Herbal Rituals: Recipes for Everyday Living

by Judith Berger

Book Overview

This book records a year-long journey into the earth's natural cycles as they unfold in New York City. Each monthly section discusses one herb in detail -- how and where it grows and what it does --... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312243014
• ISBN13: 9780312243012
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Griffin
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Perfection on paper

This book will become your best friend. You are invited to experience a journey filled with herbal allies just waiting to make your aquaintence. I first encountered this book at a wonderful little shop in AnnArbor Michigan and was unable to put it down even though I really wasn't able to afford it at the time. I went ahead and spent what little money I had left and have never been dissapointed.

At once practical and soul-filling.

Arwen Nightstar (whose review is below) gave me this book, and I'll be forever grateful. I think enough of it to have bought copies for numerous friends. It's a lot more than just an introduction to the medicinal uses of several of the more versatile plants, though it's certainly that -- Berger is a fine herbalist and, what's rarer in modern herbal writers, an excellent and patient naturalist. It's also a hymn to Mama Earth in all her beauty, power and practical wisdom, and Berger's a real find as a writer (though to be picky, the book does need some editing for grammar). Her evocations of a Brooklyn childhood are especially fine. The title is misleading; there's not much ritual here in the usual sense, so if you're looking for an herbal spellbook, this isn't it. But if you love the natural world and its cycles, or just love unusually strong writing, buy this book -- but buy several copies, because I can just about promise you're going to want 'em for friends.

Gentle and Stunning!

This book is perfectly charming in it's simplicity. Ms. Berger has prepared a guide for herb lovers to enrich the deep respect herbalists already feel for these magical little plants. Along with her personal stories of her past, she ends each chapter with a beautiful step by step ritual that pays homage to the month, the herb, the folklore surrounding both and the wonder of just breathing. I read this book in a day, fell behind on duties, lost track of time, and was completly happy. Of all my herbal guide books, HERBAL RITUALS is my favorite because of it's mysticism, it's kind direction and it's power in restoring the magical wonder we had as children. When I grow up, I hope to BE as full of wonder as Ms. Berger is now...and I'm 32! Bravo!

Beautiful and soulful, this book is much more than an herbal

In beautiful, haunting prose, Judith Berger invites her readers to discover how the cycles of nature relate to so many aspects of our own bodies and souls. She does this in a way all her own. This is a gutsy, mystical book that has the power to make even the most out-of-touch urban misfit (myself included) see nature-and herbs-but also a lot filled with weeds, a faded chiffon scarf, or a crow's screech at dawn--in a new light.The book is divided into chapters on each month, beginning marvelously, with November. Berger weaves together elements from disparate myths, religious rituals, Native American traditions, as well as memories from her own childhood, to create a living, breathing tapestry for each month, situating the reader in a vivid moment of nature's cycle. She offers recipes for meals, honey, brandies, lotions, medicinal infusions, soothing baths, and rituals in the spirit of each season.This book would be useful to anyone who wishes to know more about the power of herbs; to anyone who feels cut off from nature, or from their own creative wellsprings; or simply to anyone who delights in magical, inspired prose. That must be why even my friend Mike, an urban, chain-smoking carnivore, to my surprise. fell under its spell, exclaiming, "This book is a gem!"