Christian Rätsch

I love this book, but I think of it as 'folkloric' factual, rather than 'historic' factual, if that makes any sense. This is not only one of my favourite books about plants, but one of my favourite books in general. Witchcraft Medicine is engagingly written; academic references are given, but they don't interrupt the flowing prose. The topics vary, although the main theme of the intertwined relationship of plants and witches is always present. I loved the information on ancient Greek religion, Germanic folklore, the witch vs the virgin in art, flying ointments, the Devil, goddesses, and the demonization of Nature. The book is filled with beautiful glossy photographs and intriguing woodcuts.

My one complaint is that the section on the "war on drugs" is a bit too personal; while I agree with the author's viewpoint, the change in tone from academically 'neutral' to overtly and politically biased is a bit jarring. Other than that, I love this book. While it's not specifically aimed at pagans, it's certainly a much better written and more informative reference on plant folklore than any of the 'magical herbal' type books on the market today.… (more)

So many factual errors in the first few pages it's hard to take the herbalism information as fact, though it seems okay, but the historical information that fleshes it out is so wrong as to be blatant stroking of the new age feminine ego. "In the neolithic era, farms were passed down matrilinearly" Huh? a)I don't know if we know HOW they were passed down and b) matrilinearly seems a wee bit farfetched. It goes on... about gray elderly women being the repository of witchcraft knowledge. Well, as 30 to 35 was the average age for a nice elderly neolithic woman, if she lived past childbirth, it's a load of crock.
Outright fibs to stroke the uneducated newly new age woman to buy a book of questionable value.… (more)