tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21171497.post4454639710979886472..comments2011-01-07T12:38:44.835-08:00little lightening bolthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07777813298081487224noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21171497.post-23713187949017136822011-01-07T12:38:44.835-08:002011-01-07T12:38:44.835-08:00Truely a kindred spirit heather!<br />You know the problem with useing strictly measured precise amounts of things used in medicine? It ignores the supernatural magical element of medicine that so many docotrs and scientists refuse to believe. <br />As you pointed out plants can have effects for a person that has no pharmacological explanation. Then you have the homeopathic or energetic aspects as well for which there is still no western approved scientific materialist answer yet. Nor should there have to be!<br /><br />And your totally right relationships return products to people!<br /><br />I hear you though about knowing your plants, they are people, inviduals in some senses, and like human people, connected i think through their own sort of collective mind. <br /> <br />I love hoodoo as well. Ive lots of spiritualist freinds who know a thing or two about hoodoo, and the african diaspora traditions. I leanred Amazonian Vegetalismo practices and I really just love working primarily with plant teachers, all fo the worlds plant traditions have such wonderful things to teach us!<br /><br />My house looks like a strange punk rock apothacary... lol but with a fancy twist...little lightening bolthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07777813298081487224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21171497.post-35466709705127445392011-01-07T11:55:06.573-08:002011-01-07T11:55:06.573-08:00I am glad you are talking about all of this. Lots of good points! I use essential oils more than incense now because of reactions many people have with smoke - and also the smoke detectors in many homes! Don&#39;t need to be doing some healing and have an alarm go off! There are times that I have to use smoke, but I find I like oils and little jars!<br /><br />A doctor once told e his problem with people using herbal medicine is how imprecise the amounts of the active ingrediants are. You could make the perfect batch and then the next one might be totally different, so dosing is harder. For people who need a lot of consistancy, which is almost inevitable in this culture, I understand this. I personally don&#39;t want to be trial and error -ing on myself and my health.<br /><br />But in this approach the relationship is destroyed. Relationship makes &quot;products&quot; return to &quot;persons&quot;. This morning when I burned the wormwood my mom grew and I dried, I knew who it was. Wormwood I don&#39;t know feels different to me. I don&#39;t know its intentions, if that makes sense.<br /><br />I have read lots of things about South American rain forest and Westy African indigenous persons who all form their own relationships to healing plants - There is no standard use for an herb. Each herb person has its own relationship with each human person. And two wormwood plants might have different energies for the same human. Some plants are healing other plants too, and need to be left alone. (My motto: It&#39;s not all about us.)<br /><br />Yeah I&#39;ll buy smudging stuff but I perfer to know the human who made the stick. In LA I would get my sage from a trippy guy on the Venice boardwalk who went to the desert himself. Now I am a fan of Juniper Ridge and their eco-happiness if I need to buy something.<br /><br />And yeah animists can make a living. I know that in most American Indian tribes the medicine people do not charge money, but since we are not culturally appropriating and playing at being people we&#39;re not, that doesn&#39;t apply to us. Mongolian shamans have no issue with charging money - Once a society moves into indidivual based capaitalism survival from tribal based survival, if you don&#39;t take care of yourself, you&#39;re screwed, as much as I hate that.<br /><br />One reason I love hoodoo is the great packaging of the supplies. I don&#39;t use the supplies, but I save the boxes and bottles as art. Anything that says &quot;rattle viper sperm&quot; is cool to look at. Since I had a job at an occult shop that had me go to the biggest hoodoo supply company, I know what fakery the mainstream occult stuff is in the stores, but gotta love the packaging! So if someone is making the Real Thing and selling it, I think that that person should be supported - not all of us can distill our own perfumes or make our own incense, and wouldn&#39;t we rather have the real deal than a hokey mass produced scam?<br /><br />The best information I have found on using perfumes is the African diaspora religions, BTW.Heather Awenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10358774900469809394noreply@blogger.com