What Is a Green Witch
A green witch is someone who lives in the magic of the green gate of nature and has a deep connection to everything from moss to trees. They work with plants as their primary ingredient in spells and rituals. They may also create medicinal preparations for healing themselves and their community. They have a lot in common with hedgewitches in the way they view nature. Walking in the woods or leaning against a tree is to travel to a place of magic and opens the sight to the aliveness and interconnectedness of all around them. Green witches often find that their spirit is most deeply nourished when being surrounded by plants, even if it is just houseplants in a sunny window.
Green Witchcraft and Herbalism
Herbalism and green witchery are different but intertwined. Green witchery holds to the idea that plants are alive and have a magical force that cannot be analyzed in a lab. And they actively do spellwork and may also call on magical forces or spirits outside the plant to make their preparations more powerful.
Having worked as a community herbalist earlier in my life, I know that the attitude of a green witch towards preparations can be different from some clinical herbalists. Many herbalists are trained more as scientists. They might see a plant as merely an array of chemicals. Only some of those chemicals are seen as desirable or as the active ingredient, and the rest are seen as disposable or having no effect on the body. Some will even be contemptuous towards the idea of plant magic. When a green witch makes medicine, they work to try and capture the essence of a plant rather than just a few main chemicals.
I love quoting departed herbalist and teacher Michael Moore, who was one of the least woo-woo people I have known, who said, “The whole f**g plant is the active ingredient.”
The Roots of Green Witchcraft
All cultures have wise people who work with plants in ways that are both medicinal and magical and, like the green witch, often believe that there is no separation between the physical and spiritual dimensions. The term green witch is specific to European-style witchcraft and is tied to the idea of both the greenness of nature and possibly to some early practices of faerie magic being associated with the color green.
The term green witch is fairly modern, as is the practice of extensively labeling types of witchcraft, which began in the late 1900s. I first saw it appear in magical fantasy books, and herbalist Susan Weed popularized the term among young herbalists in the mid-1980s
Spellcraft and Green Witchery
To me, a spell is an intention or purpose layered with the help of spirits and natural objects to give it power and a source of energy. For green witches, that will almost always be leaves, fruits, seeds, flowers, bark, and twigs. How to do that could look like:
Lighting a candle and surrounding it with herbs that have magical properties that align with the intention of the spell
Wearing a charm bag that holds herbs that speed up or strengthen results
Creating a semi-permanent seasonal altar with plants for doing all magical workings
Burning incense they have created themselves from plants
Using herbal steams to clear the house
Using clearing and protective herbs in wash water when they clean
Making protective bundles or bags of seasonal herbs to protect entrances to the home
Singing to the herbs to call on their spirits
They might also do all these things when they are creating medicinal blends of teas, tinctures, oils, and salves for healing. Or when they are cooking, and yes, it can also be applied to kitchen witchery.
Walking the Path of Green Witchcraft
Each witch’s path is unique and cannot be dictated, but I want to share a few beliefs many green witches have in common. Plants are alive, and they have ecosystems that are their neighborhoods. I like to make an offering to the oldest tree in the neighborhood before I start to harvest.
Plants teach us who they are and what they do
Ask a plant before you harvest it and tell it what you are going to use it for
Be respectful and notice or learn what else depends on that plant
Work for sustainability of the plant if you harvest in the wild
Develop your intuition and notice what plants look shiny to you. Those might want you to get to know them
How to Begin Green Witchcraft
Start small. Get to know 5 to 10 plants really well. Research what their habitat is, where they come from, and what their magical qualities and associations are. Even if you do not work with plants as medicine, you can learn about a plant just by knowing what it does to humans. That might just be understanding if it is poisonous or not.
Spend time getting to know the plants where you live. What do they look like at all seasons of the year. I always feel that the plants that grow most commonly around us are what we most commonly need, which is often what is growing in the cracks of the sidewalk.
Maybe learn what they were called in your ancestral region. I spent one winter writing the names of my herbs in Gaelic, runes, and the ogham alphabet on the labels of the jars. I had been working with plants for decades, and I still learned a lot doing that.
Work with different plant parts at different times of year. I like to work with bark in the fall, roots in the winter, leaves in the spring, and flowers and seeds in the summer
Make a plant profile in your book of shadows or journal. Have a page or two for each herb
You might also use folk magic to bless your garden and your neighborhood plants. Beltane and the spring equinox are great times to make a garden blessing charm bag and hang it from a nearby tree
Developing a Green Witch Apothecary
If you do have a small space for a garden, you can grow a few herbs. Check out if they like sun or shade before you plant. I have a rosemary that an old woman gave to me decades ago that has survived several moves, and I use it for almost everything.
You can also harvest in many cities by collecting fallen petals, twigs, leaves, nuts, fir and pine cones, and needles. Even though I have a small garden, about half of what I use I find on the sidewalk.
And remember, you can always use herbs from the grocery store for magic. They are not as fresh, but you can still wake them up by rubbing them on your hands and speaking to them.
If you harvest herbs, you can place them in a grocery sack to protect them from light and hang them in a warm place. Store them in a dark, cool place.
If you use poisonous herbs, for something like protection or banishing they need to be kept separate from other herbs and in a locked cabinet if you live with others and marked poison.
Final Thoughts on Green Witchery
Even though my path is not limited to green witchery, I have always had a deep love of plants. My family did not love it when I added every spice in the cupboard to smoothies at the age of eight, or when I tried to smash up crabapples and place them on people’s legs at five.
I still remember the first two plants that spoke to me and said they were herbs and that herbs were like taking a whole bunch of plants and concentrating them in one plant. They were both common weeds that most people do not use, pineapple weed and purple dead nettle, and they still seem very magical to me. So listen to the voice within you, research to verify, and jump in.
May the moss call your feet and the wind speak through the branches to you.
Colette Gardiner
© Copyright ~ Colette Gardiner Golden Web LLC 2026