Home - Ethnobotanica Slovenica

Ethnobotanica Slovenica

TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND BELIEFS

OF THE PLANT WORLD

Vlasta Mlakar

cultural anthropologist / ethnobotanist
writer and editor / author and publicist

The glory of our ancestors lights

the way for our descendants.

(SLOVENIAN PROVERB)

BOOK

SACRED PLANTS IN FOLK MEDICINE AND RITUALS

Ethnobotany of Slovenia

by Vlasta Mlakar (2020)

Published: JULY 2020

Price per book: 29 EUR

ABOUT THE BOOK

The natural currents, material and energetic, which secure our ongoing prosperity renew themselves through cosmic cycles and the passing of the seasons. Our distant ancestors were aware of this fact and adapted their uses of plants – be they medicinal, ritual, or otherwise – to enable a careful coexistence with the natural world. The alienation of modern society from nature and its avaricious exploitation of natural resources have had devastating effects on us and our environment. The purpose of this book is to reawaken the knowledge and wisdom of our predecessors and return them to the local communities from which they originate, in order to preserve our priceless natural and cultural heritage for generations to come.

Vlasta Mlakar, ethnobotanist and author

MORE ABOUT THE BOOK

CHAPTERS

Foreword:

Respect for nature is the only route to a quality life (by Barbara Sosič, Curator of Slovene Ethnographic Museum Ljubljana)

Chapter 1

Ethnobotany and folk botanical knowledge in Slovenia

Chapter 2

Folk medicine – from magical to experiential healing

Pagan witchcraft and belief in the supernatural

Experiential healing with medicinal plants

Knowledge of medicinal plants in the Middle Ages

Chapter 3

Botanical knowledge in folk medical manuscripts

Folk healers and their practice in the 19th century

Folk medicine in the cultural heritage of Slovenia

Chapter 4

The home pharmacy and plant-based medicinal preparations

Common plants in folk medicine

Chapter 5

Poisonous plants in folk medicine

Plant emetics and abortifacients

Chapter 6

Plants in folk veterinary medicine

Common plants used in the treatment of domestic animals

Chapter 7

Plants in the customs and traditions of the life cycle

Chapter 8

Plants in the customs and traditions of the annual cycle

Spring celebrations: vigorous growth and the power of life

Summer festivals: the power of midsummer plants

Autumn: harvest festivals and cults of fertility

Winter and the magical powers of evergreen plants

Chapter 9

Church-blessed plants

Jernejevo – the plant gatherers’ day

Chapter 10

Mythological and magical plants in folk tradition

The miraculous powers of mythological plants

Magical plants in folk superstition

TESTIMONIES

Investigating the ways our ancestors harmonized with their environment is critical for our future. Vlasta Mlakar maps the spiritual connection with Nature embedded in Slovenian heritage. She illuminates traditions of the Sacred which resound in our bones, no matter what our background.

Rachel Budde, herbalist and owner of Fat and the Moon

We live in a time when the biodiversity of our planet is disappearing at an unimaginable rate. We are losing our direct connection to nature and our knowledge of the benefits it can offer humanity. Vlasta Mlakar’s book is therefore especially valuable in the way it links the wealth of Central European plant life with millennia-old ancestral knowledge of the diverse ways in which those plants can be used to our benefit. This gives us hope that, perhaps, we will recognise the value of the gardens of paradise in which we live before we destroy them for good.