I knew including Cannabis in the Herbal Mindfulness course curriculum would ruffle some feathers.
I chose to include Cannabis because it is a wonderful herbal ally.
While Cannabis may have a reputation as being a controversial plant, there’s nothing controversial about sharing energy with Cannabis. Often when we think about Cannabis our mind first goes to the image of teenagers smoking pot behind the high school but we know that there’s so much more that Cannabis has to offer us. The proliferation of CBD products available alone is growing evidence that Cannabis has a role to play in our lives.
While Cannabis can be a polarizing plant, at the end of the day we know that there are people all across the world utilizing Cannabis for its medicinal applications, for energetic purposes, for culinary preparations, and so much more. I do not advocate ingesting any herb without full understanding and appreciation of its properties in general, Herbal Mindfulness has always been focused on the energetics of herbs and connection with that energy.
Consumption vs. Connection
Connecting with the energy of Cannabis or any plant does not necessarily mean consuming that plant in any way shape or form. Connecting with plant spirit energy can be done in a myriad of ways including sitting with a plant, holding plant material, visualizing a plant, growing a plant, meditating with a plant, and so much more. There are all kinds of ways to engage with plants and their energy that doesn’t require them to be physically in our hands. When fresh or dried plants are not available, looking at images online or bring printed photos into your space will also welcome in that plant spirit energy.
Learning Together
Cannabis does have a lesson to teach us, and to learn that lesson, you do not need to have physical access to it. We all know what Cannabis looks like (thank you ‘naughty kids’ who started drawing leaves in school) and we can use that mental image to begin to connect with Cannabis. Through meditation or visualization, see yourself meeting Cannabis. Introduce yourself and ask permission to engage. Ask questions from your heart and open your intuition to hear the response.
Questions to ask Cannabis may include:
- What do you need from me?
- What can you teach me?
- How can we support each other?
Trust what you hear, whether you’re hearing it in your mind, in your heart, in your gut, or wherever you’re hearing that plant speak to you. It’s not your imagination, you’re not crazy, you’re not making it up.
Energetic Herbalism
Part of exploring energetic herbalism is opening yourself to the world of herbal allies. While you may find yourself eager to connect with herbal allies, it isn’t a quick process. Connecting with herbal allies is an intimate relationship where energy is exchanged both intuitively and from the heart.
Some plants might want to be your best friend, and some plans might want to teach you a lesson and move on, and some plants might not be ready for a relationship with you right now. In this way plants are very much like people. Some of us have friends we’ve had lifelong, some of us have people who may be have come and gone from our lives, and there are people we’ve met that we just didn’t click with. It’s the same thing with plants. It doesn’t mean that can’t change over time, and again, it’s being open to that relationship, allowing yourself to hear that message, hear that lesson, and to really take it to heart. Just be open to the lesson. There is no wrong way to build a relationship with an herbal ally when we’re doing it energetically and from the heart; that’s the most beautiful way to connect with a plant.
More Cannabis resources:
- Herbal Mindfulness
- Online course from Nor’Eastern Herb Company where Cannabis is incorporated into energetic herbalism and mindfulness practices.
- Cannabis Alchemy
- 4 week medicine making online course from CannaBotanicals.
- The Wholistic Healing Guide to Cannabis by Tammi Sweet