Folklore, witchcraft and medicine meet in this collection of herbs and plants by Corinne Boyer. What captivated me first was the cover of this book, decorated with bramble (aka blackberry) vines. I first saw it on the shelves of the small library in my friend Daisy's apartment amongst her other witchy books and plant guides.
My friend is a very generous person and when she saw me curled up on the couch flipping through the pages she gifted me the book right away.
And now this book lives in my herbal apothecary because, though it is somewhat of a grimoire and contains lots of tales, it is also full of medicinal information about some of the most common herbs found in temperate climates.
Each chapter is dedicated to a different herb; blackberry, thistle, tansy, rose, and so many more. And of course I love the black ink illustrations with which each chapter starts out. I even have plans to get a tattoo inspired by one of the pages!
When preparing to write this article I debated sharing it here in the Magick community or to post it in the Hive Book Club. Yes this is a book review, making is appropriate for the latter but ... this type of book is very specific to a certain type of reader. Basically you need to be witchy in order to really appreciate what this book has to offer.
Under the Bramble Arch (and Boyer's other titles too) isn't quite a spell book exactly. It is most like a collection of folk tales about the herbs, old and new rituals, her own personal experiences working with the herbs in witchcraft and information about their medicinal properties sprinkled in there too.
Now that witchcraft has become so popular online it can be a bit sad to see "baby witches" repeat the same information on TikTok without really having any spirituality to back up what they are saying. "Do this under the full moon" "buy these crystals to improve this or that" ... to me that is NOT what witchcraft is all about.
I want to hear about a witch's garden or hear about the ancient folklore associated with a certain herb. And although this book could certainly do with a bit of editing, I love that first person perspective of someone who has been witchy for years.
<< If this review strikes your interest, you can find "Under the Bramble Arch" and all of Boyer's other books with the link >>
