Books by Angela Paine

We can learn from the ancient Celts, who were in tune with their environment and showed respect and reverence for all living things. By following their meditative practices we can tune in to our intuitive powers, and learn to listen...

Greek myth is part of our background, the names of many of the gods and goddesses known to us all. Within the myths are numerous references to plants used by goddesses and gods to heal or enchant, and the names of many of these plants have been incorporated into the Latin binomials that are used to identify them. By half a millennium BCE the physician god Asclepius entered into the mythology and temples were built to him called Asclepiaea, where the sick came to worship him and sleep with serpents in dormitories, hoping to experience miracle cures. At around the same time the first actual physicians began to practice within the Asclepiaea, using herbs, surgery and dietary advice. From these remote beginnings Greek medicine and botany evolved and were recorded, first in the Hypocratic Corpus, then by many other famous Greek physicians including Theophrastus, Dioscorides and Galen, who recorded the medicinal plants they used. This book traces the evolution of Greek medicine, the source of Western medicine, and looks at a selection of plants with healing properties, including a large number of trees which were both sacred and medicinal.

One of the aspects of the culture of the Celts was their use of plant medicine, and central to this was the use of herbs. This book traces that history where these herbs are used clinically to treat a range of conditions. It covers the herbs, covering its history, myth and symbolism and explaining how to grow, preserve, prepare and use them.