Foundations of Green Sorcery
Let me start off with the more point thing I want to say… regular magic is so boring! Okay. I’ve said it. While many people adore the whole ‘this herb is good for this spell’ kind of thinking, it really just doesn’t stoke my fires. I much prefer the practice of sorcery, which is a term that gets really misrepresented in modern media while at the same time being such an incredible method of approaching herb magic. Let’s explore!
Magic, by loose and aggregate definition collected from many teachers whose opinions I respect, is essentially the process of creating change through combining will/intent with action. This implies a few things which makes this kind of standard magic differ from ancient methods of sorcery:
The intent or will of the magician is the most important, or often only, perspective in the room
The magician is performing their work alone. While there may be the inclusion of various materia including herbs, animal parts, colors, elements, etc., they are seen as powers to be tapped by the magician.
The action taken is by the magician alone.
So, this all seems quite reasonable- especially to the modern practitioner of magic who has learned from books on Wicca and other forms of modern Witchcraft. But, this is not the ancient style of magic. What is old is our collective practice of sorcery and the sorcerous artes. If you’ve been around these parts for a while, nothing you read here will be new to you- but how we apply these ideas to magic might be!
Sorcery is performed with the help of allied spirits. The magician’s will/intent is taken into consideration along with that of his spirit allies. This helps to ensure a more ecological approach to the process of transformation and creation in magical workings.
The sorcerer is performing their work in the presence of and with the support of their working allies. They are not along, don’t have to gather and channel the energy for the working themselves, and are not operating in an echo chamber.
The actions of the ritual surrounding the working are always, in some way, involving of the materia or vessels of the spirit(s) being worked with. In our case, there will always be some presence of the plant materia which relates to the specific plant spirit being worked with.
So the differences between herb magic and plant spirit sorcery are subtle in the closeup but epic in the panoramic. Sorcery implies that the person performing the transformative workings is in deep, personal relationship with the spirits being worked with and that the magic itself is a cooperative effort that happens on our side of the hedge and in the otherworld.
Sorcery is the innate and organic expression of magic that arises from animism. When we walk through the world experiencing that it is full of persons who are not all human, we have to change the way we show up and make things happen. Suddenly, the human person is not the most important person in the room- or the only person in the room as is often the perspective. Rather, we are one part of a big whole of spirits who we have the opportunity to ally ourselves to through mutual exchanges of respect and reciprocity.
While contemporary forms of magic tend to be something done in adjunct to a greater spiritual practice, sorcerous workings can in and of themselves make up a powerful part of one’s spiritual journey. Because the whole process is based on relationship, the preparations needed to get to the workings are many and often hard-won, and the working itself is a ritual of transformation that brings the practitioner into deeper states of connection to the spiritual allies and to their own selves.
If this kind of work is inspiring to you, I invite you to join me for an upcoming workshop on foundations of green sorcery. This special offering will be taking place live online so, with your ticket, you can attend live (if you are able) and get 90 days of on-demand replays to watch anytime you want, as often as you like.
