Herbs of the Northern Shaman:
A Guide to Mind-Altering Plants
by Steve Andrews.
Published by Loompanics Unlimited ISBN 1-55950-211-8
Reviewed By Carrie de Fey
This book covers the shamanic use of more than 60 plants, trees and fungi, most of them found in the British Isles. Steve explores the effect they produce and their active constituents, sometimes in great detail.
He looks carefully at any side effects and explains how to harvest the plants and which parts can be used and in some cases how to process them, the dosage and the method of taking them.
As well as their mind altering qualities Steve also looks at their history, medicinal and culinary uses.
Each plant is headed with the common, then Latin name for each plant,
after that comes a list of folk names and a description of the plant is included in the text. Some of the plants are accompanied by a black and white line drawing or photograph. Most sections end with the ruling planet of the herb...
As someone with a general interest in plants and herbs I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, it is easy to read and well presented and contains a lot of information which is new to me. I found it fascinating and friendly at the same time and would recommend it to any with an interest in flora.
And though I might not get around to trying any new 'legal highs', I may well try making a batch of the fishing bait described for my brother, it consists of corn, thyme, nettles, cinquefoil, marjoram and the juice of houseleek.
This was once considered irresistible to fish, I wonder if it still works?