Horne Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Compendium of Symbolic and Ritual Plants in Europe By Marcel de Cleene and Marie Claire Lejeune (2003) Okay, so as this one is among my favourite books, I thought of writing a review for the forum. The original book is written in Dutch, as its authors are from Belgium. Note that I can't say anything about the English translation, as I haven't read it, but as it is a scientific work I'm sure the translation will be fine. The book is expensive, but is as far as I'm concerned definitely more than worth its money, as it (the English version) contains almost 1600 pages, and it covers a lot of trees, shrubs and herbs. When I first stumbled upon this book about ten years ago (the Dutch version) my eyes went wide and I felt like “damn, I probably need to have this” and I never regretted buying it ever since. It was in a local book shop, not online, so I had the luxury to open it and skim through it first before buying, and doing so confirmed my first impression I had found something wonderful. What we have here is an extensive study about the role of trees, shrubs and herbs in mythology, their use in religious and mundane/folk rituals and related symbolism. As this is a scientific work, its authors are critical about the correctness of the material they compiled, and they never resort to new-agey speculation and shallow lists of correspondences. Every tree, shrub and herb species are being mentioned by their scientific names, folk names, locations and descriptions. Besides that, each species is described according to their roles in rituals, mythology and devotion, symbolism, magic and folk beliefs, their appearance in legends and fairy tales, use in herbal medicine, their roles in industry, agriculture and crafts, and their use around the house and kitchen, and the authors also include loads of interesting random tidbits. There are also lots of illustrations, an extensive introduction, register and bibliograpy, and lots of notes. Brain-food for the witch? It certainly floats my boat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkwind Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Do you think this book could be found online? I'm very interested! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TobaccoFlower Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 I'm interested as well. Sounds lovely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mountain Witch Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 I have the English translation & it's just as good as Horne says it is in the original Dutch. Mine is 2 volumes, hardbound with a slipcase to hold the 2 together. I can't remember how much I paid for it but it was somewhere around US$150 and it is worth every penny. Although it doesn't cover a multitude of plants, those it does are in-depth. Talking about the historical/mythological use of the plants is where it shines. I refer to it quite often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horne Posted October 9, 2014 Author Share Posted October 9, 2014 Do you think this book could be found online? I'm very interested! Hawkwind, I think it's for sale on good old Amazon. I don't know about any free downloads or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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