#bioregional herbalism

[eldritchboop]

Meet a Plant, Know A Plant

Thanks to a link from @liminalblessings, I now have the last of the tools I need to start compiling my own bioregional herbal Materia Medica. I'm honestly tired of herbalism guides focusing mostly on European import plants. They're fine, but they're everywhere, and part of my practice is bonding with the plants I see every day.

This information comes from the traditional ecological knowledge of the Native peoples whose land I occupy. I am beyond grateful to the knowledge-keepers who have preserved this information despite all odds and shared it with anthropologists and researchers.

So now, when I meet a plant, I'm going to get to know a plant. I am lucky enough to have access to some of the primary sources thanks to my job, so this information may update as I can get ahold of more details and sources. Notion page links will be included.

As always, this is not encouragement to try these uses at home. Herbalism requires training, complex medical knowledge, and careful implementation by a specialist. Just because it's "natural" doesn't mean it's safe. This is purely for my own knowledge and understanding how people view the plants on their landscape.

[trilliumcenter]

What is Herbalism?

For me, herbalism is everything. It affects everything I do. The way I walk in the world; the way I relate to people. I can be walking streets in an inner city, and I’ll be identifying the weeds growing out of the cracks in the pavement. Weeding the garden is complicated. A weed is an unwanted plant. Well, there are so few unwanted plants in my mind, how do I choose what goes into the kitchen or…

[elminx]

Since I have seen a lot of posts about correspondences in witchcraft going around again, I wanted to stop for a minute and talk about how correspondences work and why you might want to make sure that you understand the correspondences you are using in your own craft.

This is likely an oversimplification, but I think that we can break down correspondences into three main categories:

Cultural Correspondences - these are often heavily steeped in the mythology and folklore of a particular region. They are often but not always correspondences of items found in that region. This is where correspondences become the most varied because, despite what you may have read in Those Bad Witchcraft Books, culture is not universal. A great example of this is that most Western cultures associate the color black with Death and Mourning but a lot of non-Western cultures have the same association with the color white. It stands to reason that this type of correspondence will work the best for you if you are sticking as close to the correspondences of the bioregion that you grew up in as possible (1) and that they will be most effective when used magically on somebody else from that bioregion (2).

Material Correspondences - these correspondences are based on the physical properties of the item in question. Some plants are edible, some medicinal, and some poisonous. Things with thorns can hurt you when you touch them. Quartz has high levels of electric conductivity. The idea here is that if Rosemary repels insects, it can be used in a banishment spell to repel that unwanted "insect" from your life. These are, in my opinion, the immutable correspondences - the item you are using will ALWAYS carry its physical characteristics with it into your magic. Spicy peppers will always be Hot and Burning, so-called "Weeds" will always grow tenaciously, and Sugar will always be Sweet. It is worth keeping in mind here that when using plants, the part of the plant may affect whether it carries that correspondence. Sometimes only one part of the plant carries a particular property - consider the difference between the sweet scent of rose petals that we use in love spells versus the sharp thorn that would be better used for protection. 3. Sympathetic Correspondences - The base concept behind sympathy is that two things that are alike in some way share a connection with one another that can be harnessed magically. The more alike that two things are, the deeper the connection. There are many ways that this is used in magic. A lot of herbal correspondences involve sympathy through the Doctrine of Signatures. This is the thought process that anything shaped like an ear can be used to affect ears/hearing magically. The Doctrine of Signatures gets rolled in a little bit with Cultural Correspondences as it is heavily rooted in Western herbalism, but it deserves a mention on its own. Another way that sympathetic magic makes its way into correspondences is the idea that an object from a particular place carries some of the energy of that place which can be harvested for magical intent. You see this in the use of bank dirt in money spells or cemetery dirt in baneful magic. This is also where Holy water, moon water, and stormwater come into play - here we are assuming that something that has been done to the water (being blessed by a priest, charged in the moon, or collected during a storm) carries an inherent energy that can be then transferred to your spell. Depending on your viewpoint, you may or may not agree with the concepts of sympathetic magic.

And that's the whole point of this. Witchcraft, as a whole, isn't the sort of path where you are supposed to proceed based entirely on blind faith. If you're flipping to a certain page in Scott Cunningham's infamous Green Book and finding the first money herb you come across to use in a spell, you are probably doing yourself a disservice. I suggest that you look closer. Not only will the physical correspondence change how your spell manifests (I've written about this before) but you may find that you don't even BELIEVE or AGREE with that correspondence at all. And maybe that's not important to you (but if that's true, why are you even reading this?). But I suggest that it should be. That understanding of a correspondence deepens your connection with the energy of the item you are looking to use. Moreover, exploring it further may give you all sorts of juicy ideas for spellwork to augment that energy.

Do you like my work? You can support me by tipping me on Kofi or purchasing an astrology report written just for you.

[midwestbramble]

Welcome to Midwest Bramble!

This is a side blog that I keep pretty close track of. You can call me River. Below you will find a little bit about me and my practice, as well as some master posts or tags that will take you to specific types of posts. Feel free to message me!

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Practice: Folkloric American Witchcraft necromancy and general spirit work bioregional craft spirit flight Currently Reading: Thirteen Pathways of Occult Herbalism

31 years old she/her ADHD Married with children

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Book Reviews and Recommendations <- master post of all my book reviews organized alphabetically, as well as books I recommend organized by topic.

Plant Folklore <- master post of all my plant folklore posts, organized alphabetically. Let me know if it would help to have them by correspondence.

Spirit Flight <- master post of all my educational spirit flight blogs. (Coming soon)

Workings <- master post of all my spell craft posts. (Coming soon, see tag for now)

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Seasonal Practices:

Winter Witchcraft (coming soon) Spring Witchcraft (coming soon) Summer Witchcraft (coming soon) Fall Witchcraft

Lunar Practices:

New Moon Full Moon

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

[sagescented]

From Herbal Academy on Facebook

Wait — what’s an “invasive” plant? 🌿 “Invasive” is a term applied to non-native species that have demonstrated ability to effectively inhabit an ecological niche outside of their native range, and proliferate with great reproductive success, being capable of causing harm to the environment.

There is an ever-growing need for sustainable wildcrafting practices and ecological considerations, as the popularity of herbs like American ginseng, black cohosh, and goldenseal, to name a few, has led to overharvesting to the point of harm (see United Plant Savers’ species at-risk list).

💡 If you want to wildcraft but worry about human impact on the plant world, invasive species are the way to go. Several plants can be collected and used without the concern of overharvesting. Here are some of those (through a North American lens):

🌸 MULTIFLORA ROSE (Rosa multiflora) – This ramblin’ rose was brought over to the States from Asia for use in natural fencing and land erosion, but quickly got out of control. Its aromatic flowers can be dried for tea and topical applications just as any other rose species. Try infusing the dried petals in an oil for botanical skin care.

🌸 JAPANESE HONEYSUCKLE (Lonicera japonica) – One of many non-native honeysuckle species that take over hedgerows and roadsides. It makes a fragrant flower and a tasty nectar. Use as a tincture for its antiviral properties or try making an oxymel out of the fresh flowers.

🌸 MIMOSA (Albizia julibrissen) – A plant of many names, it loves to grow in disturbed habits. In some regions, it’s considered a nuisance due to its aggressive growth, highly viable seeds, and the ability to resprout so easily it is a challenge to remove. The inner bark can be harvested for tincture or dried for tea, while the beautiful flowers are lovely used fresh.

What are some invasive plants in your bioregion that you like to use?

[solsticefires]

hi hello! my name is anne and i'm a 35 y/o woman living in the upper midwestern us. i share a home with my fiancé, our housemate, two cats, and far too many books, rocks, plants, and jars.

this is a spot for me to explore and share my spiritual practices, as well as little bits of my daily life. i've been a polytheist and occultist of various stripes since i was a kid — over 20 years — and i have a lot to say. but i still have a lot to learn, too.

all the minutiae below the cut.

⋮► traditional witchcraft, whatever that means these days. magic, alchemy, herbalism, divination, astrology, etc etc etc — all informed to a greater or lesser degree by folklore and historical record.

what i practice:

⋮► a weird mishmash of interrelated polytheisms — mostly roman, with a some heaping scoops of gaulish and brittonic mixed in. also a couple of greek and kemetic deities. help me.

⋮► bioregional animism, expressed through closeness with the natural world. i try to live with the rhythm of the seasons and to be a good steward of the land, her creatures, and her spirits.

who i honor:

⋮► the aventine triad (ceres, liber, and libera), juno, mercury, trivia, rosmerta, and sirona. the holy family, as part of my ancestral practice.

⋮► the matres, lares, penates, and my ancestors. my teachers and guides, both living and dead. the witch mother and witch father.

[northeastbaltimore]

Alyssa (@ecliptaherbal she/her) 🌿 is going to show you around her @northeastbaltimore this weekend. Follow along! 🐾 “I’m an interdisciplinary artist, earth activist, educator & clinical herbalist cultivating a 0.7 acre herb sanctuary here in Northeast Baltimore, MD. I’m the creator of Eclipta Herbal (@ecliptaherbal) which offers a path of empowerment toward holistic healthcare through the guidance of one-on-one herbal & dietary consultations, in depth plant medicine classes & interactive educational products. I’m passionate about bioregional reintegration & place-based identity with the land that builds mutualistic relationships with non-human life in a post-binary culture. My clinical practice is centered around women’s health & continuing the vibrancy of the peoples medicine that utilizes nutritional therapeutics & the contemporary practices of Chinese & Eclectic herbal medical traditions. Please get in touch! I love hearing from my neighbors!” ✨There’s magic here ✨⠀ ⠀ ⠀ xoxo⠀ #lifeissweetinthenortheast #northeastbaltimore #mybmore #mybaltimore #baltimore #iheartcitylife #visitbaltimore #thebmorecreatives #baltimorecity #baltimoremd #bmorelocal #igbaltimore #charmcity #maryland #mdinfocus #bmoresecretspots #igbmore #explorebaltimore #bmorelove #discovercharmcity #walkwithlocals #ilovebaltimore #visitmaryland #bmorelife #bmorecity #bmoreadventurous #bmoredaily #baltimorelove

[coyote-fawn]

A lot of us in more advanced witchcraft communities are having these conversations!! It’s utter shit that the newbies have all this crap to sift through, of course, but if you know where to look and who to ask, you can find folks adapting their practice for where they live and learning some basic botany and chemistry to inform their practice. (Keyword for your search: bioregional animism)

The Poison Path Herbal is a book I recently read about nightshades and other sacred, toxic herbs. It goes into the ways alkaloids act upon the body, working with the spirits of those plants safely, and the histories of each in folklore—and very much does not take any of that stuff lightly.

It’s disheartening that our community doesn’t have a form of peer review prior to publishing.

there are SO many witchcraft books in the barnes and noble's. Including lots of herb and plant books. And I feel that it's in everyone's best interest to inform that "witchy" herbalism is just, like, a wad of Eurocentric plant symbolism, Eurocentric medicinal plant stuff and random bullshit mixed together, and you don't have to buy something marketed as "witchcraft" to learn all the stuff with greater accuracy

Especially if you're not in Europe, it doesn't make sense to learn about plants that either don't grow in your area or have a totally different role in the ecosystem in your area. Plant symbolism and "meaning" generally is connected to a real quality about the plant. It becomes nonsense if you remove it from the specific ecological context

Also, i find it really funny how a lot of "herbalism" stuff on like pinterest is just about mostly common kitchen herbs and spices and doesn't discuss very many actual commonly used medicinal plants throughout history...because those can kill you or give you the worst most traumatizing trip of your life

[eldritchboop]

What do you find most exhausting about your practice? Conversely, what is the most fulfilling to you?

I struggle a lot to maintain consistency (It's actually something I admire about watching your practice!). Some days it feels like far, far too many steps that I technically don't need to do and I just do not have the energy to do it. I think this is a general burnout problem, and I'm working on it!

The fulfilling part? I think it's seeing the results. When my flowers bloom, when my garden is lush, when the sky is full of rain, and I sit down with a meal that I made mindfully and it looks lovely. When I actually get to DO. It's a double-edged sword.

Basically, I need more time haha!

[fernandfungi]

The edible and medicinal mushroom goodies coming soon to our online shop. We love our mushroom medicine! Been busy processing and packaging new products. Finished a photo shoot today am am now attempting to get all the goods in the shop and a newsletter sent out. No rest for wicked, even when you have small children!

[aerislunam]

Vintage book covers

[binchtids]

fig 1. Russula species? feat. Blue Jay feather (Cyanocitta cristata)

fig 2. Smooth chanterelles (Cantharellus lateritius)

fig 3. Maypop, aka Purple Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata)

08/09/2020, Georgia

[barberwitch]

Witch Tip Wednesday 3.6.19

Making an Herbal Grimiore

So rather than waiting to post once it’s done, I figured I’d give you guys the process I’m working on currently! You may have seen my portable plant press I posted about yesterday, well it’s part of a larger project I’m working on and one you can do too.

Especially with winter creeping away, and the spring equinox getting ready to occur, there are many plants, weeds and wild things growing that you can take advantage of, not just for your day to day Witching, but making a tangible, expansive, and personalized tool that will be just...fucking awesome, and an heirloom if done right.

The easiest way to make this is with an expandable/post bound scrap book, or if you’re adventurous, making the book yourself. I’m doing the scrap book version because easily adding and removing pages, organizing etc is going to be easier. They also tend to look a little cleaner than a binder imo.

Here’s the concept: A book that has identifiers, pictures, correspondences, spells, and plant material. A book that, if that’s the only thing you could grab for some rushed spellwork, you would be able to complete it.

Collect plants that you have around you, especially those that you may already use in your craft.

Find out their name with some fancy googling, reverse image searches, local plant and foraging guides etc.

You can visit this site, click on the search magnifying glass on the photo stream , and type in the name. It will pull up antique botanical prints. You can then print these out and save yourself the frustration of not being able to draw like an 1800’s naturalist.

Pick the one you want/what’s most accurate, and print it out!

Now comes your descision about how you want things formatted. Depending on how much information you have, or if you want to leave room to add and keep everything contained, you can tape the pages together to form fold outs.

So I used 3 sheets of paper. Enough room to hand write notes, additional spells, meditations, growing instructions etc. also tissue paper envelopes take up very little space and are cheap to make. In each entry, you can write the info of when it was harvested, how, moon phase etc.

As you go, you can hand write an index and table of contents. Make it alphabetical, organize it by when you can harvest them on a seasonal basis! Do common, secret or scientific name in the index, write what spells you can do with them. This is an easy way to create a useful, personalized grimiore with the stuff you use.

Additionally, you can really trick it out by using a font made of your handwriting! Unfortunately I was rushed and wasn’t able to do it for this example, but I may do it in the future!

I’ll probably post other examples as I go, I’ll use the tag #herbal grimiore

🦋Cheers, Barberwitch

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Original content of this blog is licensed under a Creative Commins Attributution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license

[sola-invinctus]

You know, learning to work with the plants in your area can be really hard or even frustrating at first. Cause there’s this whole mindset you gotta get over in learning of “Where’s all the mandrake and elder trees?” Sometimes, you don’t have those witching plants you always see but you still have plenty you don’t know of. And in the end, when you finally know how to really approach your area, it’s so satisfying.

[sagescented]

Given its significant intersection, ecological lushness, and geography, it is no surprise that [the Mediterranean Basin] also makes up some of the oldest documented continuous civilizations in the world. Most of the Western world’s modern sciences, medicine, languages, and major religions emerge from the Crossroads’ ancient institutions and ancestral knowledge systems, born directly within relationship to those of the African continent [...] alongside those of China, India, and the various Indigenous communities globally whose lands Western colonists settled respectively; in too many cases, these wisdoms have been appropriated by brutal imperial force.

This is also true inside the realm of Western herbalism; Egypt and Sumeria have two of the most ancient written archives of herbal practice in the world [...] This is not to discount or erase the many deeply localized practices of bioregional Indigenous and folk herbalisms all across this earth, and especially those tended in the private daily spheres of our matriarchs and midwives in villages worldwide, but simply to acknowledge that the lineages of lands represented in this [book] have contributed immensely to the Western world at large — and are a typically invisibilized, demonized, and exploited foundational influence to the Western herbal world in particular.

From The Land in Our Bones: Plantcestral Herbalism and Healing Cultures from Syria to the Sinai, published in 2024; Layla Feghali

[profetizamos]

Holy Spirit of Herbs by Olga Volchkova, 2015