Your Plant Guides and the Outer Temple

Plant Guides (adapted from Christopher Penczack's Shamanic Temple of Witchcraft)

Communicating with a plant is the first step in building a spirit medicine relation­ship with it. Working with living plants in the Middle World, at least initially, can be easier. As you develop your skills, you can repeat this exercise, journeying in the Mid­dle World to find plants that are not growing near you, or visiting the worlds above and below for different otherworldly plant spirits.
EXERCISE 26
Plant Spirit Communication
1. Find a plant with which you wish to communicate. I suggest a plant out­doors and in the wild, but houseplants and cultivated gardens work well too. Simply choose a plant that speaks to you in this moment. You will be drawn to the plant ally that is right for you.

2. Sit or lie down near the plant and get comfortable. You can assume a shamanic trance posture if you desire.

3. Start Exercise 1: Entering a Meditative State to get into your magickal mind­set. You could even do Exercise 6: Tree Breathing to get your energy flow­ing. You could also cast a circle around yourself and the plant, but it's not necessary.

4. Ask to connect to the consciousness of the plant. You can ask for the deva, nature spirit, faery, or any form you feel is appropriate for you. I simply ask for the plant spirit ally and let it take whatever form it desires. I call upon my higher self and spirit guides to aid the process. Sometimes another guide will facilitate the experience to make it clearer or to prevent the energy from being overwhelming.

5. Feel your energy mingle with that of the plant. Feel the boundaries between you and the plant dissolve away, giving you both access to exchange informa­tion. Feel the plant's presence and personality. Each plant will feel different.

6. Ask your plant any questions you have about its spirit medicine, powers, and abilities. Ask how you can best partner with it, and if indeed it does want to partner with you. Don't assume that it does. Allow the information to come to you in whatever way is appropriate. You will find that just as some people are more visual, auditory, or sensory, some plants have their own affinities. Some communicate primarily through one sense.

7. When done, thank the plant spirit for this time. Some witches leave an of­fering, as they would for a harvesting ritual. Return yourself to normal con­sciousness. Ground yourself and close the space as needed. Immediately record your impressions in your Book of Shadows for future study.

Different aspects of the plant spirit can give you different kinds of information. Usu­ally the nature spirit of the Middle World will give you more practical and medicinal information. The higher spirit or Deva will give more spiritual information, while the lower spirits or faery guardians have a variety of lore, and sometimes teach through riddle and story. You may be personally "keyed in" to one of the three realms more than the others. Honor your connection, and listen to its wisdom.
Though most "traditional" books on the craft focus exclusively on European herbs, as a witch living in the Northeast of the United States, I like to work with the plant medicine of species that grow in my area as well as traditional witch herbs. Explore your own environment and see what is available to you.

When talking herbs, it's important to discuss the use of them outdoors. We went over some common sense guidelines on using altars outdoors.

homework this week was to construct an outdoor altar and journal about it, then share the pros, cons and spiritual implications in class.