Good health is in the Spirit of food

Being so closely connected to nature, faerie and the elementals, and especially now as I apprentice my way to becoming a master herbalist, I am acutely aware of how we work with the spirits of plants and animals on a daily basis.  

As we breathe in the plants around us, we also consume them.  How unfair it would be to believe that the spirit of the plant is gone simply because we have plucked it from the ground.  In fact, many herbalists such as Robin Rose Bennett rely on the spirit of the plant to help our bodies heal.  Healing becomes more than just how the plant’s chemistry affects our bodies but how the plant’s spirit works upon us too.

The same goes for our food.  In my research and experience as a health writer I have found those who eliminate processed food, gluten, gone organic, or even raw, have had significant health improvements.  I believe this is a direct result of being more connected to the plant or animal consumed.  

Food that is overly processed is often more chemical than food.  Even foods and animals that are overly processed or bred for certain qualities lose the wild spirit that humans find so attractive in each other. Many with gluten sensitivities find that eating small amounts of heritage wheat - wheat that hasn’t changed significantly throughout the centuries - is completely tolerable. (CLICK HERE for an article I wrote on the extensive breeding and milling process for wheat).  The same goes for milk - this one-ingredient food undergoes significant processing between the farm and the grocery, stripping and adulterating the its life-giving qualities.  Again, I do not think it is coincidence there are those who have milk allergies who find no issue with raw milk.

Perhaps the physical and alchemical processing of food strips the spirit of the plant or animal to the point where we lose this essential benefit in our food, and maybe this is why our grandparents who ate eggs and bacon every day for breakfast and smoked a pipe for the better part of a century lived long and healthy lives despite the dangers science has discovered.  Perhaps it isn’t the physical attribute of the plant or animal that is the issue, but the fact that we have lost our connection to it.  

Although I generally I don’t condone smoking, smoking a contemplative pipe at the end of the day, possibly with homegrown tobacco, is a far more spiritual act than sucking down a pack of cigarettes smoked with little thought.  Similarly, gathering eggs laid by hens you have cared for, who have picked through the same garden from which you gather your vegetables, indicates a far higher level of connection to the egg than buying a carton from a hen house a thousand miles away.

Hunters understand the land their meat has lived on, it has breathed and eaten happily and healthily of the same land he (or she) has walked.  After the kill they must carry their meat home, and possibly process it as well.  There’s a far deeper understanding and connection in each bite after such work has been done.  (Read "why I eat meat")

Eating food that has been grown, raised or hunted solely by one’s self or one’s community might offer immeasurable health benefits, but can be fairly impossible in our society.  Since my belief is that the connection to the spirit of the plant or animal offers the greatest form of sustenance and healing, anything that heightens this connection may be sufficient to reap the same benefits.  

That may be raising a pot of tomatoes or an indoor herb garden, leaving it near the kitchen where it the plant’s spirit can be remembered at each meal.  It could be researching or meditating/sitting with the plants and animals you eat the most - whether physically or in spirit - to forge a stronger connection and understanding of them.  It could simply be giving thanks for each individual food on your plate, or acknowledging the different ingredients in your meal is all you need to increase the spiritual connection to your food and improve your overall health.

Want to learn more about how spirituality can improve your health?  Check us out tonight at 7pm EST on Blog Talk’s “Among the Realms Radio.”  Feel free to email me your questions, or comment them here and the panel will be sure to discuss them tonight.

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