Under the Witching Tree: A Folk Grimoire of Tree Lore and Practicum

by Corinne Boyer, Claude Mahmood (Photographs)

Under the Witching Tree is the first in a trilogy of books by Corinne Boyer; a folk-herbalist known for her work exploring the traditional medicinal, and magical applications of plants and trees as well as their folklore. This is a trilogy that guides us into the realms of plant lore, folk magic and folk medicine. The first book, Under the Witching Tree, focuses on the rustic magical traditions surrounding trees from western and northern Europe and north America. Corinne's work, backed up by nearly twenty years of experience in the field, is full of information that is today little known, particularly within modern herbalism. This is a book which presents the reader with a wealth of home-spun and very hands-on practices exploring tales, charms, spells, recipes and rites focusing on twenty different trees.

Genres: Witchcraft, Nonfiction, Occult, Folklore, Plants, Magick, Spirituality

288 pages, Paperback

Published January 26, 2017

Reviews

[Phoenix · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a treasury of folklore and offers a lot of practical advice as well for wildcrafting.

I took a star off for the sloppy editing, as there were numerous points in the book where spelling mistakes or missed revisions with formatting hampered my scansion of the text. But the knowledge, thankfully, still made it through all that.

Despite the fact that this book was more on the mythical side of things, I actually found that after finishing this book I was better able to identify trees in my local area. I'm delighted that I have this resource, because it makes me feel more connected to my environment and helps my practice grow in a natural way that coincides with my interests in folklore.

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of this trilogy, and referring to them often as guiding texts for future wildcrafting I might engage in.

[Nightshade · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent and in-depth look at the folklore surrounding 20 different trees. The book is divided into seasons, and contains a wealth of information including folklore, folk medicine, personal practices of the author, and also includes spells, charms and recipes to try.

While I do not have access to all of the trees in the book, there are some that I have access to and I focussed on those chapters first. Even so, I enjoyed the chapters on all of the trees regardless of whether I have access to them or not.

I am lookong forward to the next two books in this series!

[Gilly-Tamar K · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book goes into tree lore and magick and is a very interesting read. It covers in detail folklore, medicinal and magickal property of trees.

Did you know Alder trees were nitrogen fixer in helping to heal the land by bringing fertility to the soil? When Alder bark is cut, within a half hour or so it will turn an orange red due to oxygen exposure.
It was also believed that to cut an Alder tree down would bring a house fire upon the feller of the tree. Alder rods were used in dowsing to locate water and is also thought to be protective too.

In old folk medicine Alder bark was a remedy gargle for a sore throat and the leaves used for burns and inflammation.

Alder is certainly a tree of darker power and can be used in wood binding spells. This book, The Witching tree is a must if you like tree magick and folklore

[Mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I little bit hard to get through - it reminded me of Dale Pendell's Pharmako series - the info was REALLY good, but then there's just a little bit that is, for want of a better term, *extra*.

It also could have stood a better copy editor. I wouldn't normally comment on the proofreading on a book, but it was bad enough to be distracting, especially in the back third of the book or so.

Probably a book I will come back to repeatedly for reference on specific things, but not a great read through.

[Mitchell Stern · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent overview of the lore and usages of trees in magic and witchcraft.

[Julie Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting read. Learned a lot about ancient folklore.