2003 Herbal Almanac (Annuals - Herbal Almanac)
Llewellyn Publications has grown and expanded into new areas of personal growth and transformation since it began as the Portland School of Astrology in 1901. Along with the strong line of astrology books the company was founded upon, Llewellyn publishes books on everything from alternative health and healing, Wicca and Paganism, to metaphysics and the paranormal-and since 1994 has published a growing list of Spanish-language titles.Llewellyn has long been know as one of America's leading publishers of New Age books, producing a wide variety of valuable tools for transformation of the mind, body and spirit. Reach for the Moon-and discover that self-help and spiritual growth is what Llewellyn is all about.Marguerite Elsbeth (New Mexico) has facilitated shamanic healing and ritual groups, is a hereditary Strega, and is also exploring her ancestral ties to the Delaware Indian culture.  She has personally experienced crystal healing at the hands of a Shoshone medicine man and uses crystals in her own healing work.Deborah Harding(Ohio) began gardening alongside her parents when she was just able to walk. She writes articles on herbal concerns for magazines and web-zines, and gives lectures and workshops on growing herbs and using them in cosmetics and cooking. She frequently appears on a talk radio show to discuss herbs and cooking.Edain became a self-initiated Witch in 1981 and has been an active part of the Pagan community since her formal initiation into a large San Antonio coven in 1983.  Edain has researched alternative spiritualities since her teens, when she was first introduced to Kaballah, or Jewish mysticism.  Since that time, she has studied a variety of magickal paths including Celtic, Appalachian folk magick, and Curanderismo, a Mexican-American folk tradition.  Today, Edain is part of the Wittan Irish Pagan tradition, where she is a priestess of Brighid and an elder.  An alumnus of the University of Texas with a BA in history, she is affiliated with several professional writer's organizations and occasionally presents workshops on magickal topics or works individually with students who wish to study Witchcraft.This former woodwind player for the Lynchburg (VA) Symphony claims both the infamous feuding McCoy family of Kentucky and Sir Roger Williams, the seventeeth-century religious dissenter, as branches on her ethnically diverse family tree.  In her "real life," Edain works as a licensed stockbroker.Edain is the author of fifteen books, including Bewitchments; Enchantments; and her most recent release, Ostara: Customs, Spells & Rituals for the Rites of Spring.Ellen Dugan is the award-winning author of fifteen books, and is known as the "Garden Witch". A psychic-clairvoyant, she has been a practicing Witch for over thirty years. Well known for her candor and humor, she is a Master Gardener, and is the High Priestess of her Coven in the St. Louis area. Ellen teaches classes both online and across the country on Witchery, Psychic Protection, and Magick. She has contributed articles for over twelve years to Llewellyn's Magical Almanac, Witches Datebook, Sabbat Almanac, and Witches Calendar.Ellen's popular magickal books have been translated into over ten foreign languages. When she's not working on her next book project, or keeping up with her family (the kids are out on their own, and the youngest is in Graduate school), Ellen likes to unwind by working in her perennial gardens at home with her husband of 31 years. Ellen wholeheartedly encourages folks to reclaim their personal power and to personalize their Spell-craft. To go outside and connect with the spiritual side of nature. To get their hands dirty and discover the wonder and magick of natural world that surrounds them.Visit her popular syndicated "Blog of Witchery" at www.ellendugan.blogspot.com You can visit her website at www.ellendugan.comStephanie Rose Bird is a hereditary intuitive, contemporary rootworker, solitary green witch and visionary.  She has been involved with mysticism, symbology, spiritualism and the occult for thirty years.  Bird is inspired by her ancestors, in particular her grandmothers, one of which was a psychic and the other a spiritualist minister and herbal healer.  Her uncle, a Santeria priest, Babalawo of Shango, taught her the Ifa traditions of the Yoruba people.  Bird studies healing, magical and divination traditions of indigenous people around the world with a focus on Africa.  Her passions include keeping the ancient traditions alive and updating them so that they evolve with us, suiting our current environment and lifestyles.  She is a member of the American Folklore Soceity, the Herb Research Foundation and the Handcrafted Soap Maker's Guild.Bird holds a BFA cum laude from Temple University and an MFA from UC San Diego, and has received multiple academic awards.  Bird was an assistant professor at the School of the Art Institute of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1986-2002.  Bird is active advising masters' and doctoral candidates, giving lectures, conducting goddess rituals, and writing for numerous publications.