The magic of herbs

by David Conway

Like many who were reared in a rural setting, David Conway came to know about healing arts that relied on a deep knowledge of herbal decoctions, tinctures, and poultices. In The Magic of Herbs , he shares the knowledge of herbs he gained in his early training in the hills of the Welsh countryside. Studying with a master herbalist near his boyhood home, he absorbed the practical and occult properties of the herbs and plants found in the surrounding environs.In this book, David presents an updated tome detailing in plain language a concise natural history and illustrated guide to the world’s most beneficial plants. Also treated are the occult properties of each of the plants described. Chapters Botanical Medicine, Herbalism and Astrology, Doctrine of Signatures, Preparation of Herbs, Tonics and Physics, Cosmetics and Narcotics, Wines from Herbs and Flowers, Language of Flowers, Herbal Materia Medica, and Index of Ailments and their Herbal Treatment.

Genres: Reference

158 pages, Paperback

First published June 12, 1975

About the author

Experience of a reality imperceptible to our senses is something I grew up with. That did not inhibit me, however, from seeking to understand it or explore how it might impact, if at all, on the everyday world in which I lived and felt fully at home. Already as a teenager I was reading Rudolf Steiner and Madame Blavatsky (and, it must be said, making little sense of either) as well as Aleister Crowley, the literature of Spiritualism and the musings of Carl Gustav Jung. In addition I was being taught about herbs and country lore by an elderly sheep farmer in the hills of North Wales, a man whose reputation as a magician – that's real magic not the smoke and mirrors kind – was never questioned by people in our neighbourhood.

All of this I have described in my most recent book, Magic Without Mirrors, its subtitle “the making of a magician” intended to signal that I, too, was destined to follow in my teacher's footsteps.

When still in my twenties and barely out of college I wrote my first book, Magic: an occult primer, published by Jonathan Cape and described, to my surprise, as as "one of the best books on magic written in the twentieth century, and one of the best introductions to magic (an altogether rarer phenomenon) , written in any century" (Colin Wilson). There then followed, hard on its heels, The Magic of Herbs and, a few years later, Secret Wisdom: the occult universe explored (though “explored” was inadvertently changed to “revealed” in a recent paperback edition). Some newspaper reviewers predicted I would become a cult figure. I never aspired to that and, happily, it never happened.

What never left me, however, is my curiosity about the wider reality mentioned above and our unique place within it. I have never pretended to know all the answers but by now, I hope, I have learned to ask the right questions. And it's in looking for answers that I invite my readers to join me - in each of my books. My hope is that by the final page of the latest one, Magic without Mirrors, those answers will be within the grasp of everyone.

Reviews

[Rabia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The man did an incredible job of sharing all the knowledge on the magic behind the and the power and value of what for the influences you require. Great useful book!! :)

[Kitti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a wonderdul book about herbs, their benefits and some magical/astrological facts.

I found the descriptions on herbs quite intriguing and on point. A fantastic insight into the magical world of plants and how these influence the zodiac signs.