The Plant Spirit Path | Ten Expressions of Verdant Wisdom
When we talk about the plant spirit path we’re exploring a way of connecting to self, nature, and spiritual growth through our work with green allies- the trees, shrubs, plants, herbs, lichens, mushrooms, and other growing kin of the land. This path is ancient, timeless, and exists at the very heart of many of the world’s most profound traditions. Wherever we look, there we find the language of plants.
In my practice of the plant spirit path, I have a personal goal of being herbwise. This is a modern term I coined based on a more ancient term, wortcunning, which means essentially the same thing. To be herbwise is to know the deep secrets of the plants through intentional work with them in contemplation, study, ritual, meditation, and journey. The plant spirit path should ideally lead us to herbwise spaces- taking us deeper into the heart of the primordial forest where we can become more attuned to the wisdom, magic, and medicine of the plants while becoming more ourselves along the way. In other words, the plant spirit path is a complete spiritual practice that can be walked on its own or supported by adjunct practices and traditions. As a personal example, I am very connected to the ways of Germanic Paganism and Anglo-Saxon Paganism. The perspectives, virtues, cosmology, cosmogony, spirits, and practices of these traditions heavily influence who I am as a person and how I work with the plants; but my work with the plants is the core of my journey.
In this article I’d like to share with you just ten of what is likely an endless lists of ways that the plant spirit path can express itself in our lives. I have chosen the ten things to include here quite intuitively and randomly- what came up as I drafted the list is what I shared in the moment. This is a list that, with some contemplation, can help us understand why working with plant spirits is so important- and why we’re drawn to it in the first place.
1 - Our teachers, the plants
We’re all searching, seeking, thirsting for wisdom in one way or another. Dear reader, let me assure you that to take shelter under the verdant canopy of an old tree is to sit at the feet of a true spiritual master! Like us, the plants emerged from the womb of the ocean, the great mother earth. With the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA), we share an ancestry that branches apart many times over, but connects us still to the primordial beginning. Plants are at once our ancestors, our kin, and our teachers- they’ve been witnessing from the beginningless beginning and have embodied the wisdom of nature all the while. No matter what you seek, the plants can guide.
2 - A connection to the wholeness of things
Plants are rooted in the soil, connecting them to the land and to the depths of nourishing ground from which they draw up the building blocks of being. Through their roots, both literal and energetic, they connect us to the wholeness of things. By sitting with a plant, especially a big tall tree, we can reach through their roots like a thread and find out way to anywhere, anywhen, and anyone. Connecting to a single plant allows us to be connected to the whole.
3 - The tree within
Our work with the plant spirits will inevitably bring us into direct contact with the deepest part of ourselves. Plants will, gently and with deep compassion, show us who we really are, what we need to work on, and where things are headed if we continue as-is. They can do this because they have a perspective of us that is radically other and completely whole. They see us in full ways- more full than we can often see ourselves. When in doubt about who you are, what you’re about, what’s going on, or where things are headed, go ask a plant.
4 - Magic and medicine are the same thing
When we walk a plant spirit path with the goal of becoming herbwise, we will quickly be shown that what we think of as medicinal and remedial and what we think of as magical and transformative are in fact the same exact thing. The kind of medicine plants bring us flows to every part of our being and outwards into our living narrative- we cannot heal one part of us without healing the whole of us. Similarly, the magical things we do with plants will inevitably bring us healing on all levels. Magic and medicine when practiced from the perspective of the plants are the same expression of their verdant virtues.
5 - Your ancestors speak through the plants
It is in the extant plant lore of our ancestors that we find some incredible insight into who they were, how they engaged with the world, what kinds of things they struggled with, ad how they approached creating harmony and beauty. Plant lore doesn’t just speak about the plants, it speaks about the people who worked with those plants and what they chose to pass on to us, their descendants.
6 - You belong here
When we sit amongst trees in a forest, plants in a garden, or flowers in a meadow, we are confronted with a deep sense of belonging. Plants will always affirm that we are part of just as much as any animal, insect, storm, mountain, or tree. We are a living, breathing, essential part of of what Nature is. This means that we are welcome to soak up all the love and power that comes from this part-of-ness, and it invites us to ensure we act like we’re part of it all. The ethics and virtues of the plant spirit path are defined by meditating on the tree being part of the forest.
7 - Everything is connected
Plants are fierce participants in the inter-connectedness of things. They play vital roles in every ecosystem and show how the actions and presence of one being can influence many others. When you feel isolated, disconnected, or out of sorts, the plants will always remind us through their examples how we’re connected to the all- and how our presence matters, how we show up in the world is important, and how our thoughts and words and deeds can nudge the threads of fate.
8 - Sacred reciprocity
As we explored above, none of us live in a vacuum, all things are connected, and everything we do matters. Plants will reflect upon us the importance of reciprocity as a key spiritual practice and will show us how its done when its done really well. Reciprocity is an invitation to go beyond concepts of ‘this for that’ and transactional love and move into spaces where receiving and giving flow like an eddy in a river; so smooth and so effortless that it’s hard to tell which one we’re engaged at in any moment. Sacred reciprocity is best exemplified by the breath; exhaling so that we have room to inhale, inhaling so that we have something to exhale.
9 - Contemplation & ritual
Our green teachers embody both internal contemplation, meditation, and vision while at the same time encouraging action, ritual, and intentional engagement. They show us that to be a good part of the wholeness of things, we must think about what we’re doing and why, but that we also must act on what we think. Thoughts unexpressed are brittle and break in the wind, actions without purpose are un-rooted and topple under blankets of snow.
10 - We deserve beauty
There is an ancient reconstructed word from the parent proto-indo-european language system, *-xartus. Linguists have reconstructed this word based on all kinds of similar words with similar meanings in the child languages of this system and have defined it as meaning harmony, things fitting together in a pleasing and beautiful way. Harmony was so important to the various groups within the proto-indo-european complex that they carried this word to the many cultures that arose as they spanned out from the steppes to places as far and wide as India and Scotland. In all of these cultures, there is a respect for the power of harmony, peace, and beauty- and a focus on doing things that create harmony rather than chaos. The plants are exemplary teachers of what harmony is, how it looks when it’s alive and growing, and how we can participate intentionally in it.
If you’re ready to step onto the wild, winding path of plant spirit work, I invite you to check out the classes, courses, and workshops at The Green Arte School and to check out the weekly classes I post on YouTube. Enjoy!
