Witchcraft Medicine: Healing Arts, Shamanic Practices, and Forbidden Plants »

Claudia Müller-Ebeling, Ph.D., is an art historian and anthropologist and coauthor, with Christian Rätsch, of Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas, Witchcraft Medicine, and Pagan Christmas. She lives in Hamburg, Germany.

Christian Rätsch, Ph.D., is a world-renowned anthropologist and ethnopharmacologist who specializes in the shamanic uses of plants. He is the author of Marijuana Medicine and coauthor of Plants of the Gods, Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas, Witchcraft Medicine, and The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants. He lives in Hamburg, Germany, and lectures around the world.

Wolf-Dieter Storl, Ph.D., is a cultural anthropologist and ethnobotanist who has taught at Kent State University as well as in Vienna, Berne, and Benares. He is coauthor of Witchcraft Medicine and has written a number of books on indigenous culture and ethnobotany. He lives in Allgäu, Germany.

An in-depth investigation of traditional European folk medicine and the healing arts of witches

• Explores the outlawed “alternative” medicine of witches suppressed by the state and the Church and how these plants can be used today

• Reveals that female shamanic medicine can be found in cultures all over the world

• Illustrated with color and black-and-white art reproductions dating back to the 16th century

Witch medicine is wild medicine. It does more than make one healthy, it creates lust and knowledge, ecstasy and mythological insight. In Witchcraft Medicine the authors take the reader on a journey that examines the women who mix the potions and become the healers; the legacy of Hecate; the demonization of nature’s healing powers and sensuousness; the sorceress as shaman; and the plants associated with witches and devils. They explore important seasonal festivals and the plants associated with them, such as wolf’s claw and calendula as herbs of the solstice and alder as an herb of the time of the dead--Samhain or Halloween. They also look at the history of forbidden medicine from the Inquisition to current drug laws, with an eye toward how the sacred plants of our forebears can be used once again.

Claudia Müller-Ebeling, Ph.D., an art historian and anthropologist, is the coauthor of Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas and was editor in chief of Dao, a magazine about the health and longevity practices of the Far East. She lives in Hamburg, Germany. Christian Rätsch, Ph.D., is a world-renowned anthropologist and ethnopharmacologist who specializes in the shamanic uses of plants. The author of Marijuana Medicine and coauthor of Plants of the Gods and Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas, he lives in Hamburg, Germany. Wolf-Dieter Storl is a cultural anthropologist and ethnobotanist who has taught at Kent State University, as well as in Vienna, Berne, and Benares. He lives in Allgäu, Germany, and is the author of Culture and Horticulture: A Philosophy of Gardening. .

Publishers Weekly

"Witchcraft medicine is more than factual knowledge of medicinal herbs, poisonous plants, psychedelic compounds.... It is the ability to converse with the animal and plant spirits and to forge friendships." So begins this manual on traditional European folk medicine, first published in German in 1998. The work of four writers including fluid translator Lee, this volume is not the pagan whirlwind concoction of recipes and how-to instructions that it might seem at first. It is instead a highly desirable reference work for people of many stripes: cultural anthropologists, gardeners, historians, ethno-botanists, mythologists and those broadly interested in Wicca. Tracing human relations with plants (and animals to a lesser degree) back to the Stone Age, the book is deeply thorough and rests on interesting scholarship. It leaves no myth unexamined. The first six chapters delve into the evolution of the witch, usually a woman, who became familiar with the wild world that lay on the far side of the hedgerow. Chapter Seven examines images of witches, especially in art history, often counterbalanced against images of Mary. The final chapter on "Forbidden Medicine" (coca, poppy, mescaline, etc.) disappoints because its overt, unbalanced polemical tone agitating for legalization veers too much from scholarship toward politics. Copious illustrations, quotations, plant lists and profiles make this work even more interesting. The critical index (not seen by PW) should cap this 90% excellent effort. (Dec.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Introduction: Is Witchcraft Medicine Good Medicine?

WOLF-DIETER STORL

1. The Wild Earth and Its Children
The Power of the Wilderness Divine Visitors to the Small Cultural Island Midsummer's Dream The August Festival The Equinox The Time of the Dead: Samhain, Halloween Rites of Initiation

2. The Old Woman in the Hedgerow
The Chimney The Wrath of Venus The New Science

3. The Witch As Shaman
Devil Worship The Buck: The Divine Dispenser The World Tree The Flight to the Holy Mountain Flying Ointment Sex and Fertility Magic Weather Magic

4. Midwives: Fertility and Birth
The Way into Existence The Children's Springs at Lolarka Kund The Time of Begetting Pregnancy Birth The Hebe-Ahnin and the Men's Childbed After the Birth

5. The Mother of Death
Flowers for the Dead The Festival of the Dead The Dead and the Vegetation The Dead As Dispensers of Fertility

CHRISTIAN RÄTSCH

6. Witchcraft Medicine: the Legacy of Hecate
Gardens of the Gods and Herbs of the Witches The Garden of the Great Goddess The Garden of Hecate The Garden of Medea The Garden of Circe The Garden of Artemis Flying Ointments and Lovers' Salves As Medicine Pharmakon Wine

CLAUDIA MÜLLER-EBELING

7. Images of Witches: The Demonization of Nature's Healing Powers
The Image of the Witch Mary: The Chaste Cultural Heroine The Witch: The Sensuous Natural Woman The Demonization of Nature and Sensuality Sinister Companions of the Witch Poison Mixers and Healers The Demonization of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants The Healing of the Microcosm and Macrocosm Rübezahl: Herbalist and Weather God Seeress and Goddess of Fate From the Goddess to the Witch The Witch As the Temptation of Saint Anthony Saturn: Master of the Witches The Painters of Witches

CHRISTIAN RÄTSCH

8. Witchcraft Medicine: Forbidden Medicine-From the Inquisition to the Drug Laws
Coca and Cocaine Poppy and Opium Mescaline and Psilocybin: The Forbidden Souls of the Gods Ayahuasca: The Conquest Is Not Over The "Drug" Business News Update: Hemp Seeds Outlawed!

Appendix: Plants Associated with Witches and Devils

Bibliography Index