Last week I woke up remembering a dream. In my dream I was out in our backyard and noticed a new plant growing in our garden. It stood out right away with its strange, almost otherworldly beauty. It was a Ghost Pipe plant. Monotropa uniflora. It appeared nearly transparent, as if it were made of ice but was not cold to the touch. I knelt down to check it out and thought to myself that I had no idea what its constituents were or what medicinal actions it might have. I looked at it and asked it "What I am going to do with you? I don't know your medicine." It communicated that I didn't need to harvest it to make medicine like I do with other plants. That its presence WAS its medicine. Interesting.
(Photo via: Wikipedia)
When I woke up remembering the dream, I went straight for my herbal reference books, none of which had any information about it. So I got on the internet and found some information about it but not as much as I had hoped.
The most helpful information I was able to find was written by herbalist Sean Donahue: http://www.americanherbalistsguild.com/sites/default/files/donahue_sean_-_ghost_pipe-_a_little_known_nervine.pdf and also White Owl Apothecary: https://whiteowlapothecary.com/2014/06/26/ghost-pipe-monotropa-uniflora/.
A few days later I happened upon Ghost Pipe related posts twice in one day on Facebook. The first was a post by Sean Donahue sharing a link to a new blog he wrote about his previous Ghost Pipe blog: http://greenmanramblings.blogspot.com/2016/07/ghost-pipe-cautionary-tale.html. The second was a beautiful photo of Ghost Pipe taken here in Oregon that was shared on the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuges page: https://www.facebook.com/usfwsoregoncoast/photos/a.160970877299512.42569.160709377325662/1184107891652467/?type=3&theater.
Then a friend of mine who I had told about the dream told me that she came across this blog post about Ghost Pipe and shared it with me:
http://www.goldrootherbs.com/2016/08/03/ghost-pipe-respect/
So here I am with Ghost Pipe still on my mind. A plant I have seen only once on a hike in the woods here in southwest Oregon and otherwise knew nothing about prior to my dream. Plants show up in my life in interesting ways. It sounds like it could be a very good plant ally for me but now that I have learned it has become an "at risk" plant species it looks like I will be working with its presence only.
Then a friend of mine who I had told about the dream told me that she came across this blog post about Ghost Pipe and shared it with me:
http://www.goldrootherbs.com/2016/08/03/ghost-pipe-respect/
So here I am with Ghost Pipe still on my mind. A plant I have seen only once on a hike in the woods here in southwest Oregon and otherwise knew nothing about prior to my dream. Plants show up in my life in interesting ways. It sounds like it could be a very good plant ally for me but now that I have learned it has become an "at risk" plant species it looks like I will be working with its presence only.
Be a Reflection of the Beauty and Magic of Nature.
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Nice post. Interesting images. Thanks for sharing the post.
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