Heather Sanderson's Blog, page 8

Translating The Multiple Languages Of Life

Dog I walk with Mugwort. Photo by Heather Sanderson

Communication is complex and we are all constantly translating.

We know it’s not as simple as saying something and having it be heard, as intended. That rarely ever happens fully. Communication (both sharing and receiving) is dynamic and has embedded within it every psychological desire, every emotional behaviour, every energetic gesture (or what we have often called body language) all personal, inherited, and then a part of the larger collective belief system (and more!).

Then, throw in multiple languages to access, multiple ways to access and interpret communication, and diversity of ability, range of understanding, across human beings, and animals, and then plants! It’s easy, sometimes to say “forget it.” Complexities can be hard. Yet, the potential for growth, nuance, deeper understanding of others, the world, Self, becomes so dynamic and engaging when we start to look at communication and translation not as an obstacle, but as an enriching soil, full of untapped potential and fertility.

Communication is vibrational.

I was recently at an in-person party. The first large room of people I’ve been in for over two years. Many conversations were struck with complete strangers and it felt, to me, energizing and engaging.

One of the women there was interested in different models of education and intergenerational gatherings as a part of that. We followed the thread and ended up talking about human interactions with plants. She spoke about the science experiment many of us have seen posted around the internet where someone spoke only kind, encouraging words to one plant, and degrading, harsh words to the other. Not surprisingly, the plant that was given nurturing words flourished, the other didn’t grow as big or strong, shrinking and shriveling away.

I have seen this experiment posted many times and yet, in listening to her describe it as if I was hearing it for the first time, something new emerged:

It’s the vibration.

We are all feeling, sensing beings. That is part of the operating system of pretty much every living creature here on earth. No matter what we believe about being emotional, the energy body, or being “too sensitive,” or not sensitive enough.

While, perhaps, the plant could hear the words being expressed, it occurred to me that it’s much more likely that they are feeling the vibration emitted through the person’s body and energy field, then interpreting the data, and responding accordingly.

The same goes for humans, of course, and interacting with animals. Dogs, for example, as my friend Jessica Latour taught me, only really know “safe” and “unsafe.” This is the foundation of their communication and, therefore, how they go about making decisions and living.

If you watch a dog closely, you’ll start to notice when and how they pick up on the stimuli around them: the vibrations of the environment or of other dogs and people. Notice when they shrink away (unsafe) or grow bigger (safe).

Think about this for yourself. How does communicating with another person make you feel? When do you shrink away? Step into your power? When are you nurtured? Or afraid? What happens in the body as a result and, how do you respond? 

What is our capacity to create safety through communication?

It’s not just speaking either. Think of all the times you have read an email or a text and have inserted a tone you believe is behind the words. A tone is a vibration. Where does that come from? Is it true knowing of the tone embedded from the sender? Or your own projections and stories that you place into the email to reinforce the beliefs stored within you? Or both?

Even when no words are spoken or written, communication happens. It’s felt–emitted as vibration from one person to the others around them, including non-humans and the environment or ecosystem of which they are a part. And we have the ability to witness the vibrations we emit to others and, in time, there is the possibility of choosing what vibrations to emit. Play with this–see what happens!

See, complex!

I have Mugwort to thank for initiating some of these new and evolving thoughts. Her book, Dreaming with Mugwort recently wanted to be translated into Spanish! As a non-Spanish speaker, this presented a new challenge of how the heck to do this…and one that was met with love as my friend Mary Santivanez kindly offered to read over an auto-translated version of the manuscript.

Mary took such great care with this midwifery–even asking others about some words and what the best option would be (since the Spanish language and meanings vary across different lands and people). So today, we welcome Soñando con la Artemisa: Una lectura corta del espiritu de las plantas into the world!

Which brings us to that whole other channel of communication and vibration: speaking with the plants. Each of the plant and tree spirit books goes into this in detail and offers different ways to access and work with the consciousness of the plants. 

This is also vibrational. Those vibrations are the communication only, this time, instead of a human coming at a plant with their vibration, it’s more of a merging or entering into a safe container where some kind of experience can take place.

For some, they may use words and receive information like a stream of consciousness, a story, or one or two words. Others may tap into this vibration and see images or visuals, feel sensations in the body, dance, move, sing, play music. 

Here is the beauty of complexity: this kind of communication only has right answers. The trick is finding ways to access the information that is all around us, all the time, emitted constantly by the plants and trees.

When we enter into this kind of communication, there is more nourishment and nurturing, different kinds of awareness. Generative creative fertility of a give and take. A reciprocity and balance which, eventually pours over into other ways of thinking, being, communicating with non-plant species. 

Mugwort, I think, wants to help lead the way and collaborate on establishing new ways to dream, create, and communicate with humans. I wonder if that’s why her English book is the top-selling Plant Spirit book of all time? Why she grows prolifically at least here in Brooklyn, and why hers was the first to be translated into another language?

Who knows? Perhaps that is too much projection, and it makes my own vibrations buzz with joy to think that it’s a possibility.

Which plants or trees are you called to communicate with? How does moving you your body add to your vibrational experience of communicating with others? Does yoga help? 

I’m asking lots of questions because I’m curious as this new world opens to me. One I’ve been exploring for years now through so many different healing practices, and feel ready to open yet another door and see what wants to be learned and embodied with respect to communication. There is much more to uncover and understand–and I’m excited by the possibilities yet to come.

Top 20 Majestic Wisdom Books of April

The most popular books in April 2022 were:

Dreaming with Hawthorn Dreaming with Nettle Dreaming with Redwood Dreaming with Mugwort Dreaming with Willow Dreaming with Rosemary Dreaming with Dandelion Dreaming with Heather Dreaming with Birch Dreaming with Lavender Dreaming with Elder Dreaming with Oak Dreaming with Sunflower Dreaming with Violet Dreaming with Holly Dreaming with Apple Dreaming with Goldenrod Dreaming with Red Clover Dreaming with Sumac Dreaming with Trillium

Dreaming with Goldenrod celebrated its one-year anniversary out in the world on April 12th! Dreaming with Violet turned two on April 23rd!

Happy birthday!

Thank you for reading and dreaming with the plants. For a list of all available and upcoming titles, click here.

Embracing the Fool

The Fool card from the Rider–Waite tarot deck, scanned by Holly Voley 

Happy April Fools’ Day! 

I’m laughing at myself because yesterday I was getting caught up in trying to write a short story for a class I’m taking and all I could see was the same. The same patterns of how I write, the same story I always tell emerging yet again through different characters. The irony being that in the story the characters need to embrace the Fool in order to transform and when I got to that part of the story, what came out was so serious. 

I stopped. I shared with a friend. I walked away–literally–went for a walk outside. Then, hours later, on my yoga mat I felt into the Fool energy. The energy of laughing at and with myself for being so serious. Yes, the characters need the Fool in this story but, of course, so do I! Entering into the energy and laughing at myself for getting stuck in this way again, I found a new way through! A completely different scene emerged–one that is filled with laughter and light.

There is a huge amount of freedom in being able to play the Fool and a creative energy that, at least for me, doesn’t get worked with as much as it could. I’m curious what the world might look like if we embraced the Fool, without judgment or worry. What do you think? 

What a day to embrace the foolish! If you need help doing so, have a listen to this podcast episode with Janet Morgan, or this blog post from a few years ago about shedding the serious and letting things be lighter within.  

What comes from putting yourself out there? Whether you feel foolish doing so or not?

Sometimes surprising things emerge! Like a recent video posted by a friend about Sister, and the Dreaming with the Plants books! Never would have happened without the risk of putting ourselves out there. As April is Poetry Month, I’d love if you could watch it, read Sister, and/or write your own poem. Maybe something to do with foolishness. Nonsense. Something different. Out of the ordinary to what you usually do. I’d love to read them! Or share them on instagram if you tag me @heather.sanderson. 

(Another one of our podcast guests, Annie McDonnell just posted a stacked book poem, another thing you can try!).

I imagine the people who started Earth Day in 1970 felt passionate and also likely met (and still do) with the attacking energy that the Fool can conjure up. That energy so many of us try to avoid–how to avoid being hurt by never looking foolish. Somehow, protecting the environment, connecting with nature, or talking with the plants has become written off as “foolish”–maybe it is! And, what’s the harm? By stepping into that potential hesitant space of the foolish and having a heart-to-heart with non-human being, maybe you are imagining it. Maybe it is real. Maybe it doesn’t matter at all–and why not explore? Play? Check out the top ten Majestic Wisdom books of March for inspiration on how to do so.

Choose a plant or tree from the list of books that’s calling to you, or who you like, give that book a read and try some of the exercises within. Again, I’d love to hear more, or tag me if you post something. 

If you feel a bit stuck or trapped in similar patterns. Try any of these ideas, or move in a silly way. A way that feels foolish to you. Notice the sensations that arise.

Embracing the Fool may just be the way to help us get out our own way–individually and collectively. To envision something new. Different. Possible. 

This post was originally published as a newsletter in April 2022.

Click here to subscribe to future newsletters.

Top 10 Majestic Wisdom Books of March

The most popular books in March 2022 were:

Envisioning New Ecosystems Dreaming with Rosemary Dreaming with Violet Dreaming with Heather Dreaming with Oak Dreaming with Nettle Dreaming with Lavender Dreaming with Sunflower Dreaming with Red Clover Dreaming with Mugwort

Dreaming with Apple celebrated its one-year anniversary out in the world on March 13th! Dreaming with Mugwort turned two on March 30th!

Happy birthday!

March also saw the launch of a new series, The Future is Possible, with the inaugural book, Envisioning New Ecosystems: A Conversation with Stewart Hoyt.

Thank you for reading and dreaming with the plants. For a list of all available and upcoming titles, click here.

New Book Launch of Envisioning New Ecosystems: A Conversation with Stewart Hoyt

Happy Spring Equinox! Are you feeling any shifts as we move into the rebirth of spring here in the North? 

It feels like a perfect time to launch a new idea—taking a podcast conversation with Stewart Hoyt and turning it into a book!

Please join me in welcoming Envisioning New Ecosystems: A Conversation with Stewart Hoyt into the world!

This short book introduces and explores the concept of ecstatic movement, what that is, and how being present in your body helps you be present within the local environment of which you are a part. In our conversation, Stewart shares practical ideas for how to create new ecosystems in places like New York City, offering solutions to help offset climate change. He posits a message of hope, possibility, connection, and an abundance of productivity not just environmentally but economically. 

The book includes new insights not offered in the podcast like key concepts that expand beyond the typical definitions of things like a biome, ecosystem, ecstatic movement, the story behind the conversation, and worksheets for you to dream and envision how to work with the ideas presented.

I also offer a plant spirit reading to remember that co-creation works beyond human-centric thinking, and to help establish a conversation with the plant world as a mainstream way of being. 

This is the first in a new series of books called The Future is Possible! (More on that soon!). Let’s build the future together, now.

If you’re looking for something to inspire new thoughts, or instill hope for the future, along with practical practices to explore, check it out! I promise there’s nothing else like it out there. Because it’s a bit different, it would be extra awesome if you could buy a copy and support this creative energy. Your support goes further than you could imagine and inspires me to keep going, to keep writing, and to try new things! Truly. 

eBook available for Amazon Kindle (device, app or laptop):

US, CA, UK, DE, FR, ES, IT, NL, JP, BR, MX, AU, IN

Paperback book available:

US, CA, UK, DE, FR, ES, IT, JP, AU, NL

Related Works:

Dreaming with Dandelion
Envisioning New Ecosystems Podcast Episode

Dreaming with the Plants is now a series on Amazon! You can now easily see all 21 plant and tree spirit books in one spot and top up your library: US, UK, DE, CA, FR
(Ireland friends use Amazon.de).

*This post was originally published as a newsletter in March 2022.

Click here to subscribe to future newsletters.

Top 8 Majestic Wisdom Books of February

The most popular books in February 2022 were:

Dreaming with Willow Dreaming with Mugwort Dreaming with Lavender Dreaming with Goldenrod Dreaming with Rosemary Loving Kindness for Everyday Life Dreaming with Hawthorn Dreaming with Nettle

Dreaming with Rosemary celebrated its one-year anniversary out in the world on February 11th! Dreaming with Dandelion turned two on February 28th!

Happy birthday!

Thank you for reading and dreaming with the plants. For a list of all available and upcoming titles, click here.

The Outrageous, the Foolish, + the Divine

Photo of Janet Morgan by Gregory Frux

Happy 2/22/22 to my American friends, and 22/2/22 to everyone else!

To celebrate, the 22nd episode of Majestic Wisdom Podcast is live today and it couldn’t be a more perfect fit for a day of twos and tutus and whatever other fun or magical things you have appear today! In it, Janet Morgan and I talk about the outrageous, the foolish, the divine and she shares her insights on art as community.

Janet also talks about how some of her best work started out with a failure, rejection, and/or making a mess. As someone who shut down my creativity for years–at least the pure flow of creative expression–I understand now that it was out of fear and conditioning around these very things. Somehow, I convinced myself that what I had to write or say wasn’t good enough. I might try something once, send it off, get rejected, and then give up. I left my creative work to languish and I languished too. Significantly.

What I didn’t realize in my early twenties, when I thought mt fate was sealed, is that creativity and working in an artistic way is a process—and one that is limitless! I started writing about this back in February 2015, when it suddenly occurred to me that all of life is creation. That we are all works of art in process, all the time.

Now I’m starting to see that what I really did was give up on myself. It’s been through the past decade of delving deeply into the healing arts that my creativity has come back and now it’s unstoppable! No, seriously. I have a constant flow of ideas and collaborations and they are engaging and fun. I had no idea living could feel like this. I used to think creativity was like a tap that was turned off and on, and I always expected it to run out or dry up. In listening to Janet, and seeing her as a creative force, it makes sense now that creativity is limitless. It’s the limits we put on ourselves that get in the way.

So, on this fun day, see if you can be a bit foolish. Make a mess. Create a new deity! Or sit down in front of a blank page, put pen to paper without a plan–what happens? (It’s okay if it’s scary or brings up emotion… I share about the first time I reconnected with this powerful energy here). 

*This post was originally published as a newsletter in February, 2022.

Click here to subscribe to future newsletters.

Top 10 Majestic Wisdom Books of January

The most popular books in January 2022 were:

Sister, Loving Kindness for Everyday Life Dreaming with Mugwort Dreaming with Lavender Dreaming with Nettle Dreaming with Hawthorn Dreaming with Red Clover Dreaming with Spruce Dreaming with Oak Dreaming with Apple

Dreaming with Spruce celebrated its one-year anniversary out in the world on January 12th! Loving Kindness for Everyday Life turned two on January 31st!

Happy birthday!

Thank you for reading and dreaming with the plants. For a list of all available and upcoming titles, click here.