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Folk Magic and Healing: An Unusual History of Everyday Plants
Discover the folklore, history, and healing properties of common plants, from daisies and garlic to oak and rosemary.
Plants have always played a vital role in our existence, revered for their healing and nutritional properties and entwined with ancient legends, local spirits, and deities. Folk Magic and Healing gathers many of these beliefs, aiming to inspire a deeper appreciation of our flora and countryside. Stunningly illustrated, this treasury is packed with insight about everyday plants and their magic and mysteries. It covers trees such as beechwood, birch, and fir, and provides an A to Z that ranges from agrimony, boneset, and chamomile to dandelions, lady’s mantle, laurel, and wild strawberry. With folkloric and literary quotes throughout, and background on each plant’s history, Latin name, and medicinal uses, this lovely guide is perfect for plant lovers, gardeners, writers, folklorists, witches, and everyone!
Plants have always played a vital role in our existence, revered for their healing and nutritional properties and entwined with ancient legends, local spirits, and deities. Folk Magic and Healing gathers many of these beliefs, aiming to inspire a deeper appreciation of our flora and countryside. Stunningly illustrated, this treasury is packed with insight about everyday plants and their magic and mysteries. It covers trees such as beechwood, birch, and fir, and provides an A to Z that ranges from agrimony, boneset, and chamomile to dandelions, lady’s mantle, laurel, and wild strawberry. With folkloric and literary quotes throughout, and background on each plant’s history, Latin name, and medicinal uses, this lovely guide is perfect for plant lovers, gardeners, writers, folklorists, witches, and everyone!
164 pages, Hardcover
Published July 7, 2020
41 people are currently reading
1806 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 10, 2021
I remember reading a meme once that said that we need water and sunlight and are in essence just a houseplant with complicated emotions. But we need plants for all manner of things, food, shelter, clothing and if you know what you are doing then can be used to heal too.
Knowing what plant can be used for what particular ailment requires years of specialist knowledge and sadly it is something that most of us have lost as we moved from the country to towns. Thankfully is not totally lost as a select few people have managed to keep the country wisdom and are now beginning to share it with us.
Whilst not as comprehensive as the 900-page behemoth, Vickery’s Folk Flora by Roy Vickery, this is a beautifully produced book. The images and layout are really nicely done and there is enough information to give you an introduction to the medicinal treatments that we have used plants for and the folklore behind some of our common species. The A to Z format means that plants can be found quickly and the prose is full of useful information.
Knowing what plant can be used for what particular ailment requires years of specialist knowledge and sadly it is something that most of us have lost as we moved from the country to towns. Thankfully is not totally lost as a select few people have managed to keep the country wisdom and are now beginning to share it with us.
Whilst not as comprehensive as the 900-page behemoth, Vickery’s Folk Flora by Roy Vickery, this is a beautifully produced book. The images and layout are really nicely done and there is enough information to give you an introduction to the medicinal treatments that we have used plants for and the folklore behind some of our common species. The A to Z format means that plants can be found quickly and the prose is full of useful information.
February 15, 2021
Another stunning book to look at, and another fascinating read as the author explores the healing powers of plants along with their history and those who use them either for protection or charms.
Once again I've been spellbound (no pun intended!) by all that I'm learning about the plants included in this book! As well as the uses of each plant, it also explores how plants were prepared for us, medicinal uses all alongside some lovely black and white illustrations.
Following the A-Z format again so each plant is given time to be explored, I've been fascinated to learn about the folklore of many plants that I have in my own garden - such as clover, ivy. daisies, foxgloves, primroses, roses and snowdrops to name but a few - and it is interesting that it gives you a different perspective on these plants that we just take for granted!
It's a book you can dip in and out of and with the A-Z format, it's easy to flip to a particular plant you wanted to learn a little bit more about! It explores the roles that these plants play in our lives whether for magic, healing or darker reasons!
Once again I've been spellbound (no pun intended!) by all that I'm learning about the plants included in this book! As well as the uses of each plant, it also explores how plants were prepared for us, medicinal uses all alongside some lovely black and white illustrations.
Following the A-Z format again so each plant is given time to be explored, I've been fascinated to learn about the folklore of many plants that I have in my own garden - such as clover, ivy. daisies, foxgloves, primroses, roses and snowdrops to name but a few - and it is interesting that it gives you a different perspective on these plants that we just take for granted!
It's a book you can dip in and out of and with the A-Z format, it's easy to flip to a particular plant you wanted to learn a little bit more about! It explores the roles that these plants play in our lives whether for magic, healing or darker reasons!
February 16, 2021
Folk Magic and Healing; An Unusual History of Everyday Plants is an altogether lighter book than its opposite, Botanical Curses, and yet is no less powerful for containing stories of magic and healing. With its lighter cover of pretty flowers and busy birds and bees the impression is one of mystical protection rather than deadly harm.
The book contains a wealth of knowledge about the simple plants we see both in our gardens or in the fields and hedgerows of our countryside, many of them steeped in history and with uses long forgotten. The stunning black and white drawings are beautifully placed within the text and the author's sumptuous description of the plants and their uses bring the whole thing to life in such a special way.
I've enjoyed reading the A-Z of plants not only to discover and learn about the flora we take for granted but also to discover the history of herblore and to find out more about the history of plants and their uses. In between the history of plants the author cleverly intersperses tasters of lovely verse, there's even a verse from one of my favourite poems, The Choice by Katherine Tynan and runs these snippets alongside historical references. I was particularly charmed by the inclusion of a version of the Ogham Calender and its Druidic focus on the spiritual association of tree worship.
Folk Magic and Healing; An Unusual History of Everyday Plants is a fascinating book to read by an author who clearly loves botany and folklore and who brings the whole thing alive so that everyone can enjoy the beauty of nature in all its glory.
November 28, 2023
very insightful and beautiful book!
December 1, 2022
This book itself is a work of art; textured hard cover with shining gold highlights, glossy ribbon bookmark, and art for every plant. It is split up alphabetically and each letter of the alphabet used has art behind it of one of the plants in its section. Each plant also has a poem or a few lines from a poem at the start of its entry that relate to it.
I was a little disappointed that all the plants are European, especially English or those brought to England, since I'm in North America. However, most of the featured plants are found here too or have sister species here.
The entries included a fair bit of folklore or history on each plant, and not all included medicinal uses, but it was a very pleasant and worthwhile read, and a good reference to the folklore of many English plants.
I was a little disappointed that all the plants are European, especially English or those brought to England, since I'm in North America. However, most of the featured plants are found here too or have sister species here.
The entries included a fair bit of folklore or history on each plant, and not all included medicinal uses, but it was a very pleasant and worthwhile read, and a good reference to the folklore of many English plants.
December 15, 2022
I feel like I've been looking for this book for years.
I used to want to make a collection of natural medicines and remedies, and just never found a successful way to research. All I managed was accidentally registering to a load of scam emails...
This book is interesting, funny, full of anecdotes by Inkwright, and still has enough information that I can finally start my notes. Although this book encompasses everything so well that I might just keep this one.
I was lucky enough to be lent a copy by a herbalist friend, so it was filled with annotations, drawings and samples. I'm hoping to make my own copy equally as interesting.
I used to want to make a collection of natural medicines and remedies, and just never found a successful way to research. All I managed was accidentally registering to a load of scam emails...
This book is interesting, funny, full of anecdotes by Inkwright, and still has enough information that I can finally start my notes. Although this book encompasses everything so well that I might just keep this one.
I was lucky enough to be lent a copy by a herbalist friend, so it was filled with annotations, drawings and samples. I'm hoping to make my own copy equally as interesting.
June 25, 2022
This book provided a good balance of medicine, history and mythology. It details where common plant lore lines up with modern medical science, gives some interesting mythological back story, and discusses the roots (pun not intended) of certain beliefs, and traces how plants have spread around the world (focussing on Europe).
The accompanying pictures were also a) pretty and b) useful for putting a 'face' to the name of the plant, as many are ones I've seen but never knew the name of (or had heard the name, but didn't know what it actually looked like).
The accompanying pictures were also a) pretty and b) useful for putting a 'face' to the name of the plant, as many are ones I've seen but never knew the name of (or had heard the name, but didn't know what it actually looked like).
November 29, 2020
Folk Magic and Healing by Fez Inkwright is a charming book full of legends, folk tales, poems, and the histories of all sorts of useful plants. The hardcover is especially well done with a gorgeous gold foil laden cover, stunning endpages, and replete with lovely illustrations of the various plants throughout. It's a delightful item and a fascinating read.
March 20, 2023
A charming herbal that gives interesting and varied tidbits of information and folklore about both plants and working with plant. Simple but lovely illustrations grace a large number of the pages. The cover and endpapers are truly beautiful. A nice little tome to start or expand an herbal collection.
August 23, 2023
A cute, easy-to-read little book covering some of the folklore and traditional uses of common plants. It's alphabetised so you can easily look up anything you particularly want to look at. There's not that much else to say. I think this would come in useful for inspiration in fantasy or historical world-building, at the very least as a starting point!
May 9, 2022
Pretty interesting and sweet! The images were beautiful and I loved all the small details of each plant and all the supertitions surrounding them. Most definitely will be reading the book about botanical curses and venoms <3
April 5, 2023
This was such a lovely little read, everything from the poetry to the illustrations to the medicinal uses of each plant. It was very concise yet so romantic to read too - it's given me a new connection with nature that I am deeply grateful for :)
March 21, 2020
A truly beautiful book. Brilliantly written with interesting information, history, myths and uses
December 7, 2021
There are lovely illustrations throughout this book. Each entry includes the common and scientific name as well as some interesting information about the plant.
August 21, 2022
Very informative and well written.
February 7, 2023
beautiful, fascinating and other-worldly, I'll buy anything Fez Inkwright does.
October 11, 2025
utter masterpiece!
indispensable guide in every witch's apothecary 🧙🏼♀️🪄🧝🏼♀️🧌🌿🍵🧄
indispensable guide in every witch's apothecary 🧙🏼♀️🪄🧝🏼♀️🧌🌿🍵🧄
July 8, 2023
very nice. i dont know how to differentiate between trees or flowers but very nice.
December 21, 2021
This was such a fun, brilliant read. The book is beautiful and the entries for each species are interesting and fun. Its like being part of a lovely conversation about plants, folklore and meanings - lovely book.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews