Monday, August 09, 2010

Herbs, Magic and Wildcrafting

I think I've made a nice start to the Knickertwist's wildcrafting section. I haven't really bothered with the medicinal uses of these herbs, focusing mainly on the folklore and magical properties. So far I've got Chicory, Dandelion, Goldenrod, Soapwort, Queen Anne's Lace, and Yarrow, with plans to add more as time goes on.

The internet can be a good resource but there is a lot of silly misinformation out there. It's sort of like that telephone game where people repeat things and the message gets all messed up. If you are interested in herbs and herbalism consider investing in some great books. These books are my absolute favourite herbal resources:

Culpeper's Complete Herbal, published 1653, by Nicholas Culpeper,

A Modern Herbal, published 1931, by Mrs. M. Grieve,

Rodale's Illustrated Encycopedia of Herbs, published 1987

Magically speaking the most popular and useful book on herbs is probably Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs by Scott Cunningham.

Enjoy and be safe!

3 comments:

  1. Lovely stuff! I can hardly wait to sit down and read it all properly.

    You're right about there being a lot of misinformation out there, but the Internet isn't solely to blame. Wild plant books often disagree even on basic facts like what is edible and what isn't!

    While Cunningham's book is certainly the most popular, I prefer Paul Beyerl's A Compendium of Herbal Magick. More comprehensive, and he just seems to know his stuff better.

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  2. You're totally right about misinformation not being solely web based... I just came across some online doozies while looking about.

    Thanks for that title. I'll look into it :)

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  3. You can get a copy of Beyerl's Compendium at The Crow Whispers in Colborne. Not that any of us need more books, but...

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