Review: Plants That Speak, Souls That Sing
I misjudged Plants That Speak, Souls That Sing: Transform Your Life with the Spirit of Plants, by Fay Johnstone. When I first read it I thought it was a vain text, but now, after thinking a bit on the matter, I can view it as a more intuitive, spiritual approach in the topic that has no ties to any system or magical tradition.
Understanding Plant Spirits
Instead of explaining how to work with certain types of plants and how they can be used, the book guides the reader on how to connect with any kind of plant, how to honor their life, how to correctly connect with them and offers several meditations in order to have a better understanding of plant spirits.
Fay Johnstone uses a simple language, although I felt her style became too sugary in several parts, making Plants That Speak, Souls That Sing a difficult read for me. I am no friends with overly happy authors who make the reading more similar to a self-help book, and this was definitely the case with this one. I had to reread several pages in order to understand what it was about.
However, this doesn’t mean this is not a useful book. I liked many of the meditations and the techniques included in the chapters to correctly connect with the plants we will work with, their spirit and energy. I agree that intuition is a big part of Spirituality, whichever path or religion or tradition we are talking too, and it is good to see a like-minded person writing about it.
I would have liked a little more information, to be honest, about something else than just visualization and meditation. Although it is an interesting topic, Fay Johnstone includes the same ideas several times, which could be boring for some readers. I don’t want to be that negative, but I couldn’t resonate with Plants That Speak, Souls That Sing most of the time.
I’m sure this is because it is the first book of the author we’re talking about, since the main idea and the proposals in I are interesting enough to keep reading chapter after chapter and take some notes for future use. The fact that it was a complicated reading does not diminish the validity of the content.
Can We Understand Messages from Plants?
Fay Johnstone presents an interesting proposal that includes several curious tips and suggestion in order to develop a more personal work with plant allies and have a better idea of how they feel and resonate with us, also teaching how to understand the messages that plants may have for us. You never know what can be said that helps you in your life. Many of the author’s anecdotes reflect this point, leaving me eager to see what mine have to say.
What I do doubt is that I will read something else from the author, more due to personal likes than anything less, but those who like a motivational tone and want a prefer a non-denominational approach to work with plants, no religious affiliation or any specific spirituality, will fall in love with Plants That Speak, Souls That Sing.
About the Book:
Plants That Speak, Souls That Sing: Transform Your Life with the Spirit of Plants
Print Length: 164 pages
Publisher: Findhorn Press (June 12, 2018)
Publication Date: June 12, 2018
ISBN-10: 184409751X
ISBN-13: 978-1844097517
About the Author
Fay Johnstone is passionate about plants and people and draws on her experience as a former owner of a flower and herb farm and her shamanic training to assist personal transformation with the subtle whispers of nature. Fay’s first published works is “Plants That Speak, Souls that Sing” is based on her experiences with plants and nature and aims to encourage the reader to introduce the magic of plants into your daily routine and appreciate the important role plants play. Fay teaches workshops on plant spirit connection, Earth based healing and offers shamanic treatments across the UK, online, and from her home near Edinburgh, Scotland.
About the Reviewer
Bader Saab is a digital journalist and self-published writer; a solitary, eclectic Wiccan interested in the darker side of magic and divination; a gothic guy who tries to educate whenever he can. He hopes someday to succeed in one of them. You can visit him at: https://www.instagram.com/saab.bader
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