How Plants Bring Us Home to Nature with Pam Montgomery

#69 - How can plants guide us through global transitions and help us remember our relationship with the natural world? 

Join us for a wonderful conversation with herbalist, author, and international teacher Pam Montgomery as we explore the profound wisdom of co-creative partnership with Nature and discover how plants are actively helping us heal our separation from the natural world. 

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Biophilia and the meaning of co-creative partnership with Nature 
• How plants are evolutionary pioneers, leading the way in spiritual evolution and raising consciousness 
• Stories of how plants appear as guides and helpers when we need them most 
• How to understand the ancient language of plant communication through light, sound, and vibratory resonance 

Pam Montgomery is an herbalist, author, international teacher, Earth elder and new-paradigm thinker who has passionately embraced her role as a spokesperson for the green beings and has been investigating plants and their intelligent spiritual nature for more than three decades. 

She is the author of two books one of which is the highly acclaimed Plant Spirit Healing; A Guide to Working with Plant Consciousness, and her latest book, Co-Creating with Nature. Pam teaches internationally and virtually on plant initiations, spiritual ecology, and co-creative partnership with Nature. She is the founder of the Organization of Nature Evolutionaries or ONE and was a founding board member of United Plant Savers.

You can find Pam at: https://wakeuptonature.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/pam.montgomery.589/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pam.montgomery.589

Books: https://wakeuptonature.com/learning/books/

For more info visit Sara's website at: https://www.multidimensionalnature.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/multidimensional.nature/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saraartemisia.ms/
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/plantspiritherbalism
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@saraartemisia
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@multidimensional.nature
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/multidimensionalnature/

Learn how to communicate with plant consciousness in the free workshop on How to Learn Plant Language: https://www.learnplantlanguage.com/

Transcript

Sara Artemisia: 0:04

Welcome to the Plant Spirit Podcast with Sara Artemisia on connecting with plant consciousness and the healing wisdom of Nature. To learn how to communicate directly with plant consciousness, you can check out the free workshop at www.learnplantlanguage.com and for Financial Coaching, Business Development Coaching, Flower Essence Therapy, or One-to-one Mentorship Sessions, visit www.multidimensionalnature.com. I'm your host, Sara Artemisia, and I'm excited to introduce our next guest to the show today. Pam Montgomery is an incredible herbalist, author, international teacher and lover of the green ones, who has passionately embraced her role as a spokesperson for the green beings for over three decades. She is also the author of several books, including Plant Spirit Healing and Co-Creating with Nature. So Pam, thank you so much for joining us today. Such a delight to have you with us.

Pam Montgomery: 1:17

Thank you, Sara. It's always a pleasure.

Sara Artemisia: 1:20

So great. Of course, love you, love your work, and so love how you are deeply working in this experience of co-creatively being with Nature. And so when you speak about this co-creatively living with Nature, can you tell us more about what this is? This feels really key to me with the massive global transition that we're currently in right now?

Pam Montgomery: 1:42

Yes, when I speak of referring to co-creative partnerships. So when I say co-creatively, I mean that we're actually can be in a partnership with Nature and all that is incorporated into Nature. And I particularly like to speak about the plants, since I'm a real plant person, and I just love the plants, and they're my dear hearts and so co-creative partnership, kind of is what it sounds like. It's being in a partnership. And this is a really good functional partnership, and one that works and co means that we're in this together. It's an equal, equal partnership. So, we're moving away from the idea that humans are the crown of creation, which we've been taught that basically, that we're it and that the rest of Nature is below us, when that's not really true. We are as equal as the rest of Nature, and it's imperative that we have the plants and the trees, because they're the ones that give us our life. So anyway, a co-creative partnership is just that. It's that together, you create, you manifest together. And this manifestation is, is one that works for all concerned, everybody, not just humans. And so it's a big shift away from what our way of thinking, predominant thinking, has been for quite well, a long time, a long time, but especially since Darwin, crown of creation and all of that so but even before then, even before then, so our times, right now that we're living in, it's so important for us to be shifting our relationship with Nature into one that's sustainable and works not only for us, but that works for the rest of Nature as well, because once we start to lose too much of Nature, well, the gigs up, basically. So it's really important right now for us to shift our relationship to Nature into one that is respectful, that's kind, that's loving, that's communicative, super important about our communication with Nature. So that's what co-creative partnership is all about. And it's pretty crucial right now to shift into this kind of a relationship.

Sara Artemisia: 4:35

Yeah, it feels so essential. And even even shifting from that aspect of being in survival to thriving. How do you really see plants in Nature supporting us in making this shift from this survival experience into thriving?

Pam Montgomery: 4:52

Well, my relationship with the plants is very deep, and it has been for a long time. Plants and people have a very symbiotic relationship. I mean, we wouldn't be here on this planet if it wasn't for plants, all of our breath, all of our tissue, all of our food. That's just physically, emotionally we have biophilia, which is biophilia, is actually you could describe that term as love for life processes, love for Nature. And it's a two-way street. It's our love for Nature and it's Nature's love for us. And so on an emotional level, even it's there's this whole hypothesis right now that we actually have within our genetic makeup the need, and it's not the want, it's the need to be in close proximity to that which sustains us. I eat plants and trees, so we're in this super symbiotic relationship. So emotionally, we're we're connected in with plants, because of this bonding that happens in this, it engenders this love relationship. Really cognitively, we're symbiotic related. There's again, there's this notion that once plants and this was like 1.3 billion years ago, not million, billion years ago, plants started to make decisions and choices. And so there's within the science now what's being spoken about is that this was the beginning of what we would call higher mind, and it was the beginning of the evolution for us to be able to have conscious awareness, basically. So cognitive, intellectually, we are symbolically related to them. And then there's the spiritual symbiosis, too, which I feel like that's what's really up right now, is that the plants, they always proceed us in our evolution. Plants always proceed through animal counterparts in evolution. So right now, what's happening? Because there's been this huge explosion in working with plants, not only on a psychotropic level, but flower essences, which have no chemical constituents in them at all. It's strictly the vibratory resonance of the plant. Then there's plant spirit healing, which I work with, which you don't even need to ingest the plant. So there's been this big in the last few decades. There's been this huge explosion in plants of that Nature. So I look at that and say, "Oh, the plants are just preceding us in our evolution one more time". And this time it's, of a spiritual Nature. It's, it's about raising your consciousness. It's about raising your consciousness to the point at which you stop destroying the planet, basically. And so. So, these plants are stepping up to a new level of helping us to raise our consciousness to the next level, which we're not talking survival mode. We're talking thriving into kind of that world we all know, we all hope, is possible. That is, I mean, I'm going for peace on Earth, to be honest. I'm holding out for that. But it's that level. It's like, really jumping it up a few notches for everybody, not just the chosen few, everybody to do this and to be able to start to live sanely. Let me stop killing each other, live sanely within the collective. So that's what the plants are doing right now, is there really initiating us into what it means to be truly human and living sanely. It doesn't mean that we're all little carbon copies of each other and we're all think exactly alike. It doesn't mean that, because when you look at Nature, I mean, what do you see? A lot of diversity. And it's the diversity, that interaction, that interdependence, that really makes life live in a very thriving way. And so that's what the plants are guiding us into right now, is that level of cooperation with each other. So, it's pretty big.

Sara Artemisia: 9:39

It is, it's, it's huge. And I just love how there's this incredible, multi-dimensional beings appealing. They're around us all the time. We call them the plants. They have a name. They're called the plant. And also just this thing about how there's, with so much chaos happening right now, planetarily. So there's a lot of questioning around, okay, what's the next best step forward? How do we navigate through these times, right? And it's amazing, like you're saying, we have these incredible guides. We actually do have a map. It requires a different way of perceiving than maybe we're used to in the linear mind, but the map is right here in the map, is all around us, and how is Nature like you're saying, collaboratively working together in all of its many diverse facets that we can we can learn from that. There's so much to learn from that, and so related to that. I would love to hear anything you have to share about how plants really help us reclaim our birthright of connection with Nature.

Pam Montgomery: 10:42

Yeah. Well, like you say, it's all here. The map is here for us, and actually the map is here too. It's inside us. It's just that we've fallen into this deep amnesia and we've forgotten. We've just forgotten that we actually are a part of Nature. We're not separate. We're a part of Nature, but we've forgotten that, and this modern world that we live in does not support that. And so, I feel like this separation from Nature is kind of one of the original wounds anytime you're separated from that which sustains you, that which gives you life. And this is on many levels, kind of like the foundational one is separation from Nature. Then there's the separation from your mother. I mean being separated at birth. I mean there's many layers of separation, but when we forget, when we fall into this amnesia, and we forget that we're a part of nature, and then the actions that we start to take might look like, oh, treating nature as a commodity instead of the amazing beingness that it is with so many gifts to offer us and so much sustenance for us. So, what did you ask again, something about thriving?

Sara Artemisia: 12:15

How do plants really help us come home to that connection with Nature?

Pam Montgomery: 12:20

Well, I mean, the plants are so generous with themselves on all levels. I mean, they're generous with their food that they provide for us. They're generous with the medicine that they provide for us. They're generous with the way they make us feel, feel goodness of them. They're generous in their beauty. I mean, the list goes on and on, on, on on about how generous that plants are with us. And the other thing that I've noticed is that plants have our backs. I mean, they want us to succeed. It's kind of miraculous to me how there's none of that with plants. They really want us to succeed, and we're kind of like their little brothers and sisters that bringing along. They're trying to, like, help us along, and they're just these amazing so anyway, so these plants, for example, back in my early days, I used to do consultations with people on around health issues and all of that. And instead of people coming to me, I would go to them, I would go and do the consultation at their place, and I would arrive about five minutes early, and I'd take a little spin through their yard, or wherever they were living, to notice what plants were growing. Nine times out of ten, whatever was going on with that person. Health wise, the plants were right there. I then I started like testing that out. And then I started doing things like noticing or asking others to notice, but or noticing even for myself, if who showed up around me, and was that a plant that I had called out for? Or is that a plant that I personally needed? Or was it one that I needed to be working with other people with? And I'm telling you, these plants are these incredibly intelligent beings, and they show up when you need them. And again, this works on all levels. So I mean, I've got so many stories I can tell you how they show up for you. You know, like when the volcano goes off in Iceland and you're in London and you're trying to get home and you can't because there's no airplane. And then you're trying to get over to Ireland to stay with your friend, so that you don't have to stay in a skanky hotel in London for who knows how many days and pay a lot of money. And so you go to the desk clerk at the hotel you stayed in, thinking you're going to fly out the next morning, and she says to you, go out on that corner and catch the red bus, and you go out on the corner and the red bus, all the busses are red. And so then you stand there and be like, "what do I do now?", and you start to and you say to yourself, to your one of your best allies that you have is white who's White Pine, your tower of strength. And you say, White Pine, I need help, and I need it now, like now, and up coming walking up the street comes this lovely businessman who's from India, Indian descent, and he says to you, when he sees you in distress, how could I help you? And I'm like, well, wait a minute. Let me just see, because the voice is going off in your head that says, don't go off with a stranger, which is my mother's voice, not my voice. I turn to the side. I say, Okay, should I go with this man or not? My heart goes ping, and I'm like, Oh, good, okay, we're good. I turn around and say, okay, so he get on the right bus. He gets at his little device and looks up schedules and all that kind of stuff. We go on the bus, and we get off, and he walks me down to the train station, and he helps me buy my ticket. He walks me out onto the platform. Don't forget, you have to change trains in such and such a town, and then that train will take you to the boat that's going to take you to Ireland so that you can have a place to stay with friends who love you. And that's what you're going to do. And so I then get on the train, and then I say, "wait, wait, wait". As I'm standing on the step, as I'm getting on the train, what's your name all this time? I don't know his name. And he says, Hans. And I said, Oh, hmm. I got on the train. And I said, Hans, an English businessman from India, Indian descent, named Hans. Okay. Like, who was that anyway? Was that an angel? Was that White Pine? Like, who was that? The point being here, I asked White Pine for help, and it was immediate. Now you might say, oh, that's just a coincidence. Nope, no such thing. Sorry. So anyway, plants are here to help us, to guide us, to help us take it to the next place on this planet, to move away from chaos and crisis into, as Charles Eisenstein would say, "the world our hearts know is possible", the incredible, beautiful world that our hearts know is possible. That's what the plants are helping us to do right now are kind of waking us up to show us how that's possible. So, like I said, I can tell you so many stories where these plants have shown up and how they show up, and it's kind of in unusual ways. Sometimes you have to, like, pay attention, and it's not our communication with them is it's a little bit like learning a new language, although, except that we do know the language, we just need to remember the language, and the language is not quite the same as you and I. We do these sounds that come out of our mouth, and that's how we primarily communicate. And I'm not saying that you might not hear words in your head when you're communicating with a plant, you might but, that's a translation. It's a translation of the plant's way of communicating, which, in the biological world, foundational way of communicating is light and sound and the vibratory resonance, vibratory resonance of light and sound. That's it. That's the basic form of communication. And you might say to yourself, What are you talking about? Well, everything has a vibration, so you're really paying attention to the vibration, and it gets transmitted through light and sound. So that was a lot about whatever that last question was.

Sara Artemisia: 19:20

So great. Well, thanks, Pam. I mean, yeah.

Pam Montgomery: 19:23

I mean, you know me just

Sara Artemisia: 19:24

Love you. Yeah.

Pam Montgomery: 19:25

I'll go off and talk about who knows what, but hopefully it'll be something people want to hear about.

Sara Artemisia: 19:31

Absolutely and so, I mean, this is a big one, so tell us, how can people find out about you, your work, your book, Co-Creating with Nature, co-creative partnership with Nature?

Pam Montgomery: 19:41

Yeah. Okay, so my website is wakeuptonature.com, and any classes that I'm doing, or other summits, or podcasts and all that's on the website. I have my new book, which is very exciting, co creating with nature. Healing the wound of separation. So it's a book that's, I mean, it goes into a lot about like, how do we get here? How did we get to this place of such massive separation that's caused seemingly so much? Well, I hate to use the word chaos, but it is kind of chaotic right now, and environmental crisis is now. It's not even climate change anymore. Now it's climate crisis or so. I'm not a doomsday person, and I don't really like to speak in those terms, but there's some reality here that we really need to come to and so I talk about that. I talk about that reality. I talk about how we got here, and then how we shift, which is partly what we're talking about here, is like, how do we make this shift into another way of being, and how do we let ourselves be guided by the plants? One of the sections was about a third of the book, actually, is about plant initiations. And plant initiations is an amazing way to go deep with one plant. It's in a ceremonial context. The way I do them is three days with one plant, and we do all kinds of things with the plant, to get to know it really well, to get to that place where you and the plant merge. Plant really helps you to again, remember who you are, answers those two big questions, who am I and what am I doing here? So that happens, and it's just amazing process and spontaneous healings happen during the plant initiations. So one of the sections in this new book is all about plant initiations, and some of the ones that we've done recently. And it's not just all my stories, but I also have some of my students stories, and some of the people who've attended the initiations, their stories. And so it's a very rich and very different way of engaging with the plants. A lot of, lot of books, plant books now are take this for that, which is all great. I mean, it's wonderful to know all of that stuff. This is at another level. This talks about the gifts of the plants that come in more emotional, mental, spiritual ways than physical, even though physical healing can take place during these initiations. So, that's the book. Is.. I like it. I think it's a pretty good one. I think lot of there's been some really great reviews about it, and some people are saying some great stuff about it. So, yeah, I would really encourage everybody to pick one up and check it out and and see how we can it really is a lot about how we can shift into more what I would call interbeing. I speak about interbeing in the book, this is a word that was coined by, by Freud, or somebody like that. But,Thích Nhất Hạnh, who was the Vietnamese monk, he made it that word more popular, which means interbeing, means connected and interdependent. And so there's kind of another level of connection of we're actually really need to be dependent on each other. Instead of doing this lone wolf thing like that, time is way over. We need to collaborate, we need to cooperate, we need to be together and do things together. And that it's much more efficient and effective when we combine all of our energies together. So interbeing, so it talks about interbeing, and how we can really shift here, shift into the new Earth, into the one that we know is possible. So, yeah, so that's how people can find me, and on my website, you can see the initiations that we have coming up, either here in Vermont, where I am or in other locations, too.

Sara Artemisia: 24:03

Yeah. Well, thanks so much, Pam, just always a joy to connect. And yeah, just so wonderful what you're doing. So thank you for being here.

Pam Montgomery: 24:12

Oh, you're welcome. Absolutely.

Sara Artemisia: 24:17

And thanks so much for listening and joining us today on the Plant Spirit Podcast, I hope you enjoyed it, and please follow to subscribe, leave a review and look forward to seeing you on the next episode.