The Western Gate

Under The Dragon Root
Corinne Boyer
Troy Books

Away! Away from the modern grimoires with text lifted from Fantasy Role games, aside from the rituals carved with fusion from all manner of archaic and fancy names! Depart then from the Kings New clothes! and we can once again talk and verse on those subjects that as wayfarers of the path we once discoursed.*

The Verdant Path- the Green path, again the moderns writers and forum lurkers would have us believe you can be a Green Witch, or a Sea Witch or all number of sub divides, in truth there is only Witch. The Verdant-The Green path is not so much a strand of ones craft but necessity. We adapt to our environment, we come to know the properties of the flora in our midst because being sensitive and being of the sight we inhabit that world in which, dependent on enviroment and which nature supports it we operate. A mind in a dense and thick wood filled with natural trees is completly different to a mind in a forest of water sapping and un-natural imported fir/conifer-trees. Equally, and naturally, in a meadow of fragrant and wild flowers the mind recptive to its qualities as opposed to the mind in a field of corn….
Corinne Boyer is well known as one of the respected authors of Herbal Craft, many books attest to this. Troy Books released two of of her books previously;- Under The Bramble Arch and Under the Witching Tree, and now to complete the Trilogy, as all good things come in threes, we have Under The Dragon Root,This third book is much larger at 360 pages over the 280 and 258 of the previous two offerings.
This new book lists twenty of the authors ‘favourite’ plants as used in the tradition. Of course, this would then lead to being a subjective book, yet in fairness, and foul, they are perhaps the plants most associated with ‘Witchcraft’. As such many are those plants with infamous qualities be it Henbane, Aconite, Belladonna et al.
There is a few notions that irritate. The first herb discussed is Wormwood and a small paragraph is written on its propagation. Most herbal books never tell you how to grow these herbs properly or how they naturally seed and prosper, just a bog standard list of the herbal properties contained within and their usage/toxicity. Of course knowing Mandrake is in the list of plants discussed here, and as I have been half-successful in growing that damned plant I skipped straight to its chapter to see if Corinne had spilled the beans on the correct and most accepted way to grow Mandrake successfully. Since Harry James bloody Potter, the price of the seeds and seedlings has rocketed so failure to grow them is both a lengthy and now costly task. However, Corinne tells us where she learnt how to grow them and from whom, she could not, would not, delve further and let us know the ‘secret’ to successful Mandrake fruition, she even says she isn’t going to tell us how to grow them ! And I wanted to throw the book instantly. Nothing so irritating as occult, or esoteric knowledge which should be the revealing of hitherto guarded and kept wisdom being still closed within that Pandora’s box. Yes, we have the internet, you-tube and it wouldn’t take me long to get those secrets revealed, but I like books, I like to leaf through them, to study and to check and I want them to reveal, NOT conceal.
It is a peculiar tradition particularly from those blossoms of Gerald Gardner with regards to the adage- Hele Kneel and don’t reveal…Praise, Raise and keep Silent. This covenant of silence and obedience, of subjugation and limitation is born of the Piscean restriction. We can come out now, the wicked witch is gone and we can dance illuminated in full view of the moonlight.
To edit and censor is to condemn literature. It could be said that certain material is not discussed due to legality ( i.e. how to grow illegal plants- although this information is freely available elsewhere) or because of the dangers inherent with playing or dabbling with certain plants. It is doubtful however that a person of ill reason has the sufficient means or energy to study this material, let alone the financial means and these books aren’t cheap (though Troy Books are much cheaper than equal/less quality of the same books from others in the Esoteric/Occult field)…. and anyway who are we each to decide what is fit for us, and not others? Perhaps there is a copyright issue? really? on how to successfully grow a plant? This would reek of the arrogance of companies like Monsanto who seek to patent nature and copyright each hybrid plant they manipulate. Perhaps then sayeth the people-pleasing angel on my shoulder it is a secular secret? perhaps it is inherited knowledge, or knowledge obtained from the inner planes, in which case how can it be copyrighted? The interpreter or wanderer of those inner planes had no authority or ownership of the information at all, in fact being as it would be derived from wisdom nothing has ownership over its revelation.
The more I try to justify the action of any author to edit or omit information the less I succeed, there is simply no reason in the illuminating and global flowering of the human race to continue to shroud any would be secret like a greedy cowering Morgan Le Fey. It’s a shame but none the less, it doesn’t really distract from this book being a very worthy addition to the Green Path shelf, indeed as one of three they are a great body of work.
To be fair, Corrinne does emphasise the need for perseverance and those that want will achieve, she reminds us “Diligence is the mother of good luck”.

Under The Dragon root lays out the plants in chapters dedicated to each season followed by an appendix and index and bibliography. Each selected plant is discussed with its history, uses, (a limited and brief section on its propagation) and there will always be content that is both valuable and indeed new/original for the practitioner of the herbal tradition- which I insist form a part of the craft and is not distinct nor isolated as its own path.
I would recommend all three of these books for study.
The ultimate Green Path – Verdant Gnosis book of course being that which is written in the hand of the self. The knowledge obtained and experience of, whether this is in the ‘book of shadows’ or a separate ‘Green Path’ book. With this is mind, Corinne has in each section her own personal experience with each plant, and here the book truly shines and sets it apart from others who otherwise follow much the same usual reference and correspondence layout, indeed there are reminisces within these sections that are most valuable and would strike more of a chord with those of us who prefer anecdotal experience, even if that experience be folly than repeated and researched material.
Although I whinged and whined with regards to not being told how to successfully and consistently grow Mandrake, be assured, these are the criticisms of a selfish little brat such as I, there is wisdom here within that quietens any selfish tantrum I offered.

It is through nature and with nature that the path is revealed, dancing with the ‘Fey’ and not ‘they‘*

The Plants as discussed within ‘Under The Dragon root are as follows;-

Autumn
Wormwood; Valerian; Poppy; Autumn Crocus ; Mushrooms-Various
Winter
Mandrake; Bay Laurel; Hellebore; Mexeron; Periwinkle;
Spring
Henbane; Angelica; Lily of the Valley; Rue; Fern
Summer
Vervain; Belladonna; Foxglove; Aconite; Thorn Apple~ Datura.

*
When We Three?- Nay, When Thee and the Tree Shall Meet again

Away! Away from the digital tomes,
Pixelled incantations, in realms of imagined lore,
Where spells are mere whispers in silicon maelstroms,
And enchantments are echoes from screens of yore.

Depart from the ritualistic mosaics,
Crafted by hands unversed in ancient tongues,
Where the sacred is diluted by eclectic archaics,
And the mystic’s voice in babel is sung.

Shun the vestments of the Emperor’s vanity,
Threads spun from illusions, garments of deceit,
Let us forsake these garments of sanity,
And return to the paths where true seekers meet.

Oh, to walk again on that hidden trail,
Where silence speaks louder than verbose texts,
Where the sacred winds of wisdom prevail,
And the soul’s compass to the true north directs.

Let us converse in the dialect of the stars,
In glyphs etched by time on cosmic scrolls,
To rediscover the ancient avatars,
And resurrect the lore that once made us whole.

As wayfarers of the path, we shall discourse,
Beyond the veneer of modern contrivance,
In the heart’s language, pure and terse,
Reclaiming the essence of our spiritual alliance.

We dance always with the Fey, Not they,
We dance with the roots and the blossom , Not them,
We dance in the Verdant pastures bloom
and stray from the confines, of roof and room.

Beloved.Incog. ©2024