Numen Naturae: The Magician's Wand

Numen Naturae is an exploration of herb, archetype, and image. In The Magician's Wand, authors examine the figure of the Magician in the tarot trump through the lense of archetypal herbalism. From the editor's foreword to the book: "This work is the product of many minds, human and otherwise. It seeks to explore the relationship between image, herb, and archetype. Our premise is that Nature is alive, that plants and the places they inhabit have their our personhood, their own gnosis which is available to interact with the minds, bodies, and dreams of those willing. Relating with these plants intentionally evokes ideas and images which touch on a deep level of human experience. Inspired by the works of C. G. Jung, I will call these images and experiences 'archetypal.' "In my own practice with the plants, involving long forays in the woods and hours of meditation and conversation, I have come to associate the character of certain herbs with the archetypal imagery of the tarot trump cards, images which have a rich story to tell beyond their popularized use as divinatory tools. Plants have a long history of association with myth and deity. The story which each plant genius has to tell is a lifetime's study in and of itself. In this work we will focus on the imagery of the tarot, for, 'As humans we have a tendency toward projecting aspects of ourselves on object that provide 'hooks' for these projections. The cards of the Major Arcana are well suited to receive these projections and thus can serve as tools in our search for self-knowledge.' (Charubel, Grimoire Sympathia: The Workshop of the Infinite.) "This self-knowledge is our inspiration. Here we seek gnosis through our relationship with the earth, through the imagery of dream and myth, through study, and come together in these pages with our findings on one character: Yarrow, the Magician. "The Magician is not Yarrow alone. His archetype is evoked through many plants, figures, and images. Likewise, the story of Yarrow is not limited to the Magician, but has a different mythos in each culture which possess certain threads of commonality. This work does not seek to limit either of these figures, but rather to open up a discussion in order to expand the realm of their influence to our conscious awareness, and to inspire more people to find themselves in the fields and forests seeking the Numen Naturae, the divinity implicit in nature."