Description
Lecture: Funerary Plants and Folklore
There is a selection of plants that have been historically used for funerary rites and for dealing with the beloved dead. How did these plants assist spirits into the Other world? What were the ways in which plants brought comfort and communion with the land of the dead to people in the past? How is this still applicable to day? These questions and more will be addressed.
This lecture primarily focuses on plants from Northwestern European tradition and their application in funerary rites. Some early American superstitions are included as well as some plants used by the Native Americans in their dying and death rituals. Also included are some divination rites pertaining to death omens for the forth-coming year and traditional plants historically used for contacting spirits of the dead.
Biography
Corinne Boyer is a folk herbalist, teacher, and writer with a passion for traditions surrounding plants and folk magic. She has been studying and working with plants since1998. Corinne has taught community herb classes since 2005 and teaches weekly classes out of her home with a focus on wild crafting, medicine making, plant lore, folk medicine and magic. She distributes an eight-page paper newsletter about plant lore to her local community, since 2012, called The Gathering Basket. She is most inspired by the ‘old ways’ of the village rustic, which included not only physical medicine but also magical medicine and a deep connection to the spirit world. She lives with her family in the forest of the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Visit her website for more information.
