Customer Reviews

Plant Spirit Medicine: The Healing Power of Plants

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(1)
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I am a psychotherapist. Although traditionally trained, I'm drawn to holistic means of healing the psyche. I agree with another reviewer, that this book is not just about plant spirit medicine. It is much bigger than that. To me it is about all healing and about being in relationship with one's self, plant spirits, others, All That Is. Unlike the other reviewer, this book proved to be much greater and more wonderful than I expected. I was deeply moved by it, finding myself tearful at times. It profoundly resonated for me. In my opinion Cowan has tremendous depth and truly gets what's going on. He really speaks to the heart. If you're looking for a herbal recipe book "use this herb for this ailment", you'll be disappointed. If you want to get a strong sense of the loving & amazing power of plant spirits to assist our healing, you won't be able to put it down. I read many books on personal growth and healing. This is one of the best books I've read in a very long time.

This book is an accessible, sincere and inspired guide for anyone who is curious about how to recover the human's innate ability to be in communication with the non-human world - which apparently just awaits our intention to do so. Eliot Cowan shares his own fascinating journey of discovery in a way that also offers to the reader ideas for how to do the same. His message is not, "look at me, I have special abilities," but "look into yourself and see what is there just waiting to be revived." The disastrous psychological, ecological and spiritual situation humans find themselves in as a result of having stopped engaging in "the great conversation" with nature, as author Thomas Berry puts it, can begin to heal if we try hard, now, to apply ourselves to the wisdom available in such books as Plant Spirit Medicine. We have a responsibility to read and utilize such information as Eliot Cowan makes available here. --Tayria Ward, Ph.D.

Plant Spirit Medicine is a fascinating look at what an ordinary person can do with a sincere desire to heal.

Trained as an acupuncturist, Eliot blended his skill in 5 element methodology, herbalism, and basic shamanism to create a gentle, non-invasive way to restore harmony in the mind, body, and spirit.

Plant Spirit Medicine is the ability to see beyond a persons symptoms to the real cause of the disease, where the person is out of balance.

Balance in 5 element methodology is the relationship of fire, earth, metal, water, and wood from the viewpoint of Traditional Chinese Medicine .

Though to deep to explain here, Eliot dedicates a chapter to each element and well as specifics on plants and how to contact them and the healing power of dreams.

My favorite part of the book is Eliot's frank portrayal of his teachers and experiences during his apprenticeship in the Huichol ways as well as "talking shop" with other shamans and plant healers.

This book is a gift to humanity.

Buy this book and read it. It is an amazing and powerful experience. I read it three times in a row and soaked up more and more with each reading. This book turned me on to Shamanism, but as I went off and read more about Shamanism, I discovered that nothing else was quite as clear, powerful, or sincere as Eliot Cowan's book.

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2011 update: Since I first wrote this review eleven years ago, I have gone through Eliot Cowan's course and become a Plant Spirit Medicine Healer myself. Practicing this medicine is a journey of a lifetime as the learning and opportunities for growth and healing are limitless. After 11 years of receiving the medicine as a client, I can also attest that the gifts keep going deeper and my appreciation for Eliot and his work continues to grow. More info is available at [...]

Of the dozens of books I have read on traditional naturopathy and on the interaction of the chemical compounds present in plants with the human organism, this was the most profoundly moving and amazingly informative yet. Having always been a skeptic of religious and spiritual practices, particularly traditional "folk" healing methods, I found Cowan's credentials and background reassuring in that he and I came from similar pasts. In spite of his education (or perhaps because of it!), he overcame his scientifically critical nature in order to relate to plants in a more pure and spiritual form, and thus opened his healing path to a broader and more thorough way of helping people. Reading about his experiences has helped me to do likewise. The topic of this book aside, I found it well written and engaging, a wonderful read for an afternoon in the sunshine, and one that I will keep on the shelf in my front room for many years to come.

This book is about healing at the deepest and most fundamental level. Herbs and plant medicine heal at the physical and emotional level. Cowan has learned how to communicate with the Spirit of all of life in the form of plant spirits and collaborates with that Spirit to heal at the level that transforms illness into health. Not about herbal medicine or symptomatic intervention, this process is about contacting the phenomenal power of love that is the Source of life and in cooperation with this Source, determining the underlying cause of imbalance, which manifests as illness, and directing Spirit to provide the kind of intervention that restores balance. This book is about restoration of balance and health, a magical process and a simple one; but this healing requires the kind of sobriety, intentionality, and heart that Carlos Castaneda alludes to in his books about shamanic journeying. Cowan is a deeply committed healer who has traveled into the awesome and sometimes fearful world of Spirit to bring back wisdom for all of life. The book is an introduction, filled with wondrous stories and enticing examples. Read it if you want to enter more deeply into the mystery of being and transformation. Read it if you want to be astonished at possiblities that seem mythical but which Cowan assures us are quite literally possible for anyone willing to practice diligently. Read it if you just want to be impressed with one man's journey into mystery. Whatever your reason, if you're interested in the possiblities of being fully human, I recommend that you read this book.

This is not your average book about herbalism. It takes the power of healing that plants have and goes beyond symptomatic treatment. It is an amazingly well written book and I couldn't put it down. It really resonates with the readers heart.

This book has so much heart and love it flows over you. It reads like a novel with Eliot's experieces and the stories of other shamans. I study the Chinese art/science of Feng Shui and the relationships between the five elements are crucial in Feng Shui. Eliot has a profound understanding of the five elements and describes them with such clarity, you can't help but look at the world around you differently. He is a true healer, and has a wonderful connection to all beings great and small. I should know, he's treated me for twenty years with both acupuncture and plant spirit medicine. I recommend Eliot Cowan's book very strongly!

Plant Spirit Medicine speaks of the elements of nature, the plants, shamanism, and healing. Cowan's integrity, wisdom and humor is apparent throughout. I first read this book 7 years ago. It changed my life, opening me up to a world where healing, love and compassion are always flowing from the plants and other aspects of nature. This book speaks of one man's journey and opens the doors to allow you to make your own journey and find your own path.

I have been reading and practicing these medicines for some time. I am also studying ethnobotany and plant medicine in relation to psychopathology. I picked up this book as a supplement to my work, and I did not expect that it would be so good. I would recommend this book to ANY person interested in this subject- whether they are totally new to it, or have been doing it for decades.
Cowan clearly and eloquently provides his take on this subject, and does a very good job explaining the basics. But he writes with a gentle tone, and makes plant spirit medicine something that everyone can do. This book isn't trying to sell anything or promote a workshop or healing modality. This really does provide some genuine insights on how to communicate with plants and use them for healing.
Eliot Cowan is right on with this book. You won't be disappointed.