Episode 307 - Plants That Heal with Susan Ottaviano

Join me today for a chat with Courtney Weber all about her newest book, Pentacle: The Shape of Power. Long before it was a symbol of religious identity or even a stylish fashion choice, the pentacle and its many variations served as powerful talismans, linked to and used by numerous esoteric orders. It was a tool for summoning spirits, creating magick, and casting spells. By creating and using a pentacle, a practitioner could establish a shorthand language with the spirit world and shape the physical world into one the practitioner wanted to see. Drawing heavily from ancient texts like The Key of Solomon, Pentacle: The Shape of Power unveils the history and purpose of the five-sided star. Far from a village witch’s simple aid, the pentacle was a “diagram for magick,” a means for the ceremonial magician to transcend the mundane and tap into profound energies. Explore the rich history, intricate symbolism, and powerful applications of the pentacle, from its earliest known instructions to its use in protection, divination, and ritual. Pentacle: The Shape of Power dives into the secrets of this often-misunderstood symbol, revealing its enduring power and significance in the world of true magick.

The Tarot Book of the Dead fills a major gap, as there is currently no comprehensive guide to tarot mediumship, grief work, and psychopomp practice, despite the growing interest in these areas. Matlin offers readers not just techniques but also a transformational experience that reclaims tarot’s deep historical and mythological relationship with death. Tarot can provide comfort and meaning for the grieving, help us center our own truth regarding mortality, and honor the spirit about to cross over. This book shows tarot readers that mediumship is absolutely within their birthright. The Tarot Book of the Dead is structured as a chthonic journey, a descent into the Underworld, a trial within the depths, an ascent with wisdom, and a return to the living world forever changed. The structure honors the transformational paths in myths of descent, from Persephone’s underworld journey to Orpheus’s search for Eurydice. The book is divided into four parts. Each part has a collection of chapters that are headlined by a Major Arcana card that acts as a gatekeeper. That Major Arcana card offers an invitation, followed by a lesson to be learned, a challenge (activity) to do, and, finally, permission by that Major Arcana card to go on to the next gatekeeper. Through this mythic journey, readers will confront their own relationship to death, learn tarot mediumship, engage in grief work, and explore psychopomp practices. The Tarot Book of the Dead focuses on several main themes: the dying, the dead, and the grieving. A reader could use this book just for their own personal work, but the book also has guidance for people in fields that touch on death, such as death midwives and doulas, grief workers, hospice carers, and mediums. The Tarot Book of the Dead is, at its heart, an initiatory process that functions as a hands-on how-to manual in which the reader will deepen their practice with tarot and death. Like its namesakes The Egyptian Book of the Dead and The Tibetan Book of the Dead, it guides readers on a journey to death and the afterlife.

Witchcraft is not always about what tools you have or how detailed and drawn-out the ritual is, but how you live each day. Cottage of the Woodland Witch shows practitioners of all paths how to begin living more intentionally and purposefully in the home. Throughout her journey of becoming a mother, homemaker, and business owner, Sarah Burns-Napoli, also known as The Woodland Witch, discovered not just the enchantment that is to be found in the day-to-day but also the necessity of that enchantment. Sarah shows you how to focus on intentional living within the home and how to create magic in everyday tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and self-care. You can make the mundane magical and bring accessibility to the craft—with this book you will learn how to create an entire tool kit with items already present in the home, whether foraged or handmade. Offering spells, recipes, rituals, and incantations, this practical guide highlights the importance of animism in the craft, inviting you to see the home as a living, spiritual presence—and offering heartfelt ways to connect with and honor the spirits that dwell within it.

Just a quick update today. Well, 3 times longer than I planned but I am a chatter. Episodes to return soon!

Ever wonder how those outer planets interact within your birth chart? How their positions in the sky and relative to each other influence the things going on in our world? Join me today to chat with Julia Sophia all about these astrological outer planets and more! Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto proposes that the three outer planets may be understood as three facets of one consciousness—a Holy Trinity of spiritual qualities: freedom (Uranus), creativity (Neptune), and evolution (Pluto). This teaching is underpinned by the authors’ central innovation: a new midpoint calculation in astrological analysis that encourages a novel way of looking at the outer planets’ transpersonal functions, serving as guidance for individual spiritual practices and self-realization. Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto constitutes a practical guide that studies the diversity of life expression at the highest level of sacredness. By engaging with these energies consciously, readers can realize their highest spiritual potential. Find the book and Julia: Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto: https://amzn.to/4pJi4z1 Instagram: @itsjuliasophia Substack: quietportal.substack.com Website: www.julia-sophia.com James Burgess is the founder and leader of Sabian Mysteries, a modern training platform for students of the seminal Sabian symbols work of influential astrologers Marc Edmund Jones and Dane Rudhyar. Julia Sophia is an astrologer, tarot card reader, spiritual teacher, writer, and artist. She works at ZenPass, a London-based practitioner community for holistic health and wellbeing.