Medicina

During the creation of this painting, a fox would frequently visit outside my home, sometimes coming close and calling out. When the painting was complete, I sat beneath an Oak tree in my yard. The fox came one last time, paused, and then turned and walked away. I never saw him again. Like the fox, each plant in this painting arrived as a messenger, carrying its own medicine.

Sacred Tobacco, Nicotiana rustica, known throughout the Amazon as 'mapacho', is considered among indigenous peoples of the Americas to be the grandfather plant, the ancient source from which all other plant medicines emerged. Some call it the king of all plants. Tobacco is a powerful medicine, traditionally worked with under the guidance of a lineage and within sacred ceremony, allowing one to see things as they truly are. All trees have a connection with Tobacco.

The Oak, ancient and steadfast, has long been revered across cultures as a doorway between worlds, its roots reaching deep into the earth, its branches lifting toward the heavens. A symbol of strength, courage, and wisdom, Oak teaches patience and reminds us of our deep interconnectedness.

Psilocybin mushrooms, also featured in the painting, are among the oldest sacraments known to humanity, used for healing, vision, and communion with the divine. These mushrooms are the visible face of a vast living network beneath the soil, where trees and plants are interconnected, sharing nutrients, communicating, and sustaining one another. And above them all, the hummingbird moves as pollinator and medicine keeper, drawn to the tobacco flowers as if part of a ceremony. Together they form an altar, crowned by a rainbow – a reminder that the natural world is alive with intelligence, beauty, and wonder, and that we, too, are a part of it.