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73. Let's Eat Plants!
Episode 73 • 14th July 2025 • Creative Spiritual Journey • Judy Cooley and Ghia Cooley
00:00:00 00:16:18

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Speaker:

Hooray, GIA here.

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I'm this week's host of the Creative

Spiritual Journey podcast where Judy and I

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talk about those things that bring us joy.

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For me, I find joy by connecting

with nature, connecting with Jesus

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Christ and our heavenly parents.

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Seasonal living, and all the

bits of magic and wonder I come

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across while navigating this

remarkable journey we call life.

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So do you love plants?

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I do.

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Can you imagine a world without them?

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I mean, try it.

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Try to see this world without any plants.

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Impossible.

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Right.

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Plants are an integral part

of this earthly existence.

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Do you think it was a coincidence

that Eve and Adam began their

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earthly story in a garden?

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I don't.

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What better place to experience

the wonder of having a body for the

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first time than surrounded by plants?

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Another thing I don't think was a

coincidence is that Eve and Adam

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were told which fruit they could eat

and which fruit they weren't to eat.

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Have you ever had this thought God could

have made anything the key to mortality?

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Perhaps they could have been forbidden

to cut their hair like Samson, Or

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perhaps there could have been a certain

pond they weren't to bathe in or a

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mountain that they weren't to climb,

but it was none of these things.

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They were told not to eat the fruit

of a certain tree, yet ultimately

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that fruit was the most important

thing for their progression.

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Does that tell you something about

the importance of what we eat?

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I don't know about you, but it does to me.

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But regardless of my fanciful ideas,

I don't think anyone would disagree

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that as humans, we have been in

relationship with plants since antiquity.

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After all, they have been on this

earth longer than we have, and

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with age, I believe comes wisdom.

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And this idea leads me into

what I wanna talk about today.

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I want to talk about how

connecting to nature through

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plants connects us to Jesus Christ.

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And what better way to connect

with plants than by eating them

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as members of the Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter Day Saints.

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we have an amazing guide to

eating called the Word of Wisdom.

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On May 5th, 2025, I did a podcast titled

The Wisdom of Listening to Your Mother.

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It was the first in my series

about the word of wisdom.

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Check out that podcast if you want

an overview to this topic to today.

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I am sharing my second

podcast in this series.

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My goal in doing this is to talk

about the dos of the word of wisdom.

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The dos as in what God wants us to eat

versus the don'ts, which are things God

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doesn't want us to eat or otherwise est

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As members of the Church of

Jesus Christ, we are all mostly

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familiar with the don'ts.

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What I want to do is dive into

what I see as the dos, what

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I believe I should be eating.

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You may have different ideas, and

I think that's wonderful and great.

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I am only sharing what I

find beneficial for me.

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In hopes that it may help someone else

who is searching for their own answers.

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In my reading of the word

of wisdom, I find four dos.

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Number one, eat wholesome herbs.

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Number two, eat seasonally

with Thanksgiving.

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Number three, eat meat sparingly.

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And number four, eat grains.

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Today I want to dive into

number one, eat wholesome herbs.

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In case you don't remember, the

word of wisdom is found in section

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89 of the Doctrine and covenants.

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Let me read you verse 10.

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It says, and again, verily, I say

unto you, all wholesome herbs.

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God hath ordained for the

constitution, nature, and use of man.

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Oh, you have no idea the restraint

I am showing by, not spewing at you.

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Everything I have learned over

the years about wholesome herbs.

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I believe eating plants

is the key to our health.

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I love them.

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But before I go any further,

let's talk about the word herbs.

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All wholesome herbs.

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When Joseph Smith received the word

of wisdom in:

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herb most directly referred to plants,

all kinds of plants, beet, pomegranate,

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zucchini, mango, avocado, eggplant.

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Pineapple, you name it.

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God designed hundreds of plants for us to

eat and we were designed to eat plants.

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If you have any doubts, here

is another great verse found

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in Doctrine and covenants.

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59.

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It says,

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Yay.

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And the herb, and all good things

which come from the earth, whether

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for food or for Raymond, for houses,

or for barns, or for orchards,

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or for gardens, or for vineyards.

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Yay.

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All things which come from the earth

in the season thereof are made for

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the benefit and use of man, both to

please the eye and gladen the heart.

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Yay for food and for Raymond, for

taste and for smell to strengthen

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the body and to enliven the soul.

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I love that.

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Plants strengthen the

body and enliven the soul.

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Now, while I know that the word herb as

used in the word of wisdom most directly

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refers to plants in general, I can't help

but turn to the word as it is often used

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these days to refer to healing herbs.

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To me, the general definition

herb, as a plant, fully encompasses

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the magic of healing herbs, and

I believe we should utilize these

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herbs in every sense of the word.

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But as further evidence, let me

read to you from Alma chapter 46.

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This chapter comes when Captain

Mornay is rallying the knee

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fights to defend their freedom.

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But amidst all this is a little

verse that kind of comes out of the

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blue, like an almost unrelated topic.

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This little verse highlights the

people skill with healing plans.

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It says, quote,

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And there were some who died with fevers,

which at some seasons of the year were

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very frequent in the land, but not

so much so with fevers because of the

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excellent quality of the many plants and

roots, which God had prepared to remove

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the cause of disease to which men were

subject by the nature of the climate.

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Do you love that it says that

God specifically prepared plants

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and roots to remove disease.

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I don't know about you, but I

don't believe this is an accident.

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I mean, right in the middle of the

war chapters is a verse about plants.

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Do you think when Mormon was

compiling the plates, he just

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accidentally left in this verse?

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I know I have a plant loving bias, but I

personally don't think it was an accident.

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The Book of Mormon was meant for

us in our day, despite having the

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availability of pharmaceuticals, I

think plants and herbs are meant for us.

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And don't get me wrong,

I love pharmaceuticals.

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Pharmaceuticals kept my grandmother

alive for 12 years longer than

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her herbal remedies would have.

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I'm just saying for me, I always turn

to plants first when I have a problem.

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And if I can't find answers,

then I turn to doctors and drugs.

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This is for me and my body.

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I fully support you in your own decisions.

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Just let me say, if you are new to

using herbs, keep in mind that herbs

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are not a plant form of pharmaceuticals.

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They do not work the same way.

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This really takes a mind shift

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As one of my favorite herbalists, Maria

Noel Groves says, quote, don't think

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of herbs as mere substitutes for drugs.

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Herbs act like training wheels to help

our body relearn patterns of health,

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breaking away from patterns of disease

and improving day-to-day function.

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Although it's entirely possible to use

herbs in an allopathic way, plugging in

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X herb for Y disease, herbal medicine

works much better incorporated into

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a more thorough, holistic approach.

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while herbs alone can dramatically

improve health and alleviate disease

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and discomfort, they work much

better as part of a multifaceted,

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holistic approach, including diet,

lifestyle, and mind body balance.

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End quote.

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So let me share a little about herbs.

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I'm perfectly aware that all you

have to do is hop online and you

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can learn more about herbs than you

ever wanted to know, and I certainly

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don't claim to be an herbalist.

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But here is my thought.

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In my opinion, the easiest most simple

way of using herbs and getting more plants

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in your life is through herbal teas.

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I love teas for both the herbal benefits

in my body as well as for my spirit,

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And don't let their

simpleness dissuade you.

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Tea are a powerful way to bring the

benefits of plants into your life.

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As members of the Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter Day Saints, we

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have a bit of a stigma around tea.

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As you likely know, one of the

don'ts of the word of wisdom

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is not to drink hot drinks.

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This wording was clarified in

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were not to drink tea or coffee.

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And the word tea was further clarified

to mean green tea because coffee

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and green tea were the most commonly

drunk hot drinks at the time.

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Here is where the problem comes in.

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Herbal teas are not green tea.

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There is a distinct difference, but

too often members of the church have

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avoided all teas just to be safe.

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let me tell you a quick story.

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While living in Half Moon Bay,

California, I spent a day in

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San Francisco's Chinatown.

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I had heard that the tea shops

there served herbal teas.

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So I walked into a shop and asked for one,

can I just tell you that I got an earful?

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the Chinese man behind the

counter went off on me.

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He said in an exasperated

voice, something like this.

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Tea is tea.

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All tea is green Tea,

white tea, black tea.

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Green tea.

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All is tea.

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You want herbal?

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Say herbal.

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You want tea?

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Say tea.

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all this to say Americans don't know

the difference between herbals and teas.

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It was hysterical.

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We ended up making peace and I spent

over an hour with him the whole time he

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was going off on one thing or another.

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But you know what?

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By the time I left, I knew

a lot more about teas and

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herbals than when I went in.

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My point is there is no word in the

English language that differentiates

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between green tea and herbal tea.

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Because of this, a lot of us

never drank any kind of tea,

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which I believe is a travesty.

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I.

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I find drinking herbal teas

a wonderful, easy way to

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incorporate herbs into my life.

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I have friends that tell me

they just don't really like tea.

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This makes me so sad because I

think it's mostly a matter of not

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being exposed to the practice.

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I always try to tell them if they don't

like tea's, hot to drink them cold.

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Sometimes that helps and

sometimes it doesn't.

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But let me explain how I love

to think when I take the time to

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drink an herbal tea mindfully,

I think of it as earth magic, an

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invitation to return to my roots.

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The herbs aren't just medicine or flavor.

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They are old, wise friends, and as

I drink, I feel that I'm entering

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into a relationship with them.

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I feel that I am allowing the plant energy

to awaken something ancient within me.

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I believe that my ancestors

all the way back to Mother Eve

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participated in this same ritual.

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And I love that.

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I love to connect with the plants, connect

with the earth, to connect with the past.

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And of course, all these

things connect me with my God.

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If this sounds a little fanciful to

you, let me share the thoughts of

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another one of my favorite herbalists

Maya to who writes that in her

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study of plants she has learned to

understand them through a warp of modern

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knowledge and a weft of ancient wisdom.

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I love this analogy.

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Science is great.

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We love it and we use it.

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But don't forget to add a little

bit of ancient wisdom, or we may

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not fully experience plant magic the

way I believe God intended us to.

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Plants aren't just ingredients.

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They are teachers,

healers, and companions.

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They are here with us on this earth to

strengthen the body and enliven the soul.

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Just like even Adam, I believe

being in relationship with plants

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will help me grow in wisdom,

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Judy and I know your time is precious

and that you have many choices.

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We love that you have chosen to

walk with us for a few minutes as

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we navigate this journey of life.

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If you like this podcast, will you take

the time right now to share it with a

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friend, share it with someone on social

media, or leave us a five star rating?

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and if you are using Apple Podcasts,

will you leave us a review?

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Your efforts will help this podcast

grow and it will also let us know

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that you like our show and will give

us the motivation to keep going.

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Thank you in advance for your help.

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In closing, I want to add that

according to Robin Wall, Kimer, in some

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native languages, the term for plant

translates to those who take care of us.

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Isn't that beautiful?

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Let them let plants take care of you.

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Namaste.

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