• Reviews

    Book Review – Ossman & Steel’s Classic Household Guide to Appalachian Folk Healing by Jake Richards

    Book Review Ossman & Steel’s Classic Household Guide to Appalachian Folk Healing: A Collection of Old-Time Remedies, Charms, and Spells By Jack Richards Foreword by Silver Ravenwolf Publisher: Weiser Books 122 pages Publication: August 1, 2022                     From the publisher: “A long-treasured but forgotten classic of folk healing, with an introduction and commentary by the author of Backwoods Witchcraft and Doctoring the Devil. Ossman & Steel’s Guide to Health or Household Instructor (its original title) is a collection of spells, remedies, and charms. The book draws from the old Pennsylvania Dutch and German powwow healing practices that in turn helped shape…

  • Reviews

    Book Review – Wild Witchcraft: Folk Herbalism, Garden Magic, and Foraging for Spells, Rituals, and Remedies by Rebecca Beyer

    Book Review Wild Witchcraft: Folk Herbalism, Garden Magic, and Foraging for Spells, Rituals, and Remedies  by Rebecca Beyer Publisher: Simon & Schuster 240 Pages Publication Date: May 10, 2022     “The spirit of a place.” In “Wild Witchcraft: Folk Herbalism, Garden Magic, and Foraging for Spells, Rituals, and Remedies,” Rebecca Beyer gives readers ways to come to know the spirit of a place, forming deep, intimate relationships with its plants, animals, minerals and history. There will be a unique magic of that place, too. A witch and a forager, Beyer specializes in folkloric plant history, as well as magical, edible, and medicinal uses. The detailed information about botanicals, and…

  • Reviews

    Book Review – Backwoods Witchcraft: Conjure & Folk Magic from Appalachia by Jake Richards

    Book ReviewBackwoods WitchcraftConjure & Folk Magic from Appalachiaby Jake Richards 211 Pages   ”It’s just what the old folks did,” author Jake Richards wrote in his book, “Backwoods Witchcraft: Conjure & Folk Magic from Appalachia.” He explains, “The old-timers have always been superstitious when it comes to ghosts, lightening, death, witches, and curses. Basically, everything that could threaten their livelihood. … These remedies and charms are tradition, and you aren’t supposed to question them. No one does.” Richards grew up in the valleys below Buffalo and Roan Mountain in East Tennessee. His family was mostly farmers in Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina – some going back three hundred years. Most…