Book Review — The Divine Nature of Plants: A Medical Intuitive’s Guide to Plant Spirit Medicine by Laura Aversano

Publisher: Destiny Books, a division of Inner Traditions

288 Pages

Release Date: July 8, 2025

Content warning: This book contains extensive writing about mediumship, aka, speaking to the dead, including deceased children.

If you’re a regular Pagan Pages reader, you know I love plants. I write the column Notes from the Apothecary and love to explore the ways we use plants as medicine, food, and magical companions for all sorts of everyday aspects of life. That respect for plant medicine comes from a scientific viewpoint, for example, looking at the folklore medicine of plants or what Mrs Grieve wrote in her Modern Herbal, and seeing how modern research now backs that up.

So, the term “Medical Intuitive” makes me cautious. I don’t believe you can be truly intuitive about medicine. Even herbalists and healers in centuries past used the scientific method to a certain extent: trying small amounts of a plant, noting the results, then trying more, or mixing plants to find better, more potent potions. Yet intuition must come into that at some level, I guess. Choosing what plant to use in the first place, or being inspired to try particular blends; those aspects of herbalism could be seen as intuitive.

I guess my point is that, despite trepidation about the title, I’m going into this book with an open mind.

The author’s journey is quite a tale, of horrific childhood illness and the healing connection to the spirits around her. This sets the scene for a wonderful journey through a highly spiritual connection to healing, exploring miasms, plant elementals, prayer, and more.

Laura talks about experiences many people will find relatable: the failures of conventional medicine, the overuse of chemicals such as pesticides and the ramifications of this, and how spirituality can impact physical health. She also speaks extensively on managing her own health and maladies, which makes the book that much more accessible because you understand that you’re reading about her deeply felt experiences, not just hypotheticals.

The author also writes about multiple traditions that have impacted her: her own Catholicism, but also the traditions of First Nations peoples and the souls she speaks to in the spirit realm. Syncretic practices are common in modern spirituality, and as long as practitioners aren’t appropriating aspects of closed cultures, this is a perfectly valid way of working.

Beyond Laura’s spiritual background, the book explores work she did with the souls of the dead, including deceased children, clients the author has worked with, and how ancestral energy can deeply impact the health of people in the here and now. Whether you believe in plant elemental, spiritual, or ancestral healing or not, the beautiful, fervent way the author describes these experiences is enthralling and, no doubt, extremely helpful to those who have faith in prayer and spiritual connection as a source of healing.

The next section, Part 2, Enter into the Divine Nature of Plants, explores divinity in plant life, how to prepare for journeys involving prayers to plant elementals and teachers, and exploring a deeper connection to plants and their medicine. There’s practical advice on mashing and preserving plant essences, and a list of plants the author uses within the book.

Part 3 introduces the plants one by one, from Angelica (one of my favourites) to Yarrow (oh, that’s another of my favourites, I guess I really like all these plants!). In each section, the author covers her own experiences with the plant, plus spiritual, emotional, and physical healing properties. I would have liked to see some links to sources for the physical properties and some general warnings about using plants and herbs without proper medical advice. After all, no matter your thoughts on traditional medicine, there are herbs that will interact with prescription medications, for example. It’s great to see there are warnings about using certain plants when pregnant or breastfeeding, but additional warnings would add to the legitimacy of the book and prevent accidental wormwood overdoses, for example.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. I don’t have the same type of connection to the spirit world as Laura does, so it’s fascinating for me to read of these very deep, very close connections to the dead and to plant elementals and other spiritual beings. The information about plants is very useful and covers a decent range of species, and the combination of various healing properties makes this book a handy guide for anyone exploring either the physical or esoteric properties of the plant medicine world.

Laura Aversano is the author of several published books, including Light of God, Affirmations of the Light in Times of Darkness, and The Divine Nature of Plants. She’s a clairvoyant with clairsentient and clairaudient abilities, and works with animals, children, and the sick, offering ancestral medicine, intuitive healing, spiritual mentorship, and more. Find out more on Laura’s website.

 

 

 

 

 

……………………………………………………………………..

Review Author: Mabh Savage

Mabh Savage is a Pagan author, poet, and musician, as well as a freelance journalist and content creator. She’s a nature-based witch, obsessed with Irish and British Paganism and Folklore, plus she’s a massive plant and bird nerd. She’s also a long-time Hekate devotee and a newbie Lokean. She works extensively with the UK Pagan Federation, including editing their bi-annual children’s magazine, Aether. Mabh is a passionate environmentalist and an advocate for inclusiveness and positive social transformation.

Mabh is the author of A Modern Celt: Seeking the Ancestors,  Pagan Portals – Celtic Witchcraft: Modern Witchcraft Meets Celtic Ways, and most recently, Practically Pagan: An Alternative Guide to Planet Friendly Living. Pre-order her upcoming book, The Magic of Birds, here. Search “Mabh Savage” on Spotify and @Mabherick on all socials.