Blue Camas is the plant totem associated with the Frogs Return Moon which falls between April 20 and May 19 each year.  The totem lesson is to learn to sustain ourselves and others.  This pretty little flower is also sometimes called Indian Hyacinth.

Native Americans used Blue Camas as a food. It was a very important food in their diets. Only the Camas with the blue flowers should be used! The yellow or greenish white flowers are deadly with poison.

A food staple, blue camas can be used to make pancakes, molasses and a sugar substitute. It has sustained people for thousands of years. Some reports find Blue Camas to be helpful in balancing blood sugar levels.

Many of the First People ate this plant raw, roasted it, boiled it, and fried it. They also dried it for storing and ground it for different uses.

As a totem this plant teaches us about creating movement when stagnation has set in. It gives us the message of providing sustenance and reminds us of the importance of discrimination in all walks of life.

I have not seen the Blue Camas plant in my area but I would love to as it is the plant totem of my birth and it sounds wonderfully sweet.  Some of my research shows that a substitute plant totem for this moon would be wild clover.  I’ll have to see if I can find some additional information about the clover and perhaps post about it another day.

~ Mitakuye Oyasin ~ We are all related