Edited by Catamara Rosarium, Marcus McCoy,
and Jenn Zahrt, PhDVERDANT GNOSIS is a poetic rendering of the Latin expression, Viridis Geniii, which refers to the collective spiritual intelligence of our botanical environment. Viridis means ‘green, verdant, growing’—all that is lush and nourishing; while genii is the origin of the words ‘genius’ and ‘genie’—the spirit, daemon, or guiding intelligence of an entity. Viridis Genii—the verdant gnosis—is thus the spiritual path of working with the intelligence of living nature.Within this second volume you will find a selection of international authorities on the Green Way, ranging from professional plant alchemists, shamanic herb-masters, to bioregional animists. Herein you will learn the ways in which you can communicate deeply with the mysterious intelligence of the plant kingdom, breaking down the barriers of anthropocentric thinking that separate humanity from nature.The second volume of Verdant Gnosis: Cultivating the Green Path presents selected articles from presentations at the second annual Viridis Genii Symposium, which will be held at the Still Meadow Retreat Center in Damascus, Oregon (3–5 June, 2016). For more information on the symposium, its featured presenters, and workshops, please visit theViridis Genii Symposium website.

Introduction
—Catamara Rosarium, Marcus McCoy,
and Jenn Zahrt, PhD

Gaia Sophia and the Emerald Path
—Dan Riegler

Transmission of Esoteric Plant Knowledge in the Twenty-First Century
—Daniel A. Schulke

Funerary Trees, Folklore, and Practices in Grief and Mourning
—Corinne Boyer

Man-Dragon, Man-Root, and the Witch:
Mandragora and Ginseng as Plant Allies
—Jesse Hathaway Diaz

Devil’s Club: Sacred Cascadian Medicine
—Jon Keyes

Beyond the Mundane and Medicinal: Magic in the Woods
—Karl Feret

Baltic Amber in Myth, Medicine, and Magic
—Gail Faith Edwards

On the Importance of Keeping a Poison Garden
—Urtica Dioica

Controversy and Conversion:
Astrological Considerations for Potent Herbal Workings
—Jenn Zahrt, PhD