The Witch's Book of Simples

Download or read book The Witch's Book of Simples written by Melusine Draco and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2022-03-25 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Keep it Simple A Simple is a philtre derived from a single herb and was an important element among the natural resources of the parish-pump witch, wise-women and cunning-folk. Simples are common kitchen ‘stuff' that have been handed down through generations of country people in the form of family cures for everyday ailments. Or as William Fernie wrote in his Herbal Simples (1897) The art of Simpling is as old with us as our British hills. It aims at curing common ailments with simple remedies culled from the soil, or got from home resources near at hand. These were no fancy recipes with magical formulae, and, often given as a tisane, the woman of the household was able to use the remedies to treat common ailments suffered by her family. And, this elementary form of domestic plant medicine can be as simple as a cup of chamomile tea made from flowers picked fresh from our own garden to aid sleep. This was the most elementary way to use medicinal plants since no fancy recipes or scientific acumen was needed. But this element of traditional witchcraft has long been in the shadows …