Title: The Witch's Book of Simples
Author: Mélusine Draco
Publisher: Moon Books
Pages: 188
Publication Date: March 25th 2022
A Simple is a philtre derived from a single herb and was an important element among the natural resources of the parish-pump witch, wise-women and cunning-folk. Simples are common kitchen ‘stuff’ that have been handed down through generations of country people in the form of family cures for everyday ailments. Or as William Fernie wrote in his Herbal Simples (1897) The art of Simpling is as old with us as our British hills. It aims at curing common ailments with simple remedies culled from the soil, or got from home resources near at hand.
These were no fancy recipes with magical formulae, and, often given as a tisane, the woman of the household was able to use the remedies to treat common ailments suffered by her family. And, this elementary form of domestic plant medicine can be as simple as a cup of chamomile tea made from flowers picked fresh from our own garden to aid sleep. This was the most elementary way to use medicinal plants since no fancy recipes or scientific acumen was needed. But this element of traditional witchcraft has long been in the shadows
I appreciate what the author is trying to do with this book, but I feel like it slightly missed the mark. There is a lot of folklore and historical information, but I was hoping for more practical information that would make it easier to utilize this information in a modern setting.
While the author does make a note that she likes hunting down obscure information and that this book would be a collection of such information I feel like instead of heavily block quoting from various sources more information or visual information on the herbs would be helpful, especially as an American reading this from a UK based author and book.
I think for simple safety purposes all the herbs should have visual information so that the plants being used can be verified as the correct ones.
The preparation chapter is a great starter place, but as someone who has studied herbalism, a complete beginner would definitely need another resource to go hand in hand with this one. This will be a great brush up/quick reference resource for someone who already knows what they're doing.
Lastly, a full star reduction, as another review over on Goodreads has done, for the racial slur use for the Romani people under the Elder (Berry & Flower) section on page 94.
There is no reason to be using this slur in 2022 and I hope it'll be removed before actually being published.
There is no reason to be using this slur in 2022 and I hope it'll be removed before actually being published.
Overall, an ok resource for those interested in the folklore and historical, obscure facts about plants and herbalism, but not a great resource for someone who wants to dive deeply in a safe and effective manner.
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.
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