Showing posts with label plants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plants. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Plant Wars


exerpt from Dale Pendell's PharmakoDynamis:

Perhaps it is the plants that turn history, and we act in their behalf--sowing fields, opening plantations and imbibing the steaming extracts. The plant spirit moves through our bodies, spreading through blood and nerves, lymph and synapse, until our identites are merged and we do their bidding. We secure beachheads, plan campaigns to subdue a continent and win a culture.

Some plants are gregarious , others jealous. Tobacco gets along with everyone, excepting maybe Methodists. Wine and opium can't even attend the same party. Tea visits the poppy's house, but not that of the grape. Coffee seems to be imperialistic: thou shalt have no other stimulants before me, while khat doesnt mind coffee at the table at all.

The plants have their own way of looking at history--its not just a difference of time scale. It is difficult for humans to understand==we lack the plant's direct accesss to Light--we have to eat them.

Alcohol has a streak of meanness, and its shrines are loud and noisy. Coffee favors conversation to music, so its houses are lively but not loud.

In this primal communion--this, our eating of the god--we accept by surrendering. We give up our individuality, our autonomous freedom and will--and accept the grace of the Redeemer. The plant gets a chair on the top floor.

Cannabis mixes freely, except when its paranoid. Hallucinogenic mushrooms and cacti need no others--they cross mountain passes and explore desert trails like free wandering monks. They greet the elementals, make friends with corn, then open the doors. No one is excluded.

Its no wonder the Catholicism was so easily accepted in Mexico. Sacfrificing the god, and then eating him, was, to Mesoamericans, no an unfamiliar concept.

And maize fed Spain, while the deer moved into the mountains.


mmmmm, the Plants...what do you think?

Monday, January 19, 2009

New Eleusis?


I thought this to be thought provoking. For all those who know about Eleusis great, if not great again. Check it and browse around the RealitySandwich Blog...it is a good one.
http://realitysandwich.com/new_eleusis_long_trip_isn039t_over_yet

Plant Speak #2: Tea

How many cups does it take?


"The first bowl cleanly moistens my lips and throat;
The second banishes my loneliness;
the third chases through all dullness
To clarify every word I've ever read.
The fourth brings on a light sweat
That cleanses away life's troubles.
The fifth purifies my soul
The sixth beckons me to the Immortals.
The seventh is my limit,
A light breeze breaks from my sleeves."
Lu T'ung, the "Teas Doter."

Tea. Oh, what a gift. Such an underestimated plant. Well, maybe not. The Chinese protected it for hundreds of years; No Share!. The Japanese made art and ceremony out of it. Europeans were fiends for it and went to war for it. They dissolved millions of pounds of sugar into it at the expense of African's lives. So, lets not say underestimated, but maybe today it is. Seems to me coffee has a greater hold on our society than this enlightening little plant. A moment of veneration.......ahhhhh.
Tea, you are like a monk with a stick with lessons ever subtle, I thank you. First, for helping me come to terms with our powerhouse friend coffee. Second, I am at your command for all you have taught me about attention to the details. Art. Pose. Quality. You seem to pull attention towards the greater beauty in the world. You are fast. I love you. Not as fast as the black water thankfully.
Anti-oxidants, polyphenols, vitamins, and minerals. You offer all for the upkeep of our bodies and minds and spirits. I will carefully serve your purpose. Share your insights. Bodhidharma sacrificed his eyelids for you. I sacrifice my beverage preference for you. May you help heal our constitutions. Fermented or not, from China or Japan or India, it seems your lot is similar: composed! Spiritual. Elegant. Regal. May I be an initiate. I bow down before your nature. The drink of a thousand and one Buddhas please enlighten me...and my friends.

Correspondence List:

Color: Mountain Green
Shape: circle
Planet: Saturn
God: Pan Gu
Activity: Meditation
Time of Day: Anytime
Music: Oriental
State of Mind: Serenity
Enemy: Coffee
Ally: Monks
Meridian: Lung
Element: Ether
Religion: Taoism
Sport: Mountain Climbing
Tuning: Drop D
Story: Bodhidharma's
Medicine: Qi Gong
Sport: Golf


Tea anyone?

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Our Story...in brief


Origins...

What do Entheogen’s, 5 Element Chinese Medicine, and Evolutionary Astrology all have in common? I offer that they all have a profound potential for healing at the psycho/spiritual level of our being. What then happens when they are combined? You get Entheomedicne. Essentially, we use the Spirit, insight, and relationships gained from the Entheogenic experience in the treatment room. In no way are we using Entheogenic substances during our sessions, nor are we encouraging the usage of them. We simply use our experience with the spirits of plants to help assist in healing. In the following passage I wish to offer a brief history of the medicine, an explanation of what it looks like in practice, and also what the future of Entheomedicine might look like. I apologize in advance for it being a bit biographical, but I don’t know if there was any other way.
During our studies at the Academy of 5 Element Acupuncture my partner and I began to become disheartened with the limitations of school. The 5 elements branch of Chinese medicine is, no doubt, an elegant, and incredibly spiritual medicine, but we were hitting walls with it. Within the shadows of my own life I was doing extensive research and healing work with Entheogenic plants when an untimely opportunity arouse for me to explore a dormant dream to go explore the rainforests of South America and to drink Ayahuasca. I took the opportunity with a leave of absence from school and with a plan not to return for 6 months. My mission : to learn how to heal without anything but my own two hands and voice.
The trip was powerful! It wasn’t as long as expected,. It ended up to be just a few weeks, but it was just what I was looking for. Madre de Ayahuasca told me, along with the Curandero, Don Eduardo, that she wasn’t my medicine, and , in fact, it was wise for me to go back to the states because there was something I had to do there. Complying with these powerful oracles I booked my ticket the next day. When I arrived back in the states is when the seed began to sprout. Entheomedicine had started to grow.
I met my first spiritual teacher upon returning. Quite miraculously, Paul Fraser, an Acupuncturist/Qi Gong master invited me to participate in his Medical Qi Gong class. Throughout the transformation which was taking place for me in the class, my partner and I , who was still in her clinical year at the school, started seeing patients at our home. My dream had become manifest. Terence Mckenna once said, “Shamans in all times and places have gained their powers through relationships with helping spirits.” I had fully groked this relationship at this point. Within dreams and intuitions the spirits of these plants were communicating with me. Telling me how to treat, use the 5 elements, and manipulate Qi in my own body and the bodies of our patients. Most importantly, the spirits of the plants were doing much of the healing just by being asked. In Plant, Spirit, Medicine, an amazing text on ancient, but still accessible shamanic techniques, Eliot Cowan, who is also a 5 Element practitioner and who has also synthesized 5 Element theory with Shamansim, says, “Years later I found out it isn’t necessary to be poor, illiterate, and Indian to learn deep healing from a plant--most plants will teach anyone if they are interested. If you are interested, all you have to do is ask.”
Our practice was in full swing by the time we graduated and moved out West. The next chapter was an unexpected one and an indispensable one. I had my first Astrology reading. Not just any Astrology reading, but an Evolutionary one. Ari Moshe Wolfe, who is a certified Evolutionary Astrologer, blew my mind. It is different from all other forms of Astrology in that you focus on the Souls (Pluto‘s) desire in this lifetime and what obstacles and tools (Moons nodes and aspects) there are to make this desire manifest. I became determined to learn the basics of these techniques in this strange and alien language. I planned on using it to better understand the nature of our patients and to help them move through and evolve out of their circumstances. In just a few month’s of studying with him I had begun to apply this knowledge to our practice and what felt like some kind of Holy Trinity had been created (Plant Spirit Medicine, Acupuncture, and Astrology).
It was a difficult step for us to take in adopting the word Entheogen into our name. It is such a charged entity. Many don’t even know what it means, and for those who do--of course--the association goes straight to the sacred plants. The word Entheogen is just the best word for what we do, it encapsulates where our work is coming from. The word itself implies “to experience God from within.” Our assumption is that we aren’t the ones actually doing the healing, nor the plants really. Ultimately, it is the ineffable.
So, what does it look like in practice? The session begins with a 2hr diagnosis where we are able to get to know the person, establish rapport, and get some basic diagnostic information. I ask them to bring their birth information to assist us in understanding the nature of where their Soul is at in it’s evolutionary journey. Whether they want a full Astrological reading is up to them-- the birth information is useful either way. We then enter the treatment room where we do the acupuncture, medical Qi gong, and spirit work. In the year we have been experimenting with these combinations this seems to be the most effective approach. Everyone in our practice has left with the elimination of their symptoms and their overall wellbeing increased. In fact, most continue seeing us, even if they cannot see us in the flesh. A lot of what we are doing can be done just as effectively at a distance--sometimes it is even stronger. Never is the form set in stone. We are open to flux, in fact, we embrace it. Life demands it from us.
In conclusion, I hope this was inspiring. My purpose in writing this was to share my experience and to get feedback from those who are willing to respond. I know there are many out there who will embrace this fresh approach to medicine. In the face of all the change we are up against, we feel these new and ancient approaches to health care are what we need. I also felt the need to share this story because I want to attract others doing similar work who are hopefully interested in creating a cooperative system where we work and share resources amongst ourselves. We desire to create some sort of alternative energy exchange system which can be completely self-sustained. I hope for your feedback: the good and the bad. I need all of it pointed out. We are waiting, we are hoping, and we are praying for the cessation of all suffering in all beings.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Plant Speak #1: Coffee....




"When the black spirits pour inside us,
Then the spirit of God and air
And all that is wonderous within
Moves us through the night, never-ending"
Rumi, (ranting and twirling and singing and praying)

Coffee. Kahwey. java. Crank. Bean. Joe. Go Juice. Ambition. Are you good for me (for us), or do you have a different agenda? You make it easy for so many to slide out of bed in the morning with your alluring aroma which dances from your sneaky shrine. Its true! You are one of the most revered plants in the world. Every office has a shrine for you. Most houses do too! What is it about you? Kalidi and his laughing goats can offer us an answer: Excitation. Curious goats, sensuas little cherries with a whammy of a punch. You are ubiqitous too. Who is willing to admit your addictive spirit? Your effects are so elusive also. And how well you go with all of the other New World goodies: Tobacco, Sugar, and Chocolate. Blessing or a curse. The verdict is still out. I do find it interesting how you and all of your New World buddies have taken such control of your explioters. Way to go. No, honestly, I respect your path. For all those who do not respect your "real" gifts, like our friend Rumi, you offer emotional imbalance, addiction, speediness, stomach cancer, urinary tract infection, and, of course, insomnia. I hope for you to loosen your grip on me. I bow down with an offering. A truce: I will post this on my blog. I will always talk highly of you, and caution those who come in contact with me about your pro's and con's. Coffee, I love you, but I must leave for now. Here is a list of correspondences Dale Pendell has come up with for you...do you agree?

Activity: Commerce
Animal: Camel
Archetype: Soldier
Art: Fiction
Body function: Locomotion
Body part: Heart
Buddha Realm: Karma
Chord: Tonic
Color: Ivory
Cosmic Entity: Main sequence? Blue/white
Crutch for: Inattention
Dimension: Time
Discipline: Taxonomy
Element: Metal
Form of Ignorance: Speculation
God: Hermes
Goddess: Fortuna
Grammar: Context free
Age: Kali Yuga
Humor: Melancholic
Image: Clock
Landscape: Cities
mmm....interesting. If interested in the effects of coffee on your precious organism check out this link: http://www.cosic.org/