The plants don’t owe us a damn thing. They don’t owe us healing or magic. They don’t even owe us food. Not even the plants you grow and put your time and energy into planting, tending, and harvesting. How can they owe us anything when they do not know us and we don’t bother taking the time to know them? What can we possibly give in return that is worth a life? Their life? 

Assuming a plant owes you anything, that it is nothing but a tool to be used is like going up to a person and demanding they lay down and die so that you can get a leg up. Sadly, this is not far from the reality for some people. 

I could go further, pointing out all the abuses humans have committed against plants but I think we are all fully aware of the atrocities our planet is suffering from climate change to deforestation to pollution. 

So what can we witches do in order to access the power of plants? 

We are very lucky and blessed still want anything to do with us.

Types of Plant Spirits

Green Spirits come in three main forms - the spirit of the individual plant in front of you, the overarching spirit of that species (what many of us call a Mother, Father, Grandmother, or Grandfather spirit) that watches over their kind and what many see when they talk about plant spirits rather than the billions of individual entities attached to actual plants, and Land Spirits that are the spirit of place that watch over specific areas and regions (these spirits might not actually plant related but more like stone or animal but are still necessary to working with Green Spirits of the area. 

For the moment and the following exercise, we will be talking about the individual plant spirit - that energetic entity attached to the plant in front of you.

A Note About Offerings

I will mention offerings in the video and its transcripts. The idea of offering something of yours to a plant might put some people off. This is a lesson in humility - setting aside your ego, and giving without expectation. This is one of the most important lessons one can learn when it comes to spirit work - how to make an offering - and I will go over it again later on in the course because of its importance. 

Some of you might wonder what offerings are appropriate. It will depend on the spirit. At the very minimum offer clean water - the amount will depend on the spirit (if its a cactus or if its something sitting in a pond).

Offerings that actually leave you without something have more power in them than offerings of things you didn’t need in the first place. When you offer your own food to a spirit and then go without eating that meal, it means more than if you have a buffet table you can go fill up from once you’ve handed over your plate.

No offerings should pollute. Do not leave trash like water bottles or other trash with your offering - this negates the work you are doing. It is better to leave no offering at all than to pollute. 

Offerings do not have to be physical. Actions can be an offering - cleaning up a space, donating to an organization, helping out an ally are all offerings.

Identifying Plants

As you go out and start connecting with plants, you might run into a few (or more than a few) that you cannot identify. While a lot can be said for the fact that identifiers, whether common/folk names or scientific name, are merely human terms for a spirit that probably has its own name for itself and its kind - you still need an identifier if you plan on doing more with the plant than sitting and talking with it. 

I suggest that you get yourself a good local plant guide. Choose one with color pictures, preferably photos, and plenty of data on each plant (at least names, description, where the plant is commonly found, and toxicity). 

If you are in Alaska or other Boreal regions, I highly recommend The Boreal Herbal by Beverly Gray (one of my all time favorite plant books).