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A review by goldenfenris
A Witch's Guide to Wildcraft: Using Common Plants to Create Uncommon Magick by JD Walker
3.0
I think my expectations for this book and the reality of the information that it provides were not quite the same. I was hoping for more uses for the plants highlighted in this book. Each plant has one example of its potential magic use, but I was hoping for a few more for each one. As I wouldn't use this type of book for identification purposes, I would have rather had more examples of uses as opposed to the descriptions of the plant or common lookalikes or even the rather extensive history sections for each plant. Also, I felt like quite a few of the plants were poisonous, which I appreciate that they let us know so we don't just go around making salads of all the green things, but I could see someone with small children or animals just avoiding a bulk of these material out of caution.
I did appreciate some ideas about how to make your gathering a bit more magical, but I didn't appreciate the tone or the disdain towards more modern sources for witchcraft. I'm not a fan of policing how other people want to practice their craft or the sources that they want to use. And while I suppose there is an argument for going back to the original sources, but some of those aren't exactly accessible for a modern practitioner. Instead of Nostradamus' cherry jam recipe, which is relatively accessible, but I'll stick to my great-grandmothers. Not quite as time tested, but I'm sure it tastes just as good.
Overall, I would recommend this for someone looking for a lot of information of the plants listed, but not necessarily a lot of ideas for uses.
Thank you to Llewellyn Publications, JD Walker and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
I did appreciate some ideas about how to make your gathering a bit more magical, but I didn't appreciate the tone or the disdain towards more modern sources for witchcraft. I'm not a fan of policing how other people want to practice their craft or the sources that they want to use. And while I suppose there is an argument for going back to the original sources, but some of those aren't exactly accessible for a modern practitioner. Instead of Nostradamus' cherry jam recipe, which is relatively accessible, but I'll stick to my great-grandmothers. Not quite as time tested, but I'm sure it tastes just as good.
Overall, I would recommend this for someone looking for a lot of information of the plants listed, but not necessarily a lot of ideas for uses.
Thank you to Llewellyn Publications, JD Walker and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.