Witches' Forbidden Herbs

Witches’ Forbidden Herbs: A Practical Guide to Infamous Plants for Magic and Medicine by the Seed Sistas, with a foreword by Cherry Neneh, explores some of the plants that have long occupied the more dangerous edges of herbalism, folklore, and witchcraft.

Henbane, datura, and belladonna are among the infamous plants examined in this richly illustrated grimoire. Associated throughout history with poison, medicine, altered states, witchcraft, and magical practice, these are not ordinary kitchen herbs. Many contain powerful toxic compounds and require considerably more knowledge and caution than plants commonly encountered in modern herbalism.

The Seed Sistas approach these plants through the intertwined histories of herbal medicine, folk knowledge, and magic, arguing for renewed understanding of traditions that have often been pushed to the margins or forgotten altogether. Alongside their medicinal histories, the book explores folklore, ritual associations, and the place these plants have occupied within ideas surrounding witches and magical practice.

The practical material ranges from meditation, folklore writing, and wreath making to brewing and ritual work, encouraging readers to develop a more considered relationship with plants and the knowledge surrounding them. The book also discusses the historical and magical tradition of flying ointments, including their associations with altered consciousness, ritual, sex magic, and lucid dreaming.

Importantly, plants such as belladonna, henbane, and datura can be highly poisonous. Their historical use does not make them safe for casual experimentation, and anyone approaching this material should take toxicity, dosage, preparation, and method of exposure seriously. Some of the book can therefore be approached as historical, folkloric, and magical study rather than instruction to reproduce every practice described.

Beautifully illustrated and grounded in the Seed Sistas’ herbal practice, Witches’ Forbidden Herbs offers a deeper look at plants whose reputations have been shaped by medicine, danger, folklore and witchcraft in equal measure.

This edition is a reissue of the previously published Poison Prescriptions.