Description The use of sacred herbs for driving away evil spirits is as old as the written record, and common to pre-Christian religions in Europe. Cleansing and cathartic plants formed the basis of sophisticated anti-demonic practices well into the period of European Christendom. Satan, as a figure of corruption and malice, belongs squarely within the Christian pantheon, and priests were empowered to exorcise him, sometimes using plants as weapons of spiritual warfare. In the Early Modern era, such plants and practices also belonged to the layperson, as practices of folk magic: herbs to banish the Devil and his servants. The present text gathers together a potent European pharmacopeia of anti-diabolic herbs, and is complemented by twelve original illustrations by Johnny Decker Miller.
