This is a beautifully illustrated guide to plants with a pagan slant. It is very comprehensive and arranged by seasons, with lovely photos and illustrations.

A fabulous introduction to working with herbs, incorporating both health and ritual/magical uses for a variety of plants. I think whether you are interested in working with them for practical heath or ritual purposes you would find value in reading this book. There is also a lot of herbal history, great looks into the body systems and what plants work with each area. There's sections featuring plants separated by season, not only for harvesting purposes, but also magical associations. You can tell a lot of care went into writing this book and it made for a very enjoyable read!

I've been getting into herbalism & foraging recently. My boyfriend’s been polite but dismayed about the clumps of drying nettles everywhere, & I keep putting sprigs of cleavers in people's drinking water. There's so much medicinal food I can grow & forage and dry & infuse!
But I'm having trouble locating decent books on which herb does what & how to prepare them effectively.
So I was delighted to receive a free review copy of The Sensory Herbal Handbook. Thanks Watkinsbooks & Sensory Solutions!
Billed as “an easy to understand guide for anyone who has heard the whispers of the wild & is compelled to learn more,” this is a gorgeous book full of obvious love and passion for the subject. Not afraid to occupy the 'woo-woo' side of herbalism, this mystic knowledge is combined with the Seed Sista's knowledge from their degrees in herbal medicine.
Arranged by season, certain plants are highlighted with a special focus on their uses, and suggestions for how we can use them in our day-to-day lives, instead of just scheduling a trip to Boots. Illustrations, poetry and character profiles help you revise and remember the key take-aways about each plant.
A beautiful, important book by knowledgeable, passionate writers. A beautiful, important book by knowledgeable, passionate writers. If the idea of advice on full-moon harvests & astrological profiles makes you shudder, move along. But if you like or don't mind that type of wisdom, this is a treasure trove.

I didn't get the chance to finish it but what I did read was very nice. The pictures were beautiful and I hope to buy it for myself one day.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read in exchange for an honest review.

Handy little book full of useful tips. One that can be used time and time again. This is one that would be really helpful for herb lovers globe wide

I have only touched the surface of this book and love it. I am training to be a herbalist and this book will help me to develop my knowledge and understanding of herbs and their use in health and well-being. The book continues all types of things including theory, identification of plants, poems, rituals and recipes. This is a book I can see me buying a hard copy of to keep to hand.

The Sensory Herbal Handbook is a passionate and experiential guide to a number of herbs that can be found in wild in the UK or grown within your own garden. These range from the popular rosemary to spicy horseradish to magical elder, with more besides. The authors apply a sensory approach to working with herbs — that is, using all of our senses to experience these plants and their wild medicines — along with some more magical influences (e.g. elemental correspondences and zodiac signs).

As both a witch and a flower essence practitioner, I both applaud and enjoy this approach, and feel it to be more well-rounded and holistic than just simply botanical or magical outlooks; by combining all the different ways we can work with our green allies, the Seed Sistas give us a completely approachable and unique guide to exploring and interacting with Nature. he science behind plants and human anatomy is fascinating and we are also given folklore, health benefits, rituals, poems, and recipes. The reader is encouraged to explore herbs and other plants with all their senses, and the inclusion of additional resources and a comprehensive index round off this book.

I received an e-ARC from the publisher, Watkins, through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a lovely introduction into herbalism and just what I was looking for. It will be a key reference for me whilst I find my feet. A beginners bible. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review.

This is a lovely book with great illustrations. It takes a very experiential approach to helping the reader learn about herbs. Perhaps a little too experiential for me - it had never occurred to me to give a plant personality characteristics; write a poem about it; ascribe it an element or a zodiac sign to it. These many layers and this level of exploration does mean that the herbs and their uses are remembered. More importantly it has practical recipes and advice: I am drinking a plantain, nettle and elderflower tea for my hay fever as I write this.

I am so happy to be able to read such a great book about herbs and their uses. Having a mother who used herbs, plants and holistic medicine throughout my childhood is something that I have always remembered and still use today. This book explains how to use herbs for health and well-being. It is for the experienced and the novice. Using the plants that are growing in your area is a great way to know what you have and what's it is used for. The herbs can be used for mental and physical illnesses. The seasons are an important part of using herbs. My mother made sure that we had a certain plant to eat during the spring. The greens tasted good and she used it to " build our blood up for the coming year". I can't stress enough how great this book is. Having it on your bookshelf for a resource is a must. Just make sure you know what plants you are harvesting are to be sure they are not poison and that they are edible. Many herbs that are inedible can be used for any other purposes. Thanks to the Seed Sisters for all the information. I'm a nurse and I find this book timely and very interesting. I will be buying several copies for friends when it comes out. I received this book from Net Galley and Watkins Publishing for a honest review. I voluntarily read this book.

Herbs have been sourced as a form of therapeutic healing by humans for thousands of years by different cultures and countries, such as China and India with their respective Chinese and Ayurvedic herbal medicine.

Fiona Heckels and Karen Lawton, are the names behind The Seed Sistas, they are herbal medicine specialists and political-eco activists from the UK. With over two decades of clinical and teaching experience, they impart their knowledge to their students and readers. The Seed Sistas are strong advocates of native plant medicine for holistic healing and have initiated the introduction of community native medicine gardens.

The Seed Sistas provide foundational knowledge about Sensory Herbalism that is based on Western Herbal medicine tradition and explain how this differs from Modern Western Herbal medicine. They also teach the basic tools of sensory herbalism such as observation and interpretation, to optimise the reader’s interaction with nature.

Heckel and Lawton’s book is essentially a guide to help herbal medicine enthusiasts and novices learn how to harmoniously co-exist with nature in accordance to the four seasons and the elements of nature such as earth and water. They aim to teach the reader to understand the powerful abilities of medicinal plants in assisting an individual to improve physical and mental wellbeing by attaining homeostasis.

For people who appreciate the New Age culture there is a component of their book that has a discourse on paganism in relation to nature and healing.

Beautiful photographic images of nature and illustrations by Belle Benfield, elegantly accompanies the poetic and creative style of their well written and easy to read prose.

Heckel and Lawton conclude by imploring the reader to share their new found knowledge of herbs with others and to make well informed decisions about their health. The Sensory Herbal Handbook is recommended for herbal medicine students or individuals who are curious to learn more about the healing properties of medicinal plants.

'The Sensory Herbal Handbook' is a manual for those wishing to have a deeper connection with the plant kingdom. It follows the elements through the cycle of the year by observing how they are expressed most fully in each season and expressed in the plants as they grow and develop through the Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Working with imagination, story-telling, characterization, remedies, and recipes we are able to weave a flower garland of healing that transcends our three-dimensional reality. We can begin to perceive the superliminal magic of plants and their basic functions are better easily understood by attuning ourselves to the rhythms of nature.

Using the techniques outlined in this book will enable you to tune into your intuition which will unveil the true hidden secrets of nature. Aligning to the four elements and the corresponding herbs reveals a medicine that resides in every leaf, flower, seed, and root. When you begin to understand your own health emotionally and physically through the elements a conversation opens up between people and plants, a conversation that would otherwise remain as a breeze through the leaves or a droplet of dew on a petal. The more you begin to tune into your intuition the better you can understand herbs and the more you understand herbs, the more you will learn about yourself. 

The symbiotic relationship between people and planet has been distorted for far too long and it’s time to wake up Mother Earth from her induced slumber. The plant kingdom manifests itself through the four elements and in order for us to appreciate its language we must learn how these elements manifest within ourselves. 'The Sensory Herbal Handbook' will unfurl itself into an invaluable source of wisdom for those willing to deepen their friendship with the plants, herbs, and flowers of the world.

An absolutely amazing book. I love herbs and this is one of the better herbal books that I have read or own. Simple to read and understand it's a book to treasure and use over and over again.

This book is very interesting. It explains different theories of healing before moving on to medicinal information on plants. A definite must for naturalists and preppers.

A well written, well presented guide to home homepopathy basically, it’s wonderful and helpfully labelled chapters and pages make it easy to use and innviting,. Using local and seasonal plants to help with your health is a great low cost way and great for the environment, a wonderful aid to any house.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion