Flower Essences from the Witch’s Garden: Plant Spirits in Magickal Herbalism

In the book Flower Essences from the Witch’s Garden, the author introduces the reader to world of using flower essences for magick, spells, healing and more. The book is broken down into 11 chapters. These include: What Are Flower Essences, A History of Flower Essences, Devas Plant Spirits and Green familiars, Balms Banes and Tree Spirits, Making Flower Essences, Deciphering the Language of Flowers, Choosing and Using Flower Essences, Flower Essences in Magick, Flower Essence Formulary, Plant Spirit Alchemy, and the Directory of One Hundred Flower Essences. The book also includes a nice Appendix with information on Flower Essence Suppliers, Bibliography and an Index of the Flower Essences.

One thing to note, the author clarifies that Flower Essences are different than Essential Oils. This book is geared towards working with the vibration and spiritual side of the plants and flowers. There are many books on Essential Oils in the marketplace, and the author wants to let readers know these are two different things. For the readers looking to work with holistic medicine and remedies, this is the proper book for them.

The book explains that Flower essence therapy is similar to traditions of herbalism and alchemy. The practices are working with the spirits or consciousness of plants. There is a chapter dedicated to the history of flower essence and how it started. It’s a fascinating read and provides some great background.

The author goes on to discuss plant spirits and how to feel them and work closer with them. The information is easy to follow and provides some exercises and meditations for the reader to take their own journey. The book does have a nice section in the back of where a reader can purchase flower essences however he provides information on how to make your own. There is magick in itself when making your own and I suggest anyone interested to try to make their own as well. The instructions are well written and for anyone to follow.

The second half of the book is mostly the Directory of Flower Essences. Each entry will provide the name, scientific name, type, elementary, planetary, and zodiac correspondences. It also has a list of magickal uses and therapeutic uses in each entry. This section alone is worth having a copy of the book on your shelf for reference.

I enjoyed the book and while I only dabble in a bit of gardening, I learned quite a bit and plan to create some of my own Flower essences. I recommend this book for anyone who is starting interest in the subject or those have been utilizing holistic and herbalism approaches for years.

~review by Amber Barnes

Author: Nicholas Pearson
Inner Traditions, 2022
pp. 512, $24.99