Making a HG? Some Tips.

If you are wanting to make your Herbal Grimore, I have some tips that may help you with your creation of it.

Let me first start by saying your Herbal Grimore does not have be be fancy. It does not have to be perfect. Decorate it how you want. This is you, not no one else. Only you. With that said, lets begin.

[I apologize first hand if you do not agree to anything I have said or I have the wrong information.]

Your Herbal Grimore could be a notebook, binder, electronical or anything you want it to be. I suggest using a binder because you can easily take out what information you need and put it back with ease. If you are using a binder, your work should be typed with a picture of the herb. You should have those protective paper covers so your work is not ripped. If you are using a notebook, I suggest using a five subject notebook, and just ripping out the subject dividers so it would just be one large book. If you are doing it electronically, software I would suggest is Microsoft Excel, Open Office, and ywriter5. Be creative! No matter what you are using, be creative! You have your own ways of being creative so use them! Like I said, this is you, no one else.

The content in your Herbal Grimore should be the information of the herbs you commonly use. Start with some common kitchen herbs and spices, such as Onion, Garlic, Cinnamon, Oregano, Basil, Thyme, etc. Your herbs should be in alphabetical order for easy reference, but that is not needed.

-So, what should your information contain?
Your information should contain the scientifical name of the herb, a picture of that herb, where it is common, the medicinal uses of the herb, folklore concerning that herb, and lastly the magickal properties of the herb. ****You must note if the herb is poisonous or not. This is very important****

You can put recipes in your HG as well. The recipes should be ones that you have made yourself but you can have recipes from others as well.

****When you experiment with herbs, be careful! Experiment with herbs you commonly use! Do not experiment with new herbs until you know if they are safe or not!!!****

I hope I was able to help you.

~Amora

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This is a great post SeekedxDawn .

I would like to add additional tip ,which can be decorative and give some nice herbal smell to your Herbal Grimore .
Collect the herbs ,you are describing ,from your garden or from wild .Dry the herb by pressing it between two sheets of paper (add some weight on the top such book ).You can also dry it between book pages ,but keep in mind some herbs can stain your pages ,so it is good idea to put the herb between two paper sheets and then place it in the middle of the book to dry .Once the herb is dry ,attach it to your Herbal Gromore with transparent tape .
Store the book or the drying herbs in a dry room (kitchen and bathroom are not good places to do so ).If you keep your dry herbs in room with high humidity ,they will catch fungus or mold and spoil your book for sure .Keep in mind they may crumble after long period of time and may need replacing ,eventually .
However ,this arrangement looks nice and smells nice (as long as the herbs not get humidity ).Smell of a plant is like its essence and soul or medicine .Since you are going to describe it anyway it will be such a loss to not have its presence, between your pages .
Beside their different medicines will complete each other .
For example Rosemary will provide protection , shamrock luck .
Here, some more additional ideas for more advanced calligraphs and herbalists :
You can actually use natural herbs to produce paint(ink ) or dye .Which can be good source of coloring for your Herbal Grimore.

There is a link of which herbs you can use to produce herbal dye or ink .

http://whisperingwood.homestead.com/herbaldyes.html For Britain and USA
For India and Asia -http://nopr.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/9444/1/NPR%203(4)%20228-234.pdf

Note some of them are anyway often included in books for Herbalism and herbal magic .So why not use them as ink for their page .You can use either sharpened wooden stick , quilt (feather ) or even proper calligraphy tools to create interesting shrift(font ) .The most easy one is called Italic and one of most complicated is the Gothic .You also can draw designs or drawings or even write a poetry related to this plant (or can find already existing one ).Songs can be used too ,which then can be used even as chant to connect to this plant ally medicine ,while making potions out of it or using it in spells .

How to start doing calligraphy ,please refer to this video :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3phzKsXpko8
You can also find many related videos for calligraphy on Youtube .

Keep in mind it takes a time to learn this art (skill) and a lot practice ,till your hand is secure and crafty .Also writing with ink is harder than if you use calligraphy pen ,which already has inserted container with ink .It is also far more messy so ,you better make sure you are protecting your cloths and furniture or you will regret it dearly !

Happy creating !

When it comes to the informative side of the project you also can add all or some of following information :
-Related Deity,Entity (God ,Goddess )and according which cultural folklore .
-Related element (fire ,water ,air ,earth ).
-Related planet (if any assigned to this plant ).
-Related race or creatures .(such Fair folk ,type of Elementals and so on ).
-Related animals (if any ).
-Related Realm (Underworld ,Heaven and so on ).
-What for this plant stands in different cultures .Extended research is never bad idea .
-List as many alternative (folklore ) names as you can .
-Add if this plants is related with alchemy and how .
-Add information if the plant is related with certain rune or letter of magical alphabet(Ogham ) .
-Dosage ,toxicity ,contraindications ,combinations and recipes (if needed ).
You can also add related plants or plant that have opposite medicine or effect .This is done for the sake of understandings the complex relations between plants and all around them .

As you can imagine ,this is a work in progress .Your Herbal Grimore will be growing alongside your understanding and knowledge of the Occult and Herbalism .Make sure you always leave enough room to add things later on ,because if you have run out of space, that can be irritating , annoying and even put you off for some time .
Also, keep in mind sometimes different parts of same plant are used in different ways ,so make sure you mention about this with details .As you make separate paragraphs for each part or even pages if the information is plenty .

Additional information :
Some practitioners in particular Native American Shamans Curanderos ,Druids and some Norse Shamans ,work very actively with certain herbal allies (medicines ).In way those plants are their guides and totems in same way as most of us work with animal spirits .Working with plant allies is not very well spread practice in most paths ,except those I mentioned above .
Those people perceive those plants as entity ,which has its way of appearance ,personality and certain way of teaching .
Those can vary from practitioner to practitioner ,because the plant ally chooses to show itself in different way .Also they teach different people in different ways ,but they do have one or two main medicines they can offer .So there is not right or wrong way of perceiving or learning with those allies .Every experience is unique and should be written down in your Herbal Grimore ,as long as your ally do not demand for opposite .
If you have experience and do work with such Spirits you can add this information too if that feels right to you .
Now ,having said that if you do not work with those spirits, or you are not follower of those paths do not force yourself to walk a path that does not fit your own personality and ways ,just for the sake of adding this type of information to your BOS or Herbal Grimore .I can assure you those spirits will not be impressed and will not justify such actions ,you will only irritate them .

Happy writing and researching ! :)

Thanks so much for your posts, Art! You included some techniques I didn't even know I could do! Well, the more you learn.

You are very welcome .Thanks for inspiring me to write. I would have never thought about all those things ,without reading your original idea !
If i recall something else or invent something new I will add it for all of us .:)