Book Reviews
Lucy Jones has had her book published: 'Self Sufficient Herbalism'
Self Sufficient Herbalism is the first ever practical guide to the growing, gathering, and preserving of medicinal herbs for a working dispensary. Written by a practising herbalist with a high street clinic, it covers everything you need to know to become truly self sufficient in creating and dispensing your own herbal medicine.
Relying on only a small allotment and access to the fields and woodlands of rural England, Lucy Jones provides a masterclass in the wild crafting, growing, harvesting, drying, storage, and processing of medicinal herbs. Her passion for the plants and traditional ways of preserving them for medicine shines through as she explores the deeper implications of self-sufficiency and the transformative impact it has had on her practice.
The guide includes a glossary of detailed notes on the cultivation, harvesting, and processing of 108 individual herbs arranged by the seasons. It is a must read for practising herbalists, herbal students, herb gardeners, and all those who love herbs.
Vicki Pitman's Aromatherapy book is now published!
Aromatherapy - A Practical Approach (Second Edition) - Vicki Pitman
From the back cover: "This comprehensive guide to aromatherapy provides thorough coverage for students and is also an excellent reference for practitioners. It includes all the information required by students training on aromatherapy courses accredited to Levels 3 or 4."
If you'd like a copy, click here to buy from Amazon (or you can order one from an independent bookshop).
The Western Herbal Tradition - Graeme Tobyn, Alison Denham, Margaret Whitelegg: A Book Review by John E Smith F:URHP

This great text draws from the work of herbal luminaries over a 2,000 year period from the time of Dioscorides to the modern day, and introduces the reader to not only "evidence based” herbal medicine ( which tends to refer more to laboratory based or "scientifically validated” results) but also knowledge derived from centuries of traditional usage.
The authors discuss the phytochemistry of the plants, with many scientific references and modern applications; devote space to the work of a host of authorities including Pliny, Ibn Sina and other more classical scholars and current practitioners such as Matthew Wood and Kerry Bone.
We learn that not only is Vervain a relaxing tonic but was also used by the Romans to purify sacred places, especially temples and altars dedicated to Jupiter. We are also informed that Artemesia absinthum is not merely a good bitter tonic to improve digestion, but was also traditionally taken with wine re hemlock poisoning, "shrew bites” and "the stinging of spiders and other venomous beasts”.
The bulk of the text is taken up with very detailed monographs of 27 commonly used western herbs, these monographs are beautifully illustrated with both photographs and pen and wash paintings making this a useful reference book for practitioners of herbal medicine.
The Western Herbal Tradition was published in February 2016 by Singing Dragon and is priced at £35.
The Yellow Monkey Emperor’s CLASSIC of CHINESE MEDICINE: A Book Review by John E Smith F:URHP

As a TCM practitioner another text which has (of course) inspired me is "The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine” (Huangdi Neijing – approx 250 B.C.). This is largely a discourse between the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) and his acupuncturist/advisor Qi Bo.
"Why do people no longer live for more than 100years?”
This question is asked by the Yellow Monkey Emperor when meeting Bee Bo, a wise Bumble Bee, who answers:
"Things were different in ancient times; the animals of the world practised the way of Dao…. In contrast, the youth of today are irresponsible and have stepped away from the natural rhythm of the universe….”
This leads us into an investigation of 78 imbalances in the main Zhang Fu organs, using amusing and colourful cartoon drawings to illustrate what are often difficult syndromes for the average western student to understand such as: "Small Intestine Cold and Deficient "– described in the text as "Banana Cheesecake, Spleen and Stomach Syndrome”.
The drawings in this profound "picture book” have been beautifully crafted by Spencer Hill, a long term student of the Daoist Arts. Who co-ordinated on the development of the idea, the text and the concept with Damo Mitchell, the technical Director of the Lotus Nei Gong School of Daoist Arts and the author of several books.
The Yellow Monkey Emperor’s Classic of Chinese Medicine was published this year by Singing Dragon and printed and bound in China
Book Reviews: Make Your Own Aphrodisiacs, by Julie Bruton-Seal and Matthew Seal
