PLANT HEALERS AND TEACHERS OF THE DESERT SOUTHWEST

Article submitted 03/04/2009 by Linda Reiger
www.apathtowholeness.net
www.natureshealinggrace.blogspot.com

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At first glance, the desert seems an undesirable place - a land that holds dangers for those unwilling to be present. Yet, it offers support in becoming more focused, aware, and internally strong. The Desert Flower Essences teach us about patience, adaptability and self-nurturance.

Perhaps the quality we learn most quickly from the desert is the cultivation of the 'here and now' presence. Stepping on a cactus or grabbing hold of a rock under which a sleeping rattlesnake may lay can be dangerous! The desert demands great focus and awareness. No matter what crisis or intense situation we may experience in our life, if we remain present and in the moment, the situation always seems much easier to handle.

In the desert environment, water is a cherished element. We learn to appreciate and honor what water brings to us. Water is the life giving force of nature. It is a feminine receptive energy. It holds feelings, emotions, desires, unconscious dreams and visions.. Water represents a female mode of consciousness that includes inner listening and a deep sense of what is sacred. Our physical body is generated in a womb that is filled with water.

Water represents compassion, the ability to flow with our feeling nature, and the ability to understand other people's feelings by recognizing them in ourselves.

The desert is all about survival. All of the plants, but especially the cactus, have the ability to hold deep reserves of energy. They have found ways to protect and store the precious element of water. They wait, they are patient, and they adapt to extreme conditions, and then when the rains come the desert goes wild with an abundance of beautiful flowers.

Some desert plants have the ability to store water in various parts of themselves. All of the succulent plants do this. Other desert plants store water below the ground in huge roots that are usually many times bigger than the actual plant. The qualities of these plants teach us to develop a deep inner receptivity, moving our focus inside ourselves to discover ways of inner nurturance.

It is so amazing how the desert plants use small amounts of rain to make so much growth. This pattern of holding and conserving energy and then using it with abundant vitality when an opportunity appears can teach us so much.

About half of the Sonoran Desert plants are annuals and live for a single season. These plants mature their seeds in just a few weeks after growth starts in the spring, storing their life force in their seeds before they die. These seeds can remain on or underneath the soil until conditions are just right for them to begin germinating, no matter how long that may take. These plants help us to see that we can overcome the seemingly impossible by just remaining present, adapting to 'what is', and developing an acute sense of patience so we can channel our energy appropriately.

Drought tolerant plants teach us to balance our resources and energies, discouraging waste and encouraging efficiency.

For instance, some of these plants have leaves growing in a fashion that protects them from excess sunburn; they grow vertically so that when the sun is overhead there is less surface area exposed. This prevents overheating and water loss.

Most desert plants have leaves that are leathery and contain substances that ensure moisture retention. Most of the desert flowers are composed of a waxy substance, so there is little water loss from the surface.

Some drought tolerant plants dry out and look dead, but retain the vital life force and the ability to revive and flourish under the right conditions. Another drought tolerant strategy is the growth of spines and thorns. They actually shade the fleshy part of the plant from the sun. In some cactuses, the spines point downward, this directs the water in a stream to the shallow roots below.

Generally, desert plants do not entangle themselves with one another. They are unique and separate forms. There is an inter-relationship between them that is based upon individualization. Each shape is self-contained and calls attention to itself. Everything is exposed and there is no place to ignore or hide anything. The desert is like a vast empty space asking us for self-definition.

From Forest Shreve, The Cactus and Its Home (Found in Discovering the Desert, by William G. McGinnies): "To know the desert involves an acquaintance with all its aspects, and all its physical features, as well as all the animals and plants that have learned how to find in it a congenial place to live. The most significant lesson that the desert dweller can learn from a familiarity with its plant and animal life is to regard themselves not as an exile from some better place, but as a person at home in an environment to which their life can be adjusted without physical or intellectual loss.”

Many people do not realize that the deserts in the Southwest has monsoon rains. During July and August, we have rainstorms that blow furiously across the desert floor, bringing with it a flood of water. The winds can blow in a storm and drop almost three inches of rain in about forty minutes. When our yearly rainfall is only around ten inches, you can imagine how much water that is for the dry desert floor. I just love to see how profusely the plants use this precious water resource. Their pattern of holding and conserving energy and then using it with abundant vitality when an opportunity appears can teach us so much.

Our desert environment presents extra challenging growing conditions, creating difficulty for plants to grow. However, the plants here specialize in unique ways of providing themselves with all they need not only to survive, but also to thrive in this climate. I have found that Flower Essences from the desert flowers can provide specialized support for understanding our needs and creating ways to guarantee that our needs are met.

The messages from the deserts are of Hope. Even in the suffering desert landscape, a place that appears beyond salvage, there is a swell of life in the blossoming of wildflowers. Desert flowers exemplify the possibility of renewal. They embody the truth that no landscape and no person are beyond redemption, beyond the grace of a new life, and the healing of old wounds.

In the desert, spring can initiate from its dry sands an event so spectacular and colorful that you forget about its harsh unforgiving nature. It is called the wildflower season.

Normally, the desert is painted with browns, mauves, pastels greens and grays. However, during the spring, the dull desert palette fills with new brilliant shades of blue, magenta, yellow, white and red.

Although it is an annual event, the wildflower season is never the same from one season to the next. Weather conditions play an important part in the outcome of each wildflower season. If the winter has too much or too little rain, or if the temperatures are too warm or too cold, the seeds of desert annuals will remain dormant or bloom in fewer numbers.

Only when conditions are near perfect will you witness a spectacular wildflower showing, a time when an abundance of colors fills the landscape with breathtaking beauty.

To visit the desert wildflowers is to bathe in hope and the vibrations of recovery. In order to blossom in a desolate place of extremes, little physical nourishment, and rare precipitation, desert wildflowers evolve an ability to find the goodness and sustenance that is available in their environment. They learn to seize any given window of opportunity that allows them to thrive and express their joyful selves.

They learn how to transmute a situation of abuse and flourish. How to accomplish this triumph over adversity is the vibrational wisdom they give as Flower Essences, showing the injured places in us how to also heal and flourish once more. The energy of the desert is of flexibility, clarity, individuation, growth, inner-security, and resolving disconnection from self or others.

I give thanks for the desert and the abundance of support it offers. When times are tough, when we are pushed to the edge, the plants from this extreme environment support us through their Flower Essences. No matter what seems to be happening outside, inside we can always experience a continual sense of on-going peace.

A Path to Wholeness website offers a variety of different flower essences to choose from; please stop by and learn more about them!

Walk in Beauty,
Linda Reiger
www.apathtowholeness.net
www.natureshealinggrace.blogspot.com

Linda Reiger has studied Metaphysics and Animal Wisdom for over ten years. She loves and appreciates beauty in anything, whether it is a person, art, music or nature. Being a Libran soul, balance and harmony in life and surroundings are very important to her. She has attained third-degree Reiki, and infuses all her flower essences with the Reiki energy. Her website was created from the evolution of her own experiences and the deeper relationship she has developed with nature.

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