July 19, 2024

When we honor the wisdom of Ériu, walking the land,
living her rhythms, and knowing her patterns…

I remember the smell of it. Yes. There were bright fluorescent lights and Petri dishes and microscopes. But what I remember the most about my dad’s lab was the smell of chemicals used for splicing and germinating the seeds destined for the university greenhouses. The lab graciously hosted one of my high school science class experiments but it was clear to everyone that I was not destined to follow in my father’s footsteps.

It wasn’t the harsh lights or the smell. I’ve just never gravitated to the hard rigor of objectivity. I much prefer a subjective world of emotion and myth and storytelling. And what captures my imagination in Schlanger’s book are the stories scientists are bold enough to create and share from the rigors of their scientific experimentation and clinical data. For it is those stories, those daring interpretations of the data, that so resonate with what I know about the rhythms and patterns of the natural world; a knowing that becomes more nuanced and deeply rooted through those stories.

Published in 1973, The Secret Life of Plants was widely acclaimed by the general public for exploring plant communication and relationship with sound. However the scientific community strongly rejected it as pseudoscientific and research funding to explore these relationships dried up for decades. Finally, new research is emerging. Here are brief overviews of some of those findings.

One.   One study found that playing Arabidopsis, small flowering plants related to cabbage and mustard, a series of tones for three hours per day over ten days increased its ability to fight off a harmful fungal infection.

Two.   Another found that playing some tones to rice for an hour improved the plants’ ability to survive drought conditions.

Three.   Researchers who played tones at different frequencies to alfalfa sprouts for two hours saw that they increased the plants’ content of vitamin C, increasing their nutritional value.

Four.   The pea seedlings in Monica Gagliano’s lab at the University of Western Australia looked like they were wearing giant plastic pants. The curly top of each young shoot peeked out from the top of its own PVC tube that was forked at the bottom into two legs. Gagliano was testing the peas’ ability to hear the movement of water. Specifically, she was testing which direction the pea seedling roots would decide to grow.

By placing a tray of soil and water under one of the legs, she had already determined the roots would detect the moisture gradient in the soil and grow towards the water. Then she placed a sealed plastic tube with continuously running water under one of the legs. There was no way for the plant to detect moisture. Only the sound of running water was available as a cue. Nearly every pea plant grew its roots toward the sound of the running water.

If all this seems a bit fantastical, I can see the cosmic eye rolls, it’s only because we have become so estranged from the natural world. It’s ours to again awaken to the mystical depth and complexity of it. It’s ours to embrace the sound sensations. 

Beannacht,
Judith

July 18, 2024

When we honor the wisdom of Ériu, walking the land,
living her rhythms, and knowing her patterns…

I could wile away the hours
Conferrin’ with the flowers
Consultin’ with the rain
And my head I’d be scratchin’
While my thoughts were busy hatchin’
If I only had a brain

When Dorothy met Scarecrow, he was desperate for a brain. As he pointed in two opposite directions for her to take, Dorothy asked him to make up his mind. “That’s the trouble. I can’t make my mind. I haven’t got a brain. Only straw.” Of course he soon devises an ingenious way to rescue Cowardly Lion from the poppy field and determines that building a raft would be the best way to cross a river. By the end of the story he is recognized as the wisest man in all of Oz. As I reflect on this story, it’s not lost on me that he was created entirely from plants.

Throughout history, there has been speculation on the intelligence and consciousness of plants. Most with perhaps more philosophical credibility than L. Frank Baum who authored The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In ancient Greek philosophy, almost as soon as a “soul” came to differentiate animate from inanimate things, plants were included among the soul-havers. Empedocles gave plants souls in his accounting of the world, and referred to them as animals, precisely because they were animate—alive. Theophrastus, the successor to Aristotle, was completely willing to take the plant seriously as an autonomous being with desires and the will to satisfy them.

Those speculations didn’t take hold. Neither did the many other voices through history that have posited the same theories. Most were ridiculed, demeaned and ostracized for their views until science caught up with their ideas and proved them to be true. 

Look at what plants do.They take information from the outside world. They process. They make decisions.  They take everything into account and transform it into a reaction. And this to me is the basic definition of intelligence. 

Tilo Henning
Berlin Botanic Garden

Intelligence. Consciousness. Communication. The inherent challenge is surrendering our human centric notions of these constructs. As Emanuele Coccia observed, to ask humankind what being in the world means limits our ability to truly see and know the world around us. It limits our ability to see the patterns and the rhythms. Schenger’s book, The Light Eaters, shifts that limited perspective. 

Researchers at Tel Aviv University found
that the beach evening primrose
would increase the sweetness of its nectar
within three minutes of being exposed
to an audio recording of honeybee flight.

I understand Schenger’s choice to share the insights and findings she gathered in distinct chapters focused on plant consciousness, communication. hearing, seeing, feeling, and social life. Yet in the highlights of those findings, those distinctions are blurry. And in that, there is the invitation to even deeper understanding.

Maybe Baum got it right. Maybe we need to consider an entirely different reality to understand the depth and complexities of plant patterns and rhythms. Maybe we need to wander in otherworld and liminal landscapes. Maybe Scarecrow was a huge clue.

Beannacht,
Judith

July 15, 2024

When we honor the wisdom of Ériu, walking the land,
living her rhythms, and knowing her patterns…

A very dear and long time friend, now living in England, was inspired by the hollyhocks growing beside his cottage door to explore their symbolism. Apparently they symbolize abundance in life and people planted the hollyhock flower near the front of homes to encourage positivity, prosperity, and good tidings to the household.

How many of us have explored the meaning of plants? How many of us have explored a relationship with their healing and even mind expanding energies? Yet it seems that in this we are only barely touching a relationship with plants that was very familiar to our ancestors. Virtually all indigenous cultures around the world had an intimate relationship with plant life, many ascribing personhood to plants.

To ask humankind what being in the world means . . .
is to reproduce a very partial image of the cosmos.
Emanuele Coccia

In those lost traditions there is lost wisdom. All that symbology we find in our searching and exploring, where did it come from if not from a vibrant and vital relationship with the plant nations? Is what we find today only a remnant of knowing from that relationship?

We are so estranged from this wisdom relationship, even though the plant nations are all around us. We have lost our ability to see and hear and know that wisdom.

It seems we have generally  lost our ability to learn the lessons hidden in every leaf and rock.

But that is changing. For many of us the wisdom comes in merging with the plant nations. For others it is coming back through scientific study. In her new book, The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth, Zoe Schlanger explores the latest research on plant consciousness, intelligence, and communication. Its scientifically dense, but therein lies its credibility. It’s a great read. In upcoming posts, I will share some of her writing. The title of this post was inspired by the book’s opening quote. Yes, for those of us who enjoy breathing, we might consider plants eating light to be enough. But they do more. So much more.

Nature everywhere speaks to man
in a voice that is familiar to his soul.
Alexander von Humboldt
Nineteenth-century naturalist.

It’s time for us to listen.

Beannacht,
Judith

July 13, 2024

When we weave the threads
of ancestral wisdom
into stories that are resonant and
relevant for these times…

When we honor the wisdom of Ériu,
walking the land, living her rhythms,
and knowing her patterns…

Wandering into an exploration of the mystical energies of the Earth and our relationship with them, there are so many ancestral voices that speak to the wisdom of this merging. Voices that are indeed resonant and relevant for these times.

Beannacht,
Judith

June 12, 2024

When we merge with and surrender to
the Sacred Alliance of earth, ancestral,
otherworld, and cosmic energies…

A compelling and meaningful spiritual path will call us to consider and reconsider many long held and culturally conditioned constructs. Surrender. There is so much baggage attached. So many negative connotations that overshadow possibilities for profound spiritual connection.

Yet the etymological root of the word is to give back. And distinct among the many daunting definitions we are all familiar with, ceasing resistance, and giving oneself over to something, stand out as definitions that suggest personal power and agency. 

Merging with the earth, ancestral, otherworld, and cosmic energies calls us to first release our resistance to those energies and realms. We are called to open ourselves to that mystical harmony. For only in releasing and opening are we able to merge. And only in merging are we able to receive the wisdom of those energies and realms.

And in the releasing and opening and merging, we are called to stand rooted in our sacred sovereignty, anchored in our spiritual agency.

There are no white flags involved. 

Beannacht,
Judith

June 10, 2024

When we know humanity
to be one thread in the web of all life…

When we merge with and surrender to
the Sacred Alliance of earth, ancestral,
otherworld, and cosmic energies…

When we know that true spiritual manifestation
and transformation only happen though the
divine energies and grace of the Sacred Alliance…

I was having lunch with a friend in Ireland and sharing the evolving nature of our engagement with the sacred landscapes. I was explaining the difference between being with those sacred energies and imposing ourselves on them. By way of example and contrast I mentioned my colleague, Jack, being approached many years ago to join a group of women from Alaska who were headed to Ireland to heal the stone circles. My friend tilted her head and asked, “But isn’t that what you are doing?”

No. It’s absolutely not what we are doing. But I understood her confusion. The difference is perhaps subtle when viewed from the outside but it’s an essential distinction for the sacred sisterhood and the sisters who join me in Ireland. And that fundamental distinction is all about ego.

When part of our collective cultural conditioning comes from religious texts that espouse human dominion over the Earth as both our divine right and purpose, it’s understandable that we might think we can unilaterally wade into those sacred landscapes and effect change. Yet when we encounter the vibrant tapestry of energies in those places, energies that individually and together hold powers far beyond ours, that perspective is stunning in its egoic arrogance. In our sacred sisterhood, we choose to merge with and engage with the Sacred Alliance, offering our energies in support of spiritual manifestation and transformation. This is the distinction. It’s not about power over, it’s about power with.

A Sacred Alliance of Earth energies, Ancestral energies, Cosmic energies, and Otherworld energies.

In this alliance, this tapestry, of sacred wisdom, we are but one thread. But we are a vibrant thread. In joining with and merging with this Sacred Alliance, we surrender our ego but not our agency. We are fully present with our sacred sovereignty to be in service to the highest and best good of divine unfolding. In service to the Light. In service to all beings.

This the evolving nature of our engagement with the Ireland’s sacred landscapes. This is what unfolds in the Sacred Alliance Gatherings and why they are named that. And through this engagement, through this merging, we find a depth and potency of sacred power that we could never have imagined.

Beannacht,
Judith

Note: The Ogham symbol in the graphic is ‘wisdom’.

July 4, 2024

When we embrace the ancient ways
of being in right relationship
with the earth, the sacred, and community…

On this day for more than 200 years, we have celebrated the birth of our democratic nation and the founding declaration that all men are created equal and are endowed with certain unalienable rights. Now, on this day, so many of us are reeling at the unthinkable prospect of losing our democracy. Forever. 

It’s a horror story spreading like a wild fire of fear through our collective consciousness.

Roosevelt said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Fear hijacks our ability to use our creative genius and energies to craft and manifest a different story. A story like the one Abraham Lincoln shared at the Gettysburg Address, that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. A story that carries the power and resolve of who we are and what can be possible. 

On this day, we need stories of strength and hope. On this day, may we step beyond our fear to find and live those stories of being in right relationship in community and country. And may those stories become legend. May they become stories that are celebrated on this day for the next 200 years. 

Beannacht,
Judith

June 30, 2024

When we merge with and surrender to
the Sacred Alliance of earth, ancestral,
otherworld, and cosmic energies…

Back at MossTerra, Ireland is now eight time zones and 4.500 miles away. I often think that I need to allow time for the ancestral and sacred energies to catch up to me. Apparently not. Dennis and I took a walk on the land yesterday and encountered this foxglove which is 7’6″ tall. We always have foxglove here, but never one this tall or even close to it. I planted my staff, which is taller than me, next to it for comparison…and so perhaps you wouldn’t think this is a photoshopped image. 

Foxglove keynote: Stay grounded. Imagination energies powerful now.

Foxglove alerts us to a re-awakening of life force energies and the opportunities for creative expression. This is a time of active imagination.

My time in Ireland over these past seven weeks has been like drinking out of a fire hose. So many messages coming through. Messages about what is calling to be created from the ever deeper and more intense connections with ancestral, earth, cosmic, and otherworld energies. 

The messages, especially from the ancestors, were urgently and persistently clear. Get on with it! 

That creation has begun. It’s both powerful and immense. If I had any notion that in leaving Ireland I was in any way leaving that intensity behind…well, I think the message is pretty clear. Apparently the magic was unfolding in both sacred landscapes.

So much for dancing with jet lag.

Beannacht,
Judith

June 26, 2024

When we embrace the ancient ways of being
in right relationship with community…

It took me a minute to realize what I was seeing. More significantly, it took me a minute to realize what I wasn’t seeing.

I was watching the video of Queen’s performance at the 1985 Live Aid benefit concert that had a global audience of over 1.9 billion people and raised $127 million for famine relief in Africa. Among the more than 75 rock music icons and legends that participated, it was Queen’s performance that was and still is considered one of the greatest live performances of all time. 

One member of the BBC broadcasting team recalled the awe among other superstar musicians watching backstage, “Everybody realized that Queen was stealing the show.” After the set, Elton John rushed into Freddie Mercury’s trailer and said by way of congratulations, “You bastards, you stole the show.” 

Watching that performance, it was easy to see why. Mercury’s charismatic energy was captivating. The 72,000 fans at Wembley Stadium were all on their feet, arms in the air waving and clapping and singing the lyrics. When the cameras panned the crowd, you could feel the intense connection and see the riveting eye contact. 

And that’s when I realized what I wasn’t seeing. In those thousands of raised arms and hands, there were no cell phones. They weren’t watching the live performance on and through their devices. They were totally present and totally engaged.

Concert organizer, Bob Geldorf, has said it would be impossible to host another Live Aid concert nowadays. “That instrument of change is no longer plausible.” He attributes this to our technology that has moved us away from the community collective to a world of individualism. We live in a world consumed with technology. It seems we also live in a world consumed by it.

Which seems a grim way to end this post. So I will add these words from Bob Geldorf. “Something like Live Aid couldn’t happen now, but that doesn’t stop you raging against the dying of the light.” 

And in that raging, in that journey of holding and sharing the Light, may we come together, even with and in spite of our technology, in ways and places where our spirits are not eaten.

Beannacht,
Judith

June 23, 2024

When we weave the threads of ancestral wisdom into stories
that are resonant and relevant for these times…

Mystics and wisdom keepers. Now ancestors. In their lives they of course spoke and wrote of many things. But it seems what we remember most, what we cherish and share, and visit again and again are their words that call us to a higher purpose. Words that remind us of our divine nature and sacred sovereignty. Words that call us to dance with the divine. Their words, their inspiration, are the language of their legacy.

May we continue to be inspired. And may we shine!

Beannacht,
Judith