Craft of the Herbwise
The plants of our world hold many great secrets... the greatest of which is that their roots extend down, deep down into the primordial otherworld upon which our own world floats like an island in the ocean. From this hidden forest, self-illuminated, they draw up the vital force that turns our world while calling down the patterns and potencies of life in this realm. Each plant a well of wisdom and power.
To work with the plant spirits is to touch the substrate of life. It is to enter a world filled with magic, medicine, ritual, and harmony- and to be called into the sacred grove where the rites of our arte have been performed since time immemorial.
The Green Arte is a plant sorcery path offering that leads to the heart of the wild green realm. Through flights of spirit, herb magic, spiritual herbalism, following the tides of moon & sun, vegetal rituals, and direct teachings from the verdant ones themselves, we step into harmony with nature and engage with a world of beauty. It leads one to becoming herbwise... to speak the language of the plants and to know their soil-bound secrets. In so doing, we are connected to living liminal beings who connect us to the wholeness of life.
The Green Arte is for those who are called by mysterious seed and fragrant flower, by the voices of the old ones heard in rustling leaves, by the wisdom of the ancients held in rich soil, and by the spirits who fruit in our world and root in the world of otherness.
To work with the plant spirits is to touch the substrate of life. It is to enter a world filled with magic, medicine, ritual, and harmony- and to be called into the sacred grove where the rites of our arte have been performed since time immemorial.
The Green Arte is a plant sorcery path offering that leads to the heart of the wild green realm. Through flights of spirit, herb magic, spiritual herbalism, following the tides of moon & sun, vegetal rituals, and direct teachings from the verdant ones themselves, we step into harmony with nature and engage with a world of beauty. It leads one to becoming herbwise... to speak the language of the plants and to know their soil-bound secrets. In so doing, we are connected to living liminal beings who connect us to the wholeness of life.
The Green Arte is for those who are called by mysterious seed and fragrant flower, by the voices of the old ones heard in rustling leaves, by the wisdom of the ancients held in rich soil, and by the spirits who fruit in our world and root in the world of otherness.
Here you'll find a bit about my approach to plant spirit work and insights into how I dance the green spiral...
THE ROOTS
The Green Arte is the result of over 20 years of study, practice, and exploration by spiritual herbalist, author/teacher, and priest of the green realm Josh Williams. It is intended to be a plant sorcery path embodied for when, where, and who we are- and it is evolutionary in nature.
These offerings are informed in three ways:
>>> First, by direct personal teachings from diligent and dedicated work with the plant spirits and wild deities of the oldest ways: green gnosis and raw revelation. As a living, evolutionary, sorcerous path, our focus is on receiving initiation and teachings directly from the green realm.
>>> Second, by wisdom and praxis extracted from our ancestral plant lore, animist ways, and ritual traditions with a firm rooting in the oldest times. My particular work has centered the plant lore of my own ancestors of blood and bone- each person can draw in the plant lore of their own culture and forebears and make it work. Most of this is inspired by my ancestors of the vast Indo-European world with a focus on the extant lore of the Anglo-Saxons, Welsh, Gauls, and various Druidic bits of lore.
>>> Third, by exploring threads of ritual continuity and commonality from ancient times into the modern that give insight into what works and how it works; spiritual empirical evidence. This is done with a deep sensitivity toward avoiding cultural appropriation, supporting rights and land-back movements of Indigenous folks, directly supporting Indigenous & Native teachers who represent their own cultures and traditions, and avoiding watered-down and misunderstood streams of plant spirit work that come from neopaganism, neoshamanism, and other similar paths. This includes the respectful avoidance of certain plant allies that are either bound to specific traditions, are threatened by over-harvesting, or are misused in the new age marketplace.
While what I teach is by no means part of some ancient unbroken lineage of plant spirit work, hints of it can be found from our furthest reaches back into history. These 'root' perspectives have always been and continue to find ways, often brilliantly concealed, into our current magico-ritual practices. It is rare that the plants teach directly or guide us towards something that is truly new; most of what is shared has been reiterated in one way or another, with a beautiful array of cultural specifics, since the beginning.
The Green Arte is not witchcraft and can only loosely be gathered under the Pagan umbrella for most folks who embrace it. It is more akin to visionary and relationship-based traditional plant medicine ways and the individuals who are called into those ways as serious spiritual vocation. It is a path supporting the human person learning to go between the worlds, navigate the wildness, and bring back wisdom in service of their respective communities with a centering on the plant spirits all, their realm, and their guardians.
THE PLANT SPIRITS
My work is very much focused on the plant spirits. As an animist, I experience them as fully sovereign beings who occupy a position of great import in our world. They are the providers of what keeps us alive which should be enough to make us want to be closer to them- but that's just the very beginning of who they are.
"Remember, Mugwort, what you made known,
What you arranged at the Great proclamation.
You were called Una, the oldest of herbs,
you have power against three and against thirty,
you have power against poison and against infection,
you have power against the loathsome foe roving through the land."
-The 9 Herbs Charm of the Lacnunga 10th century.
I work with the plant spirits as emissaries between the worlds. While we experience them from the crown up in our world, they exist in root and rhizome in the world of otherness. This world, below and underneath ours in a non-literal way, is the source of all vital force. By being in relationship with the plants and their rituals, we are initiated into relationship with the primordial. They are the givers of our power and it is through deep connection with them we step into the herbwise ways of true sorcery.
THE THREE KIN
Three allies from the world of otherness find devotion in my work: the deities, the spirits of nature, and the ancestors of blood, land, and tradition. These good folk who are other-than-human bring a perspective that is beyond compare. Closeness with them gives us access to wisdom, power, and personal development that is magical in and of itself.
MAGIC
I work and teach a form of folk-animist magic which is based on deep personal connections to the plant spirits being called into the working. Because I don't do ceremonial or witchcraft types of formatted magic and focus instead on visionary and folk magics rooted in the ancient past, they often look simple to the untrained eye and can even be imperceptible. The power of these ancient magics lies in the allyship that exists between plant spirit and human person and not in the complexity or exoticism of their trappings.
MEDICINE
As a traditionally-trained professional herbalist, I have a great appreciation for the healing virtues of the plants. My work as a full-time herbalist and apothecary owner means I get to see them take care of human people day after day- and I've been shown the ways in which their magic and medicine are in fact the same thing. You'll hear me talk a lot about re-weaving magic and medicine as we approach the truth of who the plant spirits are.
I have found that folks who come to courses and classes because of an affinity to the plants or an interest in a greener kind of magic are not far from being enamored by plant medicine.
RITUAL
My rituals are vegetation-inspired and are focused on the four seasons (Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer) and the two poles (Winter and Summer Solstices). I call these ritual events fêtes and see them as a way to participate in the turning of the wheel. I also work alongside lunar tides both in making herbal medicines and in journeying with individual plant spirits. I am a fan of intuitive simplicity in ritual and find that a small needfire and a few spoken words creates more magic than a complex spell with 'ingredients' one has no personal connection to. Better one plant ally to help you in all your workings than a hundred who know not your name.
THE GARLAND
I honor six times of power throughout the cyclical year: Autumn Harvest, Winter Sleep, the Dark Solstice, Spring Warming, Summer Fire, and the Bright Solstice. Each of these fêtes is an acknowledgement of powerful shifts in the flow of nature's currents, a time to honor the spirits and their many gifts to us, and an opportunity to align our lives, magics, and medicines to the personality of the seasons. The way I celebrate these times is inspired by Indo-European Pagan & Folkloric British agricultural festivals with a focus on the plant spirits and deities of the green realm.
JOURNEY
I focus a great deal of my work and my teachings on cultivating a perception and intentional engagement with the other world. It is expressed in The Green Arte via the medium of the primordial forest, abode of the World Tree and all the plant people. This realm is accessed by simple flights of the spirit which bring us into direct contact with the plant spirits, evergreen gods, and our own ancestors. By flexing our muscles of inner vision, we are able to learn directly from the spirits.
HARMONY
I talk a lot about harmony, the idea that our daily life can be about taking actions to help things come together in beautiful and pleasing ways. Harmony is a state more dynamic and powerful than balance, which in my herbal work I consider to be a fragile disease state. Harmony is adaptable, moving, evolutionary, and based in relationships rather than rigid morality. To cultivate harmony we look to the direct teachings of the great book of nature and try to align ourselves to that subtle flow. We also weigh out what we think and do in terms of what carries the most beauty- even if that means doing things the harder way.
ETHICS
There is no implied justice in our world. When we see things that need to be changed, we change them. Ideas of the law of return and the oft appropriated and misunderstood ideas of karma do not exist around the world tree. The world we live in is the one we craft- every action we take defines the branch's growth in the coming season.
COSMOLOGY
I have experienced, as have our deep ancestors, that the universe and the world were never created. No supreme being is in control of when things start and when they stop. All that exists, the cosmos, is the result of an infinite number of sacred relationships and that is all. How we choose to relate nudges the universe further into states of cosmos or chaos depending on our choices. Everything that exists is the result of relationships being expressed- everything you do is meaningful, and everything that happens has meaning.
DEITY
The world is filled with an infinite number of beings - corporeal and non-corporeal. The universe, too, is full of persons. While the list of who can be considered a deity is too long to know and the definitions too fuzzy to doctrinize, I find it crucial to have a relationship with more-than-human persons who have access to wisdom, perspective, power, and influence that far surpasses our own. In my own practice, and as a root of The Green Arte tradition overall, one of the eldest of all deities has risen to position of patron for us. Known as The Great Green, Lord of Leaves, King of the Forest, Suncatcher, The Verdant God, and many other epithets from near and far, he is the guardian and guide of our ways. I also work with the Sovereign Lady; Goddess of Land.
For you, other deities may present themselves as patron to your arte or as connected to the wild green ways. I think that for those who walk these verdant paths we generally attract deities who have affinity with agriculture, plants, the otherworld of greenery, medicine, and herbal magic- but anything and anyone is possible! A relationship with specific deities is by no means necessary to work with the plant spirits.
For those who choose to ally themselves to deities, I suggest a cult of three:
1 - The Earth Mother in whatever form she may appear in your tradition
2 - A deity of agriculture and plants; most often a dying-and-rising green God
3 - A deity who relates to you as an individual; one who has influence over your profession or hobby, your locale, or some other intimate aspect of your life.
TRADITION
I am very much in favor of the revivification of active groves of the arte and traditions in the contemporary world. I think that deep plant spirit wisdom is needed now more than ever as both a remedy to the ills of our age and as an alternative to the shallow, mechanistic, and spiritually bereft pop-herbalism that can be found on social media and bookshelves even by those who purport to be advanced witches and the like. Through the establishment of tradition, we can create standards of work which appease the plant spirits and further the mysteries.
LEARNING
How do we learn the mysteries of the green arte, and by what means are we initiated into their depths?
First, from our most cherished teachers- the plants themselves and the guardians of the green realm.
Second, from the hard-won fruits of our experiences; failures and successes, confusions and confidences.
Third, and as a crucial baseline for the other two, is a traditional mentor-apprentice relationship. The mysteries are beyond being written about or even discussed directly- so we lean into our traditional ways of teaching and learning so that the wisdom can flow from teacher to student and spaces can be crafted that lead us into direct and personal green gnosis. This style of learning also allows for information to be tailored to the unique needs of the student while offering them practical and empowering guidance along their journey.
If you are interested in learning, I invite you to explore the classes, courses, and books offered herein and to stay in touch regarding your experiences, questions, and intentions as you wander the path.
THE ROOTS
The Green Arte is the result of over 20 years of study, practice, and exploration by spiritual herbalist, author/teacher, and priest of the green realm Josh Williams. It is intended to be a plant sorcery path embodied for when, where, and who we are- and it is evolutionary in nature.
These offerings are informed in three ways:
>>> First, by direct personal teachings from diligent and dedicated work with the plant spirits and wild deities of the oldest ways: green gnosis and raw revelation. As a living, evolutionary, sorcerous path, our focus is on receiving initiation and teachings directly from the green realm.
>>> Second, by wisdom and praxis extracted from our ancestral plant lore, animist ways, and ritual traditions with a firm rooting in the oldest times. My particular work has centered the plant lore of my own ancestors of blood and bone- each person can draw in the plant lore of their own culture and forebears and make it work. Most of this is inspired by my ancestors of the vast Indo-European world with a focus on the extant lore of the Anglo-Saxons, Welsh, Gauls, and various Druidic bits of lore.
>>> Third, by exploring threads of ritual continuity and commonality from ancient times into the modern that give insight into what works and how it works; spiritual empirical evidence. This is done with a deep sensitivity toward avoiding cultural appropriation, supporting rights and land-back movements of Indigenous folks, directly supporting Indigenous & Native teachers who represent their own cultures and traditions, and avoiding watered-down and misunderstood streams of plant spirit work that come from neopaganism, neoshamanism, and other similar paths. This includes the respectful avoidance of certain plant allies that are either bound to specific traditions, are threatened by over-harvesting, or are misused in the new age marketplace.
While what I teach is by no means part of some ancient unbroken lineage of plant spirit work, hints of it can be found from our furthest reaches back into history. These 'root' perspectives have always been and continue to find ways, often brilliantly concealed, into our current magico-ritual practices. It is rare that the plants teach directly or guide us towards something that is truly new; most of what is shared has been reiterated in one way or another, with a beautiful array of cultural specifics, since the beginning.
The Green Arte is not witchcraft and can only loosely be gathered under the Pagan umbrella for most folks who embrace it. It is more akin to visionary and relationship-based traditional plant medicine ways and the individuals who are called into those ways as serious spiritual vocation. It is a path supporting the human person learning to go between the worlds, navigate the wildness, and bring back wisdom in service of their respective communities with a centering on the plant spirits all, their realm, and their guardians.
THE PLANT SPIRITS
My work is very much focused on the plant spirits. As an animist, I experience them as fully sovereign beings who occupy a position of great import in our world. They are the providers of what keeps us alive which should be enough to make us want to be closer to them- but that's just the very beginning of who they are.
"Remember, Mugwort, what you made known,
What you arranged at the Great proclamation.
You were called Una, the oldest of herbs,
you have power against three and against thirty,
you have power against poison and against infection,
you have power against the loathsome foe roving through the land."
-The 9 Herbs Charm of the Lacnunga 10th century.
I work with the plant spirits as emissaries between the worlds. While we experience them from the crown up in our world, they exist in root and rhizome in the world of otherness. This world, below and underneath ours in a non-literal way, is the source of all vital force. By being in relationship with the plants and their rituals, we are initiated into relationship with the primordial. They are the givers of our power and it is through deep connection with them we step into the herbwise ways of true sorcery.
THE THREE KIN
Three allies from the world of otherness find devotion in my work: the deities, the spirits of nature, and the ancestors of blood, land, and tradition. These good folk who are other-than-human bring a perspective that is beyond compare. Closeness with them gives us access to wisdom, power, and personal development that is magical in and of itself.
MAGIC
I work and teach a form of folk-animist magic which is based on deep personal connections to the plant spirits being called into the working. Because I don't do ceremonial or witchcraft types of formatted magic and focus instead on visionary and folk magics rooted in the ancient past, they often look simple to the untrained eye and can even be imperceptible. The power of these ancient magics lies in the allyship that exists between plant spirit and human person and not in the complexity or exoticism of their trappings.
MEDICINE
As a traditionally-trained professional herbalist, I have a great appreciation for the healing virtues of the plants. My work as a full-time herbalist and apothecary owner means I get to see them take care of human people day after day- and I've been shown the ways in which their magic and medicine are in fact the same thing. You'll hear me talk a lot about re-weaving magic and medicine as we approach the truth of who the plant spirits are.
I have found that folks who come to courses and classes because of an affinity to the plants or an interest in a greener kind of magic are not far from being enamored by plant medicine.
RITUAL
My rituals are vegetation-inspired and are focused on the four seasons (Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer) and the two poles (Winter and Summer Solstices). I call these ritual events fêtes and see them as a way to participate in the turning of the wheel. I also work alongside lunar tides both in making herbal medicines and in journeying with individual plant spirits. I am a fan of intuitive simplicity in ritual and find that a small needfire and a few spoken words creates more magic than a complex spell with 'ingredients' one has no personal connection to. Better one plant ally to help you in all your workings than a hundred who know not your name.
THE GARLAND
I honor six times of power throughout the cyclical year: Autumn Harvest, Winter Sleep, the Dark Solstice, Spring Warming, Summer Fire, and the Bright Solstice. Each of these fêtes is an acknowledgement of powerful shifts in the flow of nature's currents, a time to honor the spirits and their many gifts to us, and an opportunity to align our lives, magics, and medicines to the personality of the seasons. The way I celebrate these times is inspired by Indo-European Pagan & Folkloric British agricultural festivals with a focus on the plant spirits and deities of the green realm.
JOURNEY
I focus a great deal of my work and my teachings on cultivating a perception and intentional engagement with the other world. It is expressed in The Green Arte via the medium of the primordial forest, abode of the World Tree and all the plant people. This realm is accessed by simple flights of the spirit which bring us into direct contact with the plant spirits, evergreen gods, and our own ancestors. By flexing our muscles of inner vision, we are able to learn directly from the spirits.
HARMONY
I talk a lot about harmony, the idea that our daily life can be about taking actions to help things come together in beautiful and pleasing ways. Harmony is a state more dynamic and powerful than balance, which in my herbal work I consider to be a fragile disease state. Harmony is adaptable, moving, evolutionary, and based in relationships rather than rigid morality. To cultivate harmony we look to the direct teachings of the great book of nature and try to align ourselves to that subtle flow. We also weigh out what we think and do in terms of what carries the most beauty- even if that means doing things the harder way.
ETHICS
There is no implied justice in our world. When we see things that need to be changed, we change them. Ideas of the law of return and the oft appropriated and misunderstood ideas of karma do not exist around the world tree. The world we live in is the one we craft- every action we take defines the branch's growth in the coming season.
COSMOLOGY
I have experienced, as have our deep ancestors, that the universe and the world were never created. No supreme being is in control of when things start and when they stop. All that exists, the cosmos, is the result of an infinite number of sacred relationships and that is all. How we choose to relate nudges the universe further into states of cosmos or chaos depending on our choices. Everything that exists is the result of relationships being expressed- everything you do is meaningful, and everything that happens has meaning.
DEITY
The world is filled with an infinite number of beings - corporeal and non-corporeal. The universe, too, is full of persons. While the list of who can be considered a deity is too long to know and the definitions too fuzzy to doctrinize, I find it crucial to have a relationship with more-than-human persons who have access to wisdom, perspective, power, and influence that far surpasses our own. In my own practice, and as a root of The Green Arte tradition overall, one of the eldest of all deities has risen to position of patron for us. Known as The Great Green, Lord of Leaves, King of the Forest, Suncatcher, The Verdant God, and many other epithets from near and far, he is the guardian and guide of our ways. I also work with the Sovereign Lady; Goddess of Land.
For you, other deities may present themselves as patron to your arte or as connected to the wild green ways. I think that for those who walk these verdant paths we generally attract deities who have affinity with agriculture, plants, the otherworld of greenery, medicine, and herbal magic- but anything and anyone is possible! A relationship with specific deities is by no means necessary to work with the plant spirits.
For those who choose to ally themselves to deities, I suggest a cult of three:
1 - The Earth Mother in whatever form she may appear in your tradition
2 - A deity of agriculture and plants; most often a dying-and-rising green God
3 - A deity who relates to you as an individual; one who has influence over your profession or hobby, your locale, or some other intimate aspect of your life.
TRADITION
I am very much in favor of the revivification of active groves of the arte and traditions in the contemporary world. I think that deep plant spirit wisdom is needed now more than ever as both a remedy to the ills of our age and as an alternative to the shallow, mechanistic, and spiritually bereft pop-herbalism that can be found on social media and bookshelves even by those who purport to be advanced witches and the like. Through the establishment of tradition, we can create standards of work which appease the plant spirits and further the mysteries.
LEARNING
How do we learn the mysteries of the green arte, and by what means are we initiated into their depths?
First, from our most cherished teachers- the plants themselves and the guardians of the green realm.
Second, from the hard-won fruits of our experiences; failures and successes, confusions and confidences.
Third, and as a crucial baseline for the other two, is a traditional mentor-apprentice relationship. The mysteries are beyond being written about or even discussed directly- so we lean into our traditional ways of teaching and learning so that the wisdom can flow from teacher to student and spaces can be crafted that lead us into direct and personal green gnosis. This style of learning also allows for information to be tailored to the unique needs of the student while offering them practical and empowering guidance along their journey.
If you are interested in learning, I invite you to explore the classes, courses, and books offered herein and to stay in touch regarding your experiences, questions, and intentions as you wander the path.
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