This might seem like a plug for Kami McBride, herbalist and plant medicine woman with an online following, who I check in on sometimes because she is so human and open and friendly and seems to know what she is talking about. Oh, and personable. So here is the gist of what I hear her saying about plant communication: That we can all do it. It's not mysterious or esoteric or woo-woo. Communication with the plant world is a "dormant piece" of being human. It's a case of waking up to this forgotten ability that we carry within us. Yes, it may be buried but not deep. Plants are always ready for us to communicate with them, we just have to remember that communicating with nature comes with being human!
It helps to make the little effort. It's like crossing on a "little bridge" to a new kind of relationship with plants. A lot of people (she contends) have "had it" with the way we have been conditioned to use and exploit nature, as if it is Earth's lot to give and give to the bitter end, and for us to receive. (Some of us more and some less.) But Kami sees plant communication as an "incredible opportunity for relationship".
With the growing popularity of herbalism and plant medicine, if the relationship piece is not in place, she warns, corporations (pharma and the profit motive) will drive the movement. We can learn from what the fishing industry has taught us. The big-net fishing approach to herbalism might wipe out eco-systems before we realize what we have allowed to happen (by just sitting by and passively ordering supplements or purchasing our herbal remedies from the quickest, cheapest sources via global marketing and streamlined distribution services). . . . without even going outside. She reminds us that the Earth is not our inheritance to hoard or squander, we "borrow it from our children and grand children".
Our way into plant communication might be a heart-memory, from childhood. Our life is deeply rooted in memories of first-encounters: with a certain tree for example or a spider or a snake, or a lilly pond. And it is those first encounters that "set up a trajectory for the rest of our lives". Plant communication is not just for a few people who are gifted, but it is for all of us. We just need to find what that door or opening looks like for each of us. I see it as an old door, but one that will be strangely familiar. The henges might be a little rusty! But once we get started, more doors appear. Heart memories often provide the keys to these doors of access.
Finally, we have to learn to trust how we, each one of us, communicates with other life-forms and the Earth. And part of that process is learning to "discern the message from mind chatter". The sooner we learn to trust ourselves, that our own way into this new / old relationship is fine, the better. "Comparing ourselves to others is like a choke collar."
(Article changed on Oct 03, 2022 at 12:40 PM EDT)