Earth Magic: A Wisewoman's Guide to Herbal, Astrological, and Other Folk Wisdom

I liked this book. I enjoyed the combination of esoteric Christianity and paganism, which isn't something that you find very often. I also enjoyed the layout of this book. The only reason I'm not giving this book 5 stars is because there were several sections that I had to re-read multiple times in order to understand what the author was saying. There are run-on sentences and choppy word flow throughout the book. A paragraph is not one long, run-on sentence. There were several times when I wanted to shake the editor for sleeping on the job.

Paganism and Christianity are very well linked. Pagan Rome first persecuted the early Christian faith,Christianity survived. Christianity persecuted the pagan faith,Paganism survived. The two faiths have and will always blend together.For better or for worse. I enjoyed reading Earth Magic,it's a good read and would be welcome on any open-minded reader's bookshelf who seeks not to separate, but to bridge.

A peaceful and loving monthly wisewoman's path. Although most works of this nature are pagan; Claire Nahmad brings a Christian twist filled with angels and Christian Holy Days to celebrate. Traditions reach centuries back in time when the influence of stars and planets on all things of the earth were acknowledged and accepted, and when practitioners of healing and herbalism, whose vision was holistic, took these influences into account and were expert in their understanding of them. This lore of the wisewoman teaches us how to love and revere the earth, how to respond to her magic and return in some measure the blessing and healing that we receive from her. What a great find.

Both charming and colloquial, Earth Magic reads like a recipe book of a 17th or 18th century witch or wisewoman. This is both a virtue and a stumbling-block. While the volume is crammed full of spells, instructions, charts, and folklore, it is difficult to read in large doses. The material conforms to no particular tradition or belief system, except perhaps that of Elizabethan hearthwitches, stillroom keepers, and herb grannies. Angelic and astrological correspondences rub shoulders with goddess lore, and references to both the Goddess and Jesus Christ are common.The book is divided into twelve chapters, each covering one month and/or one sign of the zodiac. The Angels, Spirits, and Stars section for each month includes meditations on the spirit of the months, zodiac profile (on the sign itself, not necessarily a person "of" that sign), starwatching information, and invocations to related spirits. The Wisewoman's Journal section includes folklore, spells, and charms. Also for each month there is the Wisewoman's Weatherbook, with related weather lore. June, July and August feature "Witch's Garden" sections with information on a few garden features. Spells for love, for divination, for healing and protection are mixed with practical medical herbalism and weatherlore. Especially useful for those who use angelic and astrological magic, or who are looking for "traditional" women's magic.It is clear that the information was gathered and written up by someone who was an avid student of the outdoors, including gardening, weatherworking, and astronomy. The text, though dense with symbolism and thick with information, is in a lyrical, flowing, and tender tone that is worth the time required to comprehend it. While few of us may be able to study under a genuine traditional witch in the old sense of the word -- herbwife, charmcaster, wisewoman -- or, in fact, to study their recipe books, this may be the closest to the old knowledge we will get.

Even though I have not finished this book yet, I have found it to be very good upon my glances and just by leafing through it. It is different than the norm books of natual magick, folklore, Witchcraft and Wicca, etc., that is so prevalent today. This book is a far cry in that it speaks more to and of the wisewoman's old ways of living with harmony of the earth and her cycles, and gives much folklore and 'days of old' knowledge that is not as well known in our fast-food culture, yet still relevant and useful today and everyday as ever. It is broken up into seasons and sections with relevant information astrologically, folklore, holidays, herbal and more. I found it refreshing and different, but also not as easy to read or 'light' in tone or subject as some other books that fall in this category. That in itself is a blessing in my opinion since I find it difficult to find books after awhile that are not just cookie-cutter initations of the same stuff in different packaging and various styles. This book is definately not and is a highly overlooked gem!