When will they come for our plants?

[slightlv]

3. They've been trying to come for our plants for decades.

I remember 20 years ago shopping in an herb store for mugwort. I used to use it carefully to aid in dreamwalking. Even then they were trying to get some of our plants outlawed (mugwort was one of them at the time). Okay, mugwort can be very dangerous to use if you don't know what you're doing! But so can over the counter medication!

Over the years, most of the herbal stores I shopped went out of business. These were stores you could walk into and buy fresh and dried herbs of any all types. From medicinal to ritual use. I used to plan my visits there, not only because I'd spend quite a bit of my paycheck, but also because they'd be so busy around each of the Sabbats.

I went not only for ritual herbs but also for medicinal herbs. Although I had health insurance, the copays killed me. For little things like sinuses and colds and bronchitis, to tummy upsets and female problems, I went to the herb store. Besides, I liked the sense of taking care of things myself. Of knowing I KNEW how to take care of my own body.

The PTB tried to legislate it away from us at the time. They tried, but we put up one heck of a fight. We marched; we hit the city, and state councils, and we made sure it was televised. We had the populace for us at the time. But in the end, we lost due to economics. They rezone the area around our stores, or they raised the rents so high they ran our stores out of business. Now, about the only "herb" stores you can find are those that are selling CBD, if you can find those.

I'm one of those poor pagans who were born with a black thumb. I can't grown anything, period. Maybe weeds, but I wouldn't even count on those! (LOL) If I could grow a garden, I would grow veggie, ritual, and medicinal gardens. All will be needed now and in the future. Will they come for them? Maybe. But first they'll have to be able to identify plants. And as dumb as these people are, I wouldn't bet on them. Besides, today we have a lot of other options available to us... Aerogardens of all types, for example. Long gone are the days when people are busted for growing pot, evidenced by the amount of electricity they use. Climate change is going to be having people growing gardens of all kinds, especially indoors. I think for now, we're safe.