Description
The Sacred Herbs of Samhain is a detailed and practice-led guide to working with plants associated with the darker half of the year, particularly the Samhain season, a time traditionally understood as a threshold between worlds.
Within Celtic tradition, Samhain marks the turning point into winter, where the boundary between the physical and spiritual realms is believed to become more permeable. This book explores the plants, trees, and herbs connected to that liminal space, offering both historical context and practical methods for working with them in a grounded and respectful way.
Ellen Evert Hopman approaches the subject as a herbalist and practitioner, providing guidance on over 70 plants, including how to identify, harvest, and use them within spiritual and practical settings. The focus extends beyond simple correspondences, looking at how these plants have been used for protection, purification, healing, and spirit communication across time.
Particular attention is given to workings connected to ancestors and the Dead. This includes practices for maintaining safe boundaries, honouring those who have passed, and understanding the responsibilities that come with attempting contact. The book also addresses traditional protections against disruptive or unpredictable spiritual forces, often referred to in folklore as the “Good Neighbours.”
Alongside this, Hopman explores the role of visionary plants in trance work, psychic journeying, and altered states. These sections are approached with care, including clear cautions around safety, plant identification, and the importance of experience and discernment when engaging with deeper or more intense practices.
The book also includes traditional Samhain rites and customs, such as the Dumb Supper, offerings to land spirits, and seasonal foods. These elements ground the work in lived tradition, connecting plant practice to land, cycle, and community.
While rooted in Samhain, this is not a book limited to one night of the year. The themes within it, working with ancestors, understanding boundaries, protection, and deepening connection to the land and plant spirits, are relevant throughout the darker months and beyond. It serves equally as a seasonal companion and a long-term reference for those developing a relationship with plant-based spiritual work.
• Covers over 70 plants associated with Samhain and the darker half of the year
• Explores herbal uses for protection, purification, healing, and spirit contact
• Includes guidance on ancestor work and maintaining spiritual boundaries
• Addresses visionary plants and trance work with clear safety considerations
• Details traditional Samhain rituals, offerings, and seasonal practices
• Combines folklore, herbal knowledge, and practical application
This is a book for those who want to move beyond surface-level seasonal practice and engage more deeply with land, plant spirits, and the realities of working at the edge of the unseen.
