My Plant Spirit Witchcraft Practice
This blog post is on my plant spirit witchcraft practice which covers botanical witchcraft with Plants By Laurali! Botanicals are a huge part of my practice and today, I will talk about how I’ve learned to enhance my practice.
I have a natural gift for working with plant spirits. It’s more like a calling for me. It started when I was a child, but it became more apparent in 2020 when I sat down and began working with herbs.
At the time, I was writing a blog on kinfolk style, slow-living about my life living in a tiny, seaside fishing village in Florida. The blog organically began to take a new direction into green witchcraft, something I feel passionate about, and love with all my heart.
Thus, this is how Plants By Laurali was born! I kept being pulled toward plant witchcraft. I felt it in my bones and my blood.
Now and then, I can feel my advanced-level witchcraft practice become more enhanced, as there is always more to learn. Even when you reach an advanced stage, that doesn’t mean it’s a place to sit and rest on your laurels. It means it’s time to keep growing, evolving, and adapting!
Lately, I’ve felt another shift when it comes to botanical witchcraft. It feels like something is deepening and becoming stronger in my practice. Plants are the magical thread that runs through my veins.
My Plant Spirit Witchcraft Practice
Why plants? Botanicals are living, breathing creatures. I’ve always felt drawn to them, for both their medicinal properties and plant magical properties. There are so many!
In addition to that, plants, just like humans, have astrological correspondences. They correspond to the planets that govern them and the elements in which they were born. My botanical studies have taught me so much about plant allies and how they relate to our material world.
In addition to that, I spend a lot of time studying herbalism and herbal witchcraft. I read books about it and create classes based on what I’ve learned. I also like to take classes on herbalism in my spare time to keep pursuing and understanding the knowledge of herbal craft.
Most of my knowledge comes from working with the plant itself. I spend a lot of time hiking, wildcrafting, and foraging for botanicals that I can use in my practice. Many of my spells are done right in the heart of the forest.
I always remind myself that I can never know enough. There’s always room for growth and I consider plant witchcraft a lesson in lifelong learning.
My plant witchcraft practice also involves working with Goddess Hekate! I’ve made many a Hekate Mushroom Key with her throughout the years. She is quite powerful when it comes to plant knowledge!
Hekate has introduced me to her daughters, the Goddess Circe and Goddess Medea. They have both influenced my knowledge of poisonous plants and mushrooms.
But, here’s the thing. You have to want to learn and you have to be ready to be pushed beyond your limits. Working with plant familiars is no joke! It is serious business for the plant witchcraft practitioner.
Create Plant Monographs
I plan to eventually teach a class on this, but creating personal plant monographs is the perfect way to grow your knowledge base on plants. There are so many different ways you can do this.
I like to create my plant monographs around astrological correspondences. Some people like to tell stories and display the mythology of the plant throughout history. It’s important to find the method that works best for you!
If you are looking to enhance your knowledge of plant medicine, I highly recommend creating personal plant profiles based on each plant you work with. What impressions do you pick up on?
There are always some basic plant properties that most practitioners will agree on, but some plants will work with you differently, on an individual basis. For example, mint leaves are typically fast-moving, refreshing, and energizing, and work great in money magic spells!
However, I like to use mint leaves in any refreshing spell! For example, I recently did a spell on building a new green witch-style wardrobe with a wearable nature. I did it on a new moon, lending credence to the freshness of things!
This is how plant magic works! The plant witch will eventually learn to work with the plant in the way it responds to him or her. Plants respond differently to different people.
You may find some plants don’t wish to work with you at all and that’s perfectly okay. I will say, it can be a fun and rewarding challenge to work with a difficult plant spirit.
When you finally coax the plant into working with you, the payoff is usually big! It’s such a rewarding experience and if you stick with it, the plant spirit will eventually yield to you.
The Plant Spirit Holy Trinity (Hekate, Circe, Medea)
Just like there is a holy trinity in Christianity, there is a holy trinity in plant witchery. That holy trinity is Hekate, Circe, and Medea.
My plant spirit practice is deepening and becoming stronger, and more verdant. This has naturally led me to the three witches of Greek Mythology who work with mushrooms, plants, herbs, and animal life.
I believe they only come into your life when you are ready. I have worked with both Goddess Hekate and Goddess Circe for many years. Medea is a new and wonderful addition to my plant witchcraft practice!
Goddess Hekate - She represents the mother of herbal witchcraft. When she comes into the picture, she can guide you through the darkness, haunt your dreams with plant monographs, and guide you through the hedge where the source of all plants can be found.
Goddess Circe - She represents the nymphs who live near water. I often feel her presence when I’m near waterways and plants that grow near water such as elderberries and yarrow. Goddess Circe has an almost childlike, ethereal energy about her and is quite lovely to look at. She denotes the expertise of shapeshifting and glamour magic, much like the fae does.
Goddess Medea - She represents the darkness and poisonous plants and poisonous mushrooms. She is quite skilled and gifted when it comes to working with dangerous things, as these kinds of botanicals can both heal and kill equally. She denotes the deepening of a plant spirit practice.
I recommend reading, Entering Hekate’s Garden: The Magic, Medicine, and Mystery of Plant Spirit Witchcraft by Cyndi Brannen. This book taught me how to go deeper into the lower realms of my practice.
Spend Time With Plant Spirits
The best way to get to know a plant is to spend time with it in different ways. Plants have personalities and can speak to you through thoughts, feelings, and intuition.
If you ever have a question and need a quick answer, ask a plant spirit! Plants have vast knowledge, wisdom, and power. They are the keepers of secrets and mysteries.
If you have a plant you are particularly fond of, that would be the plant to ask! Plants speak to us telepathically and the answer may come to you through unexpected and surprising ways.
I also recommend wildcrafting around your local neighborhood and your favorite parks. Get to know your genius loci, spirits of the land! If you come across a plant you’ve never seen before, look into it.
This makes a great reference point for working with plants. Sometimes, I take home a plant cutting that I know nothing about. Upon further research, I still can’t find anything on the plant.
When this happens, I use my intuition to connect with my newfound plant spirit. I ask it which spell it would like to go into or how it would like to be used.
Plants that aren’t profiled can be just as strong, if not stronger, than a plant monograph! You can group those kinds of botanicals together in the heat of the moment to create a once-in-a-lifetime herbal remedy or botanical spell. Sometimes, not knowing can prove to be beneficial!
Give plant spirit offerings and always give gratitude and thanks to the botanical you are working with! Never cut a plant without permission and never take more than you need. This is a rule I live by and follow.
Working with plant allies can be rewarding! At some point, you will not only work with them in the earthly realm, but you’ll work with them in the astral realm, too. You will learn how to work with plant spirits in secret!
Most importantly, don’t give up on the path you are pursuing! If you feel called to plant witchery, make it a focal point in your life. Incorporate it into the everyday, mundane magic of life.
Wear botanicals as an accessory and weave them in your hair. Use botanicals to sprinkle a little magic into your food as a green kitchen witch. Collect plants and bring them with you wherever you go!
Making a plant a part of your daily life makes them part of you! You may find you were a plant witch all along. Being a plant witch practitioner is holistic, fun, and gratifying.