Plant Magick. The Library of Esoterica

Library of Esoterica #4

by Jessica Hundley, Pam Montgomery (Foreword)

Celebrating the magick of the natural realm, Volume IV of The Library of Esoterica, delves into the symbolism, ceremony, and our ritual relationships with the botanical world. A visual journey through our interdependent evolution with nature, Plant Magick celebrates botanicals as creative muse – from ancient Greek sculptures to Renaissance paintings to visionary art inspired by psychoactive plants, cacti, and mushrooms.

Our myths, beliefs, and shared stories are continually reflected in nature; purity represented by the white lily or spiritual awakening by the bloom of the lotus. Our joys and laments are mirrored in the cycle of the seasons, in the seed birthing sprout, or in the dead leaf falling softly from winter branches. Plants, trees, and flowers as signifiers of transition are also deeply embedded within rites of passage rituals across global cultures. Rose petals strewn along the wedding aisle mark the evolution into womanhood and marriage. A wreath of lilies stands sentinel over an open grave. A lover’s bouquet awaits on the doorstep. The wooden May Day pole is circled by girls wearing crowns of woven daisies, celebrating the coming of spring. Birth, unions, and burials – cycles of joyful celebration and deep grieving, all are marked symbolically with herbs, flowers or branches of a tree – the integration of nature into ceremony our method of signifying catharsis.

Since time immemorial, plants have also served as potent symbols within the religions of the world; Buddha attaining enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree, Eve plucking the Apple of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. From root to vibrant blossom, Plant Magick explores the fertile, interconnected history between plants and people, the multitude of ways in which we embrace plants in spiritual ceremony, as healing medicine, as creative muse and as gateways into deeper explorations of consciousness.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Occult, Spirituality, Witchcraft, Plants, Reference

520 pages, Hardcover

First published September 27, 2022

Reviews

[Tanza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily one of the coolest books I have ever owned. This is exactly what I want in an art/history/culture book: a thorough discussion of an interesting topic, taken as far as the subject matter can go. Both the essays and the artwork in this book are worth your time.

[Gwenda Bond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous, of course.

[Tal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty art but verbally it contains a lot of misinformation. Read books and scholarly articles about the plants and practices depicted in this book, and you will see that much of the information in this book is factually inaccurate. Very Eurocentric perspective (and selections of art) as well. Completely glosses over issues of power and exploitation (example from a couple of the sections on psychoactive plants: not talking about the harmful impacts of Gordon Wassons actions toward Maria Sabina and her pueblo, not talking abt issues of peyote poaching and overharvesting).

[Jammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful imagery, lovely stories and interesting information on the history and use of plants. I loved skimming through the photographic images of the artworks inside this book, and will definitely go back to do it again in the future.

[Robbie Teles · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a beautiful book, as was to be expected, given the quality of the books preceding it in the series. The problem though is the typographical errors are egregious here. There’s no way this was proof-read. The most egregious non-typographical error referred to the past two millennia as “centuries” and also claimed we are moving into a new millennium, as if this book were written 25 years ago. Still, the curated work of so many artists and the ideas presented are worth it, and the presentation is beautiful. I just wish the editing was not so slapdash. It feels careless, especially given that at least half the book is images.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful and curated art about plants. I was expecting more biology and history and less sex and drugs.

[MKF · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking through this book I thought about how many supposed meanings and symbolism are wrong. This would also include the titles of the artwork is probably also wrong. We'll dismiss all the artwork who's titles are known and proof of its meaning. That leaves us with unknown or older artwork with little evidence of the title or the meanings. People will say its easy to discern a painting's meaning by the symbolism in it. We assign meaning to things including symbols and the meaning can mean different things to different people. So its obvious that maybe we should stop assigning meaning to different art especially new artist who just randomly make up meanings to help sell their art to fancy galleries. I just like to enjoy the art and skip the meanings. I did have one issue and that was the way the they put the information for the art found on the previous or following pages. There were many in weird areas that could easily be confused for the art that's actually on the page it's placed on. But, besides that I did enjoy a lot of the art in this book.

[Sonee Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book. Out of all the books in the series, this was the most image-heavy. The challenge was that the descriptions felt a bit short. Also, most of the plants included were centered around psychoactive plants. It would have been nice to see some of the more healing ones as well. I still liked it and recommend it.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the Witchcraft one but for some reason it remains impossible to match supporting figures to the essays, instead often scattering them throughout. The essays are of low to mid quality but the selection of images is pretty good. There is too much of an Anglosphere-centric perspective in the essays but luckily not in the images. In sum, a nice addition in the series.

[Beatriz De Sousa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it 🍀🧡 so much better than i expected.

[Kosta Dalageorgas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous coffee-table type book showing our deep connection to plants and the natural world. Wonderful illustrations both historical and more contemporary. A horticulturalist or botanist’s dream.

[Carolina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un tesoro que nos invita a detenernos y contemplar. Sus ilustraciones son bellísimas, casi como un oráculo visual.

Plant Magick explora cómo las plantas han sido símbolos de transición en diversas culturas, marcando momentos significativos en los rituales y las relaciones espirituales que hemos tenido a lo largo de la historia con ellas. Desde las curanderas hasta los alquimistas, desde los mitos de la antigüedad hasta las visiones psicodélicas del siglo XX, este libro es un mapa de esas sabidurías que fueron marginadas o tachadas de supersticiosas, poniendo en el centro la conexión entre las plantas y la expansión de la conciencia. Es un recordatorio poderoso de que las plantas no son solo decorativas o funcionales: son maestras, sanadoras y puentes entre lo visible y lo invisible.