From: shava@hermes.oit.unc.edu (Shava Nerad Averett)
Subject: Re: herb books
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 05:03:21 GMT

In article <lfipipINNalo@news.bbn.com> dhardin@bbn.com (Dawn Hardin) writes:
>I've got Scott Cunningham's book on herbs too, and I had very much the same
>feeling.  I also had the feeling that he was making half of it up as he
>went along.  I got some good ideas from it (I bought some carnation essential
>oil to stand for fire in rituals and I LOVE it, and I also like using 
>patchouli oil for male principal.  Don't ask me how successful using
>orange blossom oil to turn men into love slaves has been. :-) ) but in
>the big picture it ain't the big picture.
>
I find most of Cunningham's work not to my taste, and find that I can
use the Llewellyn imprint as a good estimate of the quality of a book.
I don't send money their way.  Clue.

I would also report that I felt he was making it up on the way, but I'm
sure it was really channelled...

>The best companion source that I've found so far has been non-magickal
>books on herbs, especially ones that include info on pharmocology and
>toxicology.  The magickal books can be horrid on that score, I've seen
>several books suggest teas that are toxic.  (Of course, that might
>be *why* the teas are effective, but I'd want to know before I guzzled
>half a gallon.)  The book I'm using is the _Rodale Encylopedia of Herbs_.
>(that might not be the exact title, but it ought to be close enough to
>find it.)  I'm not 100% happy with it, but it's a solid enough source of
>information that balances out the Cunningham book.  
>
I use John Lust's _The Herb Book_ as my main ref, modified by Rodale and
Mowray's books (_Scientific Justification of Herbal Medicine_ et al).

>The biggest confusion comes in psycho-active herbs, which
>some authorities rate as toxic on that basis alone.  That's a shame --
>I still have no idea whether mugwort tea or cigarettes are really safe
>or not.  I've heard from reliable sources that it's not safe during pregnancy,
>but I don't know why.  (Are psycho-actives what you meant by darker uses?)
>
_Plants of the Gods_ Hoffman et al, and a number of other books are pretty
good on this.  Joy Gardener's _Healing Yourself During Pregnancy_ seems to
be very level headed about herbs and drugs during pregnancy (for example,
ergotine induces labor; LSD is closely related; ergo(t) in the absence of
better studies, it's likely you want to avoid LSD during pregnancy -- or --
marijuana is estrogenic, so you might want to moderate your intake so as
not to mess up your endocrine balances).

My personal opinion is that cigarettes are not safe.  Nicotine is one of
the nastiest pesticides in nature.  It's a poison.  No american cultures
used the tobacco plant recreationally before europeans arrived here, to the
best of our knowledge (_Hallucinogens_ forget the author, a good book on
new world hallucinogenic use, UCLA Press, I think).  I use the stuff in
moderation, but many people who are more inclined to addiction don't have
the option...  I'm avoiding it during pregnancy, along with any other smoke-
ables (oxygen deprivation) and heavy stimulants (growth retardants).

>There's very little research being done in natural pharmacology, because
>it's impossible to patent a plant and so there's no big money behind
>studies.  I just try to accumulate the solid facts as I can, and make up
>the magickal uses as I go along.  It means more if you decide what a
>symbol means anyway, because the whole thing is drawing a mental connection.

Check out Mowray's work, and if you read German, check out the German 
pharmacopaea.  Most of europe doesn't have the restrictions (practical
when not legal) on herbal medicine we have here, and the German's have the
most informative pharmacopaea.

-- 
Shava Nerad Averett				shava@unc.edu
/*  all original materials (c)1992, Shava Nerad Averett, and have nothing 
    significant to do with the University of North Carolina, a mostly owned 
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