Smoke Plants of North America

"What a rabbit eats we can smoke"


Smoke Plants of North America by Author Mairi R. Ross. Ms. Ross acknowledges the serious negative health, social, and spiritual consequences of smoking commercial cigarettes and the author challenges us to look past our modern practices and rediscover the truth about the age old ritual of smoking.

The author shares her personal discovery of over 150 wild plants, legal, non-addictive, medicinal, and enjoyable, that have been smoked by Native Americans and others for centuries. Compiled here for the first time in print, this knowledge is drawn from the author's own experience and her research into original ethnobotanical texts and contemporary herbalism. Acknowledging the serious negative health, social, and spiritual consequences of smoking commercial cigarettes, the author challenges us to look past our modern practices and rediscover the truth about the age old ritual of smoking. In this book you will discover: over a dozen smoke mix recipes made with legal, non addictive herbs that calm nerves, reduce anxiety, relieve insomnia and may help you stop or reduce cigarette and marijuana smoking. A guide to gathering over 50 smokeable wild plants. Over 150 smoke plants, many traditionally used by the Navajo, Iroquois, Cherokee, Hope, Cowasuck and other Native Americans. The original spiritual purpose of smoking. 5+"x 7+", 182 page paperback. Available from www.Back40Books.com for $15.95 + shipping

The Long, Winding, Red Road

The Red Road is a circle of people
standing hand in hand,
people in this world, people between
people in the Spirit world.
star people, animal people, stone people,
river people, tree people…
The Sacred Hoop.

To walk the Red Road
is to know sacrifice, suffering.
It is to understand humility.
It is the ability to stand naked before God
in all things for your wrong doings,
for your lack of strength,
for your discompassionate way,
for your arrogance - because to walk
the Red Road, you always know
you can do better. And you know,
when you do good things,
it is through the Creator, and you are grateful.

To walk the Red Road
is to know you stand on equal ground
with all living things. It is to know that
because you were born human,
it gives you superiority over nothing.
It is to know that every creation carries a Spirit,
and the river knows more than you do,
the mountains know more than you do,
the stone people know more than you do,
the trees know more than you do,
the wind is wiser than you are,
and animal people carry wisdom.
You can learn from every one of them,
because they have something you don’t:

They are void of evil thoughts.

They wish vengeance on no one, they seek Justice.

To Walk the Red Road,
you have God given rights,
you have the right to pray,
you have the right to dance,
you have the right to think,
you have the right to protect,
you have the right to know Mother,
you have the right to dream,
you have the right to vision,
you have the right to teach,
you have the right to learn,
you have a right to grieve,
you have a right to happiness,
you have the right to fix the wrongs,
you have the right to truth,
you have a right to the Spirit World.

To Walk the Red Road
is to know your Ancestors,
to call to them for assistance…
It is to know that there is good medicine,
and there is bad medicine…
It is to know that Evil exists,
but is cowardly as it is often in disguise.
It is to know there are evil spirits
who are in constant watch
for a way to gain strength for themselves
at the expense of you.

To Walk the Red Road,
you have less fear of being wrong,
because you know that life is a journey,
a continuous circle, a sacred hoop.
Mistakes will be made,
and mistakes can be corrected -
if you will be humble,
for if you cannot be humble,
you will never know
when you have made a mistake.

If you walk the Red Road,
you know that every sorrow
leads to a better understanding,
every horror cannot be explained,
but can offer growth.

To Walk the Red Road
is to look for beauty in all things.

To Walk the Red Road
is to know you will one day
cross to the Spirit World,
and you will not be afraid…

"By Unknown"