Verdant Gnosis

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Selections from the 1st Annual Viridis Genii Symposium
Edited by Catamara Rosarium and Jenn Zahrt, PhD

MANY HERBAL BOOKS focus on the clinical, holistic, and natural herbalist facets of herbalism. Some of these works touch upon folk magic and herbal esotericism from time to time, but there is a greater need for a volume more focused on herbal magic. The genii of plants have spread their roots throughout all cultures in one way or another. There is an increasing rise in both folklore and esotericism for working with plants. Our goal is to be the first to offer a holistic, multidisciplinary, and multicultural approach to the study of plants from the perspective of magic. Our deeply held intention with the manifestation of this volume is to honour the hidden world of herbalism via an in-depth exploration of the green mysteries.

Verdant Gnosis: Cultivating the Green Path presents selected articles from the inaugural Viridis Genii Symposium, which was held at the Still Meadow Retreat Center in Damascus, Oregon (Friday 31 July—Sunday 2 August, 2015). Published by Revelore Press

Introduction
—Catamara Rosarium and Jenn Zahrt, PhD

Green Gold: Alchemy in the Plant Realm
—Robert Allen Bartlett

The Genius in the Bottle: Bioregional Animism and the Viridis Genii
—Marcus McCoy

Plant Communication: Two Relatively Simple Approaches
—Sean Croke

The Wisdom of the Trees
—Julie Charette Nunn

Benedicaria: The Blessing Way of Southern Italian Folk Woman
—Gail Faith Edwards

Um Clarão nas Matas: Working with Plant Spirits in Brazilian Quimbanda
—Jesse Hathaway Diaz

Dream Grass
—Ryan Wazka

Twenty-First Century Visionary Medicine Woman
—Shonagh Home

The Rose in Sensorium
—Catamara Rosarium

— From the Introduction

This book is the first volume of the new Viridis Genii Editions series. Each year we intend to publish a book containing outstanding articles from presentations delivered at the Viridis Genii Symposium. This volume contains articles from nine of the seventeen presenters at the inaugural symposium held at Damascus, Oregon from July 31 to August 2, 2015.

We have selected works based on the spirit they invoke, the distinct thread that weaves the green gnosis into the great tapestry of the green art. The approaches presented here range from the scholarly (Hathaway Diaz) to the poetic (Wazka). Yet each also partakes in the perilous act of attempting to render in language something that necessarily escapes it. We hope that as the reader meanders through the pathways presented, the slippage in the spaces between the words and concepts allows another dimension to emerge. A distinct logic adheres in the plant realm; the repetitions appearing across the essays here evince a knowing that resists articulation in human language. It is a way of knowing that must be experienced directly, and the authors brave enough to share their wisdom reveal their dance around this elusive reality.

One must read carefully across these essays to fully perceive the force of what has been shared. The variety of tone and style demonstrate the myriad entryways to the green path. This book, a celebration of just a few of them, will leave the reader with specific recipes for intentional work with plants, testimony from living practitioners of traditions near and far, and a palpable sense of our inescapable embeddedness in the Viridis Genii. It is our hope that this volume serves as a keepsake for the symposium participant and as continued inspiration for the aspirant.

Bloom True,
Catamara Rosarium, &
Jenn Zahrt, PhD
Olympia, Washington
June 20, 2015

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Weight 14 oz