Receiving Plant Wisdom
I paused on the path, the aluminum tea kettle light in my grasp after emptying its contents on the thirsty Moringa (Moringa oleifera) stalk. Before me stood another plant, a native to this land that had far surpassed the need of human assistance. The dusty light of dawn bounced off its broad, waxy leaves. Its dark green tone stood out against the pale color scheme of the surrounding foliage. So many messages. In that moment it communicated so much. The only difference from moments prior was that I was finally able to hear them.
Noni (Morinda citrifolia) and I have been running into each other, crossing paths all over the world, for over a decade now. Like the face that becomes oddly familiar after casual encounters in the grocery store, I came to recognize Noni after a few years of our constant run-ins during my foreign travels. At first it was just another plant amidst the dense jungle landscape. But then, as my senses acclimated, I became adept at deciphering Noni from its neighbors; I got to know the different personalities that distinguished one leafy green bush from another. Textures and shapes and sizes and smells— each plant had its own unique set of expressions that seemed to indicate something.
Layers and layers of messages were being sent, received, exchanged. To the untrained senses, it was a barrage of communications coming from all angles. So, I heeded the call, and my training commenced.
Passion Flower (Passiflora incarnata) was the first to talk to me. Or, rather, it was the first plant I was keen enough to hear. She catered her message to me, communicated with a cadence I was able to comprehend. She spoke to specific symptoms I suffered from, then drew connections to my nervous and endocrine systems, which correlated to emotional imbalances. Then she hinted at cues and clues to help me make harmonizing shifts in my mind, body and lifestyle.
Passion Flower proved to me that plant medicine is real. It is valid. It works. It’s the origin of all healing traditions and contains the keys that unlock our body’s innate intelligence. It works because it reminds our bodies how to work, how to function optimally, how to heal when broken. Plants heal by reminding us how to heal, so that we may experience the alchemy that transpires when trusting in the natural world and its organic processes that we’re intrinsically a part of.
Furthermore, Passion Flower taught me the ways of their language. She patiently instructed me on how to sit still, how to quiet my mind, how to quell the cyclic thinking. She guided me into a state of being beyond the confines of our conditioned, conventional matrix. She brought me to a place void of clutter and noise and passed the torch so I could get there on my own whenever I pleased. With her help, I created a roadmap to that place inside myself, forever accessible with the right intention.
After apprenticing under the ambrosial ways of Passion Flower, I branched out to other plant allies. Angelica, Yarrow, Pulsatilla, Lomatium, Bleeding Heart— the allegiance of Pacific Northwest plants had much to teach. I studied and scavenged and soaked up as much as I could while homesteading in the wild reaches of Southern Oregon.
All the while an undercurrent was picking up momentum. At first I felt its gentle tugs, nudging me in a westerly direction. A location that kept arising in conversation and appearing on pages of books that seemed to open themselves: Kauai was calling. She got so loud that it felt non-optional to answer.
Upon arrival, it took me a few years to acquaint myself and learn her language, the native tongue and ancient traditions of Hawaii. Again, the barrage of messages slowly started to make sense as I was able to decipher the different nuances. Among them was a whole new slew of plant allies: Ti, Tulsi, Turmeric, Gotu Kola— tropical herbs that showed up to teach me their ways. And, of course, Passion Flower (Passiflora quadrangularis) was there to bridge the gap, to clarify any messages lost in mainland-to-paradise translation.
Kauai is also where my relationship with Noni was taken to the next level. We went from acquaintances, or the casual passerby, to comrades. In addition to growing wild all over the island, Noni was considered a staple ingredient at the herbal sanctuary where I worked. Doug and Genna Wolkon, founders and owners of Kauai Farmacy, had experienced such a profound transformation upon drinking Noni Leaf tea, that they devoted their lives to making this plant medicine more available to the collective. From the platform of their boutique permaculture gardens, they share the wisdoms of Noni, in addition to over 80 varieties of other medicinal plants.
While working at Kauai Farmacy, I got to know Noni more intimately. Rather than comprehending its medicinal qualities by way of textbook and research, I came to understand its attributes by way of experience. I observed the way it grew, felt the way it crumbled between my fingers after curing in the solar dehydrators. I tasted the difference between fresh and dried leaf tea. I felt the way it catalyzed circulation, relaxed areas of tension, and delivered deep nourishment. I watched, in disbelief, as it expedited the healing of external wounds and rapidly relieved any irritated areas of redness. However, above all else, I acknowledged the shifts it was evoking in my mind.
Doug and Genna came to refer to Noni as their truth serum. For, after drinking the tea for months on end, they found themselves unable to conceal or hold back their truths. While this may seem like a benevolent shift, it required courage and a lot of letting go. And, it required adopting the complementary skills of grace and humility to be effective.
After imbibing with Noni and working with it at Kauai Farmacy, I also began to experience its effectiveness of inspiring authenticity. I was no longer able to silence or swallow my voice. For, every time I did, the consequences and symptoms worsened, like a compounding weight or burden. It just wasn’t worth it— not when the weightlessness of speaking my truth was the alternative. Noni had opened up a whole new way of expressing myself. However, I still didn’t fully understand its mechanisms. There was something still getting lost in translation. There was still more to learn.
It’s been a year since my soulful contract at Kauai Farmacy came to a close. As I turned the page into a whole new chapter of life, I found myself simultaneously shifting focus. My herbal career receded into the background, while my writing métier began to bud. I relinquished some relationships, nourished new connections, and found resolve with that which was no longer serving a purpose. Like most people on the planet, the last year of my life catapulted me into a whole new mode of existence. 2020 rocked my world— flipped me around and pivoted my poles in a way that altered my magnetism. I found myself pulled in a whole new direction. Dramatically (and literally), my entire land-based lifestyle transformed into a sea-fairing voyage.
That’s how I ended up here. On this path. Before this plant. Noni and I meet again. Face-to-face like old friends seeing each other with fresh eyes. It has been calling to me ever since I made landfall on this remote pirate outpost in French Polynesia, attempting to send me messages that I strained to hear over the whitewash of waves and billowing South Pacific breezes.
I sat and listened and prayed and tried to pull meaning from the clues that just weren’t synching up into comprehension. So I stopped trying. Because forcing anything, especially an organic process, is like beating up wind— abrasive and exhausting. In surrendering my control over the situation, including my assumed authority as an herbalist, I sank into a deeper state of presence with this place. I began to take in other messages, other meanings, other teachings from natural entities like coral, keto (grouper), oysters, and the wind. I learned new languages, which expanded my entire scope of understanding. And enhanced my whole life experience.
Then, as time faded into a tone of reverent observation, I started to take notice of a reoccurring image. Like a signpost guiding me in a certain direction, the symbol of an elephant was catching my attention. It arose in dreams, on packaging labels, in books and movies and songs, and most strikingly, in the form of Ganesha, the elephant-embodied Hindu diety whom I also consider an old ally and friend. In taking notice, I acknowledged a message drawing near. So, I oriented myself to hear…
… Like an ear! An elephant ear. In attempting to transcribe the oddities of Noni one morning, I came up with the analogy of an elephant ear. For, elephants were on the forefront of my awareness. And Noni’s broad waxy leaves are akin to their flexible thick-skinned ears. It all began to make sense.
Ganesha: the remover of obstacles. Noni: the truth serum. In order to express our truth, to live authentically, we must first remove all the blockages, barriers, obstacles standing in the way. All the old patterns and limiting belief systems and conditioning and toxins (both environmental and emotional)— it must all be cleared for our truths to be recognized, realized and coherently expressed. Otherwise, if we try to speak too soon or force a desired outcome, it comes out jumbled, disorganized and confusing.
It’s been over a decade since I first met Noni. And it was on a path not unlike this one. In fact, it was remarkably similar— a meandering trail on a pedestrian tropical island— an environment exposed and raw and unadulterated. The only difference is 3000 miles and the names of surrounding seas. So it feels apropos, synchronistically full circle, that one decade later I find myself in an environment that simulates the same sentiment as the one where we first met. And it is only now that I’m able to truly see Noni for what it really is. It’s true medicine, it’s purpose in my life.
Noni has reminded me of my authenticity, of my truth. But it took ten years of detoxifying, de-conditioning and cleansing to realize it. Noni stands as a symbol of genuine nature— one existing in peace with its environment and itself, needing little in return for the gifts that it selflessly bestows. Noni offers rich resources in naked landscapes, bio-available nutrients converted from raw elemental energy. It provides phytochemical constituents born of its genetic coding, compounds like xeronene that have been scientifically studied as removers of tumors and toxic buildup. It’s a cleanser, a circulatory tonic, a nutritive supplement and fortifier of luminous skin. It’s food. It’s medicine. It’s a plant that was chosen by ancient Polynesian voyagers to assist arduous ocean crossings and encourage adaptation in new environments.
Noni has made its way around the world. It’s established itself in terrains across the tropical belt, like a beacon, sending out messages for the receptive passerby to hear. Humble it stands. And, patiently, it provides the medicinal wisdom that supports our journey back to our authentic selves.
