Untitled - Awaken Video

Chapter 8. The Making of a Seiðman 219
8.5. On the Gathering of Plants:
As a stated in the very beginning of this book, I grew up in a small town in rural
Michigan and I started collecting herbs for medicine at a very early age around 9
or 10 years old. I studied herbalism diligently until I was about 17 when I moved
from Michigan to the Black Hills of South Dakota. The herbs and South Dakota are
quite a bit different than those in Michigan and rather than have to learn a whole
new set of herbs, I decided to take only the ones I knew and ignore the rest. At
that time, though, I discovered and herb which would become very important in my
seið-making, prairie sage. It is a very low growing plant which grows abundantly
from South Dakota, west to Washington, and south to the American Southwest
where I now reside. At that time, I used herbs primarily for their chemical qualities
as medicines. I knew that Native Americans used prairie sage to clear out evil
influences but I really didn’t understand the process behind it. Herbs, for me, were
plants which had specific properties related to their chemical makeup. I continued
to believe this until the winter of 1992.
The dreams that I had in the winter of 1992 bothered me. For the first time
I was confronted with the idea that plants were not really ‘plants.’ The dreams
seemed to indicate that plants were really ghosts who resided in stationary bodies
rather than mobile bodies like animals or people, but beyond this they were almost
no different than animals or people. I began to view plants as creatures complete
with personalities, personal quirks, personal agendas, and mentation.
In the early summer of 1992 and began to collect herbs for medicine again for
the first time in about 10 or 15 years. It was the first time that I never collected
herbs where I had to take into consideration the plants as creatures. I actually felt
a need to ask them to help me and what they needed from me in terms of respect
for what they were.
The rules that the plant-ghosts set down vary slightly from plant to plant, but
there are some commonalities.
1. First, for every group of plants growing there is either a grandfather or grandmother
who needs to be approached first before any plants are harvested. They
need to be greeted formally with a good show of respect. They are, after all, the
elder of their clan. They also need to know exactly who is picking from them.
Usually, they require that a bit of hair be left with them as a show of faith but
sometimes they may also ask for tobacco, blood, or alcohol.
2. Picking should be done slowly and with a sense of respect.
3. Preferably, plants should be plucked or pulled from the ground rather than cut.
Cutting is very disrespectful. Pulling or plucking demonstrates the intent of
the healer/ wholemaker while cutting resembles somebody who is simply taking