HERB - Recommended book: The Herbal Arts

[Jenne Heise]

_The Herbal Arts: A handbook of Gardening, Recipes, Healing, Crafts &
Spirituality_ by Patricia Telesco. Citadel Press, 1998. $12.95 paperback.
ISBN: 0-8065-1964-9.

My acquaintance with Patricia Telesco is through her new age/pagan books.
This volume, however, is very light on the 'spirituality' and heavy on the
practical herbalist skills.  The author, from Buffalo NY, says that she
used to be in the SCA but no longer has enough time, and she is an
excellent researcher. I'm only 1/2 way through this book but I'm already
impressed right out of my socks. It's worth the $12.95 just for the
section on Herbal Artistry, which gives base recipes/directions for
everything from beers, meads and liqueurs to creams, compresses, and
moisturizers. 

There is also an extensive section (the back of the book
says more than 130) of herb profiles.  Not all of the standard herbs are
covered, but a number of non-standard ones are, including pumpkin, carob,
and oak. Folk names, history, folklore/superstition/magical uses,
medicinal users, culinary/crafts uses, and gardening/habitat, as well as
other things like the language of flowers, are given for each herb.
Several recipes/redactions are given for each, and comparative historical
material is featured: "contrary to Hippocrates' claim, the Arabs believe
mint improves virility. In the language of flowers, it represents virtue.
This is rather amusing, considering that the herbalist Culpeper says that
mint stirs up bodily lust"!

Though not a primary source, this is an excellent secondary/tertiary
source. So far, the only part of her work that I disagree with is her
definition of decoction, which is a vexed question anyway (do you boil the
material in the water for a decoction or just steep it longer?). The
'spirituality' aspect doesn't seem to me to be obtrusive, but as I said
the base recipes section is definitely a great help when concocting
crafts...

Jadwiga Zajaczkowa (Shire of Eisental; HERMS Cyclonus), mka Jennifer Heise	
jenne at tulgey.browser.net

"Healing the universe is an inside job." 


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