Shamanic Plant Medicine and Communicating with Plant Spirits

Shamanic Plant Medicine and Communicating with Plant Spirits

Ready for a story about ancestral remembrance, plant mediumship and wildcrafting? Read on! (And make sure to check out the photos below!)

As a kid, I loved to make “potions” out of leaves, sticks and dirt from my backyard. I would present the resulting elixir to my mother and proudly announce its healing properties, while she nodded seriously and pretended to drink it.

Throughout middle school, high school and university, my relationship with plants became much more academic. I learned how to identify many different species, memorize their scientific names and ecological significance, and occasionally learned a few facts about their cultural or practical significance to indigenous people. I saw examples in museums of baskets and clothing woven from Western Red Cedar, and clay pots stained with herbs. I read the little cards about the importance of these practical tools in peoples’ daily lives and felt a deep longing I couldn’t quite name.

For the first many years of my Shamanic practice, I felt so much ease and comfort connecting with animals, different spirits, and opening my mediumship. But connecting with plants in that way eluded me. I heard other practitioners gush about working with their plant allies and the powerful healings they received from flower essences and tinctures. And I just… didn’t get it.

Until 2019, when Stinging Nettle and Hawthorn intervened to help wake me up.

I have long stories of how both of these plants gave me a significant dose of their medicine that resulted in huge waves of transformation. For now, suffice it to say that receiving transmissions from these 2 plant spirits woke me up to plant mediumship.

When I got home from my trip, I saw Hawthorn everywhere I went. I dove deep into studying with this new ally, and officially began my practice of foraging, wildcrafting and alchemical herbalism. I have felt the plants supporting me gently by sending me 2 or 3 new plant allies to study with deeply every year.

In addition to learning about their properties and understanding them from the ecological perspective, I received transmissions from the spirits of the plants. They offered me healing and teachings about their magic. I studied their connection with Alchemy, and learned how to harvest them and work with them during their most auspicious hours and days to make potent medicine.

My practice of plant mediumship has grown exponentially since I moved out of the city in 2024. With every season, I feel my remembered wisdom coming more online. (I’ve had some very cool experiences of feeling a strong pull toward an unfamiliar plant, only to identify it and discover that its medicinal properties aligned perfectly with my needs at that time.)

I feel like I’m beginning to grow a little bit out of my imposter syndrome when it comes to herbalism, and that is thanks to cultivating and trusting that intuitive knowing with plants (an intuitive knowing that came so easily to me in other areas of my Shamanic practice). Now, when I feel a strong pull towards a plant, it feels less like something unfamiliar, and more like being re-introduced to someone I met a long time ago and rediscovering our friendship.

In addition to working with plants and making medicines, I’ve been diving into other ancestral skills: drum making, firecraft, and most recently, Adirondack foraging pack basket weaving. (Maybe I’ll tell that story in another article.)

With my practice of plant mediumship, wildcrafting and studying ancestral skills, that unnamed longing I felt as a child has transformed into a warm connection. I can now see that the longing was my desire to remember, to communicate with the plants as beloved allies, to get to know them on their own terms, and to collaborate with them to make medicine with my own hands.

What ancestral remembrance is calling you?

Do you feel a longing you can’t quite name, pulling you into deeper study of Shamanism?

Are you called to develop your mediumship and direct relationships with plants, animals and other spirits?

Are you ready to receive support in your Shamanic practice?

Get Support:

>>>Book a call with me to talk about what type of support is right for you!

It's actually not about you (or me)

One of the most important reasons to take the Sacred Ecology course is not about you at all.

Most marketing focuses on selling the "selfish" benefits, and there are a lot of "selfish" reasons why you might take this course. (There is absolutely nothing wrong with these reasons. I’ve been publishing a lot of articles lately about this. Take a look at those emails for some great ways this course would benefit you directly.)

But studying Sacred Ecology is inherently an act of revolutionary generosity, because it decenters you as an individual. It even decenters humans as a species.

Instead, it centers the local ecosystem. It centers relationships. It centers consent, context and collaboration. It centers Gaia and her magic.

Something beautiful comes from decentering the self. This inherently goes against all of the toxic conditioning and foundation of modern, western culture (especially in the US) which is based on individualism and this weird fetishization of selfishness. My rights. Look out for #1. Selfies. Endless navel-gazing and pathologizing and self-diagnosing and therapizing and making it all about me, me, me.

How lonely. How small. How inherently blind.

But what happens when we decenter ourselves? What happens when we devote ourselves to becoming students and stewards of life? What happens when we make offerings to the nature spirits, and to Gaia? What happens when we show up to be curious and generous, rather than to consume?

How connected we become. How expansive. How loving.

Decentering the self goes against everything we are trained to embody. Decentering the self requires empathy and compassion. It helps us remember that life is living through us, just as it is living through all things. It helps us to be generous. It helps us to remember that we belong. You belong to life, and life loves you.

Don’t take this course because it will benefit you.

Take this course because it will benefit Gaia.

Take this course because it will benefit the animals, plants, microbes and mycelia.

Take this course as an act of revolution. Take this course to crack the toxic foundation of entitled consumption that holds up systems of oppression and treats the Earth like garbage.

Take this course because you love life. By that I don’t mean your life specifically. Take this course because you love that life exists, and you want to serve life. Take this course because you love that consciousness has manifested in the incarnate. Take this course because you love that so many different bioforms have evolved over millennia to cooperate and live in concert with each other. Take this course because you love that plants eat sunlight and trees sing to each other through the mycelial network. Take this course because you love that elephant matriarchs remember for decades where to find water and pass this knowledge down to their daughters and granddaughters. Take this course because you love the song of the red-winged blackbird.

I promise that this course will benefit you. This training will support your personal practice, your health, your relationships, your work, your home, your family. But it will support so much more than you and your immediate surroundings. By taking this course, you are serving this gorgeous living temple planet and all her children.

Are you ready to collaborate with land and nature spirit allies?

Sacred Ecology begins July 26. Register now!

Who is Sacred Ecology for?

Dear human,

I get it. You love nature. You love animals and plants, you love being outside and you can feel the energy of life all around you. You know that Gaia is alive and that all beings on Earth have their own magic, teachings, life path and purpose.

But sometimes you feel disconnected from that web of life. Sometimes you feel like you’re on the outside looking in at the mysterious beauty and power of nature. And unfortunately, that is a normal byproduct of modern society. We live in a world of houses and concrete and wifi, where human intellect is placed on a pedestal above all other life forms. It is a weird and shitty world view that separates us from our true origins as children of Gaia, and removes us from our natural connection and allyship to land and nature spirits.

Working with land and nature spirits is your birthright as a child of Earth.

Maybe it never occurred to you that collaborating with the land and nature spirits could improve your physical health, bring peace of mind and enhance your psychic abilities. Maybe it slipped your mind that anchoring your healing practice into the Earth grid would make your work safer, more powerful and sustainable. Maybe you want to connect with the nature spirits, but you don’t know how or where to start.

Regardless, I see you, and I’ve got you covered.

I see that you want to create powerful allyships with land and nature spirits to support you in your healing or spiritual practice. I see that you feel drawn to a particular animal, plant, river or mountain, but you don’t know how to build a deeper connection. I see that you feel disconnected and isolated in this concrete world, and you are ready to come home to Gaia and the web of life. I see that you want to pray with the trees, make offerings to the Earth and receive messages from the birds and the wind.

I see that you are ready to work with land and nature spirits.

Who is Sacred Ecology for?

• You love nature. You feel connected to plants and animals and enjoy the outdoors, but you’re ready to go beyond enjoying nature into a deep, functional allyship with Gaia.

• You are ready to receive initiations and teachings directly from the original wisdom keepers: plants, animals, stones, elements, and Gaia herself. You are ready to collaborate with ancient and powerful allies.

• You want to go beyond the superficial, “Instagram Witch” nature-based spiritual practice to learn the underlying concepts and tools that support powerful animistic practices like shamanism, mediumship and witchcraft.

• You are a healer, ceremonial guide, retreat facilitator or spaceholder. You want to make sure that your container of healing and transformation is as safe and powerful as possible so your clients can receive the most benefit. You are ready to invoke your nature spirit allies to support your work.

• You are a homesteader, gardener or permaculturist. You want to go beyond the functional aspects of land stewardship to cultivate a spiritual partnership with the guardians and wisdom keepers of the land.

• You are on a healing journey to regulate your nervous system, support mental or physical health, or recover from trauma. You want to attune and calibrate your etheric and physical bodies to the nurturing stability of Gaia.

You feel the calling and remembrance of the wisdom of nature.

You feel Gaia beckoning you to collaborate with her magic.

You are eager to meet and study new, powerful allies.

You are ready to work with land and nature spirits.

If any of this calls to you, Sacred Ecology is right for you.

Sacred Ecology begins July 26.

This course includes:

• 7 live online classes, each including training, hands-on exercises and integration prompts.

• Ceremonial initiation with your new nature spirit ally.

• Private online community for resources and connection.

• Upgrade option: Add three discounted 1:1 sessions with Michelle for personalized support and mentorship.

Register now!