A Compendium of Herbal Magick

darwinia

I ordered this book after seeing it in a shop and I just got word from Amazon that it has shipped. The author is Paul Beyerl.

The thing that impressed me with the book was that for each plant entry, there was a paragraph or so about the lore associated with the plant. I thought that seemed pretty interesting and a little different from a straight book on herbs.

It was published in 1998, so isn't new but it's a lovely thick trade paperback of 528 pages.

Does anyone have this and use it? What do you think of the passages on herbal lore?
 

Gyda

I have it, It's not bad book, take some of his lore with a grain of salt often times he gets the Germanic stuff mixed up or has a very different interpation of it then the myth scholars.

Over all though it's not a bad book.
 

darwinia

Okay thanks. I got the book today and I am pleased with the few bits of skimming I have done but I'll keep your warning in mind about his personal fantasies <g>
 

darwinia

Rue

A friend of mine mentioned that she'd been to a poetry reading of work by Rumi and loved them. She was also keen on my new herb book, so I picked a Rumi poem from a book I had, and picked a herb that started with "ru" and we are doing a little play of words and art with the two. Rumi and Rue were made for each other.

There is also a Shakespeare tie-in, and I took a scan of rue from my Shakespeare's Flowers playing card deck. Rue is a bitter herb and the poem uses the word "bitter" and it all worked out. I cut some rue from my garden to draw or paint or whatever I feel like.

One online article I saw mentioned that the clubs suit in playing cards was a symbol of rue. I had always thought it was a trefoil plant like clover or shamrock but according to this article it's rue. I got a REAL kick out of that. I also didn't realize that the Italian brandy called Grappa is made with rue.

So, already this book is leading down paths of interest and connection, I knew it would, I just have to keep my eyes open and wait for things to happen. <g>