Starter Set questions

Hi guys,
I have been looking into herbalism lately(mainly spiritual but also medicinal) and have decided to give it a try. This is by far not my first art and I know from other arts that the best way to get into a new art is to ask those doing it for a good list of materials for a starter set. I figure I should leave all my assumptions out and just take some advice. what I'm looking for exactly: I do several other arts and would like to compliment them with herbalism through incense, tea, cooking, oils, and aromas. I am looking for as short of a list that covers as many bases as possible for herbs and equipment. To give you an idea of what I would like to compliment, I do crystal work, Solomonic Magik, Ascension Magik, Shamanic magik, Chakra Work, dreamwork, energywork, meditation, sacred geometry, astrology, and several forms of divination, along with several dabblings in other arts. I would also Like a book that hopefully will be able to serve as more a reference than a teacher, as this is how I learn best. I do plan to ingest some of them so a prewarning which can be eaten and/or inhaled(as smoke) would be nice as well. And the basic starting equipment is important not only the tools themselves, but their size and materials and a brief description why you would suggest that size and material. I plan to get in heavily so please do not suggest equipment for dabbling, but longer term, frequent use, and large scale workings tools. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my dreadfully long post.

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If you're going to look at medical herbalism and plan on ingesting the teas, etc that you make then the first thing I would suggest is that you avoid the books in the New Age section that deal with magical herbalism and concentrate on books that deal solely with medical uses of herbs. Those books will give you far safer information on herbs that can and cannot be ingested. A book that I highly recommend is "Herbal Medicine" by Dian Dincin Buchman. That's one of the better books for starting out, in my opinion. For a more indepth book you might like "The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual" by James Green

What about more spiritual herbs, for chakras and such. I'd be interested in hearing that, Great topic Mani