Today we drop in with Shantree Kacera, R.H., D.N., Ph.D., a renowned herbalist, Ayurvedic nutritionist and regenerative ecologist, and co-founder of The Living Centre, a 50-acre botanical sanctuary and education hub in Southwestern Ontario, to explore the sacredness of plants.
As modern-day awareness of psychedelic-supported healing grows, so too has our curiosity about so-called “sacred plant medicines” such as psilocybin mushrooms, or Ayahuasca. But what makes a plant sacred? Could this category also include Poison Ivy, Holy Basil and Mugwort?
Shantree began his deep listening and co-creating with plants early in life. But it wasn’t until he turned 16, when he declared he wanted to become an herbalist, that he learned his Yugoslavian great grandmother —who’d passed when he was just two—was an herbalist too.
More than 50 years later, Shantree, still speaking for the plants, he invites us to deepen and broaden our understanding of the plant world and why he believes, we are yearning for these wild supports and ceremony now more than ever. //In this interview, Shantree shares his ideas, and experience with sacred Cacao medicine in Costa Rica, as well as sacred plant intelligence, communication, and plant relationships and community.

Alongside his spiritual partner Lorenna, Shantree established The Living Centre, and today it offers wholistic education on herbalism, nutrition, permaculture, forest gardening, rewilding, deep ecology and spiritual development. Visit the www.thelivingcentre.com to read Shantree’s full bio and learn more about their offerings.