Oshá
our lovely elegant plant medicine called osha, significantly in Spanish 'oso' is bear, so chuchupatè, the bear medicine...oshá is a plant that speaks.
In this way I would like it to speak to you regarding oshá the potent plant medicine of the southwest US and understanding disease and disease states. Maybe you will read these words and you will somehow know this plant, the bear medicine. speaking with me is like hearing riddles. i rarely speak. i rarely have anything to say and if i do talk most people either laugh with me or walk away, "I'm not sure about him."
i would ask you to pay attention to patterns. Watching patterns is really all that we can do with herbal medicine. As you watch patterns develop it's possible you'll see more patterns or less patterns but we know that the herbal medicine is the change that we put into those patterns to bring about an outcome of homeostasis, on this present state yet we don't deny the disease state that exists. we don't pretend that all of this is good or bad. We want to ease the suffering in the world so we bring our herbal medicine to people and that's really about it. we want to help soothe the suffering so people don't suffer so much.
Trusting your own judgment. Use your heart, use your intuition to see the patterns and realize that most of what you see is a reflection of yourself. The things that you have to work with are close by. We work with our eyes, with our hands, with the tongue. This is the organoleptic approach to herbs we take. we taste them, smell them. we touch them we look at how they grow. where they grow. when they grow. Wevwill use that information to speak to us with the herbs. this is the approach to take with herbalism. We work with them, and allow the nature of the herb to enter into her being so that we can remember, knowing the thoughts that fill our mind, taking seriously whatever the herb wants to give us in terms of information. with sight, with smell, with the taste and form of the herb where it grows before our eyes. on this path of herbal medicine you have to go directly to the plant. On this path of my herbal medicine you have to go directly to the place where the plant is growing and meet the plant in its own space. You need to meet the plant where it is growing. And you need to look at the total picture of you as the person in the place with the plant.
We take notice. We look and see. Yet we don't become overcome with joy or distressed with sorrow, with fears or disgusted with sights, feelings and mental states that are beautiful and pleasant. whatever is, is and that's what we have to work with sometimes we see beauty sometimes there's ugliness and we don't run towards the beautiful and we don't run away from the ugliness just part of the mix that we're experiencing right now. what we do is look. be on the alert to what's available here and see the patterns. See the flow, the turning of events which create new events. This is what we have to work with. We don't throw things away because they are bitter or unpleasant. And we don't run to things just because they are sweet and beautiful. We know that beautiful and ugly are flips of the brain, and you can't have beauty without ugliness. they are concepts and constructions that exist in the mind. they're interesting to see but we don't seek out the beautiful and we don't run away from the ugly. above all we don't want to cultivate the junkie state of mind, the junkie state of mind is that state of mind that seeks out a particular mind state in an addictive way, and cultivates the addiction state, seeking it out again and again. The junkie state of mind very closely resembles the pattern of disease that often unfolds in a disease state with repetitious experience. The person with a chronic disease state is often found to be inhabiting the body of the disease state in a repetitious sort of pattern that unfolds in a very similar way limiting their experience. The addictive junkie state of mind is very repetitious does the same thing over and over and over and over again and that pattern becomes a very limiting close sort of way of being in the world. so we're not going there. were not seeking out that repetitious mind, in fact we are wanting to as much as possible to move beyond the junkie mind into a more open place of living. In truth you can't re-create the immensity and potency of a falling in love situation, if you try to stay in that rapturous moments of hormonal bliss falling in love, if you do try to maintain this intensity of feeling? you're like someone listening to a piece of recorded music again and again and again. Yes we have the technology for addiction. Yes we can listen to the same recording over and over and over again, yet this is not the way that we follow. Don't be concerned about right or wrong. Don't get caught up in pure and impure. Just look for the patterns in your own body in your own mind in the seasons, in what ever is right in front of your face. In that way you're going to get a good understanding of herbal medicine.
It's important to know that very few people can look outside of themselves. For most people including myself I am rarely looking outside of my own box. Most of the times that I'm seeing problems in the world problems, problems and politics, problems with institutions or politics or global situations what I'm seeing is a part of myself and in that way the only way I can address it is by working on myself. If you're feeling extreme emotions of hate extreme emotions of indifference of sorrow of joy know that there's something positive in that seeing but don't look at it as something completely outside of yourself. It's important when we look at a medicine like oshá, to see that is the thing! we see the pattern of growth. we feel the taste upon our tongue. we smell it. we watch where it grows,in these aspen forests.
when you see a forest of chard blackened trees standing. When you see the tall ponderosa pine forest reduced to tall standing burn chard towers of of wood. When you are in an old recent fire, know that not only is this a place where there was a fire. Know that not only did these trees live a good life and are beautiful both in their lushness of green, and beautiful as pillars of charcoal standing in the blue sky. Good and bad, living and dead, green and burnt-black: know that these things are just concepts that fly through our minds like the sound of a crack! as the wind blows down a burnt-tree. When the tree hits the ground it doesn't matter if you were there to witness it or not, it doesn't matter whether you heard the crack! with the tree crashing down, or felt the breeze from the gust of wind high in the ponderosa pine tree tops. The important thing is to grasp the pattern of oshá, the burning forest lush growth of Springtime flowers like explosions of light in the blue sky with hummingbirds and bees. this is the pattern and know that this pattern is not just a pattern in this particular forest, on this particular mountain, on this particular day, the pattern that you see is your pattern. you're seeing the pattern of yourself in this moment. the remedy, the los remedios that you need are right here in front of you, not far away, but right there. so listen feel taste touch because this is where the medicine is, and this is the path that we follow with oshá. as an example see yourself looking in a mirror. see your face and reflection in the mirror. then remove yourself from the mirror and continue to look into the mirror. see what is directly behind you in the reflection because this is where you are. You were looking at yourself. by removing yourself but knowing all the while that this pattern this flow of energy is you in the mirror without the image in the mirror.
The definition of herbal medicine is change. Herbs bring change. Herbs as we take them into our bodies create change, create meaningful patterns that engender well-being in the bodies inherent move towards homeostasis. In this way A person who works with herbs for any amount of time sees that the herbs as they take into the body work in a cyclic way in the same way that change comes in many forms, we have linear change with the progression towards a goal and we have cyclic change that flips back-and-forth from one opposite to another. The cyclic change is the change of date tonight, of spring to winter, of hot to cold, of love to indifference. As we see the patterns of herbs as they move through the body the herbalist knows that the herbs will bring change in certain predicted ways in certain patterns of change this is how we know the herbs.
Geographic range: L. porteri is distributed throughout the Rocky Mountain range, spanning Montana and Wyoming in the north, through Colorado, Nevada and Utah, to New Mexico, Arizona and Mexico Chihuahua and Sonora.
Bear root is a perennial plant that greens out in the spring, grows its seed in the summer and then turns brown and dies back in the fall. And in this waking up in spring, maturing in the summer and sleeping in the fall and winter we have our own path we take of waking, of growing and sleeping, this is the medicine, this is the lesson of oshá. It was considered part of Umbelliferae family, now renamed as Apiaceae family, carrot/parsley family. Known as the carrot/parsley family. The seeds and flowers have an umbellifer, as in our word umbrella look about them hanging down in clusters.
In the folk tradition osha is considered a plant protection and this is also mentioned in an old ethnographic study on the Pirates In "Southern Paiute Shamanism" by Isabel T. Kelly published in 1939, she mentions Ligusticum called, paxu'rani was applied for snake bite and the roots rubbed on moccasins and carried as a talisman to avoid snakebite and for protection. It is a tonic not only for the body, but also has uses for the psyche: the heart and mind.
Of course you do not need to look in books to find powerful plant energetics of oshá .
All you need to do is to taste the plant, listen to the song and smell the power that is in the plant. This is the same power that is in us and all living things. We see the plant rising up in the spring sending it's energy upward from the roots. Then in autumn the same energy returns to the roots. And in this lesson is our own balance and restoring quality that we seek, that we use, that we understand and relate to in this plant medicine. all of the great plant medicines Mike redroot have the same story, the same song, the same action of rising in the spring. Then the energy in the fall returns to the roots. This is how we harvest are plant medicines. We follow them and let them guide us through their changes. Herbal medicine is the practice of change bringing change into our own bodies with these plants. Herbal medicine is change. And this is how we relate to the plants on our own journey through our own lives.
The Navajo also dwell in the area of Ligusticum porteri. They have stories that can only be told when the bear is sleeping and they determine that time from the lightning in the fall during winter and then when energy from zig-zag lightening returns, the lightning in the spring this is the time when the healing generative energy of the earth returns.
I am reminded of the bear with osha the long nights of winter.
Plants of Protection: Like yerba Santa, Eriodictyon angustifolium, osha is a plant of protection. As I mentioned earlier it is used both for an actual rattlesnake bite and also rubbed on the body on the soles of the feet, moccasins and or tied on the shoes to ward off rattlesnakes when traveling through areas where one is likely to meet a rattlesnake. Question may be why would one need protection? And why protection from a plant? How can a plant protect me? Protect me from what? This is an important question because as we approach herbs and plants from a bioregional herbal perspective it becomes clear that not only do herbs nourish, not only do herbs have medicinal qualities for specific conditions, herbs also are teachers and friends who help us connect to our deepest needs. Not only do herbs nourish in the sense of nourishing the body, of addressing imbalances, deficiencies and usefulness in a disease state, herbs & herbal medicine and or preparations also enter into the spirit in the greater health of a person, the soul. In the sense of plants, as I explored earlier, plant/medicine and medicine plants: there is also the aspect of nourishing the greater body nourishing the mind, the heart, the spirit in a bioregional sense. As we live and take roots in a place it becomes important to visit the same place time and time and time again when gathering plants during all times of the year. To not only see the plants in it's dried or prepared form but to see the living plant in all its phases. In this sense one is completing oneself within the bioregion by taking notice of the plant, not only taking notice of the medicinal properties or energetics of the plant but also taking notice of the plant itself and what it can give. Taking notice of our own body and mind and how it changes when we visit a place in the spring time, as opposed to visiting the same place in the fall or winter. Listening to the plant itself and spending time with the plant develops the aesthetic sense of communication with the plant., and helps to acknowledge the connection to the natural world. Realizing that when we are in this natural world our thoughts and emotions and feelings change. My teacher Michael Cottingham, often says, but the definition of herbal medicine and herbalism is change, herbs are substances that we take into her body to produce change. Illness disease and states of sickness are those times when we need to take the herbs into our body to produce the change, to unblock the flow of energy so that the basic wisdom of the body, of homeostasis is renewed maintained and nourished. A lot of this information and knowledge has less to do with reading or studying and more to do with just spending time with the plants where they grow. Because as human beings we are intimately connected with the plant both in the present moment now and throughout our history.
A crucial and important part of herbal study is the actual tasting of plants, this is called the organoleptic approach so that we engage our senses touch taste smell with the plant to develop a sense of the energetics of the plant in the human body. So as herbalists we spend time looking, seeing, touching the plant and tasting the plant in various locations to find out the medicinal properties of the plant. One particular plant can vary greatly in its medicinal qualities through different seasons of the year. One specific plant can vary greatly in its energetic and medicinal qualities with regard to where it's growing, what type of year it's been in terms of wetness and warmth. Based on this hands on one organoleptic approach to plant medicine we begin to understand that specific plants can be vastly different depending on where they're growing and what time of the year we encounter them.
Within this folk tradition, because of this, we have plants that have developed a reputation within the historical context of bioregional herbalism of nourishing and protecting the spirit.
Oso, la Medicina del osa, medicine of the bear, Ligusticum porteri is one of these plants. Sometime the plant due to its scent and physical nature, or due to the power of smell can remind us instantly and immediately of a greater whole, a greater reality. Can awakening us a sense of a larger context in which we are acting. Especially if we have sought the plants out ourselves, in their own environments, spending time with them in the spring, summer, winter and autumn. They can be reminders. They can remind us that we have power and resilience to overcome the current situation and this can be a strength. This can be the plants role as a talisman, a charm to ward off evil. Evil whether rattlesnakes or sorcery which may or may not of been used against us. And here let's remember that sorcery and witchcraft has to do with peoples view of us, their intentions for us versus our own need to develop and grow. Sorcery is an attempt to place a concept of self upon us that does not correlate with our inner nature and current situation. Often times a self concept can be an implanted thought. That places us in a limitation which is no longer valid. When we are in a time of stress or turmoil or crisis, the plant can function to remind us of our resilience in the face of crisis by placing us in a larger context. This contextual shift is part of the work of plants. Much of our anxiety stress and issues have to do with the purely human realm, and although we spend much of our time in this place, the numinous depths of our being go much deeper than that. The healing energy of the plants can summon a reminder that we are bigger than the situation we face.
Plant energetics: our organoleptic journey with the plants is to engage the plants with our senses. We touch the plant and journey to the place where the plant is growing . we examine the forest and the cool moistness. We allow our tongue to wrap around the roots and use our nose to smell the strong aromatics.
Oshá is strongly stimulating and uplifting with its potent aromatic compounds. It's potency in many ways resides in the throat and in the lungs. It could easily be called a lung medicine because when we take in the plant oshá we feel it's power in our respiratory system. Oshá opens up the deepest areas of the long at the area of gas exchange in the alveoli. It's potent nature naturally seeks the lungs. as the potent medicine reaches the lungs it moves out from the lungs in the sense of upward and out. So the motion of oshá is to move upward and out, to seek forward and open up as it moves and exits. oshá is expanding.
Oshá also asks to remove the fluid from lungs, the mucus the moist wet congestion that inhabits this moist place that we call the lung. so you may feel yourself coughing up phlegm and mucus and wanted to spit it on the ground. If your lungs are congested you'll find yourself coughing with the moist waste. A wet cough and coughing up the phlegm and as you're coughing up the phlegm you will taste the licorice warmth and taste of oshá in the phlegm in the mucus, that you're spitting up.
Osha is warm- warming it is heating. it is expansive, expansive moving upward and outward. it produces sweating in the body. you will feel your body heating up, warming up, and you will specially feel this heat in the throat in the lungs. so taking the oshá into a body at the earliest date of feeling sick can bring the change necessary to allow the body to heal itself back from a disease state. oshá works best for those disease states that are infectious that go from person to person usually starting into the throat. at the first sign of a scratchy throat with congestion building in the throat you want to bring osha into the equation. Once the infectious state reaches the throat it has a tendency then to descend into the moist lungs and inhabit the lungs, continuing this disease state which can escalate into something with the cough, a moist wet cough sore throat. It is at this point that oshá brings its medicine of change into the body because it's going to heat the body. it's going to expel the mucus, the energy is going to be warm heating rising and expelling. There's going to be sweating so the body will be removing, shooting out, from the core to the extremities this is the action of oshá.
Understanding Disease states and herbal healing: on a very basic level we have the inside and the outside. Life occurs within a protected space. In plants and animals we have the cell membrane or the cell wall this is the outer layer of inside and outside. The organism is continually answering the question what is inside what is outside? What is me what is not me? What is self? vs what is other? In acute situations we have sudden onset. The skin, is a very large organ set up to determine the boundaries of self versus other. The skin is selectively porous allowing certain things to enter the body and certain things to leave the body in a sense it seals or covers the body and determines in many ways what is inside and what is outside. Breaks in the skin are problematic in that things from the outside can enter the body so that something like a cut or wound can allow an entranceway into the body. Immediately after the body detects, is aware that it's skin has been broken or compromised, begins the process of redoing the cover healing the wound and blocking the entrance way of other into self. The body mobilizes the reconstruction of skin, the re-creation of the pattern of the epidermis to cover the outside and restore the boundary between self and other this is the regrowth of skin after a puncture or wound injury.
The concept of a bounded whole is important to grasp because it in many ways captures the nature of dynamic interface between self and other which is continually occurring at the level of the skin which is the cover of the body. There is a vital intelligence at this level of choice and determination of self and other at the boundary of the body.
With the skin understood as that boundary between self and other in the human body, we also have openings in the skin which can be problematic for the entrance of disease states. The eyes, the ears, the nose, mouth, the genitals, and the anus. Because the mouth and nose function both in the sense of breathing and also eating we have a dynamic interface which could become the entranceway for disease in the mouth and nose. Day and night continually throughout the day throughout our period of being alive we are always breathing normally from 12 to 20 breaths per minute we are opening our mouth, taking in the outside air. we are breathing through our nose and mouth and taking the outside into the inside. Likewise with food we normally each and every day that we are alive eat. We place food into our mouth. we chew it. it's mixed with saliva. it is swallowed it passes the throat into the esophagus, the stomach, through the large and small intestines and then is removed. So the mouth is continuously involved in and necessary exchange yet also in someways a dangerous exchange between the inside and outside of the human body. We have to breathe. we have to eat yet in the movement of air and food and water through our nose and mouth as we eat and breath, and nourish there is the possibility of problems in the nose and throat with regard to outside entities entering and compromising the boundary between self and other.
Each person due to their unique situation has inherited a kind of tendency towards disease, a pattern of illness in connection with the body systems. In certain persons there's a pattern of disease that can occur with the entranceway being the throat the nose and the mouth. This can manifest with sinus congestion, a blockage in the nose, ears, throat. It can also manifest with this type of person in the throat where the throat becomes inflamed & swollen, the glands of the throat, the lymph system become stuck in that area. And if the disease process is not interrupted the issue of compromised throat, can just descend into the lungs. The lungs as we understand them are very moist, wet and warm. They can become easily the breeding grounds of all types of illness if there is not adequate movement in the lungs, if there is stagnation in the lungs, if the circulation of energy does not continually move there can be issues in the lungs. this situation often manifests with the accumulation of fluid, of mucus of waste products and the body attempting to rid itself of the foreign bodies produces more mucus and attempting to expel the music mucus you have a cough. attempting to expel The mucus and clear the air ways there can arise a cough which itself can irritate the throat which itself can produce further irritation and further problems if the body is unable to circulate the energy in the lungs to expel the waste products that are building up there.
Oshá is the perfect medicine for the person who has a pattern of illness with regard to the throat sinus nose and ears. Oshá can be that change that prevents the body from moving the energy downward into the lungs. Oshá can be that agent of change which enables the body to resist illness, fight off the tendency for the throat to be that entrance way into things like influenza, lung congestion, stagnant blocked lung energy, pneumonia, pleurisy and be the agent of change to bring the body towards that equilibrium of homeostasis. The body in equilibrium and wellness has a flow of energy which is movement. The body in sickness is blocked and the nature of the body is often in that same paradigm of self and other so the body attempts to block off the illness which can further bring stagnation and more blockage more issues.
Oshá is that outside agent that we call herbalism. The oshá is the change the body needs in this condition of blocked energy. When the energy becomes blocked, and locked in the throat with soreness with inflamation, with redness, tenderness and pain, oshá can be that agent of change. Remember that the definition of herbs of herbal medicine is change, herbs are agents of change that we use consciously, that we select and use to bring into the body, to lead the body away from the disease state into health.
In terms of sickness and health, and disease states we have or inherited tendency towards disease which we inherited from our mother, our father, grandparents, our great parents and even further in terms of our racial, cultural, national trans-personal history. Because this portion of our being is inherited it's not something that we can move away from deny or even affirm. it's just something that's there that's in the background that we have to deal with. these inherited patterns of illness and disease are where you are going to break down in terms of living in terms of time, through time. There is a way of looking at the world which is intensely hopeful and positive in terms of never growing old, of never dying, of never breaking down and in fact this is a delusional state because as human beings we can look around and you know that each person that is alive will die. no one anywhere at anytime has maintained health throughout their life or else they would still be living. We all will break down and as herbalists it's important to see the pattern of where this breakdown will occur based on the inherited factor, the environmental factor, and takesteps to minimize illness, maximize function, vitality and health.
By continuing with the concept of an inside and outside and maintaining the integrity of the bounded whole, we have the concept of nonself invading the body in such a way as to cause discomfort illness and disease. As human beings we of course have developed the sense and perception of self versus non-self, and self awareness as part of our being in the world. We don't function in an undifferentiated state. we function best when we are aware of our boundaries, when we are aware of our limitations, and when we are aware of the self and nonself, of ourselves in the environment. Before I was talking about the idea of the mouth nose throat ears as being a possibility for the entranceway of disease states into the body because of our breathing eating and drinking which occurs continuously as part of our process of living. So to go back again to the pattern of illness that occurs in the throat, the idea of a scratchy sore inflamed throat and that movement of illness and inflamation and blocked stuck condition into the lungs, in the allopathic medical model of illness we may want to examine throat in terms of a throat culture for bacteria. When we look at the throat we see that the throat is both a passageway for air in terms of respiration and breathing, and also a pathway for food nourishment and water to enter the body. So in terms of a inflamed sore scratchy throat we have to ask what is it that occurred that allowed the situation of homeostasis fluidity motion and exchange to break down into an illness pathological state? In the sense of a bounded whole with fluid porous boundaries that allow the healthful movement, exchange of both waste products and nourishing products across the barrier, we have to ask what is it that occurred that caused the inflammation, the blockage, the scratchiness, the irritation?
One of the most important elements of health is to feel safe. As human beings we continually seek feedback from the social environment. We are seeking affirmation. We are also alert to negation. Just as our bodies are in a feedback loop which leads to action. So that when we are thirsty we seek out fluids and seek out water. When we feel hunger we want to seek nourishment. our body is saying eat. when we breathe we are seeking air. when we're running and moving we breathe deeply to satisfy our need for air. we can't hold our breath. We have to be in flow. we are in the process of exchange, things coming and going in and out of the bounded whole. When we are tired and sleepy we lay down to sleep, we rest our body. Our body is continually in this feedback loop where things arise and we meet their needs we take action, skillful appropriate action based on that feedback loop of listening and then acting on that information.
As social beings we are no different. We don't exit that feedback loop just because other people are involved. We are social beings so we are involved in a very involved dance of feedback, contact, of gestures of body language which enter upon us. We actively seek out approval, positive regard, and affirmation from the environment around us which not only is the physical environment but is the social environment. So what happens when we as a person receive negative feedback from the social environments.? And it doesn't matter if that is an intentional communication directed towards us. it is the element of perception. The question is not so much what is the environment saying, what is the social environment saying? it's more about what are we hearing? What are we perceiving? What is the social milieu saying to us based on our perception?
When we have an injury to our skin, that breaks the protective layer of the skin, as in a wound or abrasion it's very easy to get a reality based evidence-based feedback from others of what is occurring. We have the broken skin. we have the bleeding. we have a wound that others can see. We also may have pain. Ouch. Something hurts. Something is wrong. "Oh look I injured my skin I have an open wound." and not only from ourselves do we get this feedback loop we can refer to others. We can say to someone look I scraped my elbow. And they can offer, "yeah I see it's red. why don't you put a Band-Aid on it? cover it up." We get confirmation from our own perceptions and from others that something has occurred. we can agree and recognize what it is and therefore we know that the body is addressing the wound. we ourselves can do something to address the wound, we can maybe wash it in water, place a Band-Aid on it, put some sort of healing salve on it. We not only can have injuries to our skin, to our bodies in the sense of the boundary has been broken, we can have also injuries to our psyche. As human beings we have a need for feedback in that feedback loop we need to receive messages of positive regard of affirmation. This perception that everything is well is the positive feedback that we need that says we are OK we can make it, we can continue our journey. The idea of a psyche-wound, of a psychic injury to our intangible body is the concept of spiritual attack.
All around us there are people who are well-nourished in the physical sense, their bodies are fed. the air they breathe is clean, they drink clean water -all these physical needs are being met. Yet there is a sense of malaise, there is a sense that something is not right that they have been set back. The protective layer between us as persons, the sense of belonging, that feedback loop has been compromised and it is in this position that we enter into elements like stress or degradation of the living experience so that the person does not florish but retreats. In the history of our interaction with plants that we call herbalism we have plants that have a reputation for restoring not only the body but restoring the protective layer of the communal self, with restoring the spirit. Several of these plants within our tradition have a deep connection with the lungs. A deep connection with breathing, with the intaking and out taking of air. I because our relationship with the breath is something that is a continuous movement in and out and in a sense is what unites us with the world around us in the sense of vision or hearing it's almost like a sense breathing is, breathing is a continual activity. it's a bridge between the inside and the outside and this activity is connected with the lungs. Oshá is one of those plants that is a talisman, that is a powerful herb of protection and also a powerful lung medicine. People come to oshá when a serious situation is occurring, things like snakebite or insect bite, spiritual attack, pneumonia bronchitis, influenza. There is nothing more frightening than a serious bout with pneumonia, where you are drowning in your own fluids, where you feel yourself suffocating with mucus and into this picture is our plant ally oshá. The appearance of Ligusticum porteri is like the delicate lobes of the lung. the flowers with their umbrella like appearance resemble the lungs and it's fragrance, the aromatics of oshá is confident reassuring, uplifting and strengthening. It is this history of spiritual protection and the ability of oshá to work in the lungs, in the breathing, in difficult conditions that have made it such a powerful plants Ally.
