A question I've been asked many times lately surrounds the definition of 'herbalist'. In the era of pop herbalism, we are unfortunately encountering weekend retreats and 10-hour online courses that award the attendee with a certificate of 'Master Herbalist'... is this enough? How effective a healing channel can someone be with this kind of education? What is an herbalist really- and who can confirm one as an herbalist?

First off, let me preface this by saying that my definition is mine. It won't work for everyone and it certainly won't please everyone. I take my work incredibly seriously- and because I am a full-time, professional herbalist and mentor to apprentice herbalists, my actions have a great deal of gravity. If I screw up, people lose faith in the plants and in their own ability to find harmony. I am constantly scrutinizing my processes, what I know, and how I approach the work in order to know better, do better, and be better. There will always be people who find value in the shortcut and the fast track- these folks will not likely enjoy my definitions or my personal expectations of what an herbalist is and what they can do confidently and competently.

So, that being said... my definition of an herbalist is this:

Simple, no? Let's unpack.

To me, a true herbalist is someone who is in deep and personal relationship with the plant spirits all- and with a collection of working plant spirit allies. This person has done the work to soften their heart, refine their intuition, work through personal blockages, and tone their own virtues so that the subtle voices of the plants can be experienced and understood.

Having learned to slow down to the pace of plants and experience their sometimes wild ways of communication, the herbalist is then blessed with the initiation of revelation. The plants can communicate- and then they do. What do they communicate? Far more than can be learned in a course or from a book or even from a mentor. They stir up language symbols from within the deep heart of the seeker and use them to explain, in their own verdant ways, who they are as spiritual persons.

And why would the plants reveal such deep mysteries to a human seeker?
This is the next level of my definition. An herbalist is an occupation. The plants reveal to those whom they wish to act as mediators between the world of plants and the world of humans. They speak to those who work for them. Just as a mechanic is only a mechanic if they fix cars and a cook is only a cook if they actively make food and feed people, an herbalist is only an herbalist if they are actively engaged in the work of herbalism in such a way that their respective community naturally and intuitively draws to them for plant spirit wisdom. An herbalist who is not serving their community with herbal wisdom, making medicine, stewarding plants, and teaching is someone who loves herbs and even practices some herbalism; I cannot say this person is an herbalist any more than I can say that someone who doesn't clean windows is a window washer.

As I mentioned before, my definition of what an herbalist is will not work for everyone. My standards are high, my expectations are based on eons of ancestral herbal traditions, and my personal goals are heavy and serious. Should you be one who is called to this work, I hope you find the challenge to dig deep in these ways something of a personal calling.

With all this being said, anyone and everyone can (and I dare say should) practice herbalism for themselves and their families. To know something about first aid healing herbs, healing foods, simple remedies for acute illnesses like cold, headache, and cuts is both smart and a way to honor ancestors and land. One job of the true herbalist is to educate their community in these broad-spectrum artes so that families and clans can provide basic herbal care for themselves without the expensive and exclusionary intercession of allopathic medicine. Medicine from the backyard requires no co-pay.

So there you have it. My definition of what an herbalist is and my personal goal as someone who has been called to this work. I wake up every day grateful that my 'job' is to act as emissary between the worlds; a go-between translating the language of flesh to the language of leaf. I take it as a personal ethos to strive to go deeper and deeper into embodying what I think and herbalist is and to earn the trust, blessings, and initiations of my plant allies at every step.

If you’re a tea drinker- especially the kind that works with loose-leaf herbal teas, I want to share a few bits of inspiration with you in this post.

First, tea is magic. The simple act of brewing herbal tea is a ritual in and of itself. It allows us to slow down, step into the present moment, and engage fully with what’s happening. For folks doing work with the plant spirits, this is a prime opportunity to connect more intentionally with the plants who offer their color, aroma, flavor, medicine, and magic to us with each sip of tea.

Because tea is ritual, it can be crafted into an act of true magic. The combination of elements via the bowl, water, steam, and heat along with the presence of whichever plant spirits are steeped in your cup makes for a gateway of magical potential… and the best part is that it’s incredibly easy to transform your everyday tea drinking process into a ritual where magic and transformation can happen.

Here are a few things you might consider and explore the next time you brew a cup of herbal tea:

• Contemplate and connect to the ways that the elements of making tea reflect the elements of the cosmos: bowl for earth, water for water, steam and scent for air, heart for fire… bowl for land, steam for sky, water for sea, etc.
• Spend time holding the dried herbs between your palms, breathing with them, and infusing them with any petitions or prayers you may have. All the better if the herbs align to your purpose or are plant spirits you have a personal relationship of reciprocity with.
• Allow the steeping time to be something of magic and mystery. Get curious about how the plants might be infusing their magic and medicine into the water- and how it’ll feel as it moves through your body.
• Create ritual workings around your tea. Make tea altars or make tea at an established altar. Offer the first pour to your spiritual allies as a sacrifice. Add in recitations, visualizations, or ritual actions that align to your greater spiritual practice.
• While drinking the tea, try to follow the energy of the plants as they move from mouth to belly to being. See where they go, how they go, and how it feels to have them within you. Explore places where the energy can’t seem to get, or areas where the body buzzes with plant power. This is a meaningful way to learn how individual plants work with you.
• Consider growing a small tea garden where you steward a few tea plants from seed to harvest to drying- then craft them into tea you drink or share.

Enjoy!

Welcome to what I hope will be a long series of monthly posts on books I’m reading… and books I’d love for you to read, too!
This month we’re focusing on books from one author- someone who I feel is far too unsung as both a wise elder and incredible teacher in the general Pagan community; Ian Corrigan. Ian is Archdruid emeritus of Ar nDraiocht Fein (www.aADF.org) and a powerhouse of practical wisdom. He has been teaching aspects of Indo-European Paganism for over 30 years and his books have been foundational in my own spiritual growth and continue to support me on my journeys. I’m going to share just a few of my faves with you here but highly suggest you check out all of his writings.

SACRED FIRE, HOLY WELL
By far the most popular (and easiest to find) of Corrigan’s books, this is a must-have for any modern Pagan library, according to your truly. Regardless of your cultural, ethnic, or tradition’s specifics, I think everyone can find a great deal of inspiration here.
This book is a complete system of both neopagan Druidry (a la ADF) and a nudge and wink in the direction of a Celtic-inspired sorcery that is both firmly rooted in lore while being evolved into the here and now.
Sacred Fire, Holy Well explores cosmology, virtues, ritual structure, the kindred, sacred reciprocity, cultivating spiritual allies, and magic- all through the lens of what a living, breathing, dynamic Indo-European Paganism can be. The ritual structured offered in this text are approachable and scalable to meet the individual where they are- but don’t be fooled… what’s possible with this work when one delves deep into the cultic practices of the kindred is quite literally limitless.

DRAIOCHT – A PRIMER OF CELTIC SORCERY
Small package, big dynamite! This little book distills the wisdom of both ancient and modern Pagan perspectives and practices into a manual that inspires action and contemplation. The focus here is on both the why and how of our work with deep digs into trance and meditation states, the crafting of altars and shrines, and work with patron deities. This is easily one of my favorite of Ian’s books and one that I can return to again and again for inspiration, suggested reading for classes, and solutions for when I get stuck on my own path.

A GUIDE TO PAGAN WORSHIP
As the name says, this book will help you to craft a bona-fide, effective, and growing Pagan practice for who, where, and when you are. While presented through the lens of Celtic Paganism, I think anyone looking for a powerful way to work with their spiritual allies will find open gates here. This is an incredible introduction to Paganism with potent ways to engage with practices right now.

Over the past 4 weeks we’ve been exploring ways to engage with the plant spirits practically. In this our final installment, we’re getting our hands dirty (literally and figuratively) with ritual! To start with part one, CLICK HERE.

The word ritual shares etymological roots with some other important words like right, art, heart, hearth, and harmony. We can see how ritual is a way for us to engage intentionally in ways that create more harmony both within ourselves and within the wholeness of the universe. Ritual, like it’s related word art, should be a thing of beauty that is pleasing and brings a sense of things fitting together in good ways.

Sorcery, like all ancient pagan traditions that are essentially animist and nature-centering, is an orthopraxy and not an orthodoxy. This means that our right action is valuable where right belief is less so. What we think and believe means less than how we show up and what we do. Ritual is an invitation to show up, do good, create beauty, and assist the cosmos into leaning ever-further into states of harmony.

Rituals can come in many forms, and there are no hard and fast expectations on what they look like for each person. If you follow a traditional model like I do, you can work with that framework to guide you through seasonal cycles, ritual orders, specific workings, and so on. If not, you are able to find ways to create ritual that is meaningful and powerful for you- and ideally effective in creating the desired outcomes whatever they may be. For me, the outcome is more often connection than anything else. I rarely do ritual for anything other than completing cycles of sacred reciprocity with my allies and participating in the wholeness of the cosmos. Some rituals have very defined goals that make them bored on magical workings, others are simple rites of acknowledgement whether that be a season, a spirit, or an inspiration.

A ritual of lighting a candle and inviting your allies to join you at your sacred ire for communion is a valid and powerful ritual when performed with the fullness of your being. Nothing grandiose, complex, or expensive is needed- your investment of energy, time, and attention is a fertile soil upon which all good work can grow. From there, you may add important things like sacred symbols, prayers, charms or other spoken words, offerings and sacrifices, dances or other intentional movements, recitations of myth and story, or visionary journeywork.

No matter what you do or how it’s done, the power is in the doing.

One of the best ways to open the tracks of power that flow between you and the wholeness of nature is to engage directly with the rhythms. Everyone, everything, and everywhere has an ebb and flow; cycles that can be subtle or incredible dramatic. These rhythms are like a breath- inhalation that fill with power and potential, exhalations that release, compost, and reset. By aligning to these rhythms as they show up in the world we call home, we can find greater success, synchronicity, and power in all we do.

Without looking at the calendar, I invite you to step outside and experience directly what the land around you and all her inhabitants are actually expressing right here, right now. What are the trees doing? How has the behavior of the squirrels changed over the past few weeks? Are there bees, and if so which plants are feeding them? Are flowers blooming or is soil bare and cold? To really explore the language of the land is to enter into a direct personal communication with what is actually happening versus what the calendar says should be  happening. It is to let the land speak for the land, the animals speak for the animals, the insects for the insects, and so on.

We, too, are part of these sacred cycles and rhythms. So, if the trees are releasing their faded leaves, animals are scurrying to store up food for the coming cold months, and the days are getting shorter, how can we align our own personal rhythms, activities, rituals, and mental atmospheres t be in radical harmony? When it’s time to slow down, do you find it hard to slow down? When it’s time to begin and grow, are you just getting ready for rest? If your n rhythms are not in some kind of accord with those of the world around you, consider this a formal invitation to align and harmonize!

When in doubt about what to do, when to do it, and how to make it happen, remember your part-of-ness with nature and look to your kin in body and spirit that surround you.

You can’t fill a vessel that’s already full.

This is one reason why participating intentionally in the sacred act of reciprocity is so important. By giving to the spirits we’re allied to, that is, by making sacrifice to them and setting aside for them, we actually create space within us and within our lives for them to respond with their deep green blessings.

But that’s just the beginning.

Sacred reciprocity is a way for us to participate in the maintenance of the cosmos. It is an opportunity for us to enter into the cyclical give-and-receive which forges the relationships that make up the very fabric of existence. To give is to return the energy one has received. To receive is to replenish what has been given. When we look to our plant allies we can see them demonstrate this perfectly from year to year; they draw vital force from soil and sun, embody and manifest it via their own unique virtues, and then return their own signature vital force back to the land and the sky as part of their harvest rituals.

Since the entire cosmos is a complex web of infinite relationships that have been happening since forever and will continue to happen forever, sacred reciprocity is the law of movement which keeps the whole thing going. It is by entering into gifting cycles with our allies, our friends and families, our deities, our ancestors, and the varied spirits of place that we come to understand the ways in which the relationships we cultivate and nourish actually create our reality.

So, what does sacred reciprocity look like in practical action?

It is the direct recognition of relationships that brings us into conscious participation with the wholeness of things. One of the easiest ways to do this is to honor those who take care of us, especially those whose love extends across the hedge which separates the worlds, through offerings. These offerings need not be physical or expensive and should never ever be transactional. We give so that our allies may give- not so that they will give. The difference is subtle but deep.

Offerings can come in many forms. Here are a few of my favorite:

• Songs, poetry, drumming, or chants
• Libations poured
• Bread baked
• Herbs gathered and tied into an offering wreath
• Hand-blended botanical incense
• Beeswax candles
• Artwork
• The ringing of bells
• The recitation of virtues and/or myths
• The creation of an altar

These offerings all have value to our allies from across the hedge: plant spirits, deities, ancestors, and spirits of place… and many of our human allies enjoy these, too!

To begin making offerings of gratitude and petition, I suggest first offering a small space in your home which will be dedicated to the relationship you are nourishing between you and whatever ally or allies you’re connecting to. This could be a small altar or shrine, a special bowl set aside for them, a corner of a bookshelf or kitchen countertop, or a tree stump in your garden. Over time this space will become both sacred and liminal making it easier for you to reach out and connect with the allies of your work. From here, offerings can be made, meditations and journeywork done, magic and medicine crafted, petitions laid, and inspiration received.

No matter what you do, choose to engage with the sacred act of making offerings and you’ll quickly find that the doors open, paths are cleared, and the presence of your allies becomes stronger as the cord that connects you is nourished and strengthened with your love.

In order for our relationships with the plant spirits to be all they can be, we have to both understand and experience their radical personhood. Without the awareness that plants are people with the same full consciousness, awareness, personality, wisdom, and complexity as us, there is no real ground upon which we can relate person to person.

To stand in front of a big tree and see them as tree is one thing. To stand in front of a big tree and experience the presence of their personhood is a powerful initiation into the plant spirit mysteries. When we become aware that the presiding spirit of a plant knows we are there as much and maybe even more than we know they are there, the socially imposed dam which separates us from the truth of nature begin to crumble.

So, how to we begin to open our awareness to the personhood of plants (and all beings, really) while also directly experiencing their personhood? I offer you some simple steps here which you can put into practice the very next time you step outside.

PRACTICE THE PRESENCE

This is my favorite way to cultivate a slightly altered state of consciousness wherein I can subtly perceive the presence of non-human persons all around me. To do this, go outside and engage visually with your surroundings- picking out the living beings who share their space with you such as trees, animals, insects, and so on. Focus on the non-human persons here.

Now, allow your attention to come to a plant person, ideally a large tree with a big presence as they tend to love these exercises. Using your inner vision, creative visualization, make believe, pretend, or imagination, allow a spark or bright light to emerge from the center of that plant as a representation of their spirit. Just still yourself and experience the presence of that light and that power and follow it gently.

ENGAGE WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS

Have you really stopped to connect with the plants who share space with you? Try it! You might be surprised at how strong the conversation can be. Choose a plant that you pass by often and choose to dedicate 3 minutes of your time to just engaging intentionally with them. Explore their colors, shapes, textures, patterns, and posture. Then, explore how you feel in their presence- what language within comes up for you as your heart and the heart of the plant spirit share space?

Repeat this often. Experience the subtle and strong shifts of energy and expression that this plant shares day by day, season by season. You’ll find that you come to know them- and have a deep sense of connection to them as person.

BE SEEN

The next time you’re outside, try and step into a mindset where you feel seen or perceived. Imagine how it feels to be in a circle of humans who are all looking at you and are all aware of your presence, the space you hold, and the energy you bring. Try to extend that same feeling to the many plants, animals, insects, and other beings who exist in the space around you- then see where it takes you!

In our work with the plant spirits all, the various deities of the green realm, spirits of place, and our ancestors, I have found that a sense of sacred space is crucial to going as deeply as one can into the ways. To be in sacred space is to feel secure, seen, and welcome. It is to be connected to the area on which you do your work in such a way that you feel supported and in harmony with all who call that place home. Most importantly, I think, it offers us a sense of protection so that we can really let go and experience the fullness of wherever our work may take us and wherever the spirits may lead. Hypervigilance is a common struggle with modern folks- we rarely feel truly safe and always have one eye open and one ear scanning our surroundings which can detract from being in the moment with the ways of green sorcery. Anything we can do to help quiet this scanning and cultivate a sense of comfort and confidence will only deepen the work.

There are two primary ways to engage with sacred space, and I’d like to explore each of them briefly in this article.

The first way is to find sacred space as it exists in the world around you. You may be surprised to find that by slowing down to tree speed and connecting more deeply with the spaces that are part of your everyday, sacred space that is saturated in verdant power exists. A lush corner of your backyard garden, a mighty tree in a public park, an area of concrete where several plants have broken through and found their way to the light, or other more natural spaces can all connect us to the numinous and act as a crossroads through which we can access the green realm of the plant spirits all.

To sit under the canopy of a big tree is in and of itself an engagement with sacred space. Bare feet on garden soil is the same. Wherever we can acknowledge and then experience the presence of otherness in a way that speaks directly to us, a sacred space will emerge. Our awareness of who grows and what happens in a space brings us into rapport with those persons who will then surround us in layers of protective, guiding, and empowering energy. It is as though perceiving them is all it takes to open the floodgates of their virtues and vital force. As an added benefit, our engagement with these plants helps us to fall in love with the land we live on and become stewards for it on all levels.

Over time, with practice and deep personal connection, any natural space becomes sacred. Our repeated work with the spirits of place thins the hedge which separates the world leading to a numinous energy of otherness and power that nourishes our work and inspired our spiritual progress.

The second way to engage with sacred space is to create it. This is often the most comfortable for people due to the added privacy and sense of security it can bring since created scared spaces usually happen indoors or within the boundaries of a backyard or other safer space.

Altars, shrines, and groves are all examples of ways we can craft sacred space with intention. These are areas that are part of our everyday pathways but that we choose to set aside as an offering (sacrifice, to set aside) to the spirits we are allied to and to our work as a whole. Like any space, over time the altar or shrine takes on a numinous presence and becomes a living, dynamic, and evolutionary crossroads through which we can access the green realm of spirit.

How an altar or shrine is created, what goes on it, and how it’s worked with is personal. In my own practice, my altar revolves around a statue of my patron deity, a large sculpture of a tree which represents the plant spirits all and the green realm, and a skull for my ancestors. As a working space, it also houses many plant spirit vessels, magical workings in progress, active petitions, medicines being made, and sacred items.
Whether found or created, sacred space is an essential part of our work with the plant spirits and the various deities of our traditions and ways. They are a joy to participate in and help center our work in the world of name and form.

How To Invoke The Plant Spirits

To call on the plant spirits by name is to invoke their presence into our world- and to attune our own senses to the quiet ways of the green ones. There are many ways to invoke the plant spirits so that we can connect with them for communication, ritual, magical workings, medicine making, or just to sit in the presence of their verdant virtues. In this article, I’ll be sharing my favorite way to craft a plant spirit invocation. This method is incredibly simple, super powerful, and very effective at getting the attention of the various plant spirits we might want to work with in green sorcery. This technique also inspires us to learn more about the plants- how they show up in our world, share their virtues with us, move vital force, and even grow season after season.
To keep things approachable, I’ll be breaking up this article into several sections:

• What is an Invocation & How Does It Work?
• How the Plant Spirits Respond
• Crafting an Effective Invocation
• Where to Find Material
• The Mounding Effect

Let’s get to it!

What Is An Invocation & How Does It Work?

An invocation is phrase, which can be spoken aloud, softly, or even just concentrated on, that works to get the attention of our non-human spiritual allies. With invocations, we are calling out from our world and hoping that through the power of our desire and intent our words will push through the hedge that separates our world from the green realm and get the attention of whichever spirit we’re seeking.

Invocations are like personalized alerts. They move int o the vast world of spirit and seek out the individual for whom they are spoken- alerting them to our request for their presence or attention.

Invocations work by being specifically attuned to the unique personhood of the plant spirit we’re seeking. This attuned energy is carried on the force of our will, desire, and intent to really call in the plant and have audience with them.

Invocations are at their most powerful when we’re sitting in front of the plant as they grow in the ground. They are also incredibly powerful when spoken in wild spaces outdoors. That being said, you can absolutely recite invocations from anywhere with success. The more you become aligned to the ways of the green realm, the more effective your invocations will be.

How the Plant Spirits Respond

The plant spirits can reply to our invocations in countless ways. Usually, we feel their presence with our intuitive senses. This can be a subtle experience, but one that over time becomes strong and loud. As plant spirits move into a space we may also have memories, ideas, inspirations, thoughts, sensations, and nudges arise from within us. As the plants communicate with us, they often use our own internal lexicon of meanings to get their message across, so if it all feels as thought it’s happening in your head, lean into the messages and carry on!

Some plants will also show up in dreams, synchronicities or omens over the following hours, days, or weeks after an invocation. There are no rules stating they have to show up when and where we want them to. If we call out, we must trust the message has been received and stay open to the blessings given by the green allies. Generally, however, some indication that the plant spirit has either received your message or has responded to it will happen right after the invocation has been done. The flickering of a candle, a change in the air of the room, messages in the rustling of tree leaves, a tap on the shoulder, or images arising in the mind’s eye can all usher in the presence of the plants.

Crafting an Effective Invocation

The best invocations of both plant spirits and other non-human spirits are those that refer to the specific virtues, powers, areas of influence, histories, lore, and celebrated actions of that spirit. The more dialed in we get with our invocations, the more we’re likely to pierce through the hedge and get the plant’s attention.

Warning: invocations to the plant spirit are always, always requests and never, ever demands. Our relationship with these endlessly-giving beings should never be one of domination, control, or entrapment. Folks who work with them in that way end up paying great debts later on.

So, a great invocation that’s powerful and effective should call on specifics that are relevant to the plant spirit in focus. There are three things I like to have present in my invocations whenever possible…

1. Names for the plant that go beyond how I know them. Scientific names, folk names, and so on are all super powerful.
2. Medicinal and magical virtues that are particularly expressed in the plant spirit.
3. Any lore or myths around the plant that I can bring up as special to their personality; examples might include ways they show up in fairy tales, feats they’re famous for, or deities they’ve been associated with for ages.

As you can see, the more material we bring into our invocation, the more it becomes laser-focused to the one plant spirit we’re trying to reach. Our quiet words are traveling a great spiritual distance so the more refined and condensed we can make them, the better.

Where to Find Material

If you don’t know much about the plant spirit you want to invoke, I suggest getting to know them first so that there is a good ground for relationship before you go asking for favors from a stranger. One of the best ways to get information about the plants that you can use in crafting an invocation is by looking up any lore or mythology they may appear in.

Another great way to get material is to explore their medicinal virtues in herb books, monographs, and materia medica. See what applications folks have called on this plant for over the ages and use those virtues as epithets. Finally, you can look into the botany of a plant to learn more about where and how they grow for creative inspiration on crafting your spirit invocation.

I’ll give you a few examples of a fully crafted invocation below.

The Mounding Effect

Once you’ve written your invocation, test it out a few times and make sure it sounds good and feels good to recite. It doesn’t need to be a piece of poetic perfection, but should feel good to you and get your point across. If it doesn’t, spend more time playing with what shows up in the lines and in what order you say things.

Over time, reciting the same invocation to the same plant spirit causes that invocation to take on power of its own. I call this a mounding effect, and it’s the reason why so any ancient invocations have survived into our day. As you deepen your personal relationship with the plant spirits you work with they will begin to respond more immediately to the special invocations you are using to reach out to them. They're even comes a time when your invocation can have so much power that even when recited by someone melts the plant spirits are likely to respond with the same intensity they respond to you. Because of this you should consider your invocations to be sacred. Keep them set aside in a place that is private and only share them with people who will respect the amount of power they hold.

Examples of Plant Spirit Invocations

Here are a few plant spirit invocations you can work with as examples in crafting your own…

Linden
Great Linden Spirit!
You who have heart-shaped leaves that bring peace to all those who take shelter under your cooling canopy,
Mighty Tila!
You soothe and calm the heart and help us attain our heart’s desire. Your summertime blossoms intoxicate the senses and sweeten the days.
Linden, I ask you to join me here- calling you from the green realm and your sacred groves, that I may communicate with you.

Garden Sage
Salvia!
Who grows strong and deep here in my garden,
with fragrant blue-green leaves you purify the space wherever you grow.
Great Sage, I ask you to be present with me here as I work my magic with your aromatic leaves…
I call to your protection, purification, and light.

Juniper
Mighty Juniperus!
By spike and scale, berry and pollen- I call to you to surround me with your green light of protection.
Your needles are like swords and shields protecting from all misfortune…
Those who take shelter in your shade are in sacred space where no harm can come.
Great Juniper!
Fragrant and sharp, be with me here and protect me!