The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

I recently purchased 2 books by Ellen E. Hopman.  A druid's herbal for the sacred earth year and A druid's herbal of sacred tree medicine.  Any thought's on her books?  Her research?

Thanks,
Redheadedmomma

I recently purchased 2 books by Ellen E. Hopman.  A druid's herbal for the sacred earth year and A druid's herbal of sacred tree medicine.  Any thought's on her books?  Her research?

Thanks,
Redheadedmomma

 
"By Oak, Ash, & Thorn: Modern Celtic Shamanism" by D.J. Conway is a very good and comprehensive introduction to basics and some more involved ideas and practices of Druid magic. I am vaguely familiar with "A druid's herbal of sacred tree medicine" as I used to read from it occasionally while waiting for classes to begin or just killing time at a nearby pagan shop,though I've never owned a copy. What I remember of it I do like though and would consider it a worthy source of knowledge to apply to ritual of significant or day-to-day nature.
     One part that I seem to recall standing out was the very detailed description for the "proper" way to harvest certain things such as holly or mistletoe for ritual use. Leaning more toward the reconstructionist views of Druidry I appreciate as authentic as possible information on that sort of thing,which I would say is largely intact in "A druid's herbal of sacred tree medicine". If I've confused that last bit with another book I apologize;the owner of the shop was a friend and his bookshelves and private collection at the shop became my personal library for a while so some things are a bit blurred together...

"By Oak, Ash, & Thorn: Modern Celtic Shamanism" by D.J. Conway is a very good and comprehensive introduction to basics and some more involved ideas and practices of Druid magic. I am vaguely familiar with "A druid's herbal of sacred tree medicine" as I used to read from it occasionally while waiting for classes to begin or just killing time at a nearby pagan shop,though I've never owned a copy. What I remember of it I do like though and would consider it a worthy source of knowledge to apply to ritual of significant or day-to-day nature.
     One part that I seem to recall standing out was the very detailed description for the "proper" way to harvest certain things such as holly or mistletoe for ritual use. Leaning more toward the reconstructionist views of Druidry I appreciate as authentic as possible information on that sort of thing,which I would say is largely intact in "A druid's herbal of sacred tree medicine". If I've confused that last bit with another book I apologize;the owner of the shop was a friend and his bookshelves and private collection at the shop became my personal library for a while so some things are a bit blurred together...

I strongly disagree with the recommendation of anything by D.J. Conway for someone following a Druidic path. It's Neo-Wicca with knotwork scribbled on it. I was not impressed. Not as bad as Silver Ravenwolf, but still part of the reason that Llewellyn has a reputation for publishing drek.

I strongly disagree with the recommendation of anything by D.J. Conway for someone following a Druidic path. It's Neo-Wicca with knotwork scribbled on it. I was not impressed. Not as bad as Silver Ravenwolf, but still part of the reason that Llewellyn has a reputation for publishing drek.

There's a slightly deeper issue with any popular press titles of the "Celtic" ilk.  We don't know much about the Celts.  And the vast majority of the specifics regarding their ritual use of plants are utterly lost.  Because of this, most of what's written on this topic is speculative, even among academics.

Brina

I recently purchased 2 books by Ellen E. Hopman.  A druid's herbal for the sacred earth year and A druid's herbal of sacred tree medicine.  Any thought's on her books?  Her research?

Thanks,
Redheadedmomma

I have those two books and I find them useful, particularly if your path uses herbalism more in it than they can be useful.  I hope that helps you out

Have you been able to source any books by Dáithí Ó hÓgáin that are more accessible than the 90-300 USD range?? Shyte... wish my local library was more expansive to assist there.

 
Not really - since he was a University Professor, his books; which are the culmination of his research; are fairly expensive

If your library is connected to others, and allows loans between libraries, that might be the only way to go

Here in Minnesota, they have MNLink - which allows loans between library systems - the copy of The Sacred Isle that I borrowed from the county library actually came from one of the local colleges

Here in Minnesota, they have MNLink - which allows loans between library systems - the copy of The Sacred Isle that I borrowed from the county library actually came from one of the local colleges

 
This book sounds like a must read, here in michigan we have Melcat for inter-library loan, so I will definitely be searching for this one, thanks for the info.

Not really - since he was a University Professor, his books; which are the culmination of his research; are fairly expensive

If your library is connected to others, and allows loans between libraries, that might be the only way to go

Here in Minnesota, they have MNLink - which allows loans between library systems - the copy of The Sacred Isle that I borrowed from the county library actually came from one of the local colleges

As Jenett said Amazon.com usually has some pretty good used deals I scored his Irish Superstitions, The Celts: A History, and The Sacred Isle for a very reasonable price from sellers. (Full disclosure: I work for amazon lol.) Abe Books and I think... Alibris? if that's still around can be good too I used to get textbooks from them when I was in community college

Add on, as has been said already there is no literal source for Druid tree magic because they didn't write down their history and lore it was an oral (aural? )  culture. If you want more info on what *is* known and the history of what we call Druids (this includes fraternal organizations that were/are areligious or Christian) I highly recommend Blood and Mistletoe by Hutton.