New Pathway To Healing: An Interview With Thea Summer Deer

A Ph.D. in Philosophy and Shamanic Psychospiritual Studies may not be the most likely resume builder for a Medical Herbalist, but Thea Summer Deer reveals a new dimension of herbal medicine in her book, Wisdom of the Plant Devas. It is a dimension where the plant’s spirit is consulted for guidance and healing beyond the physical. A student of metaphysics and the healing arts for more than thirty five years, she has been educated by herbalists and shamans across the United States, Canada, and Europe.

In Thea’s new book, Wisdom of the Plant Devas, each plant has a story to share with us, a healing story to guide us in trying times-we just need to learn how to listen as they share their knowledge with us. By examining the botany, modern and traditional uses, history, and folklore of 13 special herbs, Thea shares divinations and messages from their devas, or plant spirits, explaining how these stories carry the herbs into our lives, letting them work their magic on us. Exploring herbal medicine from an energetic perspective, she reveals that by communing with the deva of a plant, we can call on the plant’s physical, psychological, and spiritual medicine and guidance. Detailing the sacred space of a Medicine Wheel Garden, whether in a backyard or our imaginations, she connects us with devas and empowers us to seek our own answers with their much-needed spiritual guidance and divinatory advice. Creating a bridge between botanical medicine and plant spirit medicine, she shows how by coming into community with devas and co-creating with the world of nature, we can gain tremendous insights to help heal our hearts, minds, and spirits.

Wisdom of the Plant Devas is a multidimensional experience. Destined to become a guide book at the edge of evolution, it is a fascinating journey into botanical medicine, spirituality and psychology.