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Thirteen Pathways of Occult Herbalism

MAGICAL OPERATIONS make their appearance in the earliest of human writing, and some of the most ancient inscriptions of mankind are formulae extolling the virtues of certain plants. A certain leaf is prescribed for the binding of a demon, or a specific root for making an animated statue; this knowledge is presented as authoritative and therefore worthy of preservation. We also accept that the use of plants in magical practices pre-dated writing systems, for this is increasing supported by archaeological evidence. What is more difficult to ascertain is the knowledge base that led to this ancient sorcery, the understanding of what gave plants their magical power, what spirits they embodied, what was required to work with them, and the correct manner to make use of their properties. This body of knowledge, which we might call a magical philosophy of trees and herbs, I refer to as Occult Herbalism. Though much of this elder knowledge is lost, most of these powerful plants are still with us, and despite the wreckage of civilizations, some of their traditions have been passed down through millennia, sometimes in the form of writing, and sometimes hand to hand, from master to apprentice.

It is tempting to conceive of Occult Herbalism based purely upon the more lurid and profane depictions of the occult arts, as they appear in popular culture: plants used for drugs, murder, and magic. We reject this characterization in the first instance because of its context: with the vast exposure and wide acceptance of a thing, or its reduction to entertainment, it ceases to be ‘occult.’ Occult, meaning ‘hidden’ is by its nature umbral, immaterial, private, encrypted, ineffable, mystical, and, importantly, concealed from the eyes of those who would abuse it.

One may also argue that the concerns of the plant world, by their nature, are ‘occult’ or ‘esoteric’ given their distance and state of estrangement from most human hearts. To many, the greensward is something to walk across, not to contemplate as a haven of lore and occult power. The cornfield similarly is an agrarian concern, abstracted from daily life and only conceptually related to sustenance, and the roses bought from the florist an ephemeral spot of color and fragrance serving to make a statement that words cannot. All of these things, however, have ancient associations and a related retinue of invisible powers, interweaving the spiritual and religious currents which feed the present. The pervasive state of apathy which often attends upon all matters vegetal has created shadows about them, and, in part, this has nourished their occult or hidden nature.

There is also, despite the legacies of the Age of Enlightenment, the persistence of magic and religion in the world, the traffic with divine power, and plants form an important part of this. In religion, herbs are powerfully crystallized in complex symbolism and theological narrative, as well as serving roles in the various rites of each canon. In magical practice, the study of plants has immediate applications in several established occult streams. Among the most prominent of these are traditions of spirit healing, or indigenous practices which outsiders call ‘shamanism.’ In the occult heritage of Europe, the strongest strands of esoteric botany occur in Alchemy and renaissance Natural Magic, which have several important schools specifically focusing on plant work, as well as witchcraft and herbal folk magic preserved at the local level. These systems are usually part of larger magical frameworks that include many other non-plant practices, such as angelic conjuration, planetary magic, kabbalah, and the corpus of Solomonic spirit-conjurations. As a discipline unto itself, Occult herbalism itself may also form the singular marrow of esoteric study and practice, focusing wholly on plants. In such cases the older exemplars of these teachings often do not define themselves as ‘occult herbalism’, rather one learns to become an ‘herbalist,’ or ‘one who knows the secrets of plants’ or ‘herb-wise.’

In the course of study, the contemporary pupil of magic and occultism is often faced with plant references in the midst of a magical operation, even if it does not specifically concern plants; what is usually not apparent is the complex traditions which lie behind the herb and its acknowledged spiritual powers. In other cases, more cohesive bodies of occult plant doctrine present a bewildering array of teachings and lore, and the seeker naturally must consider how best to comprehend and implement this knowledge.

The model I propose represents an approach to learning, and it contains four essential features. The first of these are Pathways, of which I have for these purposes enumerated thirteen. There are also Gardens, for the purposes of this book accounted as thirteen, but their true number beyond count. The third feature of course is that of the seeker, the pilgrim in Elysium, and the fourth is the plants themselves. This formula represents a metaphysical model of a very physical process, a means by which the sublime power of plants can be approached in a meaningful and active way. The operation is dynamic, and ongoing, ever so much as the processes of Nature, which must be understood to unite its variables. In this, we resolutely identify with and thereby honor the axioms of Natural Magic.

The Pathways, as here exposited, are routes of approach to the mystery. Each presupposes a spiritual and philosophical stance, but also a momentum. In considering these pathways, it is important to note that each has a static emanation. Knowledge of the Pathway thus entails how it is expressed in motion, and also how it functions as a set of first principles. If we consider monuments in the landscape, the meaning of the Pathway becomes clearer: a mountain may be approached by many routes, affording different vistas; the mountain is singular but one’s experience of it differs based on the road leading there.

If the Pathways indicate essential philosophical routes, the Gardens in turn are the zones of knowledge the Pathways lead to. Many of these overlap each other, and share arcana. The Gardens, thus, are concentrations of specified power; the Pathways are the routes leading there. Any Garden can thus be reached by one or more Pathways; likewise a single Pathway may perambulate multiple gardens. However, as all pilgrims know, a path may be trod in pursuit of a destination without arriving there: the path may turn, stray, or, by the nature of its demands, forcibly drive one to other by-ways, or into the thorny tangle of the wayside thicket.

The Pathways

Κάθαρσις • Katharsis

THE PATHWAY OF THE VIRGIN

All roads have their beginning, and that which penetrates the gardens of plant-mystery is no different, having a point of origination and emergence, if only in the flame of desire and aspiration. The recollection of early or ‘first’ experiences is universal: smelling the scents of certain flowers, the sudden and unexpected puncture of a thorn, tasting one’s first cup of wine, and other altered states of consciousness brought on by plants. Aside from the innate characteristics of the thing encountered, the tabula rasa contributes power to this experience, the lack of individual epistemology more fully forming the experience of communion with the Other.

Thus is the Pathway of the Virgin—a road of our Art whose associated word katharsis, Greek for cleansing or purification, implies a state of the zeroth path, the point preceding all pathways. Admittedly the hallowed state of virginity is often scorned and ridiculed, regarded as naïve, inexperienced, and ignorant: these are but the bumptious out-gassings of the sexually atrophied. This fundamentally cowardly stance does not obtain within a magical framework, for it cannot admit that all things at one time or another are virginal. In the occult view, there is yet the Virgin in exaltation—the onset of maturity, of sexual ripening, desire, and most importantly, the state of all-possibility.

Purification or cleansing often presupposes a prior state of filth or defilement, but this is an imprecise and unnecessary position. All practitioners must examine their own relationship to such states as ‘purity’ and ‘impurity’ and discover whether these notions serve learning and personal evolution. All too often in such reflections, one discovers the taint of the religious, such as the Christian doctrine of Original Sin. The point is not that such concepts are useless in the work of esoteric circles, but rather that they are frequently present in the psyche of the practitioners without their knowledge, and thereby reverberate into their work without their conscious knowledge. The Pathway of the Virgin thus mandates rigorous self-examination to reveal exactly what one is composed of: points of past failure, as well as success, can be instructive in this process—if one is willing to learn.

For the present considerations of katharsis, let us consider the Pathway of the Virgin to be swept clean or cleared of previous spiritual states. Practically, this involves the dissolution of accreta functioning as unneeded admixtures to our communion with plants. Included among these are presumptions, suppositions, fantasies, and other psychological artifacts which often accompany exposure to that which is new and desirable. Among these too are self-importance, and the need to impose familiar structures on the unfamiliar, as well as the tendency to over-analyze. Any one of these is difficult enough to confront, let alone change: how then may all be addressed?

A valuable consideration is what one brings to the process, the Offering of Self, for this is one part of purification. In the act of the offering, the Virgin not only desires, but is desirable. In tutelary congress, there is the teacher and student; the latter must radiate desire as the furrow, the former must emanate desire as the seed. Where this mutual desire obtains, the passage of power will be accomplished to ward the singular goal of emergence. Lest we stray too far from the verdant source of our knowledge, we return to the plants themselves as teachers, and observe that all in Nature is fecundated, awash in the sexual spoor of pollen, nectar, and aroma. Such is the lay of the land, as surveyed from the Pathway of the Virgin.

Having considered the substance of the Offering of Self, and made of it the best sacrifice possible, we also consider the nature of our desire. Is knowledge sought for progression of the Pathway, or for pathological purposes? Are there emotional attachments to acquiring the knowledge? If, as a seeker after power, one can assume a state of mind in which all expectations of outcome are broken, one attains a state of placidity and pristine emptiness, likened to the Virgin, in readiness for the awakening of experience.

This ‘cult of the perpetual neophyte’ as I personally refer to it, is aligned in the magical orders with the grade of 0º, and is represented by the symbol of the empty vessel, or the magical circle. It assumes a constant station of receptivity toward all experience, and is assumed not only by the Virgin, but also by the Master.

Παράδοσις • Paradosis

THE PATHWAY OF TRADITION

Humanity is a matriculating species, and the biological sciences increasingly observe the teaching of distinct skills among our animal brethren. The ascent of schools of thought, and traditions of knowledge, is thus a phenomenon of our nature. Masters command their art in an exemplary fashion, and those of the correct aptitude are chosen as apprentices to pass the Art to via instruction.

Where occult herbalism is concerned, a number of pathways of tradition exist, especially in animistic cultures whose religious and magical practices have survived into the modern era. Admittedly, however, most of these traditions rigorously protect themselves from those outside the culture, for various reasons that are as valid as they are severe. Such knowledge, therefore, is admittedly not available to everyone.

However, there are also worthy traditions in education and the sciences which may be aspired to: pharmacognosy, folklore, pharmacy, medicine, chemistry, botany, perfumery, ecology, agriculture, anthropology, the culinary sciences, and theology. Occupying a middle ground between learning from a traditional healer and attaining one’s M. D. are schools of herbalism, a number of which have emerged in the past fifty years. Each of these represents an empirical and academic approach to these subjects, a way that, in my own culture, is nothing if not ‘traditional,’ and also offers considerable breadth in the study of plants and their esoteric properties. In undertaking the Pathway of Tradition, one might, for example, decide to pursue learning the art of botanical illustration. On the surface of things, one may wonder how such an activity would lead to esoteric knowledge. Yet the creation of art by necessity involves non-ordinary states of consciousness, and for many serves as a meditation. In the formation of images through hand and eye, a certain resonance with the plant is attained.

The tradition of the passing of knowledge from master to prentice must emerge from that most rare of virtues—care. In other words, concern for the stewardship of the knowledge passed that it, like a seed, be sown in good soil. But if we liken knowledge to a seed, care and respect must also be present for the plot in which it is sown. The great institutions of higher learning do not always require this from teachers and professors, but our Way cannot flourish without it.

To walk this pathway, one must be willing to accept the rules, protocols, and decorum of the informing tradition—for tradition in fact constellates a set of rules and governances applied to its focus discipline. There will be, among some, a resistance to this. Taking occult herbalism as a point of contemplation, any rule which provokes a sense of restriction or rebellion may be considered as both a challenge to the sorcerer’s level of self-control, as well as a sacrifice for the gain of knowledge. In a more immediate example, plants will impose greater rules upon the seeker than any human. Monkshood (Aconitum napellus) will kill if abused—that is its rule. If its rule is respected, I may safely use it to relieve the pain of a sprained ankle.

Obstacles on the Pathway are numerous, and foremost among these are maladies of the student-teacher relationship. Among these, is the ego of the teacher becoming central to the process—a problem which may stem from the master, or from the student, and often both. A strong craving for the appearance of knowledge is a pathology unfortunately all too common in esoteric circles, as is the desperate need to be ‘saved’ or ‘given the secrets,’ symptoms of shriveled spiritual virility and infantilism of the ego. At its best, the process of teaching is less about conveying facts than facilitating an experience wherein the seeker ‘learns to learn’ in a manner peculiarly suited to him or her. As each of us knows from personal experience, teaching is an Art which has both masters and pretenders; the true master regards instruction as a sacred process, and is willing to learn, as the Pathway of the Virgin embodies. Similarly, being a ‘learner’ or a student is also an Art, though it is seldom cognized as such: both teaching and learning magnify the power of this Pathway.

Another caution on the Pathway is accepting the value and limitations of anecdote. Another person’s personal experience can be valuable on many levels, especially if approaching the breadth of a constant. The value of anecdotal teachings, however, must always be weighed against the voice that disseminates them, its authority, biases, and personal agenda. For example, it is easy enough to hear a teaching and accept or reject it, but less easy to ask why that teaching was given. Beyond a necessary engagement with basic critical thinking, common sense shall illuminate.

Aside from respect, the great responsibility for the student of Tradition is to become a House of the Ancestors. This is to say, maintaining the flame of the transmission of knowledge. In doing so, one honors one’s master or teacher, and thus assures his or her place in Eternity, but also maintains a vital link in the chain that will empower future students. Such is the blessing and burden of knowledge!

Συγγένεια • Syngéneia

THE PATHWAY OF AFFINITY

In contemplating sorcery, we needs must consider the nature of that magical act of ‘binding.’ Most magical philosophy regards binding a spirit as commanding it, or assigning it a task or power. In most models of magic, especially those at play at the level of folk sorcery, this translates as control or coercion, with the sorcerer seeking to establish complete dominance over the spirit. With a few exceptions, this dynamic also predominates in the high magic of the European renaissance, where the operator binds or constrains spirits within a theoretical rubric of near-total control, often with the aid or permission of God and his angelic ministers. A spirit thus ‘bound’ passes within a sphere of magical enchantment and is alienated from its previous spirit-context; this linkage between sorcerer and daimon is principally defined by commandment. The coercive model of magical binding does have some applications within the realm of plant magic, but they are few, due principally to the nature of the phytosphere and the human relation to it.

And yet there is a different model of magical binding, one which resonates with occult herbalism, and animates syngéneia, the Pathway of Affinity. Less a matter of constraint than natural resonance, these bonds circumscribe a linkage between magician and plant based upon symbiosis or communion rather than commandment. In accord with this principle, each person—and indeed each phenomenon—despite any spiritual or magical practice, is linked to other specific phenomena purely by ipseity, or the inherent manner of its being; these strands are latent, or ambient, in that they are perpetually spun between objects and powers but not necessarily activated. In humanity, these include what we would call talents, skills, charismas, fortunes, or affinities: the natural magnetic powers of an individual that translate as powers within the world. One person may exhibit an uncanny grace and strength in feats of agility, while others may excel at high mental calculus, while others may be artistic prodigies or savants. These abilities arise naturally due to the individual’s phenomenological constitution, his or her aetherically linked power, but also importantly, the magical strand or ‘bond’ linking them to the power in question. The strands are different for all people, and of differing qualities, but should be regarded as an essential medium for magical congress between the world of plants and humankind. As stated, many of these powers are natural, and a few can be pursued. This principle of magical affinity is not new; it follows on the ancient emanationist doctrines of rays promulgated by the Arabian philosopher Al-Kindi, and in turn upon the vincula (‘chains’), the bonds of magic written of by the Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno.

The question for those who walk the Pathway of Affinity becomes ‘what are the natural bonds between my self and plants?’ This may be an affinity writ large, such as the ability to have difficult plants flourish under one’s care, or it may be a kinship with a certain plant. Other affinities may lie in the sensorial realm, such as an exceedingly sensitive palate for tasting, or it may arise from the knack of being able to understand and reify metaphysical botanical arcana into physical form. An affinity may arise from strong preference—say, for a grape varietal in one’s wine—that ultimately leads to refinement in understanding, and perhaps a real contribution that will progress the art form. Other affinities lie in adeptness with systems of classification, or in the art of synthesizing new combinations of individual plants. For those occult practitioners who possess Affinity with plants, it is essential to not only know specifically what they are, but also understand the nature of the linking aetheric strands, the better to pluck them, like the strings of a finely tuned instrument.

Importantly, if one has no natural affinities with plants, the sustained practice of occult herbalism—or any other discipline engaging plants—will be exceedingly difficult. This is not to say that affinity cannot be developed with dedication, or come about as the result of initiative or sudden change.

A useful practice for the exploration of these bonds begins by creating a basic map of a single known Affinity. For example, the connections present between the practitioner and the Rose, a plant perceived as common but in fact poorly understood. In the practice, one first takes stock of the sensual linkages in perception to the flower: the olfactory route, the effects on the skin, and its precise appearance in nostalgia, through personal memory. Further categories of linkage are added: links to personal history, routes of textual association, fields of unconscious association, links to dreaming, and so on. As important as any of these criteria is the field of actuation, signifying the intersection of the plant with events in one’s life, especially those out of the ordinary, marking out ciphers of relation. If, after undertaking this practice, there is significant linkage or Affinity, a pattern quickly emerges, and its individual points of connection often combine to reveal a whole greater than that the sum of its parts.

Given that so many of these fields of power are personal or subjective, one may wonder what value (other than personal) such exercises hold. To that question I pose the following in reply: whose magical path do you serve? In other words, ‘universal’ knowledge so called is of limited value if it negates personal power: one’s own personal points of engagement with plant powers are central to occult herbalism.

Another way in which to view the Pathway of Affinity is to acknowledge one’s attractions, and seek them out. If, for example, one is drawn to learning about Hellebore, this should be acknowledged and acted upon, despite the plant’s toxic nature. After all, the impulse toward enlightenment is unceasing, a fact too brutally illustrated in Edenic narratives. However, rather than forbidding such potent fruits, or ushering the moth toward self-immolation, we advocate the third way: the respectful approach of power. In this dynamic, understanding what lies behind the attraction is as important as the Object of Desire itself, and often serves as a counterweight to unconscious pursuit.

Περιπέτεια • Peripeteia

THE PATHWAY OF AVERSION

Everyone has things to which they are attracted; likewise there are those things which repel us. These are the things we find personally objectionable, and like those things which attract, they also contain a key to our power; their conscious route of approach is the Pathway of Aversion. For this route of occult herbalism, I have chosen the mnemonic of the Greek concept peripeteia or ‘reversal of fortune.’ This inherently presupposes the Pathway as continually active, and one which is turned into power, rather than simply opposes.

In defining that which we are averse to, we must enter the sanctum of personal abomination, a place few wish to tread, for it is easier not to acknowledge it. Yet in ignoring it, we estrange ourselves from a sanctuary of power which would otherwise control us. Aversion is one of the most difficult of pathways, in part because it involves unflinching honesty and courage. Here, it is important to remember that true personal aversion entails the things one does not like or wish to do, rather than the cultural norms one wishes to ‘rebel’ against.

In occult herbalism, the Pathway of Aversion often begins with the physical, and the most easily understood example is the exposure to plants causing injury or harassment. Thorns, foul stench, nauseating poison, and dermatitis are among such factors. On the Pathway of Aversion, these plants are encountered to physical detriment, and the route of recovery is sufficient to energize and catalyze new modes of magical understanding. The metaphysical aspects of the path are, of course, identifying one’s demons and weaknesses and addressing them, through transforming their active qualities or extracting power from their viscera via magical operations.

Plants of the Pathway of Aversion

Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)

Boxwood (Buxus spp.)

Hawthorn (Crataegus spp.)

Holly (Ilex spp.)

Locust (Robinia spp.)

Nettle (Urtica spp.)

Rose (Rosa spp.)

Ziziphus spina-christi

In the landscape, the Pathway of Aversion is aligned symbolically with the hedge, the division between fields, a structure of ancient origins and strong magical power. Often comprised of thorny trees and plants, such as Holly, Blackthorn, Nettle, and Crucifixion Thorn, the hedge arises as a living figuration of agricultural architecture, not merely marking a boundary, but often making it impassable, or presenting difficulty in doing so. As the terminus dividing one state from another, its power arises not only from physical division, but from the defensive power of its thorns and densely-thicketed branches. Within is divided from Without, and Here partitioned from Beyond, by way of travail and ordeal. Similar barriers exist throughout Nature, such as the airless and killing space that separates planet from planet. The Hedge thus embodies an extremity, a state of harshness opposed that which lies in its proximity.

Among some persons we observe a kind of hedge mentality, a state of mind which mirrors in in some ways the physicality of the actual hedge in the landscape. This mindset, often unconscious, is characterized by the imposition of barriers and perimeters at individual extremities, and the kinesthetic relationship of the Self as it moves throughout the hedge-enclosed labyrinth. Although not strictly imagined as a dense green embankment, the limits of personal comfort are strictly defined, so that there can be no personal disruption. A hedge mentality may arise from a number of legitimate personal concerns: privacy, solitude, demarcation of personal space, or the individual need for a psycho-spatial framework. It may also arise, and be sustained by paranoid states or simple denial. The Pathway of Aversion, by its nature, disrupts the ordering of hedge-mentality, and allows passage between previously partitioned fields.

Aversion may not be consciously understood, but intellectual comprehension is not necessary for the power of opposition to function on a spiritual level. So long as comprehension dwells within the body at the most basic somatic level—cells reacting to poison, and catecholamines reacting to fear—the power will enjoy a means of translation.

Aφανισμός • Aphanismos

THE PATHWAY OF DISAPPEARANCE

The Pathway of Disappearance or ‘Vanishing’ (aphanismos) may also be called the Way of the Hermit, based as it is on isolation and inhibition. That which is inhibited is human company and the comfort of the familiar world, met with a corresponding immersion into the wild. It relates to the Pathway of Peregrination, yet bases itself on removal not only from the world of humankind but also the comforts of travel. In the immersion in the wilderness, the spirit separated from the distractions and burdens of civilization, certain seekers may attain clarity of sight and occult understanding. The visionary potency of this magical process is noted by British occultist and seer Aleister Crowley in his essential work Magic and Theory and Practice.

There are some who argue that true hermitage in our present age is impossible, given the degree of human dependency of civilization, or the privileges of the economic classes likely to be reading these pages. After all, the posh and carefully curated ‘retreat’ is a major offering of the modern travel industry; wilderness survival skills courses, though appealing to a different customer base, occupy the same category. These events are not hermitage, but diversions from the everyday, designed as competitive commercial products, and are offered and mediated by others, at a price for every budget, accompanied by safety policies and written assurances of satisfaction. To be clear, there are no such attributes to the Pathway of Disappearance.

The Pathway of Vanishing or Disappearance implies dwelling within the wild, and severance from humanity without trace, as a form of ascetic practice. It is an act, and also a stance of power, needful for occult understanding. In as much as isolation and privation provides clarity by bodily removal from ‘background noise,’ so too does the severed bond of connectivity with all associations, and the endlessly self-proclaiming ‘loudness’ of humanity. This is the knowledge born of silence, a lesson taught all too effectively by Diviner’s Sage (Salvia divinorum), whose revelatory spirit, when used traditionally, departs in the presence of the obnoxious.

This recalls the magical lesson of ‘Being Inaccessible’ in Carlos Castaneda’s The Journey to Ixtlan, a message more relevant than ever in the present age of electronic interconnectedness. In cutting such ties, one understands that time, ultimately, is one’s own, and how one accounts for it is ultimately a personal choice; for many, a very private one. The same applies to motion, thought, deed, and spiritual devotion.

Although the philosophers and prophets of human religions have made great use of this Pathway, the concerns of the Hermit in the Wilderness are especially appropriate to the student of occult herbalism. The diminishment of self-importance, the destruction of the ego in the name of gaining something greater. Such is the act of Vanishing to oneself, such that in the process one discovers oneself anew, the realm of magical understanding aligned with the Wildman and Wood-wife, the barbarous and atavistic beings dwelling at the margins of civilization.

Apart from the estates of soul incepted by the absence of humanity, we may also consider the presence of those powers attending on hermitage. The necessities of survival are of course paramount, incepting a shift in consciousness concerning personal responsibility, and locatedness as an organism nature. Besides direct observation of (and reliance on) the plants themselves, one awakens to unique ‘languages’ which interconnect flora, fauna, geology, and weather. Such are the ciphers of the Book of Nature, there to read if one dares. Within the lonely places of the wild, it is also true that dreams assume a wholly different character than that experienced previously, as the waking phenomena to which one is tethered has drastically shifted. In truth it may be said that the Path of Disappearance is such that it includes components of nearly every other pathway here mentioned, but in a particularly pure and concentrated form, the Alembic of Natura.

Yet to those who seek this way, beware the many possibilities of disruption and disheartenment. At the distant primordium of Christianity, the Egyptian hermits fled the cities seeking a closer connection to their God and his angels in the desert. In the beginning, they found demons, with whom they struggled in righteousness. In time, they discovered something resembling God. As their ascetism drew ever-greater numbers of people to the solitude of the wastes, and even became competitive—such that each sought to prove how much more righteously he suffered that his brother—they discovered demons once again.

Τοποθεσία • Topothesía

THE PATH OF WITNESS

The essence of the Path of Witness is the discipline of phenology, a term from the Greek phainō (to reveal or bring to light) logos (study), thus the study of appearances. As a pathway of Occult Herbalism its associated term is topothesía, meaning a locale or place, and thus we may also consider it to be the ‘Pathway of Rootedness,’ as its work arises from dwelling in one locale for an extended time, and incepting a certain intimacy with the powers and entities that animate its natural processes. Long practiced by farmers as a way of understanding the land, the seasons and plant and animal life, it represents a kind of ‘folk empiricism’ which provides precise information concerning the patterns of Nature in a given locale.

Phenology, the study of life cycles progressed over the solar year, is an essential ally of the esoteric herbalist. Whether one is a botanist, a naturalist, a healer, or a practitioner of occult arts and science, anyone can make a phenological calendar and thereby learn an immense amount of directly relevant information about plants. This practical approach can be applied to the local wild plant populations, or to those under cultivation in farm and garden, or, ideally, both. In essence, one seeks to discover the Hand of Nature by direct observation—not with a single plant, but by recording a portrait of as many as possible. This pathway demands a respectful approach, and one that may readily be educated. The collection of actual specimens is not required, save for those that shall indwell the mind and heart.

The essential work of phenology is calendrics, and the building of biological chronologies. Against a backdrop of time, plant growth and development are recorded in detail and its progression studied in relation to selected plants and their interactions with other populations. Examination of growing habit, life, reproduction, and death or dormancy is essential, noting difference between subdivisions of locality. This Pathway is of crucial importance to farmers, vintners, beekeepers, ranchers, horticulturists, and others who make their living off the land. The quality of a crop, such as wheat or grapes, is directly related to its phenologics, and assists in the husbandry of future crops and their associated products. Also subsumed within this cycle are geological processes, such as the effects of landslides and deposition, and the particulars of microclimate. The skeleton of a very simple annual approach might document the following phases of life:

Sprouting / Setting of Buds. What annual plants emerged first? Which deciduous trees broke dormancy first? Was there a new succession of weeds, in response to seasonal conditions of the past year?

Leafing. What particulars characterized the vegetative growth cycle, and were any pests present? How can the general vigor of the herb or tree be characterized in comparison to past phenological cycles?

Flowering. How early did the flowers appear this year, as opposed to the year before? Can the difference be attributed to weather patterns, plant diseases, drought, or pests? If fragrant, what do the flowers smell like, in the present moment, and last year at flowering time? What pollinators visited?

Fruiting and Harvest. Aside from such characteristics as flavor, health of fruit, and quantity of harvest, what differences can be discerned between this year’s crop and the last?

The Dropping of Leaves and Dormancy. At the turn of Autumn, how quickly did the leaves turn, and how long did they stay on the branches? Was the Autumn so warm that certain annuals had an exceptionally long lifespan? In the dead of Winter, what did the bark on the deciduous trees look like, and what procession of wildlife made use of the evergreens?

The phenological calendar is often drawn in a circular form, with the seasons of the year progressing around its hub, with various concentric rings representing various species. Simple individual models can be made to accommodate various grouping of plants such as fruit trees, annual medicinals, grain crops, or cut flowers. The visual display of information should be made in the manner most suiting the practitioner, and in terms of the information documented, there is no limit save the boundaries of the imagination. I have kept phenological calendars of plum trees of different varieties, and how their life cycles over time are related to wine made from their fruits.

The Path of Witness may, upon first consideration, seem quite the opposite of what is understood to be ‘occult’ discipline, but let us consider that the information thus collected is ignored by most, and thus is ‘hidden.’ It is, therefore, a kind of concealed knowledge readily offered in generosity by the Hand of Natura to those who would listen. Consider too that gardening books and botanical manuals give only general information about how and where an individual plant species plant might grow: the most accurate information to be gained for the individual practitioner is to be gained by watching what is revealed in the land of their own tending. The more one pays attention through the keeping of such records, the greater the secrets that shall be revealed; one should not be surprised to discover properties of plants that contradict both scientific and occult orthodoxy. This revelation of the nature of the patterns of place is in fact a partial portrait of the genius loci, or spirit of place.

The nature of phenology is inherently pure—it cannot be capitalized upon in a broad way, because it deals inherently with locality, and thereby intimacy: as an art it renders up secrets that will be of direct benefit to the scribe. Its greatest importance is thus to the practitioner who creates it, the land of its immediate documentation, and the local community of plants, animal, and mankind.

Περιπλάνηση • Periplánisi

THE PATH OF PEREGRINATION

The Path of Peregrination, or Wandering, involves physical movement between locations, both physical and spiritual, for the gaining of magical knowledge. It may be considered opposite, yet also complimentary, to the Path of Witness. Its power lies in diversity of locality, and in the gnosis gained by movement. This way of learning arises from the exposure to that which one has never seen, but also gaining understanding of the locations themselves, and how plant power manifests there.

It is a fact of botany that plants vary in their attributes by location, and there are countless examples of this. A conifer growing at the timberline may be stunted to an almost impossibly small size; the same tree at lower elevations will be tall and stately, though they are the same species. The stately California Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia), usually a tree of grand bearing, becomes stunted and wizened along the central coast fog belts, earning the name ‘pygmy oak.’ A medicinal plant, such as Salvia divinorum may have differing concentrations of medicinal principles based on whether it grows in a sunny location or a shady one. The Pathway of Peregrination allows the seeker perspective on the diversity of plant species, affording a kind of intimacy that textual education cannot.

Similarly, the traditions of plant magic and medicine will vary by location, in accord with the history of the human culture situated there. The solanaceous plant Pitchuri (Duboisia hopwoodii) used in its Indigenous Australian context, will draw directly from its reservoir of power in the land and the people, while the same plant grown in a botanical garden in England will not. Likewise, one plant may be used for completely different magical purposes, sometimes as divergent as spells of healing and cursing, in geographically proximal areas. This phenomenon is one that has yet to be addressed in books of magical plant correspondences, as the human mind is trained to seek simple, singular answers, rather than complexities. The Path of Wandering thus affords us the opportunity to transcend simplistic models of understanding plants and their power, forsaking the insular world of the library for the real world.

This leads us to the study of plant communities, a subject of incredible importance, not only to ecology, the discipline whence it emerged, but also to esoteric botany. Each plant not only has favored conditions for growth, such as soil type, climate, and amount of light, but also those plants it prefers to grow near. These botanical alliances may serve, through the doctrine of correspondences, to indicate unusual spirit-presences and/or to potentiate the powers of each plant in the community. Illustrative of this concept is a place I have often walked to, its sole plant inhabitants are Blue Elder (Sambucus cerulea), Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum), Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) and Poison Oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum). Such an aggregation of poisonous, witching and ‘hostile’ species serves not only as a shrine of contemplations of the great Circe and her powers, it also affords privacy against the intrusions of humanity.