There are a number of excellent books and periodicals about working with plants in magical practice, as well as gardening from a magical perspective. Here are a few that are worth looking for:
“The Witching Herbs: 13 Essential Plants and Herbs for Your Magical Garden” by Harold Roth. An excellent handbook on how to raise thirteen traditional witchy plants and herbs, and what to do with them once you’ve got them. If you plan to grow witching herbs then this book is a must-have.
“Magical Gardens: Cultivating Soil & Spirit” by Patricia Monaghan. Great ideas for making gardening and plants the centre of one’s spiritual and magickal practice.
The periodical “Verdant Gnosis: Cultivating the Green Path” (currently 8 volumes published!) edited by Catamara Rosarium et al. Visit Catamara’s website store at [Mod: removed link to shop] to keep up on what she’s got available. The periodical publishes the papers presented and workshop notes from the annual Viridis Genii event -- check that out at their website [Mod: removed link to shop]
“The Witch’s Cabinet,” “Under the Witching Tree,” “Under the Bramble Arch” and “Under the Dragon Root” by Corinne Boyer. Traditional (non-Wiccan) “green Witchcraft” written by a knowledgeable practitioner.
“The Plant Spirit Familiar: Green Totems, Teachers & Healers on the Path of the Witch” and “The Green Lovers: A Compilation of Plant Spirit Magic” by Christopher Penczak.
“Mastering Herbalism: A Practical Guide” by Paul Huson. This is the same author who wrote the classic handbook, “Mastering Witchcraft.” Highly recommended.
“Blackthorn’s Botanical Magic” and “Blackthorn’s Botanical Brews” by Amy Blackthorn. The “botanical magic” book is about using essential oils in spell craft, while the “brews” book has lots of recipes suitable for drinking.
“Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers” by Richard Evans Schultes, Albert Hofmann & Christian Ratsch, and “Witchcraft Medicine: Healing Arts, Shamanic Practices, and Forbidden Plants” by Claudia Muller-Ebeling, Christian Ratsch, and Wolf-Dieter Storl. Two solidly-researched clearly written and beautifully illustrated reference guides to the spiritual impact of herbs around the world.
“A Modern Herbal” (in two volumes) by Mrs. M. Grieve. Subtitled “The Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic and Economic Properties, Cultivation and Folk-Lore of Herbs, Grasses, Fungi, Shrubs & Trees with Their Modern Scientific Uses.” An indispensable modern version of Culpeper’s Herbal.
“Ars Philtron,” “Viridarium Umbris,” and the forthcoming “The Green Mysteries” by Daniel A. Schulke. An intense and deeply spiritual system of green magick and potion-making based on Andrew Chumbley’s Sabbatic Witchcraft tradition.
“Spellbound’s Vade Mecum: Magickal Potions from A-Z: The Complete Spellbound Formulary” by Kelli Klymenko. An excellent collection of recipes and how-to explanations for making magickal oils, incenses, and assorted concoctions.
“Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic: A Materia Magica of African-American Conjure” by Catherine Yronwode. Subtitled “Traditional Formulary Giving the Spiritual Uses of Natural Herbs, Roots, Minerals, and Zoological Curios.” A practical encyclopedia of how to use all sorts of herbs (and more) for magickal purposes.
“The Herbal Medicine-Maker’s Handbook: A Home Manual” by James Green. An excellent how-to manual explaining exactly what to do to make a wide variety of herbal products. The main focus is on making herbal products to use for medical purposes, but the techniques easily apply as well to magickal products.
For the books on the list you can often find used copies available through the excellent web search page for used books at
. (It searches across multiple vendor sites, including Amazon, and lets you see the prices at each vendor quickly and easily so you can get great deals or at least know what the fair prices are for that book.)
