Re: Is There Spirituality Involved in your Relationship With Plants?
- To: g*@ucla.edu, M*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Re: Is There Spirituality Involved in your Relationship With Plants?
- From: "* F* D* <s*@nr.infi.net>
- Date: Wed, 7 Jul 1999 01:16:08 -0400 (EDT)
At 12:24 PM 7/6/1999 -0700, you wrote:
>Hi folks...
>
>I need some help. I have been tapped to give a lecture titled "Our
>Spiritual
>Connection to Plants" and I've suddenly developed writer's block.
>
>Any and all are invited to take a second and tell me what those words
>mean to you. Can you site any resources for me? Anecdotal evidence?
>
>Please respond soon - I just am at a loss and I'm beginning to get VERY
>unspiritual about the whole ordeal.
>
>
>david king
>greenman@ucla.edu
You can start with Hindu and indiginous peoples' attitudes towards plants.
I don't necessarily mean that they see plants as hosts for spirit beings,
rather that plants are connected to the earth by more than their roots, and
that they allow us somehow to get a sense for the wholeness of nature.
The Norse legends say that Wotan (Odin) carved his symbol of power and
authority, his rune-covered staff noting treaties and covenants, from
Ygdrassil, the archetypic tree of life. Think of Wagner's Ring cycle and of
erl kings. Also, think Druidic.
Because of my work with Salvias, I sometimes think I am concerned on a
deeper level with the salvation of wisdom and the wisdom of salvation. One
of my favorite concerns is the excessive amount of atomistic and linear
thinking we are given to in our Western culture, an underlying theme of many
environmental efforts.
The color of nature is green (power, energy) , which in the Luscher color
test stands for elasticity of will, and is a passive and receptive color. It
stands for life, renewal, and healing. Red (power, energy) is its opposite,
force of will, the color of war (blood and iron rust), active and assertive.
Colors not only have these meanings for this diagnostic test, but agree with
old percepts. Others who have developed meanings of colors include Edgar
Cayce, Rudolph Steiner, and the theosophists. Their ideas about color
should link you to their ideas about plants and nature.
The quarterly Parabola may have an issue devoted to this sort of topic.
Richard F. Dufresne
313 Spur Road
Greensboro, NC 27406
336-674-3105
