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Chapter 5: My Aunties, The Trees (Oneness with the Green Nation)Part 2 – The Second Technology of Magic: Oneness
Finding Your Way in a Wild New WorldReclaim Your True Nature to Create the Life You Want
Martha Beck
We are made of stardust (molecules in our bodies were made when a massive star exploded hurling the elements into space) and sunshine (energy in us comes from the sun radiating energy and light to earth)
We rely on plants (Called “the green nation” in some Native American traditions) to use sunlight to animate stardust and transform matter and energy into living creatures
Every calorie we eat and every molecule of oxygen we breath are gifts to us from plants; it’s impossible not to be One with the plant kingdom
Physical connection between our bodies and the food and medicines created by plants Martha experienced Oneness with a massive, sheltering tree during a Rwanda
hike through stinging nettles and with an enormous, nettle-eating gorilla Martha’s coaches described getting healthier when drinking green smoothies and
reported Oneness with plants “singing” to them and “volunteering” to be eaten Shamans report learning medicinal and psychoactive uses of 80,000 plants from
the plants themselves (Harvard anthropologist reported their effective compounds) Suggestion: Get our sunlight energy and stardust matter from a variety of fresh
green plants and watch for improvements in our bodies and our energy
Mastering Oneness: (pp. 75-76) Let Plants Tell Your Body What It Wants (see how your standing body moves in
response to the word “pain” (negative) and in response to the word “calm” (positive); buy and eat fruits and vegetables that cause your body to move in a positive direction; try different recipes and smoothies to find what your body likes)
Guzzle Greens: blend and drink fruit and vegetable mixtures (one fruit for each vegetable with ice to thicken)
Spiritual connection between ourselves and the plant kingdom (part of wisdom traditions) Menders typically know how to use phytochemicals (phyto means plant) to alter
body chemistry, from healing headaches to having visions Wayfinders from many cultures (e.g., China, Europe, North and South America)
have many different methods for mastering plant medicine “New” medicines are often derived from ancient wisdom Because her body said “yes,” Martha Beck joined a shaman officiating over an
“ayahuasca journey” for a small group in South America (vomiting and visioning): She didn’t ingest the ayahuasca because she had taken a Western drug that could have made it dangerous; nonetheless, her body vibrated for four hours with each muscle experiencing deep bliss; the trees (adoring aunties) whispered to her that they wanted her to experience only healing
Material Taken From: Martha Beck – Finding Your Way in a Wild New World
Ellen Anderson [email protected] 408-784-3052
Using “magical” plants to alter mood or consciousness is often dangerous (sickening, addictive, and allergic) in modern Western culture; traditional cultures use them with great care; the plant kingdom deserves respect
Tompkins and Bird: Polygraph machines show plants react to attacks on animals and other plants; “Kirlian” photographs show halo-images of cut-off plant parts
Plant people report talking to their plants when they garden Wangari Muta Maathai enlisted African women to plant trees, started the Green
Belt Movement (> 20 million trees planted) and won the Nobel Peace Prize Hebrew Talmud: “Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and
whispers ‘Grow, grow.’”
Motivation to study phytochemicals may be the blessed curse of “Shaman Sickness” “Shaman Sickness” is a classic pattern that identifies medicine people
o Seemingly normal people develop baffling chronic illnesses and try every treatment known but don’t heal
o The person begins training to be a mystic, artist, and healer, and the symptoms lessen or disappear, and the person feels better but only so long as he or she continues on the wayfinder path
Martha Beck’s “incurable” fibromyalgia, interstitial cystitis, and granuloma annulare have disappeared but they return when she does anything not aligned with her true nature
Other examples include sick Shangaan tribe members, Sarah (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), Mark (horrific chronic pain), and Julie (cluster headaches) that got better respectively when they trained as sangoma, practiced Reiki (Japanese healing art), taught yoga, and lived passion of helping people and animals
NOTE: Martha Beck doesn’t want to give false hope because not every illness qualifies and many wayfinders never get completely better; she suggests people experiment with reclaiming their true nature and see if symptoms improve
Mastering Oneness: (pp. 85-87) Look at Growing Things: Use plants or images of plants to enhance health Gardening Inside or Out: Take time to garden Plant Trees Anywhere and Everywhere You Can Join a Gardening Co-op: Buy locally; get fresh produce and support local farmers Talk to the Trees (and Other Plants): Experiment with talking, music, etc.; Take Medicine with Awareness: Thank the plants that synthesized the chemicals
We do whatever it takes to become aware of our inherent Oneness with the green nation
Resources: Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird – The Secret Life of Plants
Material Taken From: Martha Beck – Finding Your Way in a Wild New World
Ellen Anderson [email protected] 408-784-3052
Chapter 5: My Aunties, The Trees (Oneness with the Green Nation)Part 2 – The Second Technology of Magic: Oneness
Experiences I have had of the Green Nation and Oneness (Recognizing My Connection):
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Paths to Oneness: The Green Nation
Plants Tell Your Body Its Wants ____________________________________________
Guzzle Greens _________________________________________________________
Look at Growing Things __________________________________________________
Garden _______________________________________________________________ Plant Trees ____________________________________________________________
Gardening Co-Op _______________________________________________________
Talk to Trees and Plants __________________________________________________
Things I Want to Do or Try:
______________________________________________________________________
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Oneness – What Works for Me – The Green Nation:
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Material Taken From: Martha Beck – Finding Your Way in a Wild New World
Ellen Anderson [email protected] 408-784-3052
For Next Month
Chapter 6: Getting Familiar with Familiars (Animals as Gateways to Oneness)Part 2 – The Second Technology of Magic: Oneness
Recall experiences you have had of Oneness with Animals and Other Living Creatures:
(1) Creatures around you, and (2) Creatures in the natural world
Pages 93-94, 95-97, 102, and 104-105 – Mastering Oneness
Establish and Use a Sit Spot Fox-Walk Through Nature Communicate with Your Familiar Practice the Call of the Wild
This Works for Me: ___________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Material Taken From: Martha Beck – Finding Your Way in a Wild New World
Ellen Anderson [email protected] 408-784-3052
Gorilla Smoothie
2 cups fruit juice1 cup iceHandful of raw baby spinach leaves1 tangerineHandful of mixed field greens4 strawberriesHandful of lettuce½ bananaHandful of wheat grass½ cup blueberries3 baby carrots
Throw everything into a blender and blend until smooth.
Garden Tours and Plant Sales
Santa Clara Valley and Peninsula (California Native Plant Society) April 9-10 – Going Native Garden Tour: www.gngt.org April 30 – Plant Sale: www.cnps-scv.org/index.php/events/plant-sale
Alameda and Contra Costa County April 30-May 1 – Plant Sale: www.bringingbackthenatives.net/plant-sale May 1 – Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: www.BringingBacktheNatives.net
Arbor Day
Arbor Day began in Nebraska in 1872 when Julius Sterling Morton (1832-1902) proposed a day dedicated to tree planting and increased awareness of the importance of trees. National Arbor Day is the last Friday in April, and California’s celebration is held on March 7-14. (www.arborday.net and www.arborday.org)
Material Taken From: Martha Beck – Finding Your Way in a Wild New World
Ellen Anderson [email protected] 408-784-3052
Sleepingin the Forest
I thought the earth remembered me,she took me back so tenderly,arranging her dark skirts, her pocketsfull of lichens and seeds.I slept as never before, a stone on the river bed,nothing between me and the white fire of the starsbut my thoughts, and they floated light as mothsamong the branches of the perfect trees.All night I heard the small kingdomsbreathing around me, the insects,and the birds who do their work in the darkness.All night I rose and fell, as if in water,grappling with a luminous doom. By morningI had vanished at least a dozen timesinto something better.
from Sleeping In The Forest by Mary Oliver © Mary Oliver
Material Taken From: Martha Beck – Finding Your Way in a Wild New World
Ellen Anderson [email protected] 408-784-3052
