Sign up for Isaac's free webinar intro class to the Zodiac Garden here: The Zodiac Garden: Astrology, Magic & HerbsToday Isaac and AC welcome back Amy Blackthorn to the Plant Cunning Podcast to discuss her new book, "Blackthorn's Botanical Shadow Work." Amy explains shadow work as reintegrating parts of the self formed to survive trauma, emphasizing gentleness, safety, and support from therapy, EMDR, and other professionals when needed. She describes “botanical shadow work” as using plant spirit allies, essential oils, trance journeys, and practical exercises to make inner work feel less intimidating, including a journey to the corpse flower for learning to release what no longer fits. They discuss boundaries as bids for connection, protective warding before journeying, tools like automatic writing, and allies such as lemon balm for grief, thorny Mars plants for boundaries, mugwort for accountability, and grounding stones like smoky citrine, black tourmaline, hematite, and amethyst.
01:50 Why Botanical Shadow Work Now
04:12 Writing the Book and Doing the Work
05:42 What Shadow Work Really Means
08:55 Safety and Trauma Informed Approach
12:16 Plant Allies for Courage and Grief
14:37 Essential Oils Tools at Home
15:42 Defining Botanical Shadow Work
17:08 Trance Journeys and Corpse Flower
22:33 Integrating What Comes Up
23:58 Boundaries and Burnout Basics
25:24 Healthy Boundaries in Relationships
29:15 Plants for Stronger Boundaries
30:37 Spirit Realm Boundaries Question
31:13 Claim Your Safe Space
32:54 Rituals and Boundaries
33:45 Facing Dangerous Shadows
35:23 Surprise vs Projection
37:20 Journaling Without Fear
40:46 Processing and Grounding
46:49 Crystals for Shadow Work
52:53 Mugwort and Accountability
56:57 Reclaiming Bodily Autonomy
59:54 Where to Get the Book
01:01:22 Final Thanks and Next Project