The tradition of folk magic is based often on the principle of observation, much has the doctrine of signature is well know in western Herbal Medicine. The folk magician by keen observation and tradition applies the use of naturally occurring objects and signs to provide a way of accessing the unseen (to those without the sight) forces that control our worlds.

the hidden symbolism which transverses both time and place have a deep place in our physic self and perhaps in the realms of all nature. If we take the the subject of danger many plants and animals have colouring that indicates it is dangerous to consume.

like wise plants often tell us there usefulness by their shape and form, Is this the hand of god bearing in mind we have in relatively recently being able to perceive and these plants date back into the mists of time.

Therefore perhaps these hidden symbols speak of a language that exists outside human form a common language of nature which humans are slowly recognising and the animal world and others have know since our ancestors sheltered in the caves.

It is perhaps the ritual specialists that inhabit these in between worlds that developed a communication that began to understand this hidden vocabulary, creating the earliest ritual and healing methods.

Back to our subject what turns a plant into a talisman or a stick into a wand?
It is both an observation of its shape size colour texture smell and the unexplained feeling you have when you hold it. what associations do you get that jump into your mind. It maybe the conditions under which you found it was you thinking about a problem and this caught you eye.

Did a bird or a insect take you to a object, remember the inhabitants of  fairy realms often take animal or insect form when in the view of humans. Or did it fall into your hands or drop on your head.

Anything can and to some degree has magical properties in nature, it is just a matter of unravelling its meaning we can use books, google or more effectively our intuition without doubting our own abilities remembering keen observation is the key to understanding.