TAKING BACK OUR HEALTH WITH THE PLANTS AND TREES

By CC Treadway
www.treadwayesoteric.com

RECLAIMING OUR HEALTH WITH MOTHER NATURE

I have very fond memories of going to the doctor when I was younger. It was always some nice man who let me cry while he probed my ears, pricked my fingers and stuck a shot in my arm. It was pretty simple, over quickly and my Mom comforted me as we went home. This was just the way it was.

Looking back those were really good times, because things aren't so simple anymore. The FDA, pharmaceutical companies and others romance doctors, school systems and companies to play by their rules. The problem has grown, in that we have allowed companies to infiltrate our lives, accepting a false system of medicine that is based on profit and power mongering. Patenting genetically modified seeds, destroying plant diversity, forcing vaccines for the common flu, and attempting to eradicate the sacred from ancient culture’s food cultivation - these are only a fraction of the problem. Our connection to nature, our natural selves and our health has deteriorated, and we have become ignorant to our own bodies. It is time that the people said, “No thank you,” and took back their power.

I am extremely passionate about this because I did not grow up dependent on these drugs, and see no reason why I, or anyone should be. I think modern medicine has a place, don't get me wrong, but my mother had a standard vitamin and healthy food routine that kept us vibrant and full of energy, avoiding most circulating illnesses. My brother and I spent the majority of our free time outside in a conversation with nature, exploring in the dirt, climbing trees, communing with nature spirits and running all over the place. My mother was not a hippie, but she was a pioneer of the time, as the American masses had shifted from communal sustainability to centralized subservience.  I feel very lucky that I was exposed to this type of empowerment so young.

As a young adult, I kept up that attitude because I hated the way the drugs made me feel. While I was in college I got bronchitis. The school doctor prescribed the usual antibiotics. I decided to do some research on natural remedies instead, and chose a solid vitamin routine of C, D, E and A, along with plenty of sleep, good food, fresh air, and no sugar or dairy. Because of my upbringing I knew I could do it. I was completely better in three days. I heard, “But you can’t cure bronchitis without antibiotics!” Really? I just did.


THE ENERGETIC REALMS

Natural healing, or healing at all can be completely impossible if the caregiver does not understand the energetic realms. Everything is energy. We all know this, and yet we experience the physical as something different. That’s OK because otherwise we would not have the full experience here on Earth - but it’s good to keep in mind when trying to heal. It's impossible when working with Mother Nature not to tap into the finer energetic realms because all natural remedies carry an emotional and spiritual component. That’s what the current medical industry has removed from its medicine. Or so we think. According to an inside source, the drugs have actually been infused with a negative emotional belief. Anyone who is sensitive can feel this.

To come back into harmonic empowerment with nature and our bodies, we must retrieve our energy, and foster our strength. Working in the energy paradigm, we can accomplish both in a short amount of time. We can communicate with all things: plants, trees, spirits, and our Higher Selves - and have a great time doing it. But there is something special that happens when we surrender our energy to live in harmony with Mother Earth. We become real human beings. We become incurably happy, fully alive. When our biology is aligned with the love of Mother Earth, life is good, life is rich, life is totally real and in the moment. All that we need is provided for: food, medicine, shelter and community. When we combine the call of the wild with Divine Heavenly energies, we are expansive, universal and in complete peace. With these two things in place, we most definitely are healthy!

GIVING AWAY OUR POWER

It seems these companies and government organizations have taken the two fundamental things (Mother Earth and Father Sky) that allow for human happiness and health and  eradicated them from the healing process. Unconsciously, we have given our health over to the authorities, becoming dependent. The cutting edge breakthroughs in modern, scientific medicine are beginning to transcend the old paradigm, but as individual humans we need to re-empower and re-educate ourselves.

I did a little research on the origins of antibiotics, mainly penicillin. Although I knew this already, it still surprised me that it originated from something natural - a fungus. This fungus is grown in sterile vats, and exposed to a high stress environment, which produces an autoimmune response in the fungus called a secondary metabolite. It is this metabolite which is the medicine. So, the fundamental qualities of the antibiotic are somewhat in line with any natural medicine.

What isn’t in line is the removal of the plant from its natural environment, the removal of any awareness of the plant itself as the medicine, the removal of a caregiver/doctor who understands the realms of emotion, energy and love, and the removal of the patient having this awareness. If you add on the financial interests of big pharma, and the possibility of a negative emotional program in each drug, well, are we even talking about healing anymore? No, we are talking about industry. These are two very different approaches with two very different agendas.

The result? Really strong medicine that somehow doesn’t work right. At best, the patient is cured of symptoms and they go on their merry way, assuming no other responsibility for their health. At worst, the drug creates another sickness which needs another drug. The two, three or four drugs are mixed together and the person dies. People have started to become like these drugs, they are raised inside, removed from their natural environment, waiting for someone else to tend to them, starved  of real nutrients, “No thank you,” I say.


YOU ARE THE MEDICINE

At a Level II training with Wisdom of the Earth medicinal aromatherapy in Sedona, AZ, a local Havasupai elder, Uqualla came to speak to us one night. He masterfully channeled a group message that seemed to hit each one of us on the individual level. “You are the medicine,” he said. He went on to say that the plant medicine cannot truly be activated without the awareness that the healing comes from within each individual. This shift in perception is the most important step to reclaiming our health, as well as reclaiming our system. Health is not something that is given to us any more than sickness.

Taking responsibility for our bodies is not easy. It can mean lifestyle changes, diet changes, job changes, relationship changes. It means confronting our shadows and committing to growth. Most importantly it means choosing positive intention over negative. That means making decisions in your life based on the desire to be in the love paradigm. It doesn’t mean acting happy and loving all the time, it means choosing the path of love, dealing with unpleasant things in a real way and making healthier decisions that ultimately lift our consciousness.

This brings me to quote another indigenous medicine man from the Shuar Amazonian tribe of Ecuador, Anank Nunink Nunkai:

“When someone breaks their leg, we do not take them to the emergency room. We give them the sacred plant, tend to the wound a bit, then the spirits of the plant come in during the night and fix the leg. To westerners this might sound crazy, but to us this is normal.”

Actually, it sounds pretty great. I would take it over surgery! There is so much in this statement. This goes beyond faith to simply knowing. Each member of this healing team is taking full responsibility. If the patient were not in a state of total knowing that the plant medicine could work in this way, the healing could not be done. The tribe is also recognizing that the healing is not simply divine energy, it is also the physical energy of the plant. The Ecuadorian shaman went on to talk about how plant medicine was a daily part of their lives. From the most mind altering to the most gentle.

“In the west, you would call us addicts, but we are not addicts. We are living in harmony with Mother Earth and what she has to give us.”

The Wisdom of the Earth philosophy teaches us to form relationships with each plant. We learn to communicate with the plants so that we know which ones to choose for healing even if we do not know the science. I have found the strongest healing from this method. Why? Because it activates the patient’s awareness of their healing process, it gives them power, it gives them knowledge. The plant feels seen and respected and a friendship is formed.


TAKING BACK YOUR POWER

Taking back your power is the same as reclaiming our bodies, reclaiming our health, reclaiming our system. The help that has been given to us by the medical industry is not enough, we are so much more. The medical system, as it is removes the essential element of nature, emotions and spirit, ultimately disempowering the patient. It only works on an aspect of the physical body. This just isn’t smart. We all have it in us to heal ourselves, to work as communities to empower each other, to look within ourselves and outdoors to the plants and trees for what we need. If the drugs that we use are based on plant medicine, doesn't it make sense to get to know the plants and trees again?

We are in a pivotal moment. Companies like Monsanto are trying to control nature so they can have the power. But if, one by one, we claimed our power and reclaimed our connection to nature, this couldn’t be done. The conversation about stopping the big companies would be over, because we would be unstoppable with our own conviction.

Our belief systems are the key. We must believe we have this ability, we must believe in the innate ability to heal and regenerate.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Pick three plants. Pick ones you have a personal connection with and grow them. If you live in a city, use pots and planters, or volunteer at a community garden. Ask spirit or your higher self what kind of plants you should grow. Make sure they are of organic origins. After you have picked them do a little research and see if you can actually grow them where you are! If you cant, then get to know what plants you can grow and pick one of those. If you spend time mastering these few plants you will have reconnected with the original medicine of the planet. Most plants are adaptogens, meaning they will adapt to what you need to help you heal. So if a book calls for St. John’s Wort to heal your depression and you cannot grow it, ask which plant that indigenous to your area would like to help you. It works. It is important that you cultivate the plant and not just buy it in the store. In this way your relationship with them becomes the strongest.

If you do this, you begin to become one with nature again, becoming part of the natural ecosystem and what I am talking about here will make sense on a cellular level. Nature's wisdom is far more powerful than our brains trying to figure it out. You will also find working with any high quality store bought product to be much more effective. These days, I use pure therapeutic essential oils when I don't have access to a forest or a garden, because of the joy of working with them, and because they are so strong. I can also carry them with me wherever I go. Skin also has a higher absorption rate than the intestines.

Healers, doctors, elders and other professionals are fundamental for your healing community, but ultimately understanding your body and what it takes for you to heal is what matters. There are a lot of ways to heal yourself, but I feel with the global health and food crisis we must work hand in hand with Nature again. We must take back our planet, our bodies and our power.


(c) CC Treadway 2009-10. All rights reserved.