A new book from herbalist Nathaniel Hughes and artist Fiona Owen of Par Sands, complete with an exquisite set of plant wisdom oracle cards, offers a radical and immersive approach to herbalism and plant connection, and a doorway to self-awareness, healing and interrelation with all life.

Nathaniel Hughes weaves 30 years’ clinical experience and profound knowledge into this work, along with a deep sensitivity and attunement to the natural world. The book, Wild Enchantments: Let plants be our teachers, will be published on November 28. 

Nathaniel said: “Wild Enchantments invites readers to move beyond traditional uses of herbs as remedies, exploring plants as guides that inspire a deeper, more reciprocal relationship with nature. Our aim is to encourage individuals to connect directly with plants, allowing them to uncover not only paths of healing but also ways to re-mythologise our understanding of the world.

“This is more than a book – it’s a call to pay attention to the millions of years of evolutionary wisdom held within the natural world. By engaging with plants in this way, we invite readers to explore new ways of being that are rooted in reciprocity, community, connection and care for both people and the land.”

Wild Enchantments is Nathaniel’s third collaborative publication with Fiona Owen. For her beguiling illustration of this book and card deck, Fiona, who grows the plants she paints, has channeled her sensitivity into the creation of spell binding paintings.

Introducing readers to 33 plants in turn, the book explores their qualities and invitations, sharing tips and techniques for meeting each plant, and working with them ritually, and safely. As you connect with the plants, they will stretch you, Nathaniel promises.

All the teachings of the book are experiential, based directly on the authors’ own experiences or those of students and clients. Having both experienced a disabling sense of sensitivity in their lives, a core way the plants have stretched Nathaniel and Fiona is by challenging each of them to embrace sensitivity.

Nathaniel explains: “Fiona and I have both been on a journey to uncover the gifts of our sensitivity. For myself, what once led to overwhelm, exhaustion, and retreat from the world, has become the key to helping others listen more deeply to the plants and their own bodies’ wisdom.”

A core illuminating quality of the plants, the book explains, is their capacity to reveal deeper truths, including hidden, shadow aspects as part of a healing journey to wholeness.

Wild Enchantments proposes that the healing potential of plants extends to the fundamental reawakening of ancient, much needed ways of living in deeper connection with the world around us. 

Nathaniel Hughes concludes: “Let this book be a doorway into deepening your journey of relationship with the living world that surrounds and sustains us.”