What I’m Reading This Autumn
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As the evenings cool and shorten going into Autumn, I find my stack of reading materials growing ever taller. I’d like to share some of the excellent books I’ve found so far and tell you a bit about them. So, without further ado, here is what I am reading this autumn about witchcraft, herbalism, and fiction:
Books on Witchcraft:
My collection books on witchcraft and the crooked path continues to grow with the addition of these. Both books are packed full of ideas for spells and magical workings this autumn.
Wild Witchcraft by Rebecca Beyer
Learn how to cultivate your own magical garden, begin your journey with folk herbalism, and awaken to your place in nature through practical skills from an experienced Appalachian forager and witch.
Witchcraft is wild at heart, calling us into a relationship with the untamed world around us. Through the power of developing a relationship with plants, a witch—beginner or experienced—can practice their art more deeply and authentically by interacting with the beings that grow around us all. Bridging the gap between armchair witchcraft and the hedge witches of old, Wild Witchcraft empowers you to work directly with a wide variety of plants and trees safely and sustainably.
With Wild Witchcraft, Rebecca Beyer draws from her years of experience as an Appalachian witch and forager to give you a practical guide to herbalism and natural magic that will share:
-The history of witchcraft and Western herbalism
-How to create and maintain your own herbal garden
-Recipes for tinctures, teas, salves, and other potions to use in rites and rituals
-Spells, remedies, and rituals created with the wild green world around you, covering a range of topics, from self-healing to love to celebrating the turning of the seasons
-And much more!
Wild Witchcraft welcomes us home to the natural world we all dwell in by exploring practical folk herbal and magical rites grounded in historical practices and a sustainable, green ethic.
Green Witchcraft by Paige Vanderbeck
With good reason this book has thousands of five star reviews!
Unearth the power of natural magic with this guide to green witchcraft.
Through green magic, any witch can incorporate the wisdom and energy of the earth into their practice. This fun and informative spell book introduces readers to the magic of plants and herbs and then breaks down the foundational practices of green witchcraft into easy-to-follow sections.
What sets this green witch book apart:
PRACTICAL APPROACH: This beginner-friendly book offers inclusive guidance for successfully bringing nature inside your home and into your practice.
ACCESSIBLE MAGIC: Learn authentic spells, rituals, potions, and practices with a focus on using tools and materials normally found on hand.
GUIDED GROWTH: Get expert instruction from a respected witch on how to safely and responsibly add the magic of flowers, plants, herbs, wood, stones, and crystals to any practice.
Build a practice around the energy and intention of the natural world with this indispensable green magic book.
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Books on Herbalism:
Even after 15+ years as a practicing herbalist, I’m still learning and collecting information for my grimoire. Both of these books on herbalism taught me plenty of new information and a fresh perspective on the things I already knew.
Herbal Medic by Sam Coffman
This book is an amazing addition to not only my herbalism library, but also my first aid and prepping shelves. A must for every household.
With a focus on herbal medicine and first-aid essentials, former Green Beret medic and clinical herbalist Sam Coffman presents this comprehensive home reference on medical emergency preparedness for times when professional medical care is unavailable.
Herbal Medic covers first-aid essentials, such how to assess a situation and a person in need of treatment and distinguish between illness and injury, as well as how to prepare and use herbs when there is no access to conventional medical treatment. In addition, the book provides a basic introduction to herbal medicine, with detailed entries on the best herbs to use in treatment; information on disease in the body and how herbs work against it; instructions for making herbal preparations; a list of those herbs the author has found most useful in his clinical experience; and a wide array of specific herbal care protocols for a multitude of acute health issues.
The Poison Path by Cody Michael
A guide to safely working with the poisonous plants of the witches’ pharmacopoeia for magic, healing, and visions
• Explains how to work with baneful herbs through rituals and spells, as plant spirit familiars, as potent medicines, and as visionary substances
• Details the spiritual, alchemical, astrological, and symbolic associations of each plant, its active alkaloids, how to safely cultivate and harvest it, and rituals and spells suited to its individual nature and powers
• Shares plant alchemy methods, magical techniques, and recipes featuring the plants, including a modern witches’ flying ointment
Part grimoire and part herbal formulary, this guide to the Poison Path of occult herbalism shares history, lore, and information regarding the use of poisonous, consciousness-altering, and magical plants. Author Coby Michael explains how, despite their poisonous nature, baneful herbs can become powerful plant allies, offering potent medicine, magical wisdom, and access to the spirit realm.
Detailing the spiritual, alchemical, astrological, and symbolic associations of each plant, the author explores their magical uses in spells and rituals. He focuses primarily on the nightshade family, or Solanaceae, such as mandrake, henbane, and thorn apple, but also explores plants from other families such as wolfsbane, hemlock, and hellebore. He also examines plants in the witch’s pharmacopoeia that are safer to work with and just as chemically active, such as wormwood, mugwort, and yarrow.
The author shares rituals suited to the individual nature and powers of each plant and explains how to attract and work with plant spirit familiars. He offers plant alchemy methods for crafting spagyric tinctures and magical techniques to facilitate working with these plants as allies and teachers. He shares magical recipes featuring the plants, including a modern witches’ flying ointment. He also explores safely cultivating baneful herbs in a poison garden.
Fiction Books:
I love to load up on scary fiction for the fall and these two books did not disappoint! Both are so suspenseful and just wonderfully written.
From Below by Darcy Coates
So freaking scary! But also, I must say Ms Coates writes a really rather nice sort of horror. She really is fast becoming one of my favorites.
No light. No air. No escape.
Hundreds of feet beneath the ocean's surface, a graveyard waits...
Years ago, the SS Arcadia vanished without a trace during a routine voyage. Though a strange, garbled emergency message was broadcast, neither the ship nor any of its crew could be found. Sixty years later, its wreck has finally been discovered more than three hundred miles from its intended course...a silent graveyard deep beneath the ocean's surface, eagerly waiting for the first sign of life.
Cove and her dive team have been granted permission to explore the Arcadia's rusting hull. Their purpose is straightforward: examine the wreck, film everything, and, if possible, uncover how and why the supposedly unsinkable ship vanished.
But the Arcadia has not yet had its fill of death, and something dark and hungry watches from below. With limited oxygen and the ship slowly closing in around them, Cove and her team will have to fight their way free of the unspeakable horror now desperate to claim them.
We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson
I’ve heard about this book for so many years and finally decided it had to be on my autumn reading list! Let me say, Ms Jackson did not disappoint,
Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate.
What are you reading this fall? I’d love to see your stack of books, hear your thoughts, and add to my own reading list.
