This is a session in which we propose an exploration of the principles of ethnobotany and the relationship that they help us to trace with the land, human community and the supernatural over time. The curiosity provoked by plants goes hand in hand with folklore, myth and experimentation, three major magnetic fields from which humanity has used to forge links with forms of plant life. Every culture has myriad practices that range from their use in rituals to everyday relationships that we often overlook. Plants are in themselves both medicine and poison, mystical key and enigma. We will journey with Júlia through the ways in which we have forged relationships with plants on many levels, and the ways in which plants have changed our perception of the world.

Júlia Carreras Tort is a philologist and researcher specialising in ethnobotany, folklore and witchcraft. She is a co-founder of Occvlta, an initiative dedicated to the dissemination, teaching and production of herbal products and artefacts for alchemists, herbalists and practitioners of witchcraft since 2013. She perceives herbalism from the animist and environmentally friendly perspectives. Her work within this framework revolves around the awakening and revival of lore regarding plants and witchcraft in mountain regions through her own creations and her work with museums, cultural entities, workshops and means of dissemination. She currently lives in the Pyrenees, in the province of Lleida, where she conducts her research and experimental work.