• Numerous new and rare color photographs complement the completely revised and updated text. • Explores the uses of hallucinogenic plants in shamanic rituals throughout the world. • Cross-referenced by plant, illness, preparation, season of collection, and chemical constituents. Three scientific titans join forces to completely revise the classic text on the ritual uses of psychoactive plants. They provide a fascinating testimony of these "plants of the gods," tracing their uses throughout the world and their significance in shaping culture and history. In the traditions of every culture, plants have been highly valued for their nourishing, healing, and transformative properties. The most powerful of those plants, which are known to transport the human mind into other dimensions of consciousness, have always been regarded as sacred. The authors detail the uses of hallucinogens in sacred shamanic rites while providing lucid explanations of the biochemistry of these plants and the cultural prayers, songs, and dances associated with them. The text is lavishly illustrated with 400 rare photographs of plants, people, ceremonies, and art related to the ritual use of the world's sacred psychoactive flora.

    And yet there is still another; namely, growing them for sale in the various prepared forms and selling them in glass or tin receptacles in the neighborhood or by advertising in the household magazines. There surely is a market, and a profitable one if rightly managed. And with right management and profit is to come desire to have improved varieties. Such varieties can be developed at least as readily as the wonderful modern chrysanthemum has been developed from an insignificant[...].

    Would meditating on the starflower help heal you? Does the spirit of sweet violet have something to offer you today? Contemporary herbalist Maia Toll, author of The Illustrated Bestiary and The Illustrated Crystallary, profiles the mystical, magical, bewitching personalities of 36 powerful herbs, fruits, and flowers in this stunning volume. The book includes a deck of 36 beautifully illustrated oracle cards — one for each plant — and ideas for readings and rituals to help you access your intuition, navigate each day's joys and problems, and tap into each plant's unique powers for healing, guidance, and wisdom. Also available: The Illustrated Herbiary Collectible Box Set and The Illustrated Bestiary Collectible Box Set.

    Unsurpassed as a field guide for its authoritative information on collection and medicinal preparation. Focuses on the plant life of rocky and arid lands of the West, and includes detailed information on the preparation and use of these vital herbs.

    How to balance your constitution and practice self-healing.

    The incidence of diet-related diseases, including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and heart disease, has skyrocketed to unprecedented levels. Whether you have forty acres and a mule or a condo with a balcony, you can do more than you think to safeguard your health, your money, and the planet.Homegrown and Handmade shows how making things from scratch and growing at least some of your own food can help you eliminate artificial ingredients from your diet, reduce your carbon footprint, and create a more authentic life. Whether your goal is increasing your self-reliance or becoming a full-fledged homesteader, it's packed with answers and solutions to help you:Take control of your food supply from seed to plate Raise small and medium livestock for fun, food, and fiber Rediscover traditional skills to meet more of your family's needs than you ever thought possibleThis comprehensive guide to food and fiber from scratch proves that attitude and knowledge is more important than acreage. Written from the perspective of a successful self-taught modern homesteader, this well illustrated, practical, and accessible manual will appeal to anyone who dreams of a simpler life.Deborah Niemann is a homesteader, writer, and self-sufficiency expert who presents extensively on topics including soapmaking, bread baking, cheesemaking, composting, and homeschooling. She and her family raise sheep, pigs, cattle, goats, chickens, and turkeys for meat, eggs, and dairy products, while an organic garden and orchard provides fruit and vegetables.

    It shows you how to grow your tea from seeds, cuttings, or small plants, as well as which parts of the plant are used to make tea. Liversidge lays out when and how to harvest your plants, as well as information on how to prepare the plant, including how to dry tea leaves to make tea you can store to last you throughout the year. As a guide to using tea to make you feel better, there are nutritional and medicinal benefits. Finally, there is an illustrated guide to show how to make up fresh and dried teabags and how to serve a delicious homegrown tea. It is sustainable way to look at a beverage, which is steeped in history and tradition.Sample drinks include well-known plants such as rose hips, mint, sage, hibiscus, and lavender, as well as more obscure ones like chicory, angelica, apple geranium, and lemon verbena.

    And it's not as hard as we may think! This hand written and drawn book of charming tutorials is both fun and accessible. It's full of simple skills that anyone can and should learn. From creating tinctures and salves to concocting all-natural cleaners and body products to gardening basics, this book is great for anyone looking to live more simply, create a comfortable nest, and truly do it yourself.

    Barrie Kavasch. Here are the time-honored tribal rituals performed to promote good health, heal illness, and bring mind and spirit into harmony with nature. Here also are dozens of safe, effective earth remedies--many of which are now being confirmed by modern research.Each chapter introduces a new stage in the life cycle, from the delightful Navajo First Smile Ceremony (welcoming a new baby) to the Apache Sunrise Ceremony (celebrating puberty) to the Seminole Old People's Dance.At the heart of the book are more than sixty easy-to-use herbal remedies--including soothing rubs for baby, a yucca face mask for troubled skin, relaxing teas, massage oils, natural insect repellents, and fragrant smudge sticks. There are also guidelines for assembling a basic American Indian medicine chest.

    Your Backyard Herb Garden by Miranda Smith will teach you everything you need to know about growing your favorite herbs using safe, natural, all-organic methods!Practical tips and advice on all aspects of successful herb growing.A wealth of great ideas and helpful how-to on using herbs in cooking, crafts, cosmetics, health care, insect repellents, and more.Illustrated herb directory featuring all the most popular herbs-- from aloe to yarrow-- each with complete information on growing, care, harvesting, and uses.

    Key features include:- use of compatible perennials;- non-invasive planting techniques;- emphasis on biodiversity;- specifically adaptable to local climate, landscape, and soil conditions;- highly productive output of edibles.Now, picture your backyard as one incredibly lush garden, filled with edible flowers, bursting with fruit and berries, and carpeted with scented herbs and tangy salad greens. The visual impact is of Monet's palette, a wash of color, texture, and hue. But this is no still life. The flowers nurture endangered pollinators. Bright-featured songbirds feed on abundant berries and gather twigs for their nests.The plants themselves are grouped in natural communities, where each species plays a role in building soil, deterring pests, storing nutrients, and luring beneficial insects. And finally, you—good ol' homo sapiens—are an integral part of the scene. Your garden tools are resting against a nearby tree, and have a slight patina of rust, because this garden requires so little maintenance. You recline into a hammock to admire your work. You have created a garden paradise.This is no dream, but rather an ecological garden, which takes the principles of permaculture and applies them on a home-scale. There is nothing technical, intrusive, secretive, or expensive about this form of gardening. All that is required is some botanical knowledge (which is in this book) and a mindset that defines a backyard paradise as something other than a carpet of grass fed by MiracleGro.

    The more things in your ritual to help your mind associate with your goal, the more powerful your ritual may be. Colored candles, scented oils, natural incenses, and more all add to the impact of the magic you wish to do. But how do you know which incense to burn? Is it possible to add scented oils together to get a more powerful oil? And how do you make your own appropriately-scented tools?The answers to questions like these and hundreds more can be found in The Complete Book of Incense, Oils and Brews by world-famous author Scott Cunningham. This is a greatly expanded and rewritten version of The Magic of Incenses, Oils and Brews. It includes over 100 new formulas, proportions for each element of the recipes (the most requested feature from his previous book), how to substitute ingredients, and much more. Besides the formulas, it also includes the exact methods of making all of these scented tools, including how to extract the essences from the herbs.Each one of the formulas in this magic book is precise and easy to make. Do you need luck? Take 2 parts vetivert, 2 parts allspice, 1 part nutmeg, and 1 part calamus, grind them together as finely as possible, then sprinkle the powder in a circle around you, beginning and ending in the East and moving clockwise. Sit within this circle and absorb the powder's energies. Also included are other ways to use magical powders that will have you coming up with your own ideas for them, too.There is a legion of recipes for incenses. There are three for the sun and two for consecrating talismans. There are incenses for each of the astrological signs and ones to help you study better and gain success. You'll also find incenses for each of the planetary influences. There are four for Saturn alone!This compendium of magical lore is a vital tool for every magical person on any magical path, whether you are a beginner or an expert.

    In Wicked Plants, Stewart takes on over two hundred of Mother Nature’s most appalling creations. It’s an A to Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend. You’ll learn which plants to avoid (like exploding shrubs), which plants make themselves exceedingly unwelcome (like the vine that ate the South), and which ones have been killing for centuries (like the weed that killed Abraham Lincoln's mother). Menacing botanical illustrations and splendidly ghastly drawings create a fascinating portrait of the evildoers that may be lurking in your own backyard. Drawing on history, medicine, science, and legend, this compendium of bloodcurdling botany will entertain, alarm, and enlighten even the most intrepid gardeners and nature lovers.

    Inspirational profiles of practicing herbalists from across the country add a human touch to the authors' wealth of practical herbal knowledge.The Herbalist's Way includes time-honored healing wisdom from many cultures, as well as information on: - Roles and responsibilities of herbalists in their communities - Herbal workshops, conferences, and education centers - Growing, drying, and preparing medicinal herbs - Learning to listen to clients and recommend holistic treatments for healing and continued wellness - Licensing, marketing, and other legal and business issues facing modern herbalists - Comprehensive resources and suggestions for building your herbal library

    • A seminal text in the development of Western herbal medicine • Presents nine categories of healing systems--Plants, Elements, Trees, Stones, Fish, Birds, Animals, Reptiles, and Metals--and elaborates on their medicinal use • Closely related to Eastern medical approaches that are gaining respect today Saint, mystic, healer, visionary, fighter, Hildegard von Bingen stands as one of the great figures in the history of women in me. At a time when few women could write and most were denied a formal education, Hildegard von Bingen became a legendary healer, visionary, musician, artist, poet, and saint. Her works include twenty-seven symphonic compositions; Scivias, a compilation of her visions; and her two major medical works, Causae et Curae, a medical compendium, and Physica, published here in English in its entirety for the first time. Physica has a strong affinity with the Eastern medical approaches gaining great respect today. The modern reader interested in natural healing will recognize the enormous truth in the theories of this 12th-century physician, which remind us that our cures for illness depend on our natural world and our place in it.