Why poisonous plants?

All plants have potential for healing and delivering important lessons to the people willing to reach out to them. Not everyone is called to work with poisonous and/or psychoactive plants, and that is okay. However, these plants have a fascinating history and there is lots of folklore and superstition surrounding them. Plants like wolfsbane (Aconitum napellus), henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) and more pop up in the myths of the ancient world. They are the “plants of the gods.” As you will see, many of them are associated with witchcraft and sorcery. They can also be important ceremonial herbs or even feared poisons. The Poison Path Herbal explores the plants of the Poison Path through the lens of the modern traditional witch combining elements of alchemy, astrology and magic ritual.

A study of these plants would be incomplete without looking to their ethnopharmacological uses. The approach and ritual structure employed by indigenous shaman and medicine people when it comes to plant spirit medicine is something that we can learn from immensely. The shaman come from unbroken traditions that go back centuries. They have protected their knowledge from disappearing. From a European perspective, much of the ethnobotanical lore about plants like deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) and fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) was suppressed, wiped-out or forgotten and what does survive can be found sprinkled throughout various sources. This book is the manifestation of bringing some of those pieces back together.

Ten-years of research and personal experimentation, with the help of some persistent plant spirits, led to The Poison Path Herbal being written. It is part grimoire and part formulary. The rituals, recipes and occult lore are intended to provide the reader with enough material to safely and effectively incorporate these plants into their magical practice, grow them, or use them for their medicinal benefits. The reader will meet other spirits along the way that share an affinity to the plants we are discussing, including Lilith, the Fates and Saturn. These spirits demonstrate and aspect of the associated plants personality or its magical potential.

The Poison Path Herbal will leave the reader with an in depth understanding of what The Poison Path is, and how it can be approached. From an understanding of phytochemistry and active constituents, to the entheogenic use of plants in ritual.

The book is available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon & can be purchased directly from me here The Poison Path Herbal by Coby Michael — The Poisoner's Apothecary (thepoisonersapothecary.com)

Wholesale is available through Ingram Book Distributors.

Published by Park Street Press (Inner Traditions/Bear & Company)