Sacred Spaces

At my house
Sacred datura and moonstone rose,
Two friends,
One native, one immigrant
Share this space
With me.

It rained this
morning early.
Datura opened
its white throat
and rose a petal,
and me a possibility.

Sacred datura is a native plant of the Sonoran Desert. http://www.oneworldjourneys.com/sonoran/index2.html It is more commonly known as Jimson weed. It's large, dark green foilage is amazing in light of the hot, dry conditions of the summer in this desert. At dusk it opens its large, flute shaped flowers, frequented by bees and moths. The large tuberous root looks almost like a limb.

All parts of this beautiful plant are poisonous. Shamans traditionally have used the seed for its hallucinagenic properties. Only experienced practitioners should use it however;many have died trying to enter dream states. Read The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castenada for a first-hand description of Sacred datura's powerful toxic alkaloids and its impact on the human mind and body. http://www.prismagems.com/castaneda/

Every place on Earth is imbued with these sacred places and mysteries. Our everyday drugs are derived from plants, minerals and animals. Aspirin for example is derived from the bark of willows. Long ago our ancestors used the pharmacopoeia of the landscape to increase health, prevent pregnancy, cure disease. These direct ties to plants, minerals or animals that promote the well-being and survival of human beings have largely been forgotten in modern culture.

How would our attitude toward the land around us change if we understood where that bottle of cold medicine in our medicine cabinet really came from? It just so happens that Sacred datura (Datura wrightii) produces scopolamine an alkaloid that is a common ingredient in cold and nausea remedies.

Go to this link for the National Tropical Botanical Garden to learn about conservation of one of the world's greatest sinks of plant biodiversity: http://www.ntbg.org. Visit this link to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson to learn about the amazing diversity of life in our desert: http://www.desertmuseum.org.

And next time you are near a plant, give thanks to it for the exchange of gasses (oxygen released into the air by plants/carbon dioxide exhaled by humans) that is one of the most essential relationships among the great kingdoms of life on Earth.

Information about Sacred datura came from The Natural History of the Sonoran Desert in an article by Mark Dimmitt.

Keep loving the Earth,

Susan