Book Review: Pagan Portals Nine’s a Charm
Published by Moon Books 2025
Title: Pagan Portals Nine’s a Charm: Herbs of the Anglo-Saxon Healing Poem
Author: Martha Gray
Publisher: Moon Books
Release Date: August 1st, 2025
Pages: 144 pages
There is so much packed into these 144 pages! History seekers, mythology revelers, herbalists, and healers all need to read this tome. Martha Gray wrote this while tending to her garden and cats. It couldn’t be more magical. I imagined books piled on her desk, herbs in bouquets upside down drying in the breeze while a magical candle burned spirit into her words.
There is a robust Forward that sets the historical context for the book and the depth that it will explore. An equally detailed Introduction creates the focus into the historical galdor, The Healing Charm. If you are unfamiliar with galdors, you will be blissfully informed by the end of this book and ready to try one out. Martha Gray also goes into the significance of the number nine bringing authenticity to the table when examining the herbs and their uses.
Each chapter on the nine herbs are like ancestral reunions. Associations with deities, magical uses, how to grow the herbs, as well as other useful hints are composed in clear language. There are even a few recipes like carrot chervil soup in there for fun!
If you have ever wanted to get a feel for how your ancestors approached these nine plants, I recommend that you scour this book for its word histories, mythological connections, cottage uses, and magical revelations.
About the Author: Martha Gray grew up in Derbyshire and has spent the last decade in California and Arizona with her husband and two cats. She has studied under the tutelage of Melusine Draco, becoming a priestess and elder of The Temple of Khem in The Egyptian Magical Tradition and has since become the virtue holder of the order after Melusine Draco’s sudden passing in January 2024. In addition to the Egyptian Magical Tradition, she has been a long-time practitioner of Traditional British Witchcraft and herbal law. Her first published work was Grimalkyn; The Witch’s Cat, and she has since contributed to three anthologies, including ‘ Witchcraft, 60 Years On’, and contributed articles to various magazines. She is a keen gardener who is happy being up to her elbows in soil, and a keen animal lover, especially cats. While in California, she became part of the Feral Cat Project, caring for a large pod of cats as well as other animals who came to sniff out the food and water area. Her interest in animal behavior and symbolism began when she was very young and has woven this knowledge into her own magical practice.
About the Reviewer: Cody Lee Johansen
I am a husband, father, farmer, and friend. I live on the banks of the Magic Skagit River, ancestral lands of the Upper Skagit people. I practice rune reading, tarot, land magic, and work with many spirit guides. My life began Pagan but I veered off into the Christian church in college. I found my way back to my Pagan and ancestral roots in 2005 and have journeyed along this path since then.
