Coby Michael is an occult herbalist and magical practitioner specializing in the ritual use of poisonous and psychoactive plants. He studied religion at Arizona State University and has been a folk herbalist since a young age. He owns and operates The Poisoner’s Apothecary, an online shop and educational resource for the poison path. Coby has been blogging since 2016 and is a prolific writer including articles for This Witch Magazine (2020),The Witches’ Almanac (2022) and The Poisoner’s Guild (2023) . His first book The Poison Path Herbal came out in 2021 with Inner Traditions and Coby recently celebrated the release of his second book The Poison Path Grimoire (Nov 2024). He is also co-author of Leo Witch, part of Llewellyn’s Witch’s Sun Sign Series (2023) and is working on his next book The Poison Path Oracle. He is the founder of Botanica Obscura Conference, an annual gathering of magical plant practitioners from around the world sharing their plant spirit knowledge. He currently resides in St. Petersburg, Fl and travels the country teaching people about plant magic, the poison path, occult herbalism and plant medicine.
Find out more about Coby:
- https://www.thepoisonersapothecary.com
- https://www.patreon.com/poisonersapothecary
- https://www.botanicaobscuraconference.com
- https://www.facebook.com/poisonersapothecary
- https://www.instragram.com/poisonersapothecary
- https://www.occultherbalist.com
Coby Michael-Poisoner’s Apothecary
Inner Traditions/Bear & Company
The Poison Path Herbal: Baneful Herbs, Ritual Entheogens, & Medicinal Nightshades.
The Poison Path Herbal (innertraditions.com)
Coby will present the following workshops at Autumn Meet 2025:
Poison Plant Wisdom Through Tarot
The poison path is full of plants of great wisdom and power, plants like thornapple and deadly nightshade that have personalities as potent as their chemistry. In this presentation we will get to know the personalities of the spirits of a variety of important plants on the poison path, by exploring their wisdom and spiritual medicine through the major arcana of the Tarot. By using the existing symbolic associations of Tarot card meanings and imagery we can forge deeper connections with these powerful allies. Through this presentation attendees will gain a deeper understanding of these awesome plants, and gain additional symbolic associations for the Tarot.
Henbane Ritual to Descend into Hel
This ritual was created for an underworld journey to the subterranean land of the dead, known in Norse mythology as Hel. This is not a place of evil or torture like the Hell of Christianity. It is a realm of ancestral memory, primal creative forces and the spirits of the land. Henbane has long been associated with the dead, specifically in communicating with them and in aiding their transition to the otherworld. In this ritual we will work with this plant spirit as a guide on our own journey to retrieve ancestral knowledge or healing or to help a spirit with their transition into dead.
Phoenix Festivals 