Vegetal Intelligence Supersedes the Human
New Menu of Offerings, And a Mini Essay about Herbalism
Hello Hello!
I promised to talk about herbs in the last letter to you all, and that’s definitely coming up shortly here.
First though, I’ve just got to mention that I have revamped my offerings heading into the new year. I drew up a cute new menu to show you:
The keen-eyed among you will notice a few new ways you can work with me are now on offer. If any of them pique your interest I invite you to check out my site to learn more.
Anyway, I wanted to share a writeup I created about my experiences in Herbalism and my motivations for offering Herbal Consultations to clients moving into the new year.
I’ll be interspersing images of herbs I have grown, worked with, and met in the wilderness. I hope it’s interesting to you, and if herbs aren’t your thing don’t you worry, I have a couple more things to say at the end of this little letter.
The Why and How of my Herbalism,
or Vegetal Intelligence Supersedes the Human
It's true that the right herbal preparations can heal many ills of the body and mind, strengthen the human being's natural defenses and render other more invasive or chemical treatments unnecessary. But there is so much more to the herbs than their simple mechanical actions on the body’s systems.
I have two herbal apprenticeships under my belt, as well as countless hours of passionate self-study, practice, medicine making, and growing. I have been growing herbs since I was a child, and while teenage me decided plants weren’t cool, I’m happy to say that as an adult I found my way back where I belong, with hands in the rich black earth and my nose in an endless stream of old Herbal manuals from every culture and time period I can find.
I trained as an apprentice in a sleek clinical herbal apothecary in Philadelphia, and before that completed a separate herbal apprenticeship with a very politically motivated herbalist working within the queer countercultural world of the radical faeries.
Two worlds, one discipline, that of learning from and with the herbs, growing them from seed and making medicine from their very bodies.
Many herbalists see themselves as providing "alternative medicine". They frame their work in much the same way that the bioindustrial medical machine does. This is fine, and herbs can effectively work in that manner. Indeed many of the medical industry's cures are derived from herbs. One can hold up chamomile flowers and say truthfully, "These are good for many stomach ailments. They reduce spasmodic action in the body and act as a gentle sedative."
It's vital for the herbalist to have this kind of knowledge. And yet, this framework falls so tragically short of beholding the plants in all of their power. Herbs can curse as well as they can cure. They can cool down, heat up, quicken, dull, they can change the color of things, they have well attested planetary and stellar signatures. They don’t just remove disease, they can do all kinds of things, even change the body’s shape over time.
They often work not by “curing” the “illness” but by causing subtle changes to the person’s whole system that eventually render both the problem and the herbal preparation itself irrelevant. Unlike the vast majority of drugs, many herbs if used wisely will naturally train the body to cease needing to use them. To really work with the herbs requires changing the way we think. These are not the natural equivalent of pills and chemical extracts, they are so much more.
They act not only on the body, but on the mind. Not only on the material world, but also on the spiritual and energetic layers.
When properly applied in skillful spellcraft, they can shift reality, affect magic, and open the channels of spiritual communication. Some bring wealth, some bring blight, some smell amazing, some stimulate sexual centers of the brain and body, others quite literally open the doors of perception (and not just the ones you think). There are herbs with signatures connected to Angels, Devils, Fairies, the Dead, Women and their mysteries, several specific saints, more than a few ancient deities, plenty of culture heroes, even a dragon or two. Yarrow stops bleeding better than peroxide. It’s also a potent material for magical protection, protection while sleeping or during soul-flight.
I work with herbs as teachers as much as medicines, as sentient beings and partners in the work of magic, conjuring, and the simple yet profound challenge of living in these strange bodies with some style and grace.
Herbs work best as holistic and preventative medicine. They demand our attention and often our patience to truly unfurl their secrets, though some preparations can work instantly.
I take a combinatory approach to herbalism. I take influence and inspiration from the 19th century American Eclectic Herbalists, from the materia medicas of ancient Greece, Taoist alchemists, Southern US Rootworkers and Conjure Doctors, from the sorcerous herblore of Brazilian quimbanda, to the medical holy work of the radical visionary nun Hildegard von Bingen in Rhineland Germany in the 11th century, and from the folk herbal and magical practices of the rest of my peoples' ancestral homelands in Italy, the Balkans, the British Isles.
The more I practice and study (voraciously) the more clearly I see that the magic and the medicine were never meant to be separate. Indeed, in intact ancient systems like Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda, they are still woven together. It’s only “western” herbalism that’s lost its way. Thank god for old books, for mediumship, for outright necromancy. I thank my human teachers as much as my guides in spirit.
THIS IS FULLY HAUNTED TRADITIONAL HERBALISM.
I am skilled in using herbs to augment magical and occult study, to aid the rapid acquisition of magical skill. I am knowledgeable about herbs to support mediumship, clear dreaming, hedgecrossing, and psychic ability. I have extensive experience in utilizing herbs for magical and psychic cleansing, clearing, and protection.
In terms of more common health complaints, I specialize in working with stomach and digestive issues, issues of so-called “mental illness” especially panic disorders and stuck depressive states, pain management, and support in processing grief and heartbreak.
I am capable of offering herbal support in a variety of life situations and to augment a variety of magical paths. As Iamblichus said, we must have material elements in our magic if we are to be effective workers. If it is a calling for you to grow and work with the herbs throughout their life cycle, I am always happy to share gardening and seed starting advice.
I maintain a network of diverse herbal and magical practitioners and can refer cases into capable hands if i discern that another herbalist would be a better fit.
I will be studying and practicing herbal medicine and magic as long as I live. I invite you to join me.
Before we leave the subject of herbs I’d just like to say that while I applaud, personally participate in, and benefit from the increased level of scholarly rigor in today’s occult scene, I feel that there is still a massive blind spot when it comes to real, rigorous, magical and medicinal herbal practice.
We may all have our rare primary source spirit grimoires, and I’m so glad that we’re recovering traditional astrology, but occulture could really use an update in its herbalism. And by the way, just buying herbs online to power your spells is cool, it’s better than nothing, but you’re really, deeply missing out on the power and knowledge that comes from getting to know them as true collaborators in your work. (with all due respect to Schulke and his acolytes. This is one area where the Traditional Craft kids are really rocking the house. I only want to see all the different occulture camps exchange notes more, and for everyone to talk more and share more with their Dead.)
But I digress, as ever.
In other news, I continue to work on my upcoming re-cut of classic spiritualist pamphlets
Amor Fati is out doing it’s work in the world. It’s being ordered and shipped all over the globe, which is really deeply exciting to me. I’m working with an artist on an upcoming expansion, because of course in true tabletop RPG fashion, the Amor Fati Box Set is really just the base edition with supplements forthcoming. I recently added an option on my shop to order a Box Set with a Smith-Waite tarot deck included, so that’s a plus.
There are several other new products sitting on my shelf! I’m learning my rhythms here. It’s a dance we’re in, you and me. I’m excited to roll them out over time, and to make fine esoteric literature, quality materia magica, and potent spirit work -for the people- associated with the Phoebe Hildegard name.
I’m so glad that you’re along for the ride.
It wouldn’t be one of my newsletters without some links right?
In honor of the herbs, have some herbal links for further verdant inspiration:
-Here’s Michael Moore (no relation to the documentary filmmaker) on Pulsatilla
-Herbalist Corrine Boyer speaking on “Plants of the Devil” (I love her book of the same name)
-This is presented in a slightly sensationalized way, but this video of a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner preparing a poisonous healing plaster is actually beautiful.
Good luck with the mercury retrograde, I’m going to try not to take communication issues too seriously. And anyway, I’m really excited for January 22nd, when we’ll have all planets direct for the first time in a good long while.