Botanica Mystica
An Alchemy Of Plants, Tarot, and the Living Soul
A Grimoire-Memoir
by
Audrey Gilbert
Enter a secret garden where plants speak
through Tarot and wisdom unfolds like petals.
[Enter the Garden Gate → free intro]
[Substack: Join the Letters from the Path]
[Step onto the First Path]
Welcome To the Mythic Garden
Botanica Mystica is a living work — part grimoire, part memoir — unfolding at the meeting place of plant wisdom, Tarot archetype, and lived experience.
Each chapter pairs a plant ally with a Tarot card, weaving together medicine, myth, folklore, and personal story. These are relationships formed over time: moments when plants and symbols entered my life as teachers, healers, companions, and guides, revealing hidden patterns, thresholds of change, and the quiet intelligence of the natural world.
This is a work born of devotion — to plants, to mystery, and to the slow, transformative power of attention.
Exploring the Paths of the Soul, Through Plant and Tarot Encounters
Rather than arriving all at once, Botanica Mystica unfolds as a walk through a mythic, secret garden.
The journey follows the order of the Major Arcana, beginning with The Fool and moving step by step through initiation, growth, descent, and return. Along the way, each Tarot archetype is met through a living plant ally, offering a grounded, embodied way of engaging symbol, intuition, and soul-work.
The garden opens gradually, one encounter at a time.
You are not meant to rush through it.
Some may walk the entire path.
Others may linger where a particular plant or archetype calls.
There is no single right way to enter.
What You Will Find Here
Each plant–Tarot encounter includes:
Botanical and medicinal context
Mythology, folklore, and symbolic meaning
Tarot archetype and intuitive insight
Personal narrative and lived experience
Reflections for contemplation or journaling
Meditations, rituals, spells, for embodied magical practices
Practical information, scientific research, recipes, and exercises for study and experiential learning
Together, these elements form an alchemical blend — one that honors both the ancient traditions these symbols arise from and the deeply personal ways they come alive in modern lives.
How to Begin
You may enter the garden in several ways:
Open the Garden Gate
Begin with the free introduction, which offers an overview of the project and an invitation into the landscape of Botanica Mystica.
Harvest Letters from the Path
Join my newsletter to receive essays, excerpts, reflections, and updates as the work unfolds.
(These letters share glimpses of the garden as it grows.)
Initiate on the First Path
Begin with the opening encounter:
The Fool & Coltsfoot — Beginning the Journey
The first meeting in the arc of the Major Arcana, and the first threshold of the garden.
On Access and Reciprocity
Botanica Mystica is offered in the spirit of reciprocity.
Each encounter is shared with a freely available excerpt. Full texts are offered through a pay-what-you-wish or supporter model, allowing the work to remain accessible while honoring the time, care, and devotion involved in its creation.
Those who wish to walk more deeply may choose to collect encounters as they are released, or follow along as the larger paths of the garden gradually take shape.
An Invitation
This work is not meant to be consumed quickly.
It is meant to be walked, revisited, and lived with.
You are welcome to wander.
You are welcome to linger.
You are welcome to take only what you need.
The garden is alive.
And the path is open.
