If you are a gardener, Maria Rodale’s new book will make you look at your garden in a new way.

Even if you are not a gardener, “Love Nature Magic: Shamanic Journeys Into the Heart of My Garden” (220 pages; $21 hardcover; $21.49 digital; $21 audiobook; Chelsea Green Publishers, 2023) will give you a different understanding of nature.

Gardeners tend to dislike groundhogs and invasive plants like thistles or milkweed. And it is difficult for anyone to have positive views about poison ivy, mosquitoes, lanternflies or wasps.

In Rodale’s view, plants and animals are not “good” or “bad.” All have a purpose. She came to understand them using shamanic journeying.

“Shamanic journeying is the ancient practice of visiting other realms to seek insight, without drugs, using the sound of a drum or a rattle,” says Rodale during Independent Bookstore Day, April 29, at the opening of The End, 3055 Tilghman St., Allentown, the second location of Let’s Play Books, 244 Main St., Emmaus.

The book talks of transporting to other worlds and describes communicating with nature spirits. Shamans have traditionally worked in many cultures all over the world. Rodale has been guided by shaman Lisa Weikel of Owl Medicine, Bucks County.

“Shamanism is where yoga was 30 years ago,” says Rodale.

“The book does not want to convince people to take shamanic travels. I just want to share my own experiences. They are based on a combination of science and observation. It is an area that is ripe for future research,” Rodale says.

Rodale is familiar with the scientific study of gardening. The former CEO of Rodale, Inc. is on the board of the Rodale Institute, Maxatawny, a nonprofit that supports research into organic farming. She grew up on what is believed to be the nation’s first organic farm.

Her grandfather, J.I. Rodale and his wife, Anna, bought an Emmaus area farm in 1941. “It was the start of the organic movement as we know it,” says Rodale. The following year, J.I. Rodale began publishing Organic Gardening and Farming Magazine. From there, with the help of family members, Rodale Publishing became one of the United States’ largest independent publishers.

“I started shamanic journeying almost by accident about 10 years ago. I was spending the weekend at the Esalen Institute [a California retreat and educational center], and that was the topic for the weekend. At first, I needed some guidance with my business and relationships. I needed to see what I was not seeing.”

Rodale sold the book and magazine business to Hearst Communications in 2017, an experience that gave her regrets but also made her think, “Now I am free to do what I want.”

She lives on a farm in the woods in Salisbury Township. During the pandemic, she decided she would plant the “perfect garden,” which included the elimination of prolific growths of mugwort and milkweed.

“One day, I was trying to remove a deep root of multiflora rose. I told it, ‘If you come out nicely, I will write a chapter about you in my book,’ and it popped out. I had not even decided to write the book yet.”

Many chapters in the book are about her communication with flora and fauna usually considered to be pests for gardeners, including poison ivy, rabbits, deer, paper wasps, thistle and groundhogs.

“We are cultured to think that a field or yard with weeds is a bad thing,” Rodale says. She discovered that each has a purpose, and many can be used as medicine.

Rodale is also the author of the cookbook, “Scratch,” “Organic Manifesto,” books about organic gardening, and children’s books under the pen name Mrs. Peanuckle.

“The main rule of organic is: Don’t use chemicals. Vegetarianism is not the same as organic. Some people need meat, and some don’t.

“What is important is respect of whatever you eat, kindness, and what is good for the environment. Environment is the most important part of health.”

For Rodale, it is a way of looking at the world:

“So many of our problems are easy to solve. We can have less work, less spending and more relaxing.

“The more we understand each other, the happier and healthier we will be.”

Maria Rodale has book-signings for “Love Nature Magic: Shamanic Journeys Into the Heart of My Garden,” 4-5 p.m. May 21, Garden Shop, Longwood Gardens, 1001 Longwood Road, Kennett Square, Chester County

https://longwoodgardens.org; and 1-3 p.m. June 4, Barnes & Noble Bookstore, Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley, 2960 Center Valley Parkway, Upper Saucon Township. 610-791-3261; https://stores.barnesandnoble.com

“Literary Scene” is a column about authors, books and publishing. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com