I don’t know what that title means either. But it sounded right when I wanted to talk about watching medicine grow. It’s not watching medicine as much as it’s serving medicine. Serving by observing. Often when a friend calls and asks what I’m up to I’ll say, Oh, just watching medicine grow. I’m only half kidding. The other half is that the medicine is watching me grow. And as I do, it grows too, neither of us too quickly. But to call it slow is just not a good description of the actual rate of change. If you observe closely, things are changing each day and every hour. And to really see this, you have to spend time on your knees.
Yes, I’m talking about prayer. The prayer of getting on the ground with medicine, observing closely, noticing things, collecting seed.
The first thing even a slow learner like me might notice is that flowers open each morning and close in the afternoon. Every flower has about 3 days of this cycle before they are done offering pollen for new seed.
But if you look closer you’ll also see little ants. In the past I have noticed tiny wasps which zip into flowers, promoting pollination. But these small ants also work all summer, eating away at the sweet flesh of the small peyote fruits. They tend to leave seeds behind in clumps after hauling off the fruit exterior.
But if you look even more closely you’ll see that they can get a little carried away and scatter seeds around as they work. These little guys are planting medicine! They also manage to pollinate a few flowers in the process. I like them and always try to respect and not bother them too much as I’m collecting seeds.
While I’m looking around I see new babies sprouting from seeds the ants dispersed before I could add them to my collection. Actually, I never take all the seeds I see. I share with the parents so they can see their young ones grow. Seems fair as that’s what the medicine is doing for me too.
The medicine has a lot to show us. On our knees is the best position for learning.
Grandfather Peyote, friend, medicine. Thank you for the way you grow with us. May many generations of both our species continue to grow together on our Mother the earth.
Click below for next post
The Peyote Lorax 
Leave a Reply