WISEWOMAN Books

I love this book! Not only does it give you needed info on certain common herbs and directions on how to use it best, but I LOVE the bits of folklore, history and wise woman ways. It is a gentle, warm book that is informative and fun!

This book is Linda's best. I have them all, being part of her family. She has captured the lifestyle and history of this part of West Virginia and combined it perfectly with her herbal lore. This book is just not for the hebalist but would be enjoyed by everyone.

What a beautiful book! Rago's writing is more poetry than prose, and really captures the beauty of what must be a wonderous place. Never before have I wanted to travel to West Virginia so much! The legends she weaves are fascinating, and the recipes are fun and easy to make. Try the West Virginia Blackberry Cobbler-delicious!

This beautiful book is bursting with information and wonderful word pictures. I would read it without the info about herbs just for the trip back to the Appalachian mountains I love and miss. However, the information is very interesting and helpful to anyone who wants to make use of the "everyday" plants that are around us. Great book!

Initially, I bought Blackberry Cove Herbal as a wedding shower gift for my sister, but after looking through the book, I ended up keeping it for myself and buying her another copy. What a lovely book! The illustrations are beautiful, especially the paintings by Toni Walker. I am not someone who uses herbs or is terribly interested in that whole lifestyle, but this book is a wonderful story and reference tool.

This particular volume was a gift, and it has been one of the BEST compliments to my Witchcraft library!! Elisabeth gives excellent background to Goddess worship, and then proceeds to inform and explain well and nicely to the Practitioner just how to practice! There is a lovely Herbal section in the book, as well! For literature I did not select myself, it was nonetheless a truly worthy book. I use her prayers, chants, activities and guidelines to ritual in most all of my practice.

Ok this book isn't soo good! it does tell you about the goddess but not the info i really needed. it is great in magickal workings but to me not much in goddess warship! i've studied the craft at age 8 and i'm only 11. it's great for people intrested in magick but bad for people intrested in goddesses. If you wanna buy a book on goddesses buy this book called The Maiden, Mother, And the Crone.(i think i spelled the title right! but i might have been wrong! or close to the title)

when i'm feeling down, i take this and read a bit, then i'm feeling ok again. this is a great book for the beginner who is studying feminist witchcraft, and it covers herstory, witchcraft history, sabbats, herbs, tools, some spells, chakras, divinination, meditations, ethics etc. not so deeply, i guess, but enough to know, what to do. the author wrote this book with power and passion, like if i read few pages, i can feel or sense it so clearly, that it leaves me wordless. but anyway, at least i know that goddess-worshipping craft is part of me. that's why and how it makes me feel better.

I would definately recommend this book. I go back to it time and time again. It has a great overview to many aspects of Goddess worship, astrology, tarot, herbal folklore and the history of Goddess worship. She cites many resources in the back of the book that can provide further reading depending on where your interests lie. Excellent book, especailly for the beginner.

This is another anthology from the new publisher Norilana Books. It's a great collection of really thought provoking and moving stories.

Raising children is joked about as being a job that could drive a woman mad - but what if one is mad to begin with? "Was My Mother Schizophrenic? A Search for Truth" is a daughter's reflections on her mother's three decades of life inside a psychiatric hospital. Her mother was labeled as a schizophrenic; author Renee wants to know if this was true, and struggles to connect with a mother that she never really knew. "Was My Mother Schizophrenic? A Search for Truth" is a top pick for many women who are in similar situations and for community library women's studies collections.

A Season of Sorcery reads as a biography of Palin's life. Using her own experiences she takes us on a journey towards coming to terms with being naturally psychic. Anyone with clairvoyant or mediumistic abilities will both empathise with Palin and breathe a huge sigh of relief as they hear and recognise the strange things that she has dealt with and realise that they are not alone in their experiences. Anyone who is perhaps not as gifted will read on in amazement at the true story of her unusual life.

This book deals with all that is paranormal, including past lives, spirits, meditation, and even alien encounters. However, it deals with it in a very matter of fact, unsensationalist way. Which is exactly what a person coming into their own power needs to hear.

I applaud Palin for discussing her life, and risking her uniqueness being labelled the rantings of a eccentric. They are not. They are extremely useful and fascinating.

A book about an amazing woman who has the courage to share her experiences of psychic phenomena. Alot of what Poppy offers by way of protection and sacred space has helped me greatly appreciate the intensity of being alive.

I also like how Poppy shares her experiences of past life recall and the people she has encountered in this life and how she worked through her karmic ties to them.

Very well written, and worthy of everyones' library.

Thank you Poppy for sharing the essence of You.

Poppy Palin introduces this book as a book on witchcraft and the naturally psychic. It is a very interesting tale that reads as a biography about her life and the way that she both came to terms with and came into her powers. Many people are naturally gifted with mediumistic abilities, as Palin is, and have to learn to control them so that they can be an asset to their lives. Poppy Palin's story is both fascinating and useful. It deals with every part of her life and how her abilities and spirituality have affected it.

This book looks at various aspects of the Pagan lifestyle and mindset, including past lives, meditation, mediumship, and even alien encounters. You would expect this book, including all these things to be written by someone a bit mad, or a bit sensationalist. Poppy Palin is neither of these. She is intelligent, articulate, sensitive, and her book is very helpful.

Whether you are reading this book as a psychic looking for someone with similar experiences or as someone interested in the natural phenomena and wishing to find out more, Season of Sorcery is a very interesting and useful read.

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.

I agree with the others that have cautioned the purchase of this book. It is clearly another means to rope in pagans and attempt to convert them, as was done in days of old. Such as building cathedrals on the spot of an ancient grove to entice the pagan populous to attend.

It was severly disappointing from the aspect that I spent money on this thinking that I would glean some pagan wisewoman knowledge to add to my compendium, but instead I received preaching and Christian slight of hand. This book was a clear waste of money and time.

I really cannot recommend this to anyone of the pagan faiths.

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!

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.

I was so disappointed in this book. I read passages to my husband and we were in hysterics. I could not finish it, but I browsed. If you are a women in your 40's and need information on this subject, Christine Northrup is a much better option. This book was just plain stupid....I felt like I was reading menopause for 4th graders!

Though the author tries to draw women in with references to Goddess religion and women's ways of knowing, it is truly written for the woman who hasn't yet begun her "Goddess journey" on any level in her life. As a priestess, I was very disappointed in the many references to "God" and the negation of Goddess wisdom. The author should have stuck to writing for a patriarchial audience, as matri-focal women will find little value in this.

Kristi Meisenbach Boylan's wonderful book "The Seven Sacred Rites of Menopause" has helped thousands of women cope with the emotional and physical challenges of menopause. I would hate to see a review by a clearly uninformed reader dissuade anyone from buying this book. Obviously, as the publisher, my opinion is biased, so don't just take my word, instead click on the "See All Editorial Reviews" link above and read the praise that everyone from Marianne Williamson to Dr. Sandra Cabot to Anne Louise Gittleman have lavished on Boylan's book. Then click over to "The Seven Sacred Rites of Menarche," where you can read what none other than Christiane Northrup (note the correct spelling of her name, Ms. Ferree) and Michael Gurian have to say about Boylan's beautiful and insightful writing.