Customer Reviews

Plant Spirit Healing: A Guide to Working with Plant Consciousness

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This accessible yet comprehensive book is a tremendous gift of both wisdom and practical application on how the universe actually works and how to tap in and play a part yourself. Plant Spirit Healing is about the difference between knowing about a plant (available through book learning and use) and experiencing its spirit - where you merge with it, communicate through an exchange of insights, and achieve a full and lasting relationship. This book benefits from Pam Montgomery having taught and honed this material many times. If you cannot take Montgomery's apprenticeship program and experience her own ebullient spirit, this book is the next best thing.

Emphasizing that each person's knowing and experience of different plants may be different in what is really a Both/And, rather than an Either/Or, universe, Montgomery guides you to find your own plant spirit guides appropriate for this time in your life journey. Chances are who they are will surprise you.

This remarkable book takes the reader on a journey from (possibly) skeptical interest in plant spirits, to plausible, to possible, to practical. At no point does the journey include religious overtones or spacey far-out suggestions.

Montgomery builds a foundation based on physical and energetic qualities of both people and plants. Each new parcel of knowledge is presented in a flowing sequence based upon previously explained information. The trip is full of "of course" moments where you recognize that you already knew what she is presenting, but perhaps did not know where to place it in your established body of knowledge. As much as anything this book greatly expands and updates your established body of knowledge.

Fine-tuning gathered from years of teaching workshops and apprentice programs has honed Montgomery's understanding of the pace and paths by which people can not only learn, but can experience and assimilate deeper knowledge. Her expertise allows her to lead the reader through these layers of knowing in the transparent, uncluttered, way that characterizes the best of guides.

The Theme is Relationships.
Despite years of loving plants, I would not have thought that there were so many ways to understand plants, or so many tools for deepening my relationships with them. Indeed, relationship is what this book is all about, including establishing, fostering, and nurturing actual relationships with plants. This includes being open, observant, respectful, and enjoying. It involves appreciating plants and learning from them and moving those relationships on to partnerships. This carries on the theme of Montgomery's previous book, Partner Earth (1997) in which she encourages humans to take responsibility and action to be co-creators and partners with Earth, rather than passive children of Mother Earth.

At one point in Plant Spirit Healing Pam likens establishing a new relationship with a plant to a relationship with a potential lover. Just think about that. It includes breath exchange, attention, respect. One is open, observant, eager to learn all one can about this person who suddenly seems to glow with light. One is gentle and respectful and wants to spend every available moment with the new love, gently growing knowledge and love and a shared history, exploring all facets and aspects of the beloved.

Organization and arrangement
The book's organization is clear and accessible. Different learning modes are accommodated as each chapter presents the material in three modes. Chapters begin with a journal entry from Montgomery's daily interactions with nature and how it feeds her developing wisdom. We catch a glimpse of her slipping into communication with plants and the landscape. Next, the bulk of the chapter is a descriptive exposition of the topic. This is followed by examples which illustrate the ideas and techniques just presented with experiences Montgomery has had with her clients, or that her students have experienced.

The book is divided into three parts, The Theoretical Basis for Plant Spirit Healing, The Practical Application of Plant Spirit Healing and Plant Allies, a section on specific plants. Christian Hummel recently wrote "We are living in a time when ancient principles that have been espoused for ages from Vedic texts to Native American philosophies are being validated by science - a meeting point between science and spirituality where these principles are being tested and proven to be true." [July 2007 Wisdom magazine p. 28 "Accessing the Creative Matrix: The Secret to Healing the Earth" ] Montgomery presents much of this material in Part One by distilling and presenting the essence of a large and varied body of new scientific information in an accessible format that relates to plant spirit and communication. She has gleaned knowledge from others - both ancient traditions and recent science - and incorporates it straightforwardly for easy absorption without being academic. Part Two is a practical journey where actually meeting and getting to know plants is facilitated with a range of different techniques. Part Three introduces the plants as their fully embodied selves giving a sense of the expansive beings they are.

Plant Spirit Healing teaches about how sprit moves in the world, thus bringing spirit into reality, instead of keeping it in the abstract realm of religion. We are given a handbook to understand the wonder of plants, and a guidebook of practical techniques and exercises to form personal, intimate, real relationships with plant beings whose importance, variety, beauty, gifts and outright wisdom are usually ignored. The result reminds me of my joy at the animal tracks revealed by the first snowfall in what has been a gray and lonely November landscape. The joyful feeling of not being alone. The deep knowledge that I share this landscape with other beings who are aware of themselves, who live full and interesting lives, and who are open to knowing me and interacting with me.

Plants have been calling to many of us for the past several decades. Chances are they are somehow calling you as well. This is a guidebook to answer that call, probably in a deeper way than you ever imagined. By the time you have read it you will have established relationships with plant beings, taken a deep journey and found missing parts of yourself.

A wonderfully written book, explores herbal healing well beyond the modern paradigm of plant chemistry and herbal analogues of pharmaceuticals. The spirits of the plants as healers and teachers through the ages is brought to life here by a talented writer who obviously walks the walk while talking the talk. Thank you Ms. Montgomery for this gem

Beautiful, hopeful, how to in a world filled with strife. Pam reminds us all to take the time to walk among the creatures who are there in our backyards. We don't have to travel far, but instead realize that each plant on our earth has purpose. When we befriend them, opening our spirit to encompass their's a new strength is formed. Thank-you Pam for this powerful reminder.....Dona

This book is filled with information that anyone interested in plants should know and read about....
You have heard over the years about singing to plants to take care of them, or the plants screaming when dying.. now this is an entirely new level of love from your plants.. large and small
It's phenomenal, and Pam Montgomery is an authentic person!!

Okay, maybe it's just me but it's been hard to read this book. Not because I do not understand it, I understand what Pam is trying to say just fine. And that's the problem. There is nothing new so far that I have not read in other sources. I went ahead and gave the book three stars, grudgingly.

The problem is boredom. I am well over half way through the book and it is had taken me a long time to get there because I lose interest due to old subject matter being rehashed. She spent the first half of the book pretty much going over information that has been around for awhile now (The Field came out in 2001 and is a good intro into psi subjects. The Field has long been since been superseded by McTaggart's more current books The Intention Experiment and other work). Information on plant consciousness and chakras has also been around for sometime now.

Unless you are young (late teens, early twenties) and/or just starting your studies in psi subjects, eastern practices, etc., or you have never read anything on any of the subjects Pam talks about (a real novice/beginner), you might find this book hard to stay awake through.

What Pam should have done is give a much shorter reference (more like a nod than a full blown talk) to the topics she spends chapters on in the first half of the book and move on to the current application instead. For example say "There are too many references on the subject of plant consciousness but a quick note here .... " or "There is not enough room to cover everything about chakras here but in short...." for example. List some of those references/books in the appendix for those who want to learn more about chakras, plant consciousness, etc. Then move on to what she really seemed to be getting at. Preferably something most readers may not already know or expand on what is currently being done.

Part three should have been the largest section of the book, not the smallest (sadly disappointing). There are so many plants that could have been included (for part three). Instead, everyone is taught, again, how to clear chakras, among other old topics. Shame. There should have been far more original thought to the subject Pam is attempting to share with others.

Maybe part three looks like it might have some interest but so far I can not say I would recommend the book to others.

:: Shrugs:: To bad, it looked like it might be worthy of shelf space. Then I began rereading what I already knew.

Would you like to be more than a friend to our green beings? Would you like to co-create with them? Have one or more plant spirit allies? Receive their plant spirit medicine? This book will change your view of the plant world and guide you to a deeper and richer connection to the spirits of plants. I recommend this book as an indispensable guide on how to access and use plant consciousness.

Pam Montgomery ties so many sources together, including more about "the how" of opening our senses to link with our plant relatives. The literature in this important inquiry is growing and it is so good to have Pam's feminine voice in the chorus. Thank you Pam!
Submitted by Zia Parker, school director of Agua Alma Aquatic Bodywork

Pam Montgomery's book, Plant Spirit Healing is a beckoning portal, welcoming readers to embark on an infinite journey to restore our bonds to that which is natural, whole and healing. Montgomery takes the reader well beyond "using" plants - or their spirits - as medicine, and into a realm where we enter into relationships with plants' amazing sentience, uniting with their healing capacities on a body, soul and spirit level. We learn that as we do, we can go beyond an herbal protocol, and merge into becoming healing itself.

The information in this book is age-old and timeless, but Pam presents the accumulated wisdom in a way that can still the skeptic in our minds, broaden our perception, and nourish our confidence in our intuitive prowess. Pam teaches us that it is all people's natural birthright to be in relationship with nature, and that through developing kinship with plants - the very beings which sustain all other life forms on our globe - we in turn blossom into an existence that restores our ability to walk a sustainable, healthy, and soulful life path which we were meant to walk.

As a student of the plants for two decades, I've encountered a number of remarkable teachers and authors who share inspiring knowledge and personal experiences. Pam is the brightest blossom among my human teachers. I believe this is a direct reflection of her own close affinity with the plant spirits with whom she co-exists on a daily basis. Her approach is infectious. Pam's teachings are like a Holy Trinity of truths, a Triple Goddess treasure trove, a healing balm for our wounded hearts, souls and spirits. With a contagious exuberance of a young maiden gathering flowers in a summer meadow, Pam entices others to open their own child-like hearts so we can delight in life's nectar. Like a dedicated mother, with a spirit of compassion and driven by an inherent ambition to help humans raise their consciousness on behalf of all life, Pam's mature and practical approach satisfies our adult demand for practicality and groundedness. Like an ancestral grandmother, Pam's words engulf us in an embrace of ancient wisdom that reach into the parts of our souls that have remained connected to source energy.

I recommend reading this book, and more so, recommend living this book.

"Whether a newcomer just discovering the healing properties of herbs or a well-seasoned herbalist, after reading Plant Spirit Healing, readers will never approach plants in quite the same way again. The plants seemed to beckon me, right from the pages, to their world...one so much richer now as I grow to understand and follow the `spiral path through the triple aspect of heart, soul, and spirit.' Pam Montgomery's resounding wisdom invites every reader to embrace the invisible as a way to deepen their personal relationship with the plant allies.

Plant spirits are the main characters, but the sights, senses and sounds - all the beings of the natural world - are such vital, supportive players and substantiate the author's emphasis on the interconnectedness of everything in nature. Pam's masterful weaving of eloquently layered insights, traditional wisdom, scientific basics, and rich stories has gifted us with a grand installment in field of herbal healing."

(Kim Isaacs - Natural Foods Caterer, Herbalist, Editor; Staunton, VA)

This is a must for anyone wondering about whether plants are intelligent and what they can do. In non ordinary reality plant spirits are a very important part of our evolution of consciousness, according to many researchers in the field of shamanism. Did you know that plants proceeded all forms of animals as evolution developed on this planet. And there is every indication that they reached high level of intelligence just like animals (including man) but before them. Did you know that plants make up 99% of the biomass of this planet? Have you ever seen a picture of what a plant "spirit" looks like.

Well, these are all things this book brings to the front and if this is of interest to you then this is the book for you. It is well written and combines science and esoteric mysteries and attempts to look at the many facets of plants and how they are and might be able to heal humans even more when attention is put onto their ability to communicate with us. They are waiting, are you up to it?.