The way that Ms. Martin has laid out the information is simple to read and easy to understand. I have had occasion already to use this book a number of times while putting together the Herbal information for Fort Worth Herbal Meetup.

I shared this book with my coven and they agree that this book is a very valuable tool. It is now on the coven's books of recommended reading. My Herbal Meetup group loves the simplicity of the layout.

One of the things that I like best about the book is Moonlady's conversational tone in presenting the book. The book and a cup of coffee makes for a early morning commune with anything from how to use and make herbal mixtures (the recipes are wonderful!) to how to "bring back the ancient art of strewing" as the back cover promises.

PaganNews spoke with Amy Martin, about her new book Spirit Herbs: Simple Recipes for Hibachi Herbal Magic & Sacred Space

PNN: How did you get to the point on your path that you are at now?

AM: Out of necessity. At my rituals in public parks, there's be times I'd come in after a rugby game or some other activity whose energy was incompatible with that for a spiritual ceremony. So I developed blends to strew or scatter on the ground to counter a prior negative charge or create a protective border. A Prayer Feet Blend is both an Earth blessing and something that rapidly strengthens the connection with a site's Earth energy.

I'd get groups of 40 or more and that's just too many people to smudge individually. In Hibachi Herbal Magic you can smudge a dozen or so at a time by throwing loose herbs on a hibachi of hot charcoal to create billowing clouds of smoke. I found that a pure sage smudge left's people's aura's stripped clear, so I created a blend that is protective as well, with additional purification herbs from European (not Native American) traditions.

After that the blends just took off. Working with women's groups, I devised smudges that are more feminine and in tune with the Moon. Working with men one-on-one, I formed a spicy blend that energizes them. Solstices and equinoxes call for solar smudges and New and Full Moons for lunar ones.

Burnt offerings are the burning of loose herbs with ceremonial intent, more like a incense than a smudge. I found that smoke moves around beautifully and connects many people at once with the vivid sense of smell. I'm all about moments and memories and aroma is very memorable.

Spirit Herbs features burnt offerings blends for the Sun and Moon and a special blend for Beltane and Summer Solstice bonfires. A blend called Spirit Food is superb for attracting and manifesting spirits, and one named Passages honors ancestors and the deceased. The Releasing blend is very powerful and popular; a Come To Me blend is in the works. Most popular may be Tree Temple, a perfect blend of tree resins that honors the four elements, Sun and Moon, male and female, and mind, body, spirit.

I was also greatly influenced by the techniques of Mesoamerican indigenous. The Mayans use immersion smudges extensively. They feel smoke is the communication medium for spirit. Ancient ritual leaders at Teotihuacan, the magnificent pyramid complex outside of Mexico City, used incense from herbs and resins on charcoals extensively in their ceremonies.

All my blends are customized so that they have powerful effects while also burning well and smelling good. I create them so that the aroma unfolds over time. It's part art and part chemistry.

PNN: This book is wonderful. What is your next publishing project? When do you think it will publish?

AM: Thanks! Moonlady Media will release Poison Oak, Poison: The Ultimate Guide next March. It's for professionals who work outside and those who spend a lot of time in nature. I teach you how to avoid the plants, wash the oil off if exposed, treat the rash if you get one, and exterminate the plant. It has extensive lists of products, which other books don't, and is the only one to approach it holistically and take mind-body into account. Two percent of all worker comp claims on the West Coast are from poison oak; that's my audience. It's a plague in the forestry industry.

The follow up to that is a book on bug bites. But Moonlady Media won't always be so pragmatic. I've got a Moon e-course and book in the works, a collection of essays, and a book on a piece of rural land I'm custodian of, Osage Moon. I swear I'll finish the book on North American goddesses and divine feminine someday. My husband has a graphic novel about the Vietnam War in progress. We may someday publish books for others.

PNN: Do you find it difficult to acquire herbs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area? Where do you usually get your most used herbs?

AM: I started with a little shop called Scorpio Herbs and then the Labyrinth opened after they closed, so I've always been luck to have some within a 20-minute drive in Dallas. Silver Pyramid in Richardson has some and Messages of Joy in Lewisville has an excellent selection. Some herbs I use in such large quantities I buy direct from Mountain Rose Herbal online. I increasingly buy there because it's mostly organic herbs.

PNN: What are your favorite herbs to cook with?

AM:I am not too good of a cook, but I do have fascination with all kinds of exotic herbs and salts. I love Himalayan rock salt and smoky salt from Hawaii. Salt Wonderland is a great web site! And the variety of peppermill pepper out there is amazing. There are even sour peppers!

Around the house I'm the incense monger. Shieshiedo Japanese rod incense is divine. I rarely burn incense on a stick, but I like Airs enough to make an exception. In the office I use a simple electric essential oil heat diffuser that uses felt pads; fancier systems always fell apart too fast. Aura Cacia is great for single oils, but Young Living makes the best blends, worth even the pain in the rear multi-level marketing.

PNN: I see that you do special Sabbat gatherings, are they eclectic or a specific path?

AM: My background is Taoist, with an interesting goddess streak and a very Buddhist universal view. I call myself a mystic-animistic-agnostic. So I've never come up through the pagan ranks. It gives me quite the interesting perspective. My approach to Sabbats is more Shinto than pagan.

I've spent two decades trying to make a place for "none of the aboves" at the spiritual table by exploring precepts they share and translating them into my SolstiCelebrations and other events. A couple years ago I formalized my efforts into a nonprofit group. Earth Rhythms: www.EarthRhythms.org

My flagship event is Winter SolstiCelebration, the second largest Winter Solstice event in the nation, now in its 16th year. We are SRO at about a thousand folks and may have to start a second show. Paul Winter's in New York City is the first. For a "pagan" event - about one-third the audience is pagan - it is very high profile and covered by all the mainstream media. The host church, Cathedral of Hope, has the largest gay congregation in the world, and a significant portion of our crew and audience is gay.

Winter SolstiCelebration enthralls with participatory experiential spirituality. Attendees laugh, sing and chant, meditate in darkness, do yoga, mudras and pranic breathing. People revel in the traditional howl and the drum-driven dance through the Sun and Moon gates that concludes the event. We honor the interfaith peace that's possible when we return to the roots of human faith, before dualism and the illusion of separation took hold.

I used to do Summer SolstiCelebrations at White Rock Lake, but it's just too hot in Texas in June for old folks like me. They ranged from giant 3000-people drum and dance extravaganzas to intimate labyrinth walks. The last one featured 350+ people all doing the same Phoon pose at once. We broke some kind of record until a marching band one-upped us.

Earth Rhythms now does Moonlady Fests every spring and fall equinox. It's a multi-ring indoor-outdoor fest with performing arts revue, yoga events, drum circles and a New Thought/Ancient Tradition Fair that's very holistic/metaphysic. We also have a concert and lecture series focusing on alternative spirituality. Our first act was international chanting artist Deva Premal. Starhawk is on our wish list.

PNN: What do you think the future of the Craft is to be?

AM: I find people are increasingly combining Buddhism, Unitarian and other brainy faiths with paganism, giving them the groundedness they need. And on the converse, there could be less emphasis in paganism on craft and more on contemplation. A lot of people are more or less pagan, but call themselves Taoist, animist, nature mystic and such.

PNN: How do you think Pagan Festivals prepare people for the future?

AM: Not sure how to answer that. I will say that I wish they'd think about aging boomers and make festivals easier for non-campers. I do have several blends in the book that were designed with pagan festivals in mind. One is Chill Out for those loud drum circles that go past 4 am. Toss some of that on the bonfire embers and folks will phase right out. Another is Mind Sharpen, to help focus the overly "spirited."

Spirit Herbs features some after-hours blends, smudges that are best done naked or lightly clothed. The active ingredients are inhaled and taken in through the skin. I've blends for deep meditation, dream divination, trance enhancement and a women's aphrodisiac.

PNN: Do you have specific craft classes at your gatherings? (if so what kinds are the most popular)

AM: My events feature interactive activities and performances, but no workshops.

PNN: Do you go to meetings and speak on your books and your projects in the DFW area?

AM: I have been pried out of my warm cave to do that, yes. And once out I enjoy chatting with folks. I'm starting to get into teaching. But it took some convincing by friends, I am so online oriented. I found people like to do the 3-hour class as an overview before they delve into the book, which is helpful since the book is so detailed. So I may do more of that, maybe going deeper into specific families of herbs.

Those on shamanic paths have been more receptive to it than pagans so far. Metaphysic folks think Hibachi Herbal Magic is interesting but messy. I've been invited to Pagan Spirit Gathering up in the Midwest and Earth Spirit Alliance in Austin, so I'm hoping that will help.

PNN: What do you want to say to new people interested in herb lore?

Spirit Herbs is great for folks who are new to herbs or want to play. No potion or lotion crafting, no laborious incense making, no expensive essential oils. Just tossing raw bulk herbs on the ground, on charcoal or gathering into potpourri. I have fun with herbs and want to share that with people. Folks get hung up with specific attributes of herbs. I try to present them in a more generalized way that's easier to understand. Once you understand the personality of a specific herb, its attributes come naturally to mind.

AM: So I explain how chamomile is like my Aunt Exa Clare, or the good cop/bad cop pair of blue vervain and hyssop. I tell funny stories like how calamus root inspired some of Walt Whitman wackier ballads and how angelica root kept Medieval peasants from imploding from stress.