Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs [antikvár]

Preface I was a young man when I began to write what was eventually to become Magical Herbalism. Frustrated at the lack of information concerning herb magic and at the surfeit of interest in my teachers and fellow occult students I set out to investigate this nearly lost art. This search took me through worlds and experiences of which I had scarcely dreamt. Nights spent reading ancient books and manuscripts while sipping herbal teas led to practical application; I collected herbs by moonlight and brewed up spells on deserted beaches. Slowly the pieces fell into my hands. At last I gathered up the threads of the ancient ways and, from them, wove a system of herb magic. The more I experienced herb magic the more I reaUzed its true powers. It may well be the most ancient and yet the most practical form of magic, for its tools grow all around us, even in the concrete-laden cities in which so many of us live. After witnessing the power of herbs I decided to write a book explaining these lost ways. Thus, Magical Herbalism was born. Five years and several drafts later it was published. During this process my research into and work with herb magic hadn't halted. Most of what I was learning could not be incorporated into Magical Herbalism, and so I decided that it had to wait for a later book. My early work was almost solely concerned with Old World plants, and this is reflected in Magical Herbalism. In recent years I have investigated the magical uses of plants of North and South America, the Near East, the Far East and Polynesia. (Some of these Polynesian plants have been included in this work, but the majority must wait for a future book on Hawaiian magic: Hawaiian Magic & Spirituality, Llewellyn, 1994.) With the amount of new information I had uncovered I soon realized that the second herbal would be a veritable encyclopedia of herb magic. Hence, this book. The present work is not a guide to herb magic, only minimal information is given in these pages concerning it. That ground is covered in Magical Herbalism. Do you wish to attract a lover? Carry a bag of rose petals or an IX