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lastbraincell's review against another edition
3.0
The art is gorgeous. The book has a lot of nice sentiments and exercises, using the energies of the plant as inspiration. Basically a Herbal Oracle: the hardcopy does come with a deck, which can also be downloaded from here https://www.storey.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/IllustratedHerbiaryCards.pdf
The plants are very North America/white country-centric. A few like Tulsi (Thai Basil) and Reishi (ganoderma / lingzhi mushroom) approached my zone of familiarity, which is Southeast Asia. I suppose you can now get rosemary and thyme from stores. But 80% of these felt foreign to me. So for the suggestion of connecting with their energies, I (born and raised a tropical creature, whose tongue knows and craves not apples, but mangoes, pineapples, lychees, coconuts...) might as well have tried to imagine snow.
It makes me wish I knew more about my great-grandmother, a herbalist. She would have known to apply chewed guava leaves as a poultice after circumcision; to make a soup with malunggay (Moringa oleifera) to increase a new mother's breast milk supply; boiled oregano or lagundi (Vitex negundo) in water to make a syrup for cough and colds; made teas with sambong (Blumea balsamifera) for kidney stones, and banaba (Lagerstroemia speciosa) for weight loss; whipped up a batch of a hair-strengthening natural shampoo with the bark of the gugo vine (Entada phaseoloides).
But back to the book: lovely meditations on each plant. Unfortunately not a healing reference, but I don't even mind because my eyes just want to eat up all the pictures.
The plants are very North America/white country-centric. A few like Tulsi (Thai Basil) and Reishi (ganoderma / lingzhi mushroom) approached my zone of familiarity, which is Southeast Asia. I suppose you can now get rosemary and thyme from stores. But 80% of these felt foreign to me. So for the suggestion of connecting with their energies, I (born and raised a tropical creature, whose tongue knows and craves not apples, but mangoes, pineapples, lychees, coconuts...) might as well have tried to imagine snow.
It makes me wish I knew more about my great-grandmother, a herbalist. She would have known to apply chewed guava leaves as a poultice after circumcision; to make a soup with malunggay (Moringa oleifera) to increase a new mother's breast milk supply; boiled oregano or lagundi (Vitex negundo) in water to make a syrup for cough and colds; made teas with sambong (Blumea balsamifera) for kidney stones, and banaba (Lagerstroemia speciosa) for weight loss; whipped up a batch of a hair-strengthening natural shampoo with the bark of the gugo vine (Entada phaseoloides).
But back to the book: lovely meditations on each plant. Unfortunately not a healing reference, but I don't even mind because my eyes just want to eat up all the pictures.
orlaithma's review against another edition
5.0
The Illustrated Herbiary is a true joy to behold. The illustrations are beautiful and the texts are perfect for beginners.
I look forward to reading more from this author.
I look forward to reading more from this author.
honeybee_reads_'s review against another edition
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.75
did include white sage as one of the herbs listed (which is closed practice to indigenous people groups who have historically used it) but added a note about the harmful overharvesting of it and how that takes it away from native people groups, and recommended some better alternatives
witch_in_a_library's review against another edition
4.0
Did I need this book? - Not really. Did I buy it anyway just because it's so damn pretty? - Absolutely! This is one of the visually most appealing books out there and I love how every single herb is illustrated. Not only did Maia Toll draw the herbs but each of her piece is full of symbolism. I wouldn't use it as a herbalist reference book since it doesn't provide a lot of information. But it is very inspiring which I think was the authors goal. She really gets you to turn inward and contemplate on yourself and how you are connected to the plant kingdom. The oracle cards that are included are not the highest quality but I don't use them as an oracle anyway but enjoy them as tiny works of art.
sweetopheliac's review against another edition
5.0
Let me start off by saying that I don't use herbs and other flora for spiritual healing or anything else like that. However, I do enjoy reading about herbalism & floriography, so in a way this was a little up my alley. I did find this to be a an interesting read. The illustrations in the book are absolutely gorgeous! And I absolutely loved the author's writing style. Everything was presented in an orderly manner. I like that the book took a more philosophical and symbolic approach instead of just saying what the herbs are used for, etc. Of course if the author decided to make a book more in the vein of traditional medicinal uses, or what have you, I'd be inclined to read it as well.
I think this is a fantastic resource for writing or writing inspiration. If nothing else, it's a fun book to look through. I would like to read some of her other works as well.
I think this is a fantastic resource for writing or writing inspiration. If nothing else, it's a fun book to look through. I would like to read some of her other works as well.
nickystrickland's review against another edition
4.0
Though now in my "read" shelf, I am using the cards int he Herbiary as a daily energy reading. The cards are delicate/thin but I covered them in clear contact to help make a regular use of them not be too damaging. A beautiful book with information about the energetics of plants rather than necessarily a how-to-use the plant. A beautifully constructed book with sumptuous illustrations. The only thing a tad odd is the ordering of the plants, there is probably a pattern (perhaps cycles? though I am in the opposite hemisphere to the book's origins) but does make it tricky to look up daily (using a post-it holder on the contents page for ease of use).