How To Learn Modern Wortcunning
In today’s fast-paced, digital-first world, many people feel unmoored — disconnected from the land, the seasons, and even themselves. But there’s an ancient practice that can help us find our way back to rooted living: wortcunning.
Wortcunning — an Old English word meaning “plant knowledge” — is the traditional art of healing with herbs, spirit work, and magical practice, passed down through the Anglo-Saxon pagan tradition. Far more than just herbal medicine, wortcunning is a living philosophy where plants are not commodities, but kin, allies, and spiritual teachers.
What is Wortcunning?
In Anglo-Saxon England, the læce (healer) worked with plants on both a physical and spiritual level. Herbs were chosen for their medicinal properties and their sacred power. Charms, blessings, and galdor (incantations) were spoken to awaken the plant’s spirit and align the healing with the threads of wyrd — the interconnected web of fate.
A wortcunner might call upon:
Frige — goddess of foresight, home, and protection.
Eostre — bringer of renewal, fertility, and spring vitality.
Woden — wise one, guide of magic and knowledge.
Eorðe — the Earth herself, mother of all green things.
Healing was never a one-way transaction; it was a conversation between human, plant, and spirit.
Why Wortcunning Matters Now
Modern society has separated health from the land — but the truth is, our wellbeing is deeply connected to the earth beneath our feet. Wortcunning restores that connection by:
Helping us work with plants as living allies, not passive remedies.
Reconnecting us to seasonal rhythms and the wisdom of the land.
Offering holistic healing for body, spirit, and community.
It’s a tradition that speaks directly to the ecological and spiritual crises of our time.
Learning the Green Arte Today
The Green Arte Wortcunning Program is a unique way to step into this living tradition. More than an herbal course, it immerses you in profound Anglo-Saxon pagan philosophy, magical herbalism, and the sacred relationship between healer, plant, and spirit.
Through seasonal rites, plant-lore study, charm crafting, and guided galdor practice, you’ll gain not only herbal skills, but the deeper knowing that comes from walking the old ways in the modern world. You can learn Wortcunning from anywhere in the world and our program is radically inclusive so everyone is welcome!
A Call to the Healers of Now
To practice wortcunning today is to walk in two worlds — keeping the wisdom of the past alive while tending to the needs of the present. The plants still grow. The deities still listen. The wyrd still weaves. If you’re interested in exploring the ways that these ancient practices and perspectives can help you live a life of ár ond frið (plenty & peace), I would love to have you join us for the next cohort.
If you’re ready to take up this path, the The Green Arte Wortcunning Program offers the knowledge, guidance, and spiritual grounding to begin. The old ways are waiting — and the work has never been more needed!
The Old Ways for a New World: Why Traditional Wortcunning Still Matters Today
In an age where wellness trends come and go with the seasons, there is a deep and enduring current of wisdom flowing quietly beneath the noise — the old craft of wortcunning. Rooted in the herbal, spiritual, and magical traditions of the Anglo-Saxon world, wortcunning is far more than “folk herbalism.” It is a worldview in which plants are not passive ingredients, but living allies bound to the web of wyrd — the ever-weaving tapestry of fate.
The Anglo-Saxon Roots of Wortcunning
For our pagan ancestors, healing was never purely physical. The læce (healer) was a bridge between the seen and unseen worlds, calling upon plants not only for their medicinal properties but for their spirit and sacred power. Charms and galdor (incantations) were spoken to invite the blessings of deities like Frige, for protection and wellbeing, or Eostre, for renewal and vitality. Some wortcunners invoked Woden as master of wisdom, or Eorðe (the Earth herself) as the great mother of all growing things.
The work was relational — the healer knew the local land intimately, recognized the moods of the seasons, and treated each plant as a respected co-worker rather than a tool. The herbs chosen, the words spoken, and the timing of the work were all guided by both practical knowledge and spiritual alignment.
Why Wortcunning is Needed Today
In our disconnected modern lives, we suffer from more than physical ailments — we experience spiritual and ecological disconnection. The old ways of wortcunning remind us that:
Healing is a conversation between human, plant, and spirit.
Our wellbeing is tied to the health of the land around us.
Every herb carries not only chemical constituents, but stories, powers, and personalities.
By returning to this way of seeing and working with plants, we not only improve our health but also step into a more meaningful, reciprocal relationship with nature. In this way, wortcunning offers a quiet but radical form of resistance against the disposable, mechanized approach to healing.
Bringing the Green Arte into the Present
This is exactly what the The Green Arte Wortcunning Program seeks to preserve and pass on. Far from being a simple herbalism course, it’s an immersion in the plant-lore, pagan & heathen philosophy, and magical praxis of our Anglo-Saxon (as well as Western, Northern, and Scandinavian) forebears. You’ll learn not just what herbs do, but who they are — and how to work with them in a whole context.
Whether it’s crafting charms for protection, brewing teas for spiritual clarity, or honoring the turning of the year through plant rites, this tradition has a profound way of rooting us where we stand. And in a time of cultural uprooting, that kind of groundedness is medicine in itself.
Walking the Old Paths Again
To be a wortcunner today is not to live in the past — it’s to walk in two worlds: the old one, with its rich tapestry of pagan myth and herbal magic, and the new one, where these practices are as relevant as ever. The plants still grow. The land still speaks. The deities and spirits are still willing to aid those who approach with respect.
If you feel the pull of this path — if you want to step into the role of healer, wise one, and ally of the green world — I invite you to explore the The Green Arte Wortcunning Program. The old ways are waiting, and the work has never been more needed.
