Customer Reviews

Sacred Plant Medicine: The Wisdom in Native American Herbalism

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In Sacred Plant Medicine, Stephen Buhner explores the processes whereby indigenous peoples throughout the world learned the use of plant medicines. The book is a sensitive and deep look at an uncommon subject, the sacredness of plants within indigenous cosmologies, how those plants interacted with human beings, and how human beings made relationship with them in order to learn their medicinal and spiritual uses. Indigenous peoples were clear, and Buhner's first hand accounts bear this out, they did not learn the uses of plant medicines through trial and error but directly from the plants themselves. This book is an important companion to Buhner's other books: Lost Language of Plants, and The Secret Teachings of Plants. Each of them look at the intelligence of Nature, especially that of plants, in close detail, each from a different perspective. Sacred Plant Medicine develops a map of the territory of plant intelligence and the human interaction with it by focusing on the earliest and most basic human form of that contact between differing intelligences. Lost Language of Plants approaches it from a look at the deep ecological interactions of plant chemicals as one specific language of plant communication, Secret Teachings explores the heart as the specific organ of cognition behind understanding plant and Nature contact and communication. All three books are essential, this one is a delight. Highly recommended.

It took me years to start to find the kinds of books and material I have wanted to pursue. If you don't have a personal contact with a medicine man or shaman in a traditional earth based tribe, I think this is you best way to access material that is quickly being lost to humankind. I hope more people will read this kind of material to help safe the Earth and our relationship with it before it is too late.

My husband is very scientific with a strong interest in native cultures and moral philosophy. Sometimes books disappoint him when they're too generic or fluffy. This book did not dissappoint. It was very informative and interesting. The author knows what he's talking about and stands up for what he believes in. It was especially cool that we live by the Rocky Mountains and there are several specific references to the plants in this region.

By detailing his journey of the discovery of plant medicine to heal himself, Mr. Buhner gives the reader a chance to look within to see if perhaps that path might not help him, too. It goes far beyond the "for this, X tribe takes this" approach found in many Native American herbals.

This book put into eloquent words what I've been trying to tell people for years ... if you sit with a plant and quiet your mind, you will eventually hear it speak. It will tell you of its medicine. The descriptions of the ceremonies and the songs for the herbs are just icing on the cake.

Highly recommended ... if Native American herbalism interests you. If all you're looking for is 'for this problem, take this herb', this book is not for you.

I found some good information in this book, but much of it was not new or different from other sources I have read. The uses of native American herbs was valuable, and I liked the overall theme of the book, but the writing didn't inspire me. However, I am not particularly drawn to Native American traditions, and that is what much of the book is about. It may be thrilling to those who are more interested Native American lore.

I thought Plant Spirit Medicine by Eliot Cowan was a lot more inspiring and it really brought home the idea that plants are sentient beings with whom we can communicate. Because I had read that first, I was hoping for a deeper view into the lives of plants in the Sacred Plant Medicine book. I was disappointed that I did not find it. Even so, I think the book is worth reading, and I did learn a few things.

This excellent book helps us to regain lost knowledge - knowledge which I believe we will need again. This is a great place to start remembering!

Wisdom of the Earth, by Barry Kapp, goes into similar ideas. Amazon doesn't have it in stock, though. There Are No Incurable Diseases: Dr. Schulze's 30-Day Cleansing & Detoxification Program, School of Natural HealingHerbal Home Health Care, Herbal Healing for Women, Complete Medicinal Herbal (Natural care) can round this out, on the herbal side. For the Shamanic side, The Physics of Miracles: Tapping in to the Field of Consciousness Potential The Future Is Yours: Do Something About It! There is a Sufi story about moths, and the only moth that really understands the candle is the one who gives himself totally to the light, and the light gives itself to him. This applies to shamanic work. Shamanic techniques work from the larger self, especially in service to others. Shamanism means working with the subconscious, and at times superconscious minds. It cannot be apprehended by the conscious mind, the ego. Without service, many things just don't work, or work only slightly. Whispers of the Ancients: Native Tales for Teaching and Healing in Our Time gives you some idea of how very different native storytelling is, and stories shape the Universe. Indigenous life, for which these techniques go hand in glove, can be approximated from Journey to the Ancestral Self: The Native Lifeway Guide to Living in Harmony With Earth Mother, Book 1 (Bk.1) These are very good basic books, to getting out of the box of Western culture, into the much more fascinating 7 worlds of the spiritual traveller. Wong Kiew Kit's books on Chi Kung show how ideas like this survive in Chinese culture, and Chinese Herbal medicine has aspects very similar to these. Joseph Murphy The Power of Your Subconscious Mind (Revised) can help in understanding this. Healing For The Millions, by King, would also help. The other reviews are accurate, so I won't repeat what they say.

Sacred Plant Medicine: The Wisdom in Native American Herbalism
(ISBN 1-59143-058-5) Bear By Stephen Harrod Buhner

If you have ever wondered about the hidden dimension of plant and human interactions, Sacred Plant Medicine will guide you into the territory where plants are an expression of spirit. Through prayer and sacred medicinal songs, Buhner shows how plants reveal their medicinal properties. This is also the first in-depth study that examines the world of Native American medicinal herbalism.

Rahasya Poe, Lotus Guide Magazine
To Believe Or Not To Believe: The Social and Neurological Consequences of Belief Systems

This is a good book. It has quite a bit of the white man playing Indian in it. If you can filter through that stuff then you can get some good information out of it.