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A Druid's Herbal for the Sacred Earth Year
For the ancient Druids, the healing and magical properties of herbs were inseparable from the larger cycles of the seasons, the movements of the planets, and the progression of a human life. A Druid’s Herbal shows the reader how to use herbs when creating rituals to celebrate festivals and significant life passages such as births, house blessings, weddings, funerals, and naming ceremonies. Drawing on extensive research and a deep personal experience with Pagan traditions, Ellen Evert Hopman explores the history and folklore surrounding the eight major Celtic Samhain, Winter Solstice, Imbolc, Spring Equinox, Beltaine, Summer Solstice, Lugnasad, and Fall Equinox. Included in each discussion are complete instructions on the medicinal and magical uses of the herbs associated with each celebration. Using these Celtic traditions as examples, the author suggests ways to incorporate the symbolic and magical power of herbs into personal rituals that honor all phases of life from childbirth to last rites. Also included are chapters on how to prepare herbal tinctures, salves, and poultices; herbs used by the Druids; herbal alchemy and the planets; and the relationships between herbs and sacred places. Filled with practical information and imaginative suggestions for using herbs for healing, ceremony, and magic, this book is an indispensable and comprehensive guide to age-old herbal practices.
228 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 1994
38 people are currently reading
856 people want to read
About the author
Ellen Evert Hopman
27 books162 followersEllen Evert Hopman is a Master Herbalist and lay Homeopath who holds an
M.Ed. in Mental Health Counseling. She is a certified writing instructor
through Amherst Writers and Artists. She is Archdruid of Tribe of the Oak www.tribeoftheoak.com, a Druidic teaching Order, and was a former Co-chief
of the Whiteoak Druid Order (Ord na Darach Gile) and Vice President of
The Henge Of Keltria, an international Druid Fellowship, for nine years. She
is the founder of the Whiteoak internet mailing list, an on-line Druid ethics study
group, and a co-founder of The Order of the Whiteoak (Ord Na Darach Gile)
www.whiteoakdruids.org. She is also a co-founder of the North East Druid
Coalition
She is the author of a trilogy of Iron Age Druid novels; Priestess of the Forest: A Druid Journey, The Druid Isle and Priestess of the Fire Temple - a Druid's Tale.
Her books on trees include a revised and expanded new edition of Tree Medicine Tree Magic (Pendraig Publishing) and
A Druids Herbal of Sacred Tree Medicine (Destiny books/Inner Traditions Bear
and Company)
Her other books include;
Secret Medicines from your Garden (Healing Arts Press), Secret Medicines of your Kitchen (mPower Publishing), The Sacred Herbs of Samhain (Destiny Books) The Sacred Herbs of Beltaine (Destiny Books), Scottish Herbs and Fairy Lore (Pendraig Publishing), A Legacy of Druids (Moon Books),
A Druid's Herbal For the Sacred Earth Year ( Inner Traditions/Destiny Books ),
Being a Pagan (with Lawrence Bond)(Inner Traditions/Destiny Books), Walking
The World In Wonder - A Children's Herbal (Healing Arts Press), she is a
co-author of Grimoire For The Apprentice Wizard (Newpage Books).
She has released the
video/DVDs Gifts From the Healing Earth and Pagans -the Wheel of the Year ( From
Sawmill River Productions, http://www.sawmillriver.com/ )
She has released three audio tapes The Druid Path: Herbs And Festivals,
Celtic Gods and Goddesses, and The Herbal And Magical Powers Of Trees (from
Creative Seminars, POB 203, West Hurley, New York 12491).
She has been a teacher of Herbalism since 1983 and of Druidism since 1990 . Find her books, workshops and blog at www.elleneverthopman.com
M.Ed. in Mental Health Counseling. She is a certified writing instructor
through Amherst Writers and Artists. She is Archdruid of Tribe of the Oak www.tribeoftheoak.com, a Druidic teaching Order, and was a former Co-chief
of the Whiteoak Druid Order (Ord na Darach Gile) and Vice President of
The Henge Of Keltria, an international Druid Fellowship, for nine years. She
is the founder of the Whiteoak internet mailing list, an on-line Druid ethics study
group, and a co-founder of The Order of the Whiteoak (Ord Na Darach Gile)
www.whiteoakdruids.org. She is also a co-founder of the North East Druid
Coalition
She is the author of a trilogy of Iron Age Druid novels; Priestess of the Forest: A Druid Journey, The Druid Isle and Priestess of the Fire Temple - a Druid's Tale.
Her books on trees include a revised and expanded new edition of Tree Medicine Tree Magic (Pendraig Publishing) and
A Druids Herbal of Sacred Tree Medicine (Destiny books/Inner Traditions Bear
and Company)
Her other books include;
Secret Medicines from your Garden (Healing Arts Press), Secret Medicines of your Kitchen (mPower Publishing), The Sacred Herbs of Samhain (Destiny Books) The Sacred Herbs of Beltaine (Destiny Books), Scottish Herbs and Fairy Lore (Pendraig Publishing), A Legacy of Druids (Moon Books),
A Druid's Herbal For the Sacred Earth Year ( Inner Traditions/Destiny Books ),
Being a Pagan (with Lawrence Bond)(Inner Traditions/Destiny Books), Walking
The World In Wonder - A Children's Herbal (Healing Arts Press), she is a
co-author of Grimoire For The Apprentice Wizard (Newpage Books).
She has released the
video/DVDs Gifts From the Healing Earth and Pagans -the Wheel of the Year ( From
Sawmill River Productions, http://www.sawmillriver.com/ )
She has released three audio tapes The Druid Path: Herbs And Festivals,
Celtic Gods and Goddesses, and The Herbal And Magical Powers Of Trees (from
Creative Seminars, POB 203, West Hurley, New York 12491).
She has been a teacher of Herbalism since 1983 and of Druidism since 1990 . Find her books, workshops and blog at www.elleneverthopman.com
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 13, 2020
Book Review – A Druid’s Herbal for the Sacred Earth Year by Ellen Evert Hopman, Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 1995.
I came to review Hopman’s book because of my reading and review of her most recent book, The Sacred Herbs of Samhain: Plants to Contact the Spirits of the Dead and of the manuscript of her yet to be published book, The Sacred Herbs of Spring. Though this book is 25 years old, what Hopman offers is timeless. It is a wonderful introduction to the ancient Druid rituals that are still and even more meaningful in this 21st century.
The Druids were the healers and shape-shifters of the Celtic era, the poet-priests and priestesses who could prophesize the future. With their study of divination, magic, astrology, nature, and herbal medicine, their poetry and songs of incantation could raise the winds and fog and could dry up lakes. The Bards, the story-tellers for the long winters and for such ceremonies as wakes, weddings and baby blessings, had the ability to listen to the voices from the otherworld and provide guidance, instruction, and knowledge, often providing it for the Celtic kings and chieftains. The Ovates, the keepers of prophesy, were the executioners of prisoners and the criminal outcasts. The Celts believed in reincarnation and were polytheistic with each deity holding special functions. Their three tiered world was the water world of the ancestors, the land of the earthy beings and the sky world of the deities. The months of their calendar and the letters of their alphabet were given the names of trees.
The Druidic herbal medicines were prepared as they are today as teas, salves, tinctures, poultices and syrups, as well as homeopathic dilutions. The magical uses of the herbs were administered while in a hypnotic state of consciousness and through spells, a state of consciousness that I attain through ecstatic trance. The herbs for each of the eight spokes of the cycle of the year is the valuable core of the book, each herb presented in a clear succinct manner including its preparations, and its medicinal, homeopathic, and magical uses. Mistletoe is important for three of the eight spokes of the wheel of the year, the winter solstice or Mean Geimhridh, the summer solstice or Mean Samhraidh, and Lugnasad that falls halfway between the summer solstice and the fall equinox. Growing up in California where Mistletoe is very prevalent, I often collected it during the summer for our celebration of Christmas. I now wonder about mistletoe’s role for the Celts with it growing in the warmer latitudes of California and not in New York or Pennsylvania where I have lived for the last 40 years. Hopman though reports that at least one species grows in northern Europe. Mistletoe’s great sacredness to the Druids may be due to its greater rarity in these cooler climates. Its twigs and leaves are used for strengthening the working of magic, and for their importance in healing, protection and for producing beautiful dreams. This parasite is one of the 14 herbs sacred to the druids, possibly the most important next to the oak upon which it often grows. Research has shown that it stimulates the immune system, inhibits some tumors by activating the killer cells, and it is used to temper epilepsy.
From my love for and writings about the Icelandic Edda, I am familiar with the dart of mistletoe that was used to kill Baldr, the gentle and beloved son of Odin. There was nothing else that would harm him, a promise made to his mother by every other substance. Then, at the time of Ragnarok, the final battle with the demise of the gods of war, the gentle Baldr is reborn to lead us into a gentle New Age, a hopeful prophesy.
The herbal alchemy of the Druids defines a relationship between the Earth’s herbal forces and those of the celestial spheres, a system that classifies each herb by its planetary affiliations to the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter or Saturn. For example, Mars is affiliated with the thorny and prickly plants with a strong acid taste, plants that help with motor nerve, muscle, and left brain problems. These plants include nettles, hops, garlic and onion. The sun’s herbs are orange, reddish orange to yellow and are nourished in the warmth of the sun, herbs such as butterbur, borage, motherwort and grapes which are used to help with problems of the heart, circulation, and the spine.
The rituals and celebrations of the Druids take place in the groves of sacred trees such as oak, rowan and hawthorn, rituals that involve repeatedly walking sunwise around the sacred hills, springs, stones, trees and fires, acts that reflect the desire to live in harmony with the cosmos. Every tree, spring, well, rock, valley, mountain and body of water has its own animating spirits that reveal its sacred relationship with all other flora, fauna and minerals. At these sacred places poetry, legends and song find their fullest expression. At these places sacrificial gifts are offered to the deities and fairies to gain their support in providing for a fruitful life. The twenty-one described herbs used for consecration and purification include Agelica, Asafetida, Basil, Cedar, Juniper, Mistletoe, Sage, and Valerian. Many of the described herbs are also used in funeral rituals and rites and for the journey into the Otherworld, herbs such as Elder and Hawthorn. For marriage under the Oak the many herbs used include Anise, Apple and Maple. For bringing peace and prosperity to the home the herbs used include Bay Laurel, Mandrake, and Plantain; and for the rites of passage from birth, for infant naming, and for puberty the herbs used include Ash, Birch, Holly and Rosemary.
These hypnotic and magical rituals beautifully bring alive our need for a harmonious relationship with the Earth and the Cosmos. These rituals are more relevant today than ever because of our separation from our one and only Earth that has occurred over that last several centuries because of our greed, separation that has led to our current battle for survival because of the climate crisis. I still maintain that there is hope, hope for us to enter the beautiful New Age if we again reconnect with the sacred Earth and the Cosmos, a connection that was very much alive for our ancient hunting and gathering ancestors from the era of the Celts and Druids.
I came to review Hopman’s book because of my reading and review of her most recent book, The Sacred Herbs of Samhain: Plants to Contact the Spirits of the Dead and of the manuscript of her yet to be published book, The Sacred Herbs of Spring. Though this book is 25 years old, what Hopman offers is timeless. It is a wonderful introduction to the ancient Druid rituals that are still and even more meaningful in this 21st century.
The Druids were the healers and shape-shifters of the Celtic era, the poet-priests and priestesses who could prophesize the future. With their study of divination, magic, astrology, nature, and herbal medicine, their poetry and songs of incantation could raise the winds and fog and could dry up lakes. The Bards, the story-tellers for the long winters and for such ceremonies as wakes, weddings and baby blessings, had the ability to listen to the voices from the otherworld and provide guidance, instruction, and knowledge, often providing it for the Celtic kings and chieftains. The Ovates, the keepers of prophesy, were the executioners of prisoners and the criminal outcasts. The Celts believed in reincarnation and were polytheistic with each deity holding special functions. Their three tiered world was the water world of the ancestors, the land of the earthy beings and the sky world of the deities. The months of their calendar and the letters of their alphabet were given the names of trees.
The Druidic herbal medicines were prepared as they are today as teas, salves, tinctures, poultices and syrups, as well as homeopathic dilutions. The magical uses of the herbs were administered while in a hypnotic state of consciousness and through spells, a state of consciousness that I attain through ecstatic trance. The herbs for each of the eight spokes of the cycle of the year is the valuable core of the book, each herb presented in a clear succinct manner including its preparations, and its medicinal, homeopathic, and magical uses. Mistletoe is important for three of the eight spokes of the wheel of the year, the winter solstice or Mean Geimhridh, the summer solstice or Mean Samhraidh, and Lugnasad that falls halfway between the summer solstice and the fall equinox. Growing up in California where Mistletoe is very prevalent, I often collected it during the summer for our celebration of Christmas. I now wonder about mistletoe’s role for the Celts with it growing in the warmer latitudes of California and not in New York or Pennsylvania where I have lived for the last 40 years. Hopman though reports that at least one species grows in northern Europe. Mistletoe’s great sacredness to the Druids may be due to its greater rarity in these cooler climates. Its twigs and leaves are used for strengthening the working of magic, and for their importance in healing, protection and for producing beautiful dreams. This parasite is one of the 14 herbs sacred to the druids, possibly the most important next to the oak upon which it often grows. Research has shown that it stimulates the immune system, inhibits some tumors by activating the killer cells, and it is used to temper epilepsy.
From my love for and writings about the Icelandic Edda, I am familiar with the dart of mistletoe that was used to kill Baldr, the gentle and beloved son of Odin. There was nothing else that would harm him, a promise made to his mother by every other substance. Then, at the time of Ragnarok, the final battle with the demise of the gods of war, the gentle Baldr is reborn to lead us into a gentle New Age, a hopeful prophesy.
The herbal alchemy of the Druids defines a relationship between the Earth’s herbal forces and those of the celestial spheres, a system that classifies each herb by its planetary affiliations to the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter or Saturn. For example, Mars is affiliated with the thorny and prickly plants with a strong acid taste, plants that help with motor nerve, muscle, and left brain problems. These plants include nettles, hops, garlic and onion. The sun’s herbs are orange, reddish orange to yellow and are nourished in the warmth of the sun, herbs such as butterbur, borage, motherwort and grapes which are used to help with problems of the heart, circulation, and the spine.
The rituals and celebrations of the Druids take place in the groves of sacred trees such as oak, rowan and hawthorn, rituals that involve repeatedly walking sunwise around the sacred hills, springs, stones, trees and fires, acts that reflect the desire to live in harmony with the cosmos. Every tree, spring, well, rock, valley, mountain and body of water has its own animating spirits that reveal its sacred relationship with all other flora, fauna and minerals. At these sacred places poetry, legends and song find their fullest expression. At these places sacrificial gifts are offered to the deities and fairies to gain their support in providing for a fruitful life. The twenty-one described herbs used for consecration and purification include Agelica, Asafetida, Basil, Cedar, Juniper, Mistletoe, Sage, and Valerian. Many of the described herbs are also used in funeral rituals and rites and for the journey into the Otherworld, herbs such as Elder and Hawthorn. For marriage under the Oak the many herbs used include Anise, Apple and Maple. For bringing peace and prosperity to the home the herbs used include Bay Laurel, Mandrake, and Plantain; and for the rites of passage from birth, for infant naming, and for puberty the herbs used include Ash, Birch, Holly and Rosemary.
These hypnotic and magical rituals beautifully bring alive our need for a harmonious relationship with the Earth and the Cosmos. These rituals are more relevant today than ever because of our separation from our one and only Earth that has occurred over that last several centuries because of our greed, separation that has led to our current battle for survival because of the climate crisis. I still maintain that there is hope, hope for us to enter the beautiful New Age if we again reconnect with the sacred Earth and the Cosmos, a connection that was very much alive for our ancient hunting and gathering ancestors from the era of the Celts and Druids.
January 19, 2014
Goodness, this felt like a long book! There is a lot of good information here, but you must be willing to read some serious lists. Correspondences, associations, and uses for an impressive variety of herbs are arranged according to a greater purpose: the 8 sabbats, the planets, Druidry itself, and the many stages and rites of passage in life. This is most definitely a book you will enjoy being able to reference more than you'll enjoy reading cover to cover. But being the kind of reader I am, I did indeed read it straight through and recommend it.
As is now common for magical books, "A Druid's Herbal" contains just as much information on healing with herbs as it does the magic of them. This is not a selling point for me as I own many herbalism books already, and like to keep the two styles separate, but this one is works them together quite well. Instructions for remedies are quick and simple, other chapters are referenced in parentheses instead of info being doubled up, and simple lists (instead of explanations) of illnesses/diseases an herb cures keep things brief. This allowed the author space to include both standard herbalist and homeopathic uses without wasting space.
The magical uses of each herb are just as succinctly described and come from well-known and respected sources. Having them arranged by festivals/rites as they are makes this book especially useful when organizing events. Before choosing the particulars of a sabbat ritual or other gathering, this would be a nice book to flip through for ideas. I suggest, however, that if you keep a reference of herbal remedies you copy down into it the info you'll want right away. This would be a hard book to search in an emergency.
I find it odd that though this book is about and for Druids, it reads so much like a general Pagan book. Knowing not as much as I'd like of the particulars of Druidry, I cannot say for certain on this point.
As a nice surprise, the appendices are first class. A pronunciation guide to the Gaelic featured and a short list of fine mail order resources, combined with a good bibliography, a list of related books, and full indices for both subjects and the herbs themselves makes the back pages very worthwhile.
As is now common for magical books, "A Druid's Herbal" contains just as much information on healing with herbs as it does the magic of them. This is not a selling point for me as I own many herbalism books already, and like to keep the two styles separate, but this one is works them together quite well. Instructions for remedies are quick and simple, other chapters are referenced in parentheses instead of info being doubled up, and simple lists (instead of explanations) of illnesses/diseases an herb cures keep things brief. This allowed the author space to include both standard herbalist and homeopathic uses without wasting space.
The magical uses of each herb are just as succinctly described and come from well-known and respected sources. Having them arranged by festivals/rites as they are makes this book especially useful when organizing events. Before choosing the particulars of a sabbat ritual or other gathering, this would be a nice book to flip through for ideas. I suggest, however, that if you keep a reference of herbal remedies you copy down into it the info you'll want right away. This would be a hard book to search in an emergency.
I find it odd that though this book is about and for Druids, it reads so much like a general Pagan book. Knowing not as much as I'd like of the particulars of Druidry, I cannot say for certain on this point.
As a nice surprise, the appendices are first class. A pronunciation guide to the Gaelic featured and a short list of fine mail order resources, combined with a good bibliography, a list of related books, and full indices for both subjects and the herbs themselves makes the back pages very worthwhile.
November 6, 2020
I really, really, REALLY like this book. It's really informative, has a great index (you'd be surprised how often books don't!!) and it's just really interesting. I absolutely love it!
October 5, 2008
All and all not bad -- these kind of books can be sooo bad. This is not an ancient druid's herbal I guess but a new one with lots of new world plants included. She does give medical and non uses for the herbs she has included.
June 28, 2016
Very useful on a number of different levels. If one is a practicing pagan, with an eye to the Celtic, then this is very handy. Or if one is just trying to live on this earth in a friendlier manner, then the use of plants is very useful.
February 21, 2016
Found this book interesting and how the herbs relate to the cycle of the earth and to people sensitive to nature.
July 28, 2018
Love this herbal, and reference it often.
December 13, 2020
Pretty good, but as with most herbals, it's more of an encyclopedia of herbs, than anything. And the herbs listed seem to be a mix of stuff plucked from older herbals (like Grieve's) with a lot of more accessible, modern selection, which is a good thing. But. a few negative points that irked me: I wish she wouldn't have relegated the very late introduction of potatoes to the Irish diet to a footnote; that made it seem like druids actually used those when in fact, potatoes weren't introduced into Europe until the 16th century. Also, I would've liked a list of substitutions, for those times you can't find...oh, say, Melliot when "symptoms are worse ... at 4pm"
Yep not making that up. That's what it says.
(I had to knock a star off for that comment. Sorry, Miss Hopman!)
Still, though, A Druid's Herbal for the Sacred Earth Year is a quick read for the modern practitioner, and one I found interesting.
Yep not making that up. That's what it says.
(I had to knock a star off for that comment. Sorry, Miss Hopman!)
Still, though, A Druid's Herbal for the Sacred Earth Year is a quick read for the modern practitioner, and one I found interesting.
January 31, 2019
LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS WRITING STYLE!!
very informative with some history tidbits AND ritual how-to’s are the key to the perfect crafting/pagan book in my opinion. even if you’re just interested in learning about pagans and druids I HIGHLY recommend this read! can’t wait to read the follow up.
very informative with some history tidbits AND ritual how-to’s are the key to the perfect crafting/pagan book in my opinion. even if you’re just interested in learning about pagans and druids I HIGHLY recommend this read! can’t wait to read the follow up.
July 16, 2020
Really enjoyed this book, however it wasn't quite what I thought it would be. There's some herb lore, and information on certain herbs which is fairly extensive but I did think that there would be more on ritual and medical uses.
August 19, 2020
Good for research into herbs used in Iron Age Britain although whether the Druids used them it is hard to say as nothing was written down. Even so a good insight to a hobby of mine - medieval and Iron Age herbal medicine and the use of native herbs within British society pre-Roman conquest.
April 5, 2019
Great book to have in a reference library for those interested in herbalism and how it relates to magick.
November 2, 2019
Very interesting.
January 13, 2023
I liked reading it, but it was like reading a recipe book. I though I was going to reading about the symbolism behind the herbs.
January 14, 2016
This book had a profound effect on my spiritual life. I was already an herbalist when I read it but by the end of the book I decided to seriously study Druidism. Up to that time I had skimmed through information on Druidry, read the myths and had an interest but this book set me solidly on the path I was to follow for life.
June 3, 2010
Loving this book so far!!
September 27, 2011
This book was very informative and I am quite pleased that the author included all relevant warnings and advice on the herbs included. It can be a little repetitive and dry, though.
August 10, 2016
If it tells you how much I love this book I'm on my fifth copy!
January 15, 2016
Excellent! I would recommend highly!
February 22, 2008
Excellent! Includes herbal uses, homeopathic uses, and magical uses.
August 16, 2013
Even after years of practicing herbology, this is still my go-to book.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews