Meet Your “Plant-cestors”: On Deepening Your Relationship to Plants
Photo by Clarke Sanders on Unsplash
Written by Tyler Nicole Brockington
As the first buds of spring peek out from the Earth ready to explore the world after the winter frost melts, there has never been a better time to get acquainted with your “plant-cestors”.
Recognizing and honoring our plant-cestors (a portmanteau of “plant” and “ancestor”) is a way of relating to the natural world that unlocks a deep relationship with plants and highlights the ancestral tradition of land stewardship across the Black Diaspora.
A hallmark of traditional African spirituality features is animism or the belief that all objects, places, animals, and plants contain a spirit. It was an undeniable fact to our ancestors that plants carried within them an essence, wisdom, and ability to communicate with the world around them—an idea that mainstream Western science is just now beginning to catch up to.
The turn of the seasons serves as an invitation to reimagine your relationship with the natural world around you. Whether you live in a city, suburb, or sprawling rural area, think of the native flora that thrive around you as ancestors and beings that have watched your lineage grow.
From the beautiful but unassuming yarrow growing in your yard to the wild stinging nettle blanketing a nearby streambank, plants are the keepers of our history. They tell the stories of our changing communities, embody the medicine for the affiliations that ail us, and hold the key to our past while acting as a bridge to a more grounded, connected future.
Opening yourself to a relationship with plants doesn't require you to quit your day job, go off the grid, and become a farmer—though that’s looking more and more appealing these days. All it takes is curiosity.
Last summer, the BGE DC crew held an interpretive plant hike where we identified plants in the beautiful Rock Creek Park and I was surprised to find Bloodroot–a plant known in my community for its medicinal properties–tucked away along a trail I walked frequently.
Finding this potent plant in such an unassuming way served as a beautiful reminder that our history is still living with us today, all we have to do is take a second to look. Do you know what’s growing around you?
BGE DC members on an interpretive hike in 2024
In Art and Practice of Spiritual Herbalism, herbalist Karen Rose writes:
“It is remarkable to choose to be in relationship with a plant ally. Allyship with a plant can look something like spending a dedicated amount of time walking with that plant. Like any other relationship, ask the plant that shows up for you for its permission to walk with it.”
Offerings to Be in Deeper Relationship with Your “Plant-cestors”:
Ask your parents/grandparents/elders about their favorite flowers from childhood and/or what herbal medicine they remember receiving growing up
Take a walk through your neighborhood without headphones and take note of the plants you encounter. Can you name them? (If not, there's an app for that!) Notice the changes these plants go through day by day, month by month
Apps like Picture This and iNaturalist are helpful tools that can identify any plants that are unfamiliar to you and provide helpful information about them
Pick a non-toxic flower/herb/plant you’re interested in and start a journal dedicated to learning more about it. Document its appearance, research its medicinal properties, safely and sustainably harvest it, or just spend time communing in whatever way you feel called
Find ways to honor and care for the plants native to your environment: bringing them water when they look parched, enriching the soil with whatever fertilizers you have available, or simply offering a word or thought of gratitude as you pass by
When spring begins coloring our surroundings with deep greens and vibrant hues of native flora, allow yourself to tap into the deep ancestral knowing that comes from a relationship to the land. As the season spurs our plant-cestors to grow, may we grow with them.