This was such a delightful read. A beautiful combination of autobiography, science, and spellcraft laced together with ethereal photographs. This book gives the impression of speaking to a wise woman of old. Full of botanical knowledge, history, and lore, it teaches you simple teas, perfumes, how to make tinctures and how to pair yourself with your perfect scents. The author also gives you a nice overview of aromatherapy and how your body and brain react to certain scents and how to use them to your advantage. This book is definitely a nice addition to the library if anyone who is into herbology and scent-crafting.

Beautiful photos and lovely book. Lots of scent recipe blends. Different than what I thought but still pretty cool.

Unfortunately this book expired before I had the chance to fully read it and therefore cannot give a full review.

This is the type of book that I'd expect to find on a witch's coffee table. It's full of aesthetically pleasing photos, that have a sort of mysterious vibe, and the words within are enchanting to say the least. For someone who's looking to dip their toes into the world of botany, this was a great start for me, and I'm looking forward to exploring more in the world of herbals. I took a lot of notes when I was reading this one, and I can't wait to get a hard copy so I can reference it!

I don't want to give a mark to this book because I feel like I'm not the one who should mark it.

This is a beautiful book, the photographs are great and create an atmosphere while the reader is perusing The Spirit of Botany. They are immersed in kind of another world, a world I couldn't fully enter. Not because I didn't want to, but because I was ill-at-ease at times.

Actually, I think this book is not what I expected. Maybe I thought it would look like Floriography: An Illustrated Guide to the Victorian Language of Flowers, a book I adored! But The Spirit of Botany is far more personal and it made me uncomfortable for some reasons.

Despite that, I learnt a lot and I'm thinking about learning more about essential oils! The book is well presented, clear, and the author explains every step of the recipes carefully, always giving warnings when needed and saying why this must be done this or that way.

I'm going out of this read wanting to know more, but still convinced I kind of missed something here.

This is a gorgeous book and would make a wonderful gift for someone who likes learning about essential oils, incense and tisanes. The photography alone is worth your time and attention.

The Spirit of Botany, by Jill McKeever is a book my collection was desperately missing. As a tarot reader and practitioner of witchcraft and ritual this book felt at home in my hands. It's beautifully laid out with photography that's dark and moody, which I think was a good call, lighter more muted photography may have given off the “essential oil pyramid scheme vibe” that the author is clearly trying to steer us away from. McKeever’s writing is accessible and easy to read for any level of practitioner. It's recipe focused so if you are looking for a deep dive into the herbs you'll be using you'll want a companion book. I thought the recipes were really interesting and I can’t wait to get started making some of my own concoctions.

*eArc provided by publisher and Netgalley for an honest review.

If you are going to invest in just one witchy book this year, make it this one. Among the beautifully sublime other worldly photography author and natural perfumer, Jill McKeever, shares her secret delphic world filled with ritual and connection.

This book covers what to look for and avoid when purchasing essential oils, recipes for aroma filled beverages, room and body mists and incense blends. Healing salves and balms are also included.

Personal ceremonies and mediations are provided along with an interesting expose on aromatherapy and astrology. McKeever encourages working with the seasons, the moon and participating in dream work, with all the pointers to get you started.

Usually witchcraft practitioners turn to the hippy new age for this type of information so I’m so pleased to see a book catering for the esoteric. This fills a big hole in the market. You won’t find any woo woo baby witch verbal diarrhoea here, the prose is far too eloquent for that. Follow Jill at For Strange Women on insta if you don’t already.

I only gave this 4 stars due to its use of animal products in some of the recipes.

*eArc provided by the publisher and NetGalley

Beautiful book with amazing recipes for all things witchy feeling. Perfect for those practicing a different spiritual journey and those who are unsure where to get started with herbs. Well written and great knowledge to coincide.

This is a fun and interesting read. The author makes natural perfumes from botanical tinctures and essential oils, and provides a number of recipes for these along with natural incenses and other concoctions. There's a bit of information about all different topics along with lots of moody photos. These were a little too dark for my taste but they're beautiful. I can't say that I'll make or use any of the recipes (I tend towards simpler things and also prefer to use plants found in my area) but I greatly enjoyed reading the book. I also appreciated her advice about essential oils, noting that they are not nearly as effective for healing as real herbs and many other important points about their sustainability and marketing. This will be an especially good book for Pagan and Wiccan readers, but it's got good stuff for anybody interested in natural perfumes, incense and the like.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

The Spirit of Botany is a beautiful book. I love plants and learning about them! This book is full of great information, gorgeous pictures and wonderful recipes. I highly recommend giving this book a read!

The Spirit of Botany is an interesting hybrid still-room book, practitioner's guide, and tutorial recipe book written and curated by Jill McKeever. Due out 13th Oct 2020 from Andrews McMeel, it's 160 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.
This is a beautifully presented book with a layman accessible and well written "vibe". The layout is clear and attractive with a logical thematic chapter progression. The author provides her own background and experience, followed by chapters covering essential oils, perfumes, olfactory balance (the author calls it synesthesia, but it isn't, really), materials, incense, seasonal craft, moon craft, aromatherapy, dream work, and nature therapy.

The recipes and tutorials include a list of tools and supplies (mostly easily sourced), and step by step instructions and suggestions. Ingredient measures are generally provided in either American standard and/or metric/SI units (sometimes both in one recipe). Some of the ingredients will be easy to source, others will require specialist vendors and/or more effort. The book also includes an abbreviated links/bibliography list for further reading, and an index.

This is an interesting alternative presentation of some personal self-care rituals as well as some recipes for incense and perfume. This isn't a collection of bath and beauty recipes and will likely be more appreciated by more philosophical/meditation/ritual leaning readers.

Four stars. Interesting alternative ideas and recipes.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I love plants and I love Botany. This book is an interesting spin on modern botany with an emphasis on relaxation.

I happened upon this book while looking for something else, and I’m glad I did. What a gem! It’s a feast for the eyes, the recipes look delectable, and even as an experienced herbalist I learned new things. I’m eager to try making the incense blends especially.

While I found the photography and layout in this book to be really lovely, the content was lacking for me. I expected the content to be more focused on essential oils and perfumery more accessible to the everyday woman, whereas most recipes and tips in this book use rather obscure (to me, at least) ingredients and items. I have no doubt that all are lovely and wonderful, but I was looking for more common ingredients and more easily created recipes. This would be a great book for someone who is looking to take the next step in essential oils/herbalism.