"Native science, often understood through
the tree, is holistic. Through spiritual processes, it synthesizes or
gathers information from the mental, physical, social and
cultural/historical realms." Dr. Apela Colorado(1)
For thousands of years, indigenous people have had a strong relationship to the natural world. Indigenous people have their own way of coming to knowledge, their own science. As Dr. Charles Finch says, "There are ways of knowing different from the scientific method that
yield empirical information every bit as elaborate as that of science."(2)
Physicist and author F. David Peat describes indigenous science this way: "It is a science of harmony and compassion, of dream and vision, of earth and cosmos, of hunting and growing, of technology and spirit, of song and dance, of color and number, of cycle and balance, of death and renewal." (3)
One of the key elements of indigenous science is relationship, relationship to what Native American people call "All My Relations". As practitioner and teacher of European ancestral remembrance Kimmy Johnson writes: "Indigenous science arises from close observation of the natural world and deep respect for all beings of the world."(4) 
In Circle of Ancestors, we all have been trained as practitioners of indigenous science. Before meeting Dr. Apela Colorado and becoming her student in Indigenous Mind, I was a student of herbal medicine. Today, as a practitioner of indigenous science I am learning how to apply the tenets of indigenous science to my herbal practice. I am remembering the ways of my ancestors who lived in close relationship to their plant relatives. As I deepen my relationship to the plants, each they teach me something new. I am learning to sit quietly and listen to them; I give thanks for the dreams in which they appear.
Right now I am working closely with a plant called Lemon Balm, or Melissa Officinalis. "Pay attention to what shows up," is something Dr. Colorado always said to us. She was giving us directions on how to look at life through the lens of an indigenous scientist. Lemon balm has been growing in the yards of all five houses I have lived in for the past 10 years. I have also heard elders speak about that the medicine we need is often growing right outside our own homes. In this way, nature is always supporting us to achieve balance. So I have decided to pay attention to the Lemon Balm spirit that keeps appearing in my life.
Lemon balm is in the mint family who is know for her fresh lemony scent. She grows like a weed here in the Bay Area. She is traditionally used for stress, anxiety, depression, digestive upset, fevers, herpes cold sores & PMS. As I sit with her in my garden and take her with me to bed at night, I'm hoping that she'll reveal to me more of her healing spirit.
Blessings,
Atava
www.ancestralapothecary.com
1 Pamela Colorado, "Native Science and Participatory Research," Paper
presented at the Participatory Research Conference, (University of
Calgary, February, 1989), 4.
2 Charels S. Finch III,"New Perspectives on Ancient African Science,"
Revision, A Journal of Consciousness and Transformation: Indigenous
Science (Washington D.C.: Heldref Publications, 1996).
3 F. David Peat, Lighting the Seventh Fire, The Spiritual Ways, Healing, and Science of the Native American (New York, NY: Birch Lane Press, 1994), 8.
4 Kimmy Karen Johnson, "On the Path of the Ancestors: Kinship with Place as a Path of Recovery," (Doctoral dissertation, The California Institute of Integral Studies, 2001) 31.
