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Title: Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs (Llewellyn's Sourcebook Series)
ISBN: 0875421229
Author:
Scott Cunningham
Publicate Date: 2000-04-01
Publish: 2000-04-01
List Price: $15.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $8.15
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $5.40
Amazon Merchant Price: $10.85
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Excellent resource!
This book is quite an excellent resource to gather your basic herb information and effects that it can have. While it is not as detailed as other books such as Cathrine Yronwode's Herb and Root magic book, it does provide a few things here and there that are quite useful to any magical practitioner.
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2: Encyclopaedia of Magical Herbs
Scott Cunningham has given us a comprehensive list of the magical properties of herbs, how to use and prepare them. I recommend any of his books.
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3: Not perfect... but pretty damn close.
This is, first and foremost, a reference book. I think some people have taken it to be more of a complete "everything you'd ever need to know about herbs" book, but this isn't exactly the case.
It's an absolutely WONDERFUL reference. Never have I personally encountered a book that had dealt with so many different herbs and done such a thorough job explaining them. I admit, here and there a bit of information might be dated, and as someone else mentioned, there are certain plants he has forgotten to label as poisonous, etc. However, if you garden at all, most of these he's forgotten are complete "duh"s anyways. (Not that it's an excuse.)
I'll again say that it's not the end-all-be-all to magickal herbalism. I have a couple others (not as complete) that I like to cross reference, if it's something I'm not completely familiar with. The great bulk of his information is very accurate, though. His folklore is usually very detailed, and sometimes highly entertaining.
If you're looking for something to tell you how to do potions, tinctures, elixirs, teas, salves, soaps, oils, and everything else under the sun, this won't help. It's not meant to help. As an unsolicited plug, I'll say that Oils, Incenses, and Brews is a GREAT compliment to this book, covering what I just mentioned. They make a very usable team.
Also, he doesn't give much as to how to cultivate what he writes about. This, again, is something you wouldn't usually find in a reference book anyways. There are many many MANY gardening books out there that deals with this, though, and it's easier to find books particularly suited to your area. I know that English lavender prospers in New England, but that doesn't mean I can grow it in the sticky South. He doesn't cover things like this, and wouldn't have the space anyways.
His cross-referencing is absolutely amazing, too. He has thoroughly gone through folk names, Latin names, solar/lunar energies, planetary energies, astrology, and, well, everything else. And he gives in very readable, easy to use tables. I really appreciate this, as I might know a folk name for something that grows in my area, but have no clue as to what it's Latin name might be. This alone is worth the price, to me.
As I said at the top of my post, it's not perfect. There are some areas definitely lacking, but overall, it's a VERY good buy, and you won't be sad you got it.
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4: Can't say enough good things!
A must have. This and my Rondale book are my two most used and go to books for anything herbal whether magical or mundane.
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5: This is a great book
It is covers a vast realm of information and is great for the beginner as well as the advanced.
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