[Review] By Wolfsbane and Mandrake Root by Melusine Draco

Title: Pagan Portals: By Wolfsbane and Mandrake Root
Author: Melusine Draco
Publisher: Moon Books
Publishing Date: February 22, 2017
Pages: 96


A large number of poisonous plants have beneficial uses in both domestic medicine and magic. Needless to say, when utilizing a toxic plant in magic, we are adding certain extra deadly or potent energies into the mix and it is inadvisable to start messing about with deadly poisons unless we've made a thorough study of the subject - and not just by glancing at a paragraph in a book on herbal preparations!

A big thank you to the publisher for gifting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I'm always so thankful to have these opportunities! 


This review has been a long time coming - I'm not sure why I put off this little book - at 96 pages it didn't take me very long to get through. While it's a short book, there is quite a bit of information, and I think I put it off because I don't use baneful plants in my practice, so I had no practical reason to pick it up - besides for the obligation of the review. 

This book gets three triquetras from me. The topic of the book is a bit misleading. I was under the impression that we would be going over the plants that are considered baneful - perhaps with profiles of the plants and potentially how to utilize them. Not for poisoning, but perhaps on an energetic level. 

The majority of this book dives into the historical uses, and stories. While these were fascinating I found that at times I was flipping ahead to see when they would be over. We only have 96 pages after all and it seemed as if the author were struggling to fill those pages. 

While I understand wanting to proceed with caution for such a deadly (literally) topic, I couldn't help but feel disappointed, even with the one chapter that we're given on the actual plants. 

I will say that the chapter on the plants is amazing, and the amount of detail is very useful information. I just wish there were more of it. 

About the Author

Mélusine Draco originally trained in the magical arts of traditional British Old Craft with Bob and Mériém Clay-Egerton. She has been a magical and spiritual instructor for over 20 years with Coven of the Scales and the Temple of Khem, and writer of numerous popular books including Liber Agyptius: the Book of Egyptian Magic; The Egyptian Book of Days; The Egyptian Book of Nights; The Thelemic Handbook; The Hollow Tree, an elementary guide to the Qabalah; A Witch's Treasury of the Countryside; Root & Branch: British Magical Tree Lore and Starchild: a rediscovery of stellar wisdom. Her highly individualistic teaching methods and writing draws on ancient sources supported by academic texts and current archaeological findings. She now lives in Ireland near the Galtee Mountains and has several titles currently published with John Hunt Publishing including the Traditional Witchcraft series.