How to Work With Plant Familiars
How to Work With Plant Familiars covers plant magic spells and rituals and plant witchcraft with the Green Hearth Witch! Working with plant spirits can help you meet unique familiars, such as herbs, mushrooms, roots, and weeds.
Most magical people recognize that plants are magic, but did you know some plant spirits can become plant familiars and assist you with magical workings? Today, we’re going to delve into the world of plant familiars!
What are familiars? When you become a witch, usually as a birthright, you’ll receive an ally to assist you in walking your spiritual path. This ally is best known as an animal familiar, but familiars can take on the form of plants, fairies, nymphs, and insects. The familiar is there to help you with magical workings.
Sometimes, a familiar can be a physical plant or animal, but I’d say that’s much more rare. Typically, a familiar will be astral. You might meet your familiar while hedge riding or during meditation.
My main animal familiar is a hedgehog who lives in the astral realm and typically works with me whenever I hedge-ride! We do spells together on the other side and take trips together to otherworldly places, and my hedgehog familiar is a constant source of comfort to me.
However, my hedgehog familiar isn’t my only familiar, just my main familiar. I have a familiar root that I created from a master root that I connected with instantly from the Phytognosis shop on Etsy. It was love at first sight!
In addition to my root plant familiar, I also have two aloe vera plant familiars that I keep in a sunny window in my kitchen! These plant familiars are physical, meaning they are real houseplants, and they assist me in many of my magical workings. In addition, I have a clover plant I keep in a dark corner of my tiny place that also supports my green witchcraft practice.
What is the difference between a plant spirit, plant familiars, and plant allies?
Plant allies are friendly and helpful! In this case, you might connect with them for the occasional plant spell, in your home, or in the wild. You might find them while wildcrafting on a nature walk in the forest. You might even have a good working relationship with them whenever you run across them!
These are the herbaceous plants that you might find in the wild. They can be anything from magical yarrow to wildflowers in bloom. It is the wild where you’ll leave a plant offering of tiny gemstones, a squeeze of honey, or a prayer for its species to repopulate. These are the plant spirits you might use time and time again!
Plant familiars, on the other hand, are typically going to be houseplants used in magical workings full-time. In this case, you’ll be able to visit your plant familiar in the astral realm and connect with it while hedge riding. You most likely will have a houseplant or a physical copy of the plant in the earthly realm.
When working with a plant familiar, you’ll form a magical bond that ties you together. The best way to create a plant familiar is to use a houseplant in a potted-plant spell. It’s in this process that you’ll begin to feel the magic of the plant and how to work with it!
This magical working relationship is extremely special and unique! The plant can assist you in magical workings, herbal remedies, and in the astral realm, too. To bond with your plant familiar is quite exquisite!
How to Work With Plant Familiars
To work with plant familiars and create that special bond, you will need to put time and energy into it. This is an ongoing, long-term relationship, much like the one you would have with a deity. Think of it as any other relationship you have in your life.
To build on this familial bond, you’ll have to first form one. For some people, this might happen naturally. It’s possible to grow an unexplained attachment towards a specific plant friend.
For most of us, we’ll have to work to create that bond! We will have to build a relationship, and that starts with a potted plant spell. A potted plant spell can be created in many different ways, but the best way is to start from scratch.
Grow a plant from seedlings, use a plant cutting, or purchase a plant from your local plant nursery. I would put a lot of thought and consideration into this part of the journey.
What kind of plant works best for you? For example, I have a penchant for aloe vera plants, golden pothos, cacti, succulents, snake plants, and clovers. I chose an aloe vera plant familiar because we have a relationship that goes way back, long before I ever knew I was a witch.
I’ve always had a deep reverence and connection to the aloe vera plant, and I work with it regularly to keep my heart chakra open. This steadily improves my relationships with others and allows me to come from a place of vulnerability.
With my clover plant, I formed a relationship early in life. I’d spend hours looking for four-leaf clovers as a child and can remember feeling a special resonance with the clovers I found in patches of grass.
Clovers have always brought me good luck, and it’s a plant associated with my patron deity, Goddess Fortuna! Fortuna is the Roman Goddess of luck, fame, and fortune, and Clover is one of her closest allies.
The golden pothos plant is a hearty plant that I’ve always thought of as the picture of holistic health and wellness. I created a golden pothos family because it’s one of those plants that are easy to care for and will always be there for me! The golden pothos plant is familiar and has what I like to call staying power.
When I created my cactus plant familiar, I created it with love! It lives on my kitchen windowsill and is chill and low-maintenance. I love cacti because I grew up in the Mojave Desert of Southern California near the Salton Sea. Cacti were as natural as breathing for me on my daily walks.
My succulent plant familiar also lives on my windowsill right next to my cactus familiar. My succulent familiar works great in protection spells, and I feel a deep resonance with it because I used to be a succulent killer back in the day. This one pulled through!
It’s important to take the time to figure out which plant ally could become more than a friend. I would choose a plant you know you can easily take care of in the physical realm, as well as one you’ve had positive experiences with. It should be a plant ally you’ve already formed some kind of connection with.
How to Make Your Plant Familiar
First of all, plants are living, breathing creatures! They require plant care and a suitable living space that suits them. Some plants, such as my clover plant, enjoy a dark, shady space with low lighting. They thrive under these conditions!
On the other hand, some plants, such as my cacti and aloe vera, prefer a bright, sunny spot in the window overlooking the magic of nature. It’s important to find the perfect spot for your magical plant familiar!
To begin familiarizing your plant, it’s important to have all your tools and resources on hand. To transform your plant ally into a plant familiar, you’ll want to gather up some magical ingredients, as well as some mundane ones.
You’ll need a nice pot to plant your new plant in. Try to find something pretty and decorative! Be sure it matches your plant spirit's personality.
Next, you’ll want to think of an intention for your spell! I recommend a spell to bond on a deeper level with your plant and use it in your magical workings.
If you’d prefer something more specific, you can do a spell that matches the magical properties of your plant profile! For example, the monster plant holds magical properties that would work great in a money spell.
Once you have your intention laid out, write it down! Begin filling your pot with rich soil, placing your intention near the bottom. You can also add an accompanying tarot card that matches your intent.
As you add soil, tiny gemstones, tarot cards, and magical herbs to your pot, be sure to put your intention into your new plant friend! Even as you add water at the end, put your intention into it. I recommend using moon water when creating your plant familiar!
Once you’ve completed your potted plant spell, be sure to give thanks to your plant familiar and find a home for it! I recommend bringing it inside your home so you can connect with it regularly.
With plant familiars, you’ll want to keep showing that you care. Once complete, your job is to take care of your plant. This can include everything from watering it to talking to it. I even sing to my plants and play music for them!
Remember that plants are sentient, feeling beings. They are alive, and to keep them well, it’s important to take good care of them and find ways to balance the relationship. This is a reciprocal relationship.
This will be unlike any relationship you’ve ever had before! The magic begins instantly. You start with a spell, and you build on the relationship as you perform magical workings with the moon, seasons, holidays, and weather witchery.
Plant Offerings and Altars
To transform your plant relationship into a magical one, you might want to turn your plant into an altar. You can do this by placing something underneath it, such as a square piece of wood, a stack of old books, or a pretty mirror. I even dedicate some of my plants to the Greco-Roman deities I work with by adding them to their altar!
This goes hand in hand with finding the right home for your potted plant. Your plant has a mind of its own and will often guide you to the right spot or window. A windowsill can easily become a plant altar with gemstones, statuary, and special relics.
In addition to creating a plant altar, you should be giving regular offerings to your plant familiar. Plant familiars enjoy eggshells, coffee grounds, rich organic soil, herbs, tarot cards, tiny gemstones, sugar water, incense, and honey, to name a few.
You should also offer up your time! Cozy up with a good book and read it next to your plant familiar. Better yet, read it aloud to your special plant friend.
Listen to music and sing to your plants! They love these sorts of antics. You can even create a playlist for your plant familiar. I have several on hand, and each time I play them, it’s in dedication to my magical plants.
Perform Plant Magic Spells
To increase the magical workings you do with your plant, you’ll want to use your plant familiar for spells regularly! You can use a spoon to dig a hole in your potted plant and add herbs to it. Be careful not to add any salt to your soil, as it is bad for your plant!
Sometimes, I use tiny gemstones and add them to my plant familiars with intention. This increases the spell's energy and connects me to the spirit, soul, and essence of my familiar.
Sometimes, I sit and meditate with my plant and do magical workings using my chakras or by hedge riding. In this case, I set the plant in front of me and sit cross-legged in front of it. I connect with its essence and enter a meditative state in which my plant spirit can communicate with me.
I also bring along some mugwort and damiana tea and have tea time with my plant familiar! This puts me in a relaxed state where the magic can begin.
During this ritual, I allow images and words to come to mind naturally. Like most magical beings, plant familiars will communicate with ideas, imagery, or symbolism. This is a common way spirits communicate with us telepathically or through intuition, emotion, and feelings.
You can also use this time to ask your plant familiar a question. The response will come through in the ways that I mentioned or through a sign or synchronicity.
The more plant magic spells you perform, the easier it gets! You’ll be able to raise energy, which is important to any spell. One way you can do this is through repetition.
The more you do something, the better you’ll get at making the magic happen! Creating rituals you do consistently in your magic will assist you in your magical plant workings.
The Plant Familiar Relationship
The most important thing you can do to maintain a working relationship with your plant familiar is to get acquainted with it on many levels! You’ll want to get to know it here in the physical earthly realm and in the astral realm, too. You might like to read my article on how to create an herbal astral servitor to get started.
To do that, you’ll want to practice hedge riding with your plant familiar! Hedge riding can be done through breathwork and a meditative state. You can find shamanic drumming videos on YouTube to help you reach a transcendental state.
In the astral realm, you’ll get to do things with your plant familiar that you can’t do here on Earth. You can travel with your plant, visit cool places, perform astral magic, and forage for otherworldly mushrooms. These are just a few of the things you can do when hedge riding with your plant!
It’s important to have the astral connection, in case something were ever to happen to your plant. Even with the best intentions and care, plants can die just like anything else. It’s the natural cycle of life.
In essence, your plant never really dies! It simply takes up space on the Other Side. It continues as an astral guide, assisting you with magic long after its death from the natural plane of existence.
In the earthly realm, you can physically spend time with your plant and use its potent power in your magical spells and herbal remedies. You’ll get to know it as a friend in your life that’s always around. You can use a blade, leaf, or flower to use in your herbal spells!
As you can see, having a plant familiar is wonderful! I recommend all witches, especially the green witch, learn how to make plant familiars and work with them. Plants are magic! Don’t you think?
