Continuing in the series discussing plant spirits, we present part two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUnLTIkltJg
This instalment features an outline of the idea of plant spirits as presented by Western alchemy, and how they are dealt with. The alchemical method is a departure from the shamanic approach, and relies upon the manipulation of the plant itself by a process which concentrates the spiritual vessel of the plant into an ingestible format, resulting in the integration of some aspect of that plant into the consciousness of the one who takes it. This is the primum ens, or 'first being'.
Aside from a few plants, notably Melissa (lemon balm), little is known about the attributes and effects of plants when taken in this way. However, it is known that the effects of the primum ens of a plant cannot reliably be matched to its ordinary herbal qualities, although there is likely some method of perceiving those other qualities which is not widely known, or even known at all by human beings. For now, deducing these attributes is a matter of experimentation.
This brings us a little closer to a more acceptable method of acknowledging the reality of plant spirits and potentially working with plants to heal ourselves. In the next episode, we will present an outline of alchemy and so-called 'Hermeticism' and some objections and responses.
