies help us pause. They stop us in our tracks. We set aside time to reflect on what is really important in our lives and in the larger world. I'm definitely an alpha male type, but mushrooms have taught me how to rediscover some of the feminine aspects of wisdom. I think a lot of men in our culture would really benefit from that. When I use these mushrooms, I feel like water. I feel fluid. I realize that I have an aqueous body that's tied to the ocean and the entire planet. Even though we of European ancestry are recent arrivals here, if you were born on this land, you're part of this land; you are in some sense an indigenous person. We aren't the original indigenous people, but nevertheless we have a responsibility to be good custodians of our environment, to try to remedy the fact that the greatest natural disaster to ever hit this planet has been Homo Sapiens. It's really important to treat powerful tools like plants and mushrooms with a lot of thought and respect. It's important not to overdo it. When I was younger, I was voracious for experiences of altered consciousness, but after many experiences I don't need to go back to it nearly as frequently as when I was forming my personality and getting to know my soul. Above all else, never neglect safety. If you are absolutely committed to this kind of experience, let someone you trust totally know what you're doing, where you're going to be, and what options there are should there be a problem.
KAT HARRISON: Before native people use a plant, they want to know exactly who has grown it or collected it in the wild, and they want to be sure that it's someone they know very well and whose intentions are pure. Indigenous masters of this type of botanical wisdom consider this type of medicine so vibratory in nature and so absorbent of human intention that they take the history of the plant's origin very, very seriously. I recommend we follow their lead. ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Kathleen Harrison is an ethnobotanist, artist, and photographer who researches the relationship between plants and people, with a particular focus on art, myth, ritual, and spirituality. She teaches at the California School of Herbal Studies, Sonoma State University, and the University of Minnesota, and has done fieldwork in Latin America for 30 years. She co-founded and directs Botanical Dimensions, a nonprofit organization whose aim is to preserve plant knowledge as it pertains to medicinal and shamanic usage. Paul Stamets is a renowned mycologist, exploring and sharing the remarkable nutritional and medicinal value of mushrooms. His passion is to preserve, protect, and clone -- from the old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest -- as many ancestral strains of mushrooms as possible. He has written six books about medicinal and psychotropic mushrooms around the world. ART CREDITS: The art used in the border for this article is with permission of Pacific Northwest Native American artist, Lillian Pitt. To see more of her art, visit her web page. Page design by Donna Cunningham of Word of Mouth Web Design.
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