Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Harvesting Plant Medicine In A Sacred Manner

Native Americans have used plant medicine since the first creation of man. Being an oral society, teaching through stories, many of the traditional ways of doing things have been lost through assimilation into our now modern culture.
These teachings I am sharing here are from many years of working with plants, elders and attending ceremony. Learning how to listen, how to pay attention to nature and to look for the signs when the plants are ready to be used. Native American Medicine Way teaches the interconnectedness of all things, and it celebrates and respects all living things. It teaches us to harvest plants by taking only what we need, to give back and to live in balance with nature.
Over harvesting is also a great problem these days, many of our medicines like Goldenseal and Black cohosh are endangered because they have been used as a "cure all". 


There is a lot of talk about using cultivated plants vs wild plants. I too agree that plants grown in their natural environment will be more potent but I also understand the need for sustainable practices, and continually harvesting root medicine that kills the plant is not sustainable. I also have a great respect for the Plant Nation and their ability to adapt and believe that healing has a lot more to do with than it's constituents.

Harvesting of herbs and plants should be done as if in a sacred ceremony. You should never drink alcohol or be under the influence of drugs for at least 4 days within harvesting or making medicine. You should be in a good state of mind and not have feelings of anger or sadness or anything you could pass on to the medicine. Think of yourself as a vessel of healing that the Creator flows through.
Women should not harvest or make medicine during their moon time, when menstruating. This guideline is not meant as a negative or sexist tradition but to honor the life giver's and respect their monthly sacred ceremony. A woman is considered to be too powerful at this time and making medicine or attending ceremony at this time could make others sick. This warning is for their protection too.


Medicine should be gathered in the morning, preferably after the dew has evaporated a bit and before the heat of the day has arrived. Gathering plants begins before you leave your house. One must be in a good mind set, start off by praying, smudging and cleansing in a good way. Your mind should already be on the plants, talking to them, letting them know what your intentions are and that you are coming to gather them today.
An offering of tobacco corn or cornmeal is left outside under a tree where it will not be stepped on. Introduce yourself, make your intentions known, what plants you are looking for or what type of healing is needed. 

It is best if you are learning to gather plants from someone knowledgable in this area. Try to see if there are any native plant walks or guided tours, this will help you get to know the area and what grows where. If you are going out on your own take a plant identification guide with you and do not touch a plant if you are not absolutely sure of what it is.
Here are some of the tools I take when I go out to harvest


When you have found a plant that you want to harvest take a look around, is the patch large enough for you to gather what you need? The general rule is to gather no more that 1/4 or 25% of what is growing there. If there is enough give an offering of tobacco or corn to the plants as a sign of respect, and in giving something back to the earth when you have taken something.
Take only what you need and be sure to take a variety of plant sizes so as not to take all of the plants of the same generation.


To harvest the top part of a plant use a pair of scissors or a sharp knife that will cut through the stem without crushing or bending the remaining stem. 
When digging for roots be careful to do as little damage as possible to surrounding plants. Use your hands or small digging tools shovels are usually too big for tight spaces and leave big holes. 
Try to replant anything dug up by mistake and cover up any holes left behind.

Some Native Americans follow strict guidelines and only harvest until 2-3pm. I have been taught this way, unless there is an emergency and I need to gather a plant right then.

To gather plants according to the moon phases, gather the top part of a plant (including the leaf, flower, stem and tree bark) during the time when the moon is closely approaching full. Likewise the roots are gathered when the light of the moon is going down during the new moon phase. The best time to gather bark from the tree's is in the Spring when the sap is running. When the moon is up and the sap or the water levels are up the bark will release easier from the tree. Be careful when harvesting bark from a tree and try to find someone who has done it before to show you because any puncture of the inner membranes can cause the tree to bleed to death from loss of sap.
There is a lunar chart on the bottom of my blog if you are unsure of the moon phases.

Do not gather plants from road sides or places that you know to use contaminants or pesticides. Always look up to see where the runoff of rain water is coming from, what is being washed down to where you are harvesting from.
Before you go out into the field know the State and Federal laws, some states have protected or endangered plants that cannot be harvested.
When you harvest the plants make sure you have a way to carry them back without crushing or mixing the plants. I take a large woven basket style bag and bring extra bags and paper to layer in between. When I get home I take the plants out immediately to hang or lay out to dry outside in the shade for an hour to let out any bugs or spiders that may be in the plants 


never leaving them in the bag too long to get wilted and moldy.
Then hang the plants to dry or lay somewhere where the air can circulate.


Dried herbs and plants should always be dried and kept out of direct sunlight and away from heat.
When plants are dry they can then be stored in paper or plastic bags, labelled with the date harvested and  when properly stored will keep for up to 2 years.

When you gather Medicinal Plants in a good way to make medicine for yourself or someone else, this is the foundation of your Medicine. It is my belief that this is where the healing starts.

The information presented here is for education only from teachings I received from a Coast Salish elder I worked with for the past 10 years, and also from the book "Native Plants Native Healing Traditional Muskogee Way" by Tis Mal Crow