In this presentation, folklorist Benjamin Stimpson presents major and minor examples of charms, amulets, wards, and other materia magica of England and Wales utilizing plant material.  From the famous and widespread charms of rowan berry garlands and amulets made of blackthorn, to the more regionally specific items such as hazelnuts strung on thread, or whitby jet and amber carved into figures, to the famous Nine Herbs charm of Anglo-Saxon wortcunning, this presentation is an overview of specific traditional amulets utilizing plant materia.  We will also explore some appropriated traditions that came into modern British tradition such as corn dollies.

The Neoplatonists of Late Antiquity spoke of the use of potions and fumigations in regard to the anagogic rituals of theurgy—and there is evidence that practitioners were also familiar the roles of poultices and ointments. These concoctions were carefully constructed with heavy reliance upon the doctrine of correspondences, i.e., synthēmata, selecting elements from nature which carried divine signatures reflecting the ultimate goals of the theurgic rites. Many such synthēmata were possessed not only of medicinal but also of entheogenic and psychoactive properties. Insofar as the rituals of the theurgists were designed to effect metaphysical anabasis or soul flight, the potential role of ointments in this regard is of especial interest for our purposes. As early as the second half of the second century, we find clear evidence of magical ointments believed to transform both body and soul into avian figures, instilling individuals with the power of flight. This motif survived well into the Middle Ages and Renaissance, finding its way into magical grimoires and polemical sermons alike, where it became explicitly associated with the mystical transport of so-called witches to their forbidden, diabolical Sabbath. 

Across the Mediterranean, plants have long been more than remedies for the body—they’ve been living allies for vision, protection, and connection to the unseen. In Italian folk traditions, herbs like rosemary, laurel, olive, and mugwort were tended not only for their healing power, but as bridges to the spirit world and carriers of ancestral memory. Wise women, healers, and village seers used these plants in teas, oils, smoke, and charms to sharpen intuition, invite prophetic dreams, ward off the evil eye, and call on the guidance of those who walked before us. Each leaf and seed held a story, linking the everyday act of tending the garden to sacred acts of divination, blessing, and remembrance—practices that still whisper through our bloodlines today.

 Explore how folk herbalism in Italian cultures has been intertwined with psychic practices like dreamwork, divination, and spirit communication—often carried through family lineages as a quiet, protective art.

The goal of alchemy is to transform matter into divine essence. In the esoteric realm, it is the transformation of the self.  By transcending physical boundaries, one can evolve in harmony with all existence. Perfumery is a powerful catalyst for the arcane alchemy of spiritual evolution. Scent exists on a subtle level that can evoke emotion and conjure memory like no other sense. It can transport us to a higher state of being by transcending the mundane and accessing the divine through the tangible yet ethereal sense of smell.

Join Amber Haase in this exploration of the fascinating history, mystical lore and evolution of perfume. Amber will share basic and esoteric aromatherapy concepts, formulas for oils, perfumes and incense. She will offer guidance on how to connect with the unseen realms and enrich your practice by crafting your own natural blends for life and ritual. We will explore scent families, extraction techniques,  traditions,  blending basics as well as insight on incorporating plant and baneful plant essences. No experience or special tools are required.

Medea is an often-misunderstood spirit, yet she invites us into healing when we open up to her wisdom. She embodies the magick and mystery of the poison path, teaching that what is bane is balm and bane is balm. As we practice our herbal craft, she calls us into our own shadows for insight into our power.  In this workshop, learn how to work with Medea’s energy to empower your own skills and elevate your intuition, including crafting her flying ointment. As Hekate has risen, so has this eternal apprentice of hers. She meets us at the crossroads where she tells us the truth of her story.  Medea is a powerful ally, a witch ancestor who guides her descendants along their earthly journey. Not for the timid or weak, Medea’s medicine is strong and fierce. When I wrote Entering Hekate's Garden, she insisted on speaking in the introduction. Here's an excerpt: "Our ways were not welcome by those who feared our power. In their hands we suffered greatly. Through their words, we were reviled. It is now time for you to remember the truth and cast aside their lies.

Working from the ancient (and nearly global!) perspective that humans are souls in personhood rather than a person having a soul, we'll explore herbal approaches to a selection of soul-parts rooted in the wisdom of Anglo-Saxon Heathenry. We'll cover the Læce (physical body), Hama (energetic form), Mægen (Spiritual Power), Hyge (Intellect), Mynd (Mind), and Aæðm (Unifying Breath) while also acknowledging the role of Wyrd (emerging fate-reality) and Orlæg (laid patterns) in health and healing.

 We'll meet each of the souls, explore how they express themselves in the whole-person and how they relate to one another, then look at common imbalances and un-health states and how herbal medicine can approach them through resonance and format.

Written attestation from ancient Scandinavia links luck and prosperity to good relationships with land spirits - landvaettir. People who cultivate strong reciprocal friendships with the landvaettir are often blessed with foreknowledge, prosperity, protection, and more. Lingering traces of this way of connecting informed later folk practices and continue to this very day. Explore approaches from the ancient Heathen world for enhancing luck through connecting to the trees, plants, and fungi where you live. 

Prior to the development of the scientific medical establishment, the physical, emotional and spiritual health of the family, community and wider regions, was the responsibility of some form of spiritual leader. Call them witch’s, shaman’s,  or witch doctors, either way, they had the ability to take raw plant material, and transform it into the exact preparation required for the current need of the community member. 

Modern day herbal education has developed a significant imbalance, favouring the use of material dose in various formats for chemical constituents to act on the systems of the body. This method is certainly effective for physical ailments, and scientific measurement, but neglects to address the mental/emotional & spiritual aspects of our being. It also rules out many more toxic plants that do not find their optimum use in such a context.

 In this presentation, we will investigate a number of alternative modalities, including aromatherapy, homeopathy, flower essences, and plant spirit work. What they are, what defines and differentiates them, and the basic tenets to which each modality holds. We will then discuss their traditional application, what are their strengths & weaknesses in practical use, and how they can complement each other to result in balanced healing of the physical and spiritual being, as well as greatly extending the value and breadth of application of each herb.

Where magic and memory meet along the shadowed acequias and the ancient banks of the Rio Grande, the flowers are watered by the tears of La Llorona. A regional spirit of Mexico and the Southwestern United States, she wanders the waterways looking for the souls of the children she drowned, wailing as she goes and terrifying those who cross her path. Though the riparian wilds are the garden through which she walks, she does not walk alone. La Llorona is accompanied by Santa Muerte, the Holy Death, as both are feminine spirits of death, grief, and sorrow who are deeply connected to the Land and those who live and die on it. The flowers and roots that grow by the river are sacred to them and can be used to call up vengeance, justice, and the hungry dead.

In this class, students will learn the lore of La Llorona, how she and Santa Muerte are connected, and various methods for calling on their combined power using riverside plants as catalysts for justice, protection, and the shaping of Fate.

Discover the ancient link between plants, planets, and music in this immersive workshop. Learn the harmonic tones that resonate with common magical herbs, create a personal “sonic sigil” for a plant spirit, and explore how music can be a powerful offering to the green world. No musical experience required—just a voice, an open ear, and a willing heart.

Among the shadowed glades & thick mists of Germany's Black Forest, the dark gardens of wild women grew. In this talk, we’ll walk the tangled path of German folk magick and herbalism, reclaiming the baneful and liminal plants once revered, feared, and eventually demonized.

Drawing from regional lore, witch trial records, and ancestral plant stories, we will explore the paradox of the ancestral allies as poison and as medicine, as protective guardians and as initiators into the unseen. We’ll also examine their role in ceremonial magic and plant spirit gnosis, with an emphasis on reclamation, safety, ethical practice, and animist relationship.

Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of the plants of the Black Forest, practical methods for connecting with their spirits, and ways to weave this old magic into modern ritual work while both rebuilding severed bridges and maintaining the integrity of tradition.

While many herbs have been popularized for their use as aphrodisiacs, sensuality goes beyond the act of physical arousal. To be sensual is to be deeply present, fully in one’s own body while in-touch with one’s surroundings, radiant with vitality, and able to calmly enjoy the richness of life.

When we become disconnected from our sensuality (due to trauma, illness, injury, stress, or other life circumstances), we can feel as though we’ve lost a part of ourselves. Particular herbs and herbal practices can help us access deeper states of calm so that we may become more present, experience the healing energy of sensuality, and reconnect with our vital essence. Sensuality can be practiced with others, but it truly begins with oneself. This workshop is for adults of all genders and sexual orientations (including those on the asexual spectrum). Brenna will share her own story of sensual resurrection and offer suggestions of herbal allies and practices to help us reconnect and restore sensuality.

Nana Buruku is older than time itself. When the Earth was created, she gave birth to the sun and the moon and then bound all living things to time, so everything would grow, reach its peak and eventually die. Grandmother Nana's plant allies are those who support us through grief, aligning us with cyclical time, helping us understand what to do with the love we feel once the object of our affection is gone. They hold our hands on our deathbed. Nana and her plants are generous and loving, yet sturdy and merciless. When earthly time is up, they will come to facilitate the journey to the beyond, invited or not.  Red Roses for end of life care, African Violet for ancestral time and Rue for the despair of loss, Wild Yam for the well being of a soul. The allies that grow in her garden also include the solanaceae and nymphaeaceae plants. Nana Buruku is our very ancient mother and in her gardens we learn about the importance of the present moment through facing the  impermanence of life. Mother Buruku may give us all the support we need, her plants coming to embellish the way...but she never forgets to ask what is rightfully hers at the end of our earthly time.

The most ancient alchemical philosophers lived in a time before time- before the accurate measurement of hours, minutes and seconds that we take for granted today. Even so, they were deeply aware of its cycles and of the effects that time’s movements had on their work, and they had their own methods for marking the passage of time and selecting auspicious moments in that flow.

The time it takes to complete a distillation has a dramatic effect on the quality of the distillate, and the moment that distillation is started creates another layer of energy that directs the end result. Some operations must be done in one season of the year, while others are only possible during grand planetary alignments that may take a decade or more to come together. All these variables were understood and accounted for in ways that were scientific, intuitive, mystical and practical, hinted at in the strange words and images of Alchemical texts.

 In my own lab, I have worked with big planetary alignments and also specific elected moments to fine tune my Alchemical and Spagyric extractions, and I see it as another aspect of the animism of the Hermetic tradition- if everything is alive, then each thing must have a birth moment. Choosing the nativity of your own herbal preparations is an easy but powerful way to draw on a greater context of intelligences and energies in your work, and in this talk, we will explore the why and how of doing just that.

The human being has sought to tap into the wisdom of the botanical world since the beginning of time. In the depths of the Amazon, native tribes have developed an ancestral tradition that allows learning through direct contact with plant spirits: la dieta. This ancient technique involves a long period of isolation in the rainforest, during which remedios, extracts or infusions of medicinal plants, are ingested. Strict mental, sexual and alimentary restrictions are observed to purify the body in order to make it suitable for the plant spirits to manifest themselves through intense psychosomatic processes, songs, visions and, most importantly, dreams. Thus, a dieta allows the initiate to cultivate a close relationship with a variety of master plants that, in turn, share some of their secrets, their essence and their medicine. This ancestral ecstatic tradition offers a peek beyond the veil of mundane reality to understand plant intelligence and learn how to converse and negotiate with forces beyond the human realm.

Explore how you can accelerate your awareness of the ways to heal the disconnect of self.  Step into a field of higher consciousness and embrace your intrinsic essence with the support of plant essence energy medicine.   As you do so, experience a deeper connection and expansion of your life expression and fulfillment.  Through the study of various plant energetics, we will explore how we are all facets of the same universe.  Allow your imprint to be seen, felt, touched, and heard.  This is a path of personal awareness, universal connection, and inter-dimensional exploration.

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There is an inevitable change that happens within everyone and it may not even be a singular experience. A time in which we must undergo immense transformation and dive deep into the occasion. In most mythologies, we’ve called it an Underworld Descent. In this workshop, we will be discussing the various versions of the Underworld descent and (most times) their ascent. We will analyze stories from all over the world to better understand the core pillars of an Underworld descent and how to use that experience to empower us in ascension. Explore stories like: The Descent of Inanna, Hymn to Demeter regarding Persephone’s descent, Amaterasu and Ama-no-Iwato and her mother Izanami, a creator of the Japanese archipelago turned Goddess of Death. Along the way, noting pivotal plant medicines for each mythological figure and allies which eased the transitions. There are many who have seen the Underworld and returned with a deeper, more complete understanding of self and community. May we all better understand the Underworld descent so that our newly enriched souls can guide us toward showing up more wholly in the world. 

In this presentation, Isaac will analyze the many ways that plants have been connected with planets, zodiac signs, and stars over the last 2,000 years. He will sift through different theories of correspondence from various traditions, finding through-lines that make this knowledge practical and useful for the cunning gardener, magician, witch, or herbalist. Drawing from his experience with astrological gardening, natural and astrological magic and astrological remediation, he will demonstrate how to use this knowledge to create zodiac gardens, herbal amulets, spagyrics, talismans, and other remedies. 

This talk explores the fascinating and often misunderstood world of toxic botanicals—the plants that straddle the line between poison and medicine. Drawing from clinical practice, historical tradition, and modern research, Petra Sovcov will uncover how some of the world’s most feared plants also hold powerful therapeutic potential in inflammatory disease.

We will journey through the pharmacology of key toxic botanicals, examining how their active compounds interact with inflammatory pathways, modulate immune responses, and, in the right hands, can provide profound healing. From alkaloid-rich plants with potent anti-inflammatory effects, to historically used “poison remedies” that became cornerstones of modern pharmacology, Petra will highlight both their dangers and their gifts.

Throughout, Petra—herself a survivor of inflammatory illness—will weave together the old knowledge of traditional herbalists, the insights of Eclectic physicians, and the rigors of contemporary clinical science. The talk emphasizes not only the potential of toxic botanicals, but also the responsibility of the practitioner: to respect dosage, preparation, and ethical use, while keeping patient safety at the forefront.

The inspiration for this presentation was born of a yearning to connect with the essences of magic and healing through authentic relationships with our immediate environments, with honor and respect to the spirits of the plants and the lands we dwell upon.

The impetus is a growing sense of urgency to build pathways of mutual support and aid in a time when our access to social services and accurate information is in question. Learning to use the resources around us and sharing the ones we have just may be the key to our ability to thrive. Find ways to engage with other like-minded people through local meetings, rituals, workshops, and other events.

Physical and metaphysical aspect have always been intertwined in traditional folk healing, as are the wellbeing of the community and of its individuals. We will explore rituals and examples of plant magic, the use of intuitive abilities and other tools of traditional healers.

Kathi & Elie are both practicing herbalists who draw from their own experience working within their communities, their teachers and elders, and the heritage of their ancestors.

We intend to begin a dialogue here about these goals, to sow the seeds of hope for the future.

Learn new ways, or perhaps relearn old ways of reliance on ourselves and each other.

Eitr (or atter) is a mysterious substance described in the Norse myths. In Vafþrúðnismál and Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda, it is described as a “yeasty poison” that dripped from the primordial realm of Niflheim after the ice there had been melted by the fires of Muspellheim in the South of Ginnungagap, the Yawning Void. As the Eitr dripped down into the center of Ginnungagap, it began to coalesce and grew into the very first being, a Jötun called Ymir. 

Eitr is also mentioned in reference to the great wyrms and serpents of the Norse myths. It exists within them as their venom. In the story of Ragnarök, when Thor and Jörmungandr fight to their deaths, it is the great serpent’s eitr that slays the thunder god in the end. 

From these two examples alone, we see that eitr has both the power to generate life and to take it away. Now, what happens if we move away from the myths and explore eitr through a magical lense? 

Join Emily Íviðja for a discussion of eitr not simply as a mythological concept, but as a tangible spirit and energetic current that practitioners can connect with. With myth and folklore as a guide, interwoven with Emily’s experience (and experiments) working with eitr, attendees will be introduced to this spiritual current and given methods on how to engage with it. 

This talk explores the elemental forces—earth, air, fire, and water—as portals to our true nature. As we begin to remember our ancestral wisdom, we are being called more than ever to awaken: to embody both our strengths and our vulnerability as sacred tools of transformation. Through reconnecting with the primal elements, we ignite the inner spark—our innate magic—that has long lain dormant. This is a journey of rewilding the soul, reclaiming the forgotten witch within, and returning to the fierce, wise essence that has always been ours.

In Deep Roots: Weeds and Resistance in Romani Family Folk Herbalism, participants will explore the often‐unsung botanical wisdom of Romani folk herbalism: not only the herbs themselves, but the stories, intentions, and modes of survival through which this knowledge has persisted. Jezmina Von Thiele (they/she), coauthor of Secrets of Romani Fortune Telling, will share narrative from their grandmother’s teachings, and together participants will examine “weeds” both as resilient plants and as metaphor for resilience under oppression, reclaiming what has been marginalized. Attendees will explore Jezmina's family plant stories rooted in their grandmother's experiences growing up in Germany during the Nazi regime as a persecuted ethnic group, and as an immigrant in Northeast of the US, and learn herbal uses for health and psychic clarity within a fortune telling family tradition, and techniques for cultivating resistance consciousness through everyday herbal practice.

Roma, or the Romani people, are an Indian diasporic ethnic group also known by the slur/misnomer "Gypsies." Due to centuries of persecution after leaving India, Roma have developed different survival trades, such as performance, metal working, animal trading, fortune telling and spiritual work, and more. 

Long before the structures of human cities were established, the forests and meadows presented a cornucopia of aspects, encapsulating the unknown. In locals in which the Genus Loci was present, how was the spirit approached accordingly with prospects of forming a reciprocal alliance to protect those that tilled the fields, and cohabitated with the regional spirits that resided there?

…and what if the spirit was not compliant?

Within the European traditional veneration of household spirits, we discover a vast array of once demonized spirits and how interaction with these spirits teetered between benefit and bane, healing and harmful, and the verdant spirits were no exception.

How did it come to be that some plants were to be brought inside, where others were prohibited? What auspices dictate how the spirits were to be called upon?

This topic will explore the theory and praxis of how the spirits of the land underwent metamorphosis and continued their tutelage behind the threshold, as well as how cultural influence, folklore and mythology fused to produce these private guardians of the homestead.

The first Paradise was a Garden. In Eden, the First Man gardened and tended the many plant allies of the earth; naming and working with them in joyous relationships of mutual aid and benefit.

This presentation will outline building a spiritual practice with Adam, the First Man, as not only First Ancestor but First Gardener and First Herbalist: going right back to the original mythic source of humanity’s relationships with Nature, which – despite certain fundamentalist religious claims – can be characterized far more by respectful balance and harmony than domination or exploitation.

We will consider the Adamic material in grimoiric sources: from the seasonal agricultural conjurations of the Sepher Raziel to ancestral lineage appeals in the Book of Oberon, and the appearance of the ghost of Adam himself in the Excellent Book of the Arte of Magicke.

Moreover, we will explore a range of charms and spells with the plants mythically linked to the First Garden, many of which explicitly call upon Adam’s patronage and empowerment.

Finally, we will examine a variety of Adamical calls, ‘Semaforas’, and magical speech-acts of Eden for working harmoniously and respectfully with trees, seeds, roots, and fruits by the very pacts and promises of Paradise which may still be potently honoured.

The Yew tree (Taxus baccata) was the totemic tree and axis mundi within ancient cosmologies and tribes, it is also known as the Tree Of Eternity and the God Tree. The consciousness of the Yew spans eons of time and holds the gateway to the Otherworld and the portal to immortality, accessing any timeline or location for healing. In this discussion, Emma Fitchett, will discuss her seven year underworld initiation with the non-dualistic spirit of the Yew tree, her four years living beneath one and within its saturnian realm in Wales and how it’s poison became the catalyst which not only transformed her inner and outer life beyond recognition but released her from Egyptian magic dating back thousands of years. She will also outline the praxis of plant spirit initiations and how to incorporate them into your own life and plant spirit medicine.

The aim of this presentation is to unravel an important piece of the
puzzle of medieval European magic, the magic of Al-Andalus, focusing
on herbalism. The influence of Andalusian magic on Western magic is
undeniable. It is a conglomeration of magical wisdom and traditions
found in Iberia, arriving from the confines of the Mediterranean: from
Aristotelian treatises, Hermeticism, astrology, Greco-Roman magic,
Kabbalah,  alchemy, Egyptian magic and Middle Eastern traditions.
Al-Andalus became a new Alexandria and a benchmark for its translation
schools and universities.

The history of magical culture in Al-Andalus is a story of survival.
It is a story of traditions deeply rooted in the people, both low and
highborn. It is a testament to how pagan magical traditions survived
in the Iberian Peninsula, even under the Christian cross. Plant magic
is one of the pillars of Andalusian magic. Ness Bosch offers us an
introduction, a window into magical herbalism in the legendary kingdom
of Al-Andalus.

The talk will explore its unique position at the intersection of medicine, myth, and ritual.

Key points will include:

• Ethnobotanical perspectives on Amanita muscaria in Northern European and Siberian traditions.

• Symbolism in folklore, shamanic practices, and its role in seasonal rituals.

• Contemporary scientific insights into its psychoactive compounds and ongoing research into therapeutic potential.

• Reflections on the balance between reverence, caution, and curiosity in approaching this powerful organism.

 This presentation aims to mixes together cultural history, botany, and personal reflection, offering participants both knowledge and inspiration to reconsider the deeper meanings of this ritual mushroom in human culture.

We all come from dust & to dust we shall return. 

In this brief moment of our vibrant life, this flash between dust-states, Dr. Finch invites you to join her for a practical exploration of the magical applications of finely ground powders.

Southern Conjure is a magical tradition chock full of powders: From sachet powders softly scenting a lady’s boudoir and keeping her lover faithful, to crossing powders balefully laid across an enemy’s footpath. From the deathly chemical & magical poison of true old-fashioned goofer dust, to the subtle uses of cosmetic powders toward effective magical ends.

"For [God] knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust" -Psalm 103, KJV 

In this class we will be delving into the history, properties and practical applications of the regal Bay tree. 

 Although its leaves are widely consumed in small doses for their flavor, the Bay Laurel is an underappreciated baneful herb with ancient chthonic lore.

From wreaths used to crown generals to overcoming adversity the Bay has it all. Join me to learn more about my favourite and most versatile of herbs.

This presentation explores the hidden networks beneath our feet and their role in shaping both ecosystems and spiritual practice. Mycorrhizal fungi form living webs that stabilise soil, sequester carbon, and allow trees to communicate. They are ecological teachers, demonstrating interconnection, resilience, and reciprocity.

Drawing on both scientific research and ecological Pagan practice, I will show how fungi blur the lines between science and spirituality, healing and enchantment. Topics include:

What healthy soil really looks like — a living commons rather than “dead dirt.”

 The threats posed by monoculture, fertilisers, and climate change to underground

networks.

 Fungal “intelligence” — from nutrient exchange to electrical signalling.

 Indigenous understandings of mushrooms as teachers, from fairy rings to psilocybin.

 The spiritual and ecological implications of fungi in sacred landscapes.

 Ritual as reciprocity: how offerings, seasonal acts, and mindful practice can restore balance between humans and land.

In this workshop seasoned organic farmer, astrologer, author, and magical practitioner, Todd Elliott, will show us some of the ways he incorporates the esoteric into the operation of a working farm. We will begin by exploring the cosmology of traditional astrology and continue from there to an explanation of the basic concepts of the magical art and how it can relate to farming. We will begin with astrological magic, which is an ancient system for harnessing the energies of the stars and planets for spiritual growth and practical success, as well as discussing theurgical and shamanic approaches to working with earthly and heavenly powers from ancient Paganism, Western esotericism and beyond. We will touch upon weather magic, pest control, increasing fertility and more. We will also discuss the various traditions of using astrology to time work on the farm.

The science of spirits, water of life, alcohol and Agua Florida.