The Use of Bathing in Medicine: Now Available!

 

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This little work details some of the herbs used in a medicinal setting pertinent to bathing throughout time, with a special focus on the practices of ancient Greece and Rome. It compares these usages to practices in vogue in then-modern (18th century) England.

The processes detailed are often presented in such a manner that some of the recipes used in both hot and cold bathing- especially aromatics and astringents pertinent to the theory of the four humors proposed initially by Galen but still believed in until relatively modern times with the rise of early standardized systems in organic medicine.

Fully illustrated.

37 pages.

Botanic Materia Medica: Now Available!

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This mid-19th century work is an excellent materia medica, more rigorously categorical than many competing editions from the time period, containing an entire list of abbreviations for the usage of species, which are then applied in the work. It contains several hundred different entries- the usages are sometimes archaic, although some terms (such as astringent and stimulant) are still used.

It is a fine example of herbal medicine from the early period in which organic chemistry was leading to the rudimentary standardization of dosage- the work details the difference between tinctures, extracts, and so forth, as well.

Illustrated by Raven Feather Illustrations.

99 pages.

The Mystery and Romance of Alchemy and Pharmacy: Now Available!

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This excellent book I cannot recommend highly enough. It is an academic (but not very dryly academic) compilation of lore related to medical history, alchemy, and the apothecary, spanning centuries, with an especial focus on the period of roughly the mid 16th to early 19th centuries.

It contains entire recorded lists of apothecarial goods available in then-contemporary shops, analysis of the usage of herbal and alchemical lore in fictional works by Shakespeare, Dickens, Spenser, Dumas, and others, and a great number of illustrations, which have been reworked and expanded upon by Raven Feather Illustrations. From amulets and toad-stones to love philtres and mummy powder, this work contains a vast trove of knowledge on the subject.

249 pages.

The Divine Origin and Craft of the Herbalist: Now Available!

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This interesting text is an analysis of the intertwined and co-evolving nature of medical practice (specifically herbal and mineral) with religions, from times as remote as early Ancient Egypt and Sumeria, up through Assyria, Greece, Rome, the rise of the Islamic world, the copts, and other groups.

A great many specific rituals and a large number of species and their usages are explored- the work is also illustrated, with cuneiform and hieroglyphic work translated and interpreted.

76 pages.

Bantu Folk Lore: Now Available!

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This ethnographic work is a significant compilation of South African herbal and ritual lore, with profuse linguistic inclusions, combining the scientific names of species, and descriptions of types of doctors and practices, with the native speech involved. Less preachy than some contemporary studies, it actually compares the materia medica of the Bantu people with that of the European people.

77 pages.

Medical Fashions of the Nineteenth Century: Now Available!

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This little text is an interesting look at both superstition and science, both orthodox and unorthodox medical practice, as analyzed at the end of the 19th century. Skepticism of germ theory mixes with very valid criticism of the over-prescription of anesthetics. The miasmatic theory clings on even as sanitation takes hold. Perhaps out current era, with its own debate and medical meanderings, is less separate from talismans, leeches, and the four humors, than we might wish to think.

50 pages.

Folk Medicine, A Collection: Now Available!

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This is yet another full length compilation of texts and content from texts which I have crafted- I have to say it is thus far my favorite of all the compilations, and deals with medical lore from multiple subgenres.

The first section contains, verbatim, the famous Regimen Salernitus Salernitanum, a medieval work on dietary and similar science, and then proceeds with sections on various folk cures, astrological and alchemical medical content, herbs and their medical usages, and more, compiled from about a dozen different sources, with an expansive preface, a short list of archaic medicinal terms which I thought necessary to explain for the reader, and a section with some other works of note which can be consulted for further reading.

320 pages.

Frays Golden Recipes: Now Available!

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At the dawn of the 19th century, most popular domestic tip books contained ritual magic or at least prayers and explicit superstition. By the time of this particular work in the late 19th century, those had disappeared leaving herbal medicine, simple tips, recipes, and so forth; indeed, the path from grimoire, to this type of text, to modern woodcrafting and recipe books is fascinating.

It contains a slew of herbal remedies for disease and injury, as well as tips for basic issues such as illness in livestock and so forth- although some of the remedies are not a great idea, some of them remain in alternative medicine even today. It ought to be noted that this booklet had a very long printing run; I have seen scans of editions post-dating this one by 20 years.

66 pages.

The Family Companion and Physician: Now Available!

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This semi-short work is a fine one, because it combines herbal remedies (the recipes thereof, that is) with what amounts to diagnosis, and bridges the gap between prior works (which tended to be quite superstitious) and latter ones (which were more scientific in the truly modern sense. In the mid 19th century, the scientific and the spiritual segued into one another seamlessly. The incantations of grimoires slowly got displaced by the apothecary receipts of the more recent era. It includes as well a short lecture on health which is at times hilarious, blaming "self abuse" (now known as masturbation) for lunacy and various developmental disabilities.

I cannot recommend the concoctions utilized here in this booklet but some of the species and preparations are indeed chemically active and at the time would likely have been tested with at least some degree of rigor. It is an interesting look at the eras' medicinal lore. One of the best, actually.

65 pages.

Ancient Cures, Charms, and Usages of Ireland: Now Available!

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This particular book is an interesting combination of work that delves into folklore, civics, and what might be considered, beyond the strictly folkloric, spook stories, some of which are fairly fantastical in nature. Crafted at the end of the 19th century, it encourages the invasion of Ireland by the United States to liberate the island from British tyranny, and at great length condemns the English almost in entirety.

For occult purposes the lore of interest here is threefold; first, a treatment of simple remedies, often herbal or in the form of Christianized incantations. Second, fairy lore, significant in bulk. Third, folk stories involving both the dead and witches in a great deal of sometimes quite morbid detail. I must admit several of the stories about dead brides were bizarre even by my standards. It caps itself off with a nice little series of proverbs, which are sometimes religious.

186 pages.

Witchcraft Detected and Prevented: Now Available!

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This work is a bit on the odd side because the title is utterly useless in determining its content; reading the title (which proposes the work to purely oppose witchery) and the preface, one would assume it's nothing more than Christian zeal or, at most, white magick. It is in fact based partly on the work of Magnus, partly on the Petit Albert (or some intermediary text) and partly on the fortune telling tradition of the late 1700s with the Norwood Gypsy and other content. As such, it is a bric-a-brac, a gray magick grimoire, and a miniaturized compiling of herbal and folk lore and magic, all combined with some protective incantations and plenty of superstition.

In fact, altogether, it almost rivals the Petit Albert or Hohman's "Pow Wows" for interest in my own opinion- this kind of work is uncommon, and extremely interesting. It also contains some basic chemical works (alchemy!) and weather prognostication with astrological overtones.


92 pages.

General Update Time!

Alright literary world;

It's time for a little bit of an update- I'm quite excited for the next three months, that happy period of time where summer winds down towards Halloween, AKA the greatest holiday of the year. After Halloween, there's nothing to look forward to until spring except stuffing yourself on Thanksgiving and Yule.

I have four works that I am definitively working on during this period; two herbal works (another government circular by the author of "Weeds as Medicine" and the South Sea Herbal) which will require illustration are on the docket, along with a short alchemical tract and the current work I am editing; "Secrets of Black Arts!" which is similar to other travelers booklets from the late 19th century and into the 1920s- these short works were part historical and part titillating grotesquery. Don't worry, those won't be the only works I release over this period; I have a half dozen others ready to format but I am not sure which of them will be completed- along with, I hope, the beginnings of SIH two.

That's about all. Don't dog-ear your books.

Weeds Used as Medicine: Now Available!

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This interesting booklet was released in the early 20th century as a helpful government bulletin designed to inform farmers that some of the weeds they were constantly removing from their land were medicinal in nature and potentially of at least enough value to make the work of exterminating them mildly profitable. It has been beautifully re-illustrated by the talented Rita Metzner. You can see some of her other works here.

It covers quite a few species; datura is here notable along with poison hemlock as plants that are no longer generally considered to be valid within medicine. Catnip is also mentioned somewhat amusingly here as more valuable on the medicinal end; these days of course its primary reason for sale is as a narcotic for peoples' miniaturized lions and tigers. The general medical use of each species, along with a description of its prevalence and appearance, is paired as well with some interesting asides regarding the commercial nature of early 20th century herbal medicine.

58 pages.

The Useful Family Herbal: Now Available!

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This little work manages to compact a large number of recipes (receipts) into a very small page size. Crafted in the early 19th century, it is semi-antiquated in word usage, but provides cures, preventions, and treatments for things common in the era, such as tuberculosis and palsy.

It should not be particularly surprising that a large proportion of medical recipes here contain wine or rum, or else are crafted into a sort of medicinal beer- while not all of the recipes are likely effectual (some aren't even remotely safe- lead is usually no longer used as medicine!) many of them certainly would have gotten the user drunk enough to forget their illness. It contains a short index of medicinal species as well and their properties.

30 pages.

The Witches' Pharmacopoeia: Now Available!

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And now at last we come to a great milestone in the catalog of works I have authored or edited; the 100th occult release (counting a half a dozen of my own works) and the first herbal/homeopathic work here, technically speaking; the very good "Witches Pharmacopoeia" by Robert Fletcher, who combines the Shakespearean with the burning times herbal and cauldron-stirring lore

This booklet is line after line of not only herbal inclusions into magick but contains also some brief coverage of other diabolical work; especially as it relates to the boiling of unbaptized infants or the use of hanged man fat in potions and rituals. You will probably know the latter best from the use of the Hand of Glory.

This work along with "Magic Plants" will be placed in a new ninth category for herbal, homeopathic, and medicine-related works as soon as at least two additional titles are available that would fit therein; likely the South Sea Herbal and "Weeds as Medicine." It will go under the Academic heading until the new category is crafted.

40 pages.

Magic Plants: Now Available!

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"Magic Plants" is not an herbal, strictly speaking, although it treats on the use of herbs in a sorcerous context in some primary sources it lists. Rather, it is a general treatise on the philosophy behind such use within the context of natural magic.

Translated from "De Vegetabilis Magicis" by Goldsmid in the mid 1800s, it is a dense little work, which, in its appendix, adds a tract detailing some witch trial material (almost surely to show the reader the torments applied for an understanding of natural healing and science in the burning times, especially to those who did not even practice sorcery) which speaks of herbalism insofar as witching ointment and a Satan-bestowed "mysterious black powder" used to harm cattle and people is concerned.

28 pages.

Fruits of Eden: Herbalism and the Occult NOW AVAILABLE

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After many months, "Fruits of Eden" is now finally available. Last night I finished the last touches on the cover art, and uploaded all the files to Amazon.

The end result I am quite proud of- I never considered myself to be particularly artistically inclined other than in architectural drawing (which came in handy for a few of the illustrations for the charcoaling and garden design chapters of this work) and underestimated my ability to draw botanical works in a way that would be acceptable for a published work.

The book is 240 pages in length, fully illustrated, with a long index at the end for herbal species whether included in the four encyclopedic chapters or not. The work would have been far too long had all species involved with any occult field been included, since virtually any species is either directly or indirectly used in some manner except, perhaps, common clumps of lawn grass.

Thankfully, for the reader, the end result contains virtually the same information as it otherwise would have (I actually added a bit of extra material during my final edit as well) for a fraction of the price as well; the hardcover-only release formerly planned would have been about four times as expensive for just the basic edition, far more for those that were going to be bound in leather. The final touch of pizazz came with the lettering of the front cover- typically I use a font generation system and don't freehand the title letters like I did here.

Anyone interested in botany, how-to occultism, occult history, or pragmatic garden design (involving methods normally not discussed such as charcoal making as a soil amendment process) will probably enjoy this work. I hate to toot my own horn, but a bit of tooting might be called for since it went through three edits with all artwork made by hand and edited for weeks.

Fruits of Eden, Herbalism and the Occult: Coming Soon

Corn; more occult than generally understood

I am happy to announce that as of yesterday the final editing and proofreading of Fruits of Eden was completed; it would have been done nigh on a year ago if I had thought to craft my own final version at the time, but the now defunct publisher hadn't yet gotten sketchy, so I went with the flow and suffered the consequences.

Illustrating has begun now as well; a few of the images are converted photographs and are thus "done" already; the rest have to be done by hand; about 70 illustrations total, of which the first 13 are now complete. These are primarily sketches of species mentioned in the four encyclopedic sections but also include garden design, illustrations of the simplistic aspects of making paper and ink, as well as incense and smudges, and the process of making charcoal for a soil amendment or as the base for homemade incense itself.

My artistic abilities are not as good as those of a professional illustrator and the end result will not be as refined as I had hoped; however they do serve the proper purpose and those I have shown them to are generally positive about my skills (more than I tend to be- perhaps I'm just too hard on myself.)

I anticipate that it will be complete by the middle of this month of October, but at the latest it will be available around Halloween, unless I should fall into a coma or get crushed by a freak asteroid impact- and I hope those who anticipated the work will purchase it (on Amazon, no more publisher nonsense.)