The Witching Herbs: 13 Essential Plants and Herbs for Your Magical Garden

by Harold Roth

Harold Roth is a leading authority on plant/herbal magic. His new book, The Witching Herbs , is an in-depth exploration of 13 essential plants and herbs most closely associated with witchcraft--13 because it's the witching number and reflects the 13 months of the lunar calendar. The plants are poppy, clary sage, yarrow, rue, hyssop, vervain, mugwort, wormwood, datura, wild tobacco, henbane, belladonna, and mandrake. Roth writes simply and clearly on a vast amount of esoteric information that is not easily found elsewhere and will be greeted enthusiastically by those who already have extensive experience and libraries. It is unique in that it combines mysticism with practical instructions for growing each plant, based on Roth's 30 years of gardening expertise. Each chapter focuses on one plant and includes information on its unique plant spirit familiar, clear how-to instructions for magical projects, and pragmatic information on growing and cultivating. Roth writes, "This book is a great choice for intermediate-to-advanced witches who would like to work more closely with the traditional witching herbs, especially the baneful plants with their rather difficult spirits. Working directly with spirits is one of the fundamentals of the Craft." The Witching Herbs is the essential plant-worker's guide. Roth is not only a successful gardener, but also a magician and scholar of the occult. No other book blends clear, practical gardening techniques with equally lucid and sophisticated plant magic so successfully.

Genres: Witchcraft, Nonfiction, Gardening, Spirituality, Herbs, Magic, Magick

288 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2017

Reviews

[Paige Vanderbeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has got to be one of the best new books about herbal witchcraft I’ve read in years. Though it only covers 13 herbs, the herbs chosen are ones that you can rarely find any good PRACTICAL information about. The herbs included are poppy, clary sage, yarrow, rue, hyssop, vervain, mugwort, wormwood, thornapple, wild tobacco, henbane, belladonna, and mandrake.

My favourite feature of the book is that the author, Harold Roth, makes it clear right away that what you find in his book may be extremely different from other common sources. He’s found that what you read in books isn’t always accurate, or accurate for every witch, and instead combines lore and history with his own magical expriences. Not only does this make the book brand new and exciting for someone who’s read a lot of herb magick books, but the lesson that magick is more about what you experience and less about what you read is an important one.

Before he even starts in on the herbs, he talks about growing and cultivating your own herbs – building a magickal garden inside or outside, in pots or in the earth. He’s a real gardener so much of the book is dedcated to teaching you to grow your own magickal herbs, even if you have a less than green thumb. He explains different kinds of fertilizers, which herbs can affect other plants growing around them, and difference between similar herbs with American and European Mandrake as a great example.

Each chapter covers a different plant and talks about how it grows, history and lore associated with it, different magickal and culinary recipes, using it in your magick, and finally growing it in your garden. The crafts and recipes in the book are listed alongside the history or lore that inspired them, and I couldn’t get enough.

[Anniken Haga · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first read regarding growing herbs and using them, and I thought it would be a good idea to start small - with only 13 instead of 100. That was smart, as I'm left feeling that I actually learned something about each herb instead of being overwhelmed.
That's mostly because of how the author wrote this book, though.

It was easy to see that the author had experience working with these plants and knew them well. He talked about them with respect and love, which I greatly apreciated.

The language was easy to follow and the telling of the facts not to heavy for the reader. I feel like a learned a lot, both about each plants background, and its personality. I do wish there was some more info, though. More description of the plants or actual color pictures instead of black and white, as well as a chart of what traits belong to which planet, seeing as he talked about this connection a lot.

I am strongly considering growing some of these plants in the future, and I know I will use this book as a guide in doing so.

[Rabbit {Paint me like one of your 19th century gothic heroines!} · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another mixed bag read for me. The one benefit of being a witch for 13 years is that I have my own opinions and experiences to draw back on, even when I read about different topics with an open mind. I love reading about new theories, techniques and points of views. I believe it's a decent primer on growing plants and precautions, and other herbal aspects. The author and I do disagree on a few points when it comes to the more magic aspects. YMMV.

[Juli Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the best--and certainly the most well-researched--book on magical herbalism I have ever read. It mixes the scientific and the metaphysical with real-world cautions about using dangerous plants and respect for their spirits. I will be recommending this book to everyone I know who is interested in this topic.

[Natasha 4E · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the way Roth talks about plants, and how he weaves magical knowledge and gardening advice together. I like it that he choose to describe a few herbs in so much detail, and he certainly picked interesting herbs. He gives information I have not, yet, found in other books about herbs, like about what kind of liquor to use for what kinds of tinctures, how to make powders, what a herb looks like at various stages of its life and what the differences are between annuals, biennuals and perennials for witches.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book on gardening, herbalism, and witchcraft. It is disappointing that so much of witchcraft in America is still tightly tied to Eurasia when it comes to plants. There are so many native herbs that could serve the same purposes and every witchcraft book continues to encourage the planting and cultivation of invasive species. Other than this complaint most of my issues were fairly petty. The growing information is good and the plant lore is interesting, I just wish we could move beyond the same basic groups of plants from Eurasia.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entertaining combination of solid gardening practice, symbolic connections, and magical-type imagination. I learned the word "wortcunning" (knowledge of plants), which I have resolved to incorporate into my vocabulary. Also perhaps I will start growing henbane and mugwort...or perhaps I will not. Gardening feels magical enough growing cucumbers and radishes.

[Logan Streondj · Rating 4 out of 5]

well it was good in some ways like connecting with plant spirit but didn't go in much depth on that. did talk about some herbs, but most of them are rather useless or downright dangerous, and don't grow well in temperate areas. so yeah some room for improvement there.

[Amanda M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book- about to immediately reread and take notes. What kept me from 5? Truth be told this is probably more like 4.5. I think maybe it just lacks a bit of warmth? I dunno. I learned a lot. It’s great. You should read it.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved learning about plants and herbs that I didn't know much about!

[kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love that the focus stays firmly on the plants and how and why to interact with the strange and beautiful beings of the more than human world.

[Cyndi Brannen · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books about practicing occult herbalism. The Witching Herbs is a beautifully inspirational reference on these 13 plants.

[Jennb_9 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Sandy Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of fascinating and new-to-me information. Highly recommend, especially if you are researching poisonous plants for a gothic plant garden as I am.

[Alexa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative as a plant growing guide. I liked the bits of lore and history behind the plants and cultural significance with their use.

[Becky]

A bit advanced for me but offers some great things to think about!!

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. It covered 13 herbs commonly used in witchcraft and how Roth applies their attributes, lore and hands-on-work with the plants in developing insights. I certainly had my share of epiphanies and know I will revisit the book repeatedly in the future. Not only does Roth share his relationship with these herbs, but his approach to developing and deepening your relationship with the plants' spirits.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soweit ich die vorhandene Literatur überblicken kann, erscheint mir Harold Roths Einführung in den magischen Gebrauch von Pflanzen als zukünftiger Klassiker. Enzyklopädisch orientierte Schwarten die allerlei Korrespondenzen, Listen mit Inhaltsstoffen und ominösen Wirkweisen detaillieren, gibt es genug (wobei wir immer noch auf Schulkes "Arcana Viridia" warten). Woran es mangelt, ist die klar ausgedrückte Autorität durch Erfahrung. Zu häufig habe ich das Gefühl, dass es entweder an Anweisungen zur sinnvollen Anwendung mangelt, oder an Berichten von Anwendern. So weiß man schließlich nicht, was genau man mit dem Wust an magisch-mythologischen, folkloristischen und religiösen Geschichten des grünen Königreichs anfangen soll. Roth schließt diese Lücke, vor allem hinsichtlich des ersten Aspekts und liegt damit ein gut strukturiertes, praxisorientiertes und zugängliches Standardwerk vor.