Book Review

Blackthorn’s Botanical Wellness:

A Green Witch’s Guide to Self-Care

by Amy Blackthorn

Publisher: Weiser Books

226 Pages

Published: November 1, 2022

 

 

What is Wellness?

Wellness is something other than Health. Health is about how well your body is functioning, while Wellness is more about how well your spirit and emotions are functioning. You could have several Health issues, chronic ones, but at the same time be in a state of perfect Wellness. Especially if you use your Inner Magic to find that Well-Being. This book is a great tool for just such a thing, using essential oils, plants, meditation, tarot, astrology, and personal sigils for your journey to well-being.

First Amy debunks a bunch of myths about so called “self-care” and health. And then she very gently reminds us to be gentle with ourselves while looking for our own wellness. And reminds us that we can use our own magic to help us in our journeys. We also get a stern and loving reminder to drink our water; as with all good wellness and self-care programs, all good potions start with the water it’s brewed in.

We get an interesting look at tea as potion and what the difference might be. Then we get lists of fruits to add to our teas, and why we would add them. We get an in-depth look at the uses of Linden, Peppermint, and Stinging Nettle; with three recipes I look forward to trying. Afterwards there is a list of other herbs with quick blurbs “for health” and “for magic” for each of them.

The next chapter is all about facing our fears, and gives us lots of tools to use liminal spaces to break the patterns we develop because of fears and emotions stuck in our bodies. Amy offers several exercises to help break those patterns and get those emotions our of our bodies. The following chapter is all about taking your magic with us, by creating rituals such as a morning bath (with a list of possible essential oils, broken into the roles played in public), followed by a ritual potion tea. We get tips on the color of our clothing and a list of different colors and their meanings, how to accessorize in an empowering way for our astrological signs, and all the rituals we can do throughout the day up until bedtime. The chapter ends with a suggestion to incorporate candles in your workings.

The fourth chapter is all about the tools we use, our altar tools. And how to create Servitors for our goals and workings, by starting with a sigil that represents our goals. Then we get a breakdown of the tools for our altars and why we need them, as well as example servitors that can be tied to those tools. This leads into Chapter Five, where we get lessons in making sigils for healing and magical needs. We get step by step instructions for sigils, Magic Squares and how to used them for sigil creation, Astrological Associations for body parts, and a full rundown of the Planetary Squares.

Chapter Six talks about inviting the spirit of plants into our lives to help with our wellness goals, and how to interview these plant allies. How sometimes these botanicals spirits are the ones doing the choosing. Amy gives us tips and tricks to find our plant allies, as well as a guided meditation. We also get a short list of European Gods and their connected plant allies, as well as a spread for use with a plant oracle and tarot deck.

Chapter Seven is a lesson in essential oils and how to use them, followed by an in-depth dive into 13 amazing essential oils. This chapter is full of very useful information about how to use essential oils, not just for health and wellness, but for magical use as well.

Then we get a chapter all about doing a 28 day lunar self-care routine. We do that by following the moon and seeing what sign it’s in, then looking in the book we see what actions and goals are the most likely to succeed during that moon time, and what can be best nurtured. It’s good to get a moon phase app that also tells you what sign the moon currently sits in if you’re going to follow this plan.

The final chapter is all about using Tarot for your wellness work, and we get an in-depth look at the 22 Majors and what they could mean health-wise in a reading, and each has an exercise or spread associated with the cards. The Minors get a very quick overview without the in-depth treatment the Majors get. Still a good chapter about using that Tarot for Wellness, I just wish the Minors got as much love as the Majors.

I’ve Got Questions!

Truthfully almost any chapter in this book could have been pulled and expanded into its own book. Does that mean we’re not getting the information? I think we’re getting a lot of information in this book, but it’s definitely a jumping off point and not the end-all be-all of wellness. Could this have been a series of books? I think this book could easily have been a series, with each chapter receiving it’s own book, for a more in-depth and thorough exploration of each of the topics discussed in this single volume.

Final Thoughts.

While this book could be an amazing series, it’s still a great introduction and hands-on exploration of using our witchcraft for our self-care and wellness rituals. There’s no end to exercises, projects, tarot spreads, and tips and tricks for an amazing self-care routine from someone who obviously practices what she preaches.

Amy’s strong but gentile voice really comes through in her writing, and if you’re looking for something that will get you started on the road to wellness, without being abrasive, then you’ve found it in this great book about using green witchcraft for self-care, especially for those of us with chronic illness and chronic pain. Amy also includes a great list of suggested books in the back of this one, so you can continue your wellness journey and magical journey.

Don’t forget to join us for the interview about this book on YouTube, and to see what wisdom Amy Blackthorn will share with us!

Amy Blackthorn began her study of the magic of plants as an inquisitive child roaming the jungles of her overgrown childhood yard, making forts for pirate treasure, mad scientist laboratories to hybridize the mint and azaleas to do her bidding and more. This grew into a love of horticulture and magic, and as an adult, she found a way to blend them both into a single life’s work, helping people find the magic around them in the every day botanicals they carried in their pockets, in the bottles of essential oils that many people are already using.

Amy has appeared on HuffPost Live, Yahoo News, the Associated Press and Top Ten Secrets and Mysteries (Episode “Supernatural Abilities”), and many other print interviews since discovering her passion over twenty-eight years ago. 

 

Blackthorn’s Botanical Wellness: A Green Witch’s Guide to Self-Care on Amazon

 

 

**

About the Author:

Jonathan Dailey

Jonathan has been reading Tarot for over 33+ years. He has had many teachers, and has experienced many Spiritual Truths. He even had the honor of teaching a Beginner’s Tarot Reading class!

He has swam with Manta Rays, Sea Turtles, and Whales in Hawaii; ran barefoot in the jungle with the Ticos of Costa Rica; danced the Naraya with the Shoshone; Prayed at Buddhist Temples in Thailand, China, and Japan; wandered the green hills of Ireland, studied Acupuncture in China; and has had many more adventures!

Jonathan’s love of the Tarot started when he was in Summer Camp (in New Jersey of all places) and was privileged to take a class with a Magus who taught the group not only the Tarot, but also crystals, Runes, pendulums, energy work, spell casting, Past Life Regressions, and many other “New Age” practices. That class was one of the catalysts for Jonathan’s own Spiritual Awakening to his many past lives, and his Higher Purpose.

Jonathan is an Acupuncturist who has created his own style of acupuncture aided past life regressions using gold needles. Jonathan is a Certified Health Coach. He has lost count of how many readings he’s given, and decks he’s collected, over the last 3 decades. Find more from Jonathan on YouTube.