#fez inkwright

[ofcedarandbone]

A few witchy gifts I received from my partner for the holidays~

The Citadel: A Fantasy Oracle & The Seed & Sickle Oracle from Fen Inkwright // Cauldron Mug from Studio Akiyo

[jasper-book-stash]

June 2025 Reading Wrap-Up

June continues the whole pattern of "it just keeps coming and it keeps on coming". Despite this, I managed to read twelve books this month, including The Orphic Hymns. It felt a little strange trying to give that one a 1 to 10 rating because of how many layers of translation and interpretation went into it, so it's absent from the list below.

1/10 - Why Did They Publish This?

None applicable.

2/10 - Trash

None applicable.

3/10 - Meh

Runes: An Introduction | Kim Farnell

So...this isn't the worst book ever. But it's also not good at all. It's just...deeply mediocre, but then there are also a bunch of standard-issue problems in it (no fucking sources cited, misuse of "smudging" and "shaman", et cetera) that I'm honestly just kind of bored. I'm keeping it as a reference for runes as needed, but I don't recommend it. Also the texture of the paper and cover both were bad and cheap and I hated them.

Random fucking guess at the target demographic: Someone who has heard of magic but knows nothing about it and has never once opened another book on witchcraft but really likes very specific and particular instructions.

4 to 6/10 - Mid-Tier

Fortune Telling With Playing Cards | Jonathan Dee

This was a deeply mediocre book. The first portion, the introduction, was just me going "cite your sources, where are you hearing this" and the middle portion was just "okay so this is a standard guidebook to the cards and trying to cement meanings" and then the rest was just "why are you making this tarot, are you okay sir". It will remain on my shelves as a reference book, but it wasn't really enjoyable. 4 out of 10.

Random fucking guess at the target demographic: Someone who has dabbled in tarot but got bored and wants to just take that and copy-paste their experiences with tarot over to playing cards.

7 to 8/10 - Good With Caveats

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures In The Culinary Underbelly | Anthony Bourdain

The caveat here is that I did zone out and skim through some parts, but other than that, I quite enjoyed this book. I'm not exactly a stranger to the realities of restauranting, but I'm not familiar with it either, so this was a very helpful read. Ultimately I'm giving it an 8 out of 10, but I could be convinced to bump it fully to 10/10 if someone mentioned wanting to open a restaurant within hearing distance of me. Also, there was no bumble-assing with recipes to break the flow of the memoir.

Five-Star Stranger | Kat Tang

This was an incredibly compelling and quite short (230 pages) read, but there were plenty of parts that I glazed over on my way through. Particularly the handful of sex scenes. And when I made it to the last chapter, all I said was "That's how it ends?" It certainly was one way to end the story, but not quite the ending I had been looking for. Despite that, very good book. 7/10, will be keeping.

Mythic Plants: Potions And Poisons From The Gardens Of The Gods | Ellen Zachos

So, I've been dealing with this book for two straight days, and I've put together my thoughts. Overall, it is a good resource for the Greek mythology of particular plants if you don't have Internet and can't just check theoi.com for the same information. But a gardening book this is not. Behold the Amazon listing:

Observe the final paragraph:

Some of those plants were real and still exist today; some of them are mythological, with powers we can only imagine. This book will focus on how the Ancient Greeks used plants in their lives and loves and conquests - focusing particularly on ones we can cultivate today. Includes tips throughout for bringing these ancient plants into your garden.

It does not. At least, not in the way it's supposed to and the way you would assume it does based on the blurb. At most, it gives you the Latin name of the plants and occasionally (I would say in less than half of the entries) mentions things like hardness zone and usually just tells you to go to your "local garden center" to pick some up. Likewise, there are no recipes for the potions/poisons mentioned in the title of the book. It's just a book on plant mythology, nothing more than that.

In the introduction before we get into the plants, the author mistakenly lists Persephone instead of Demeter as the goddess of harvests and on the Olympian family tree. You'd think that she would have picked that up, especially with the focus on the Hymn to Demeter in later entries in the book.

And it was a fucking flashbang to open a book published in 2025 and find THREE references to Harry Potter on pages 9, 11, and 43. Two of them were in the mandrake section and the last was in the dittany section.

There's also the misuse of the word "shaman" as usual in here, but that's kind of a given because everyone fucking misuses it. Finally, I miss the in-text citations that I was spoiled with in other books. Especially with some of the stranger claims.

I do, however, appreciate the strong focus on safety and the author clearly knows her shit about plants. Based on what I've seen on the author's website, this feels like someone stretching into mythology for their compendiums of plants rather than someone starting from mythology and narrowing down to plants.

Overall, I will give this book a 7 out of 10. Very interesting read, but less interesting when you've already got a lot of it researched. I will be keeping this for reference when my Internet sucks too bad to use theoi.com.

Botanical Curses And Poisons: The Shadow-Lives Of Plants | Fez Inkwright

So, I usually love Fez Inkwright's works, and I enjoyed this one too, but there were a few things that made my hackles raise. For one thing, the author leans heavily on Murray's debunked "witch cult hypothesis" during the intro chapters, and I'm skeptical of using Robert fucking Graves as a source (for good reason). There are several instances of using "shaman" when not referring to actual shamanism, along with multiple instances of using "American Indian" despite also using Indigenous and Native American properly.

The organization also just...sucks ass. Out of everything, that's the most annoying part. You'd think that the plants in the "Plants A to Z" section would be listed in alphabetical order, yes? Well, sometimes they are, and sometimes they're not. Some are sorted based on overall grouping (such as the section about fungi), some are alphabetical based on the first word of their chosen common name, and some are based on the second or third word and the first is added after a comma. I'm just glad that the Latin names are also frequently used.

Despite these problems, I will still give it a 7 out of 10. A fun read, though I'm now more skeptical of the origins of some of the folklore. Some are more science-focused and some are more folklore-focused, but pretty much every entry has both.

9/10 - Very Very Good

Divine Dirt: The Art Of Using Dirt In Magic, Ritual & Spellcraft | Charity L Bedell

So, despite a few parts in this book where my eyebrows decided to adventure around my forehead, I fucking adored this book for being so damn specific. The author does not teach you how to do magic, the author just teaches you how to use DIRT for your own magic. Just be aware that there are some sections you will be rolling your eyes at.

Random fucking guess at the target demographic: Someone who is already practicing some form of witchcraft but really wants to get into dirt as a magical tool and loves exploring the nuance of an easily-overlooked thing.

Weather Magic: Witchery, Science, Lore | Debra L Burris

This book tricked me into taking Storm Spotter Training again. There is so much science stuff in this book, which is very good. The exercises, crafts, and divination recommendations are extremely thematic, and it doesn't feel like you could just swap them around. Having said that, we experienced some chakra appropriation fuckery in the rainbow chapter and I started wondering why the hell some of these chapters were separated as they were (for example, it went from the rain chapter to snow to thunderstorm to lightning, and hail was a subchapter within the thunderstorm chapter), but I still came out of it with the same spinning head that regular weather training does to me.

Random fucking guess at the target demographic: Someone who is already practicing some form of witchcraft but wants to practice a form of magic with a strong scientific backing. Or if you want to take Storm Spotter Training but are nervous about it. It is THOROUGH.

A Sign Of Affection, volumes 2, 3, and 4 | Suu Morishita [Young Adult]

After reading further, I feel comfortable putting this as a YA series in my listings. So! Like I said for last month's wrap-up, I greatly enjoyed this, and it's interesting to see just how much the characters interact with our main protagonist Yuki and how the writers portray her deafness. It's very true to life. I will be continuing this series, though I'll be putting it on hold for a bit because another shoujo series I was reading just got two more volumes in Missouri Evergreen.

10/10 - Unironically Recommend To Everyone

None applicable.

[khajiit-reads]

Deck Reviews: The Citadel by Fez Inkwright

WHAT IS THIS DECK?

Published by Liminal11, The Citadel: A Fantasy Oracle is a 60-card deck that focuses on fantasy archetypes to create cards and messages - and was made with a Dungeons and Dragons inspired mentality. A good understanding of fantasy archetypes will help you understand the cards in question, with those less versed in them might struggle. Some examples of cards are posted at the end of this post.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE & QUALITY

The deck is beautiful even with a pleasant texture on the cards (specifically the black parts) and general feeling in the hands, but the imagery doesn't invoke very much for more visual readers, relying more on an understanding of the archetype and the guidebook in hand. This can be a problem for those who read more visually, though it's not a problem I run into with my reading style, so I'm fine with this personally.

The cardstock is strong and withstands shuffling well, at least overhand shuffling. The cards are shaped oddly for a deck though, which may make some shuffling methods more difficult. The cards are thinner length-wise, making their overall rectangular-ness more like a tarot deck than most standard oracle decks (which are closer to squares and are wider length-wise).

DECK STRUCTURE

The deck is split into four groups of 15 each, with each group functioning like an arcana. The four groups are: The Court (Fire), The Academy (Air), The Crowd (Earth), and The Troupe (Water). Each group also has some over-arching concepts.

It utilizes upright and reversed meanings.

GUIDEBOOK

The guidebook has a "setting the scene" style blurb for every card thanks to it's basis on archetypes/D&D, before going into a short paragraph style description for both upright and reversed meanings. Each set of meanings fits on one page, so they're not very long. They focus more on actions you've made or should make.

The guidebook comes with exactly 7 specially made spreads for this deck, though they can be used for any deck.

This deck also has an optional guide at the end about how this deck can be used as a tabletop roleplaying game creation tool. I currently do not play in these games (I wish.........) so I can't speak on how good it is. But it talks about building encounters and settings with the cards as an aide.

READING STYLES

The seemingly suggested reading style requires you to know and understand fantasy archetypes - When you see The Patron, you have to think of that particular archetype. This can be... a pain, for those not as into archetypes as others, or those who read visually. While the blurbs in the book exist, they are pretty stilted and don't provide very much and provide at most three possible ways to read the card, but most are more along the lines of one way to read the card. This means that without an understanding in the archetypes, a potential reader will struggle with this deck.

SOME CARDS

PERSONAL THOUGHTS & EXPERIENCES

My stance on this deck is very positive. I often use it as a significator deck, assigning every spirit I've come across to one of the cards, but it's obviously more versatile than that. Over the year I've owned it, it's held up well physically and in readings.

This deck also has great energy, being strong, passionate, and bold. A lot of care was put into this deck and that can be felt through the cards.

I just know it's not a deck for everyone, with the reading style requiring knowledge on archetypes.

(This is my first review! I'm learning, and if I grow as a reviewer, I may re-make this one in the future in which I'll link it here.)

[r0w0fie]

This book cover is so pretty I just can't!

Link - to more info

[witchylilja]

Arum Maculatum (Cuckoo Pint)

"It grows best in wooded areas or long riverbanks, and is a good indicator of healthy and nutrient-rich land. For this reason, Germans believe that where it flourishes, the spirits of the wood are plentiful and content." (Inkwright, 2021, p. 78)

Inkwright, F. (2021). Botanical Curses and Poisons: The Shadow-Lives of Plants. Liminal 11.

Art is my own.

[septembergold]

[mfhunter]

"Every Soul is the Architect" by Fez Inkwright on INPRNT

[rpgsandbox]

A supplement for 5e players inspired by botanical folklore, mythology, and herblore.

Herbarium is the lovechild of folklorist Fez Inkwright's love for botanical mythology and the TTRPG community. Not only does it introduce foraging mechanics and over 60 real-life plants for the nature-minded DM and player, but it also includes a guide on creating your own fictional plants with their own 5e mechanics; thematic adventure hooks and encounters; folklore-inspired new subclasses and character backgrounds; monstrous creatures from the dark side of traditional folk horror; over 100 craftable potions, items, and poisons; and more.

Whether you're a DM or a player, if you've got green fingers or a love for the dark and magically twisted, Herbarium is full of content for you!

All projects start off small, but we dream big. Herbarium, at its base funding goal, will feature over 100 pages of content, including a foraging system; tools on how to create your own fictional plants; real-life plants and their legends and magical properties; adventure seeds with custom-written stories to weave into your campaigns; new subclasses and Warlock patrons; character backgrounds, to embrace a world of growing plants, bottling potions, and making magical charms; NPCs with quests and side-stories; creatures inspired by folkloric spirits and deities; unique craftable items (and some less craftable, but more legendary items); and much more!

Every plant in this book exists in our real world, and each encounter and property has been inspired by real-life mythology and folklore. Each potion is inspired by practical uses, each item influenced by local witchcraft, and each creature an existing spook or spectre from the rural depths of the world.

The plants of Herbarium play a pivotal role in the book. Each section includes the plant's rarity, the type of environment you'll find it in, its related items, a description, and in some cases an Adventure Seed (see what we did there?) to further indulge your players. The magical abilities of these plants are fully inspired by their depiction in folk tales, and rewritten for 5e mechanics. You'll even find sections elaborating on seasonal changes, biomes and climates, and how to present the natural world to your players.

Each item is inspired by the plant that it's connected to. Some of them are even real, historical items that were believed to have magical properties - and now in your campaign they actually do! The items come in several categories; components, craftable items, craftable potions, craftable poisons (who doesn't love a good poisoning), and legendary items - which come with their full stories attached, ready for incorporating into your campaign.

Herbarium doesn't just embrace individual plants, but also the rich, scattered lands that they grow in. From stormy scrublands to tropical forests and blighted coasts, these wild lands come with their own hosts of spirits, deities, and wicked monsters... and we can't wait to introduce you to them.

From the mischievous Germanic Feldgeister, to the horrific (and summonable) Lieschi, all stunningly illustrated by our talented artists, the creatures of Herbarium have been written with player-challenging 5e mechanics inspired by their real-life origins.

Discover the Filipino guardian spirit Tikbalang, Corsican Mazzeri dream-hunters, the Germanic Nachtkrapp, the Amazonian Patasola, and more - all rewritten to fit into a Forgotten Realms or homebrew setting.

Herbarium is about providing new narrative options for players as much as it is for the DM. And with a ton of new crafting options, items, and creatures out there, we couldn't forget about the player characters! At its base funding goal, Herbarium features four new subclasses (the 'Deep Roots' Sorcerous Origin; the 'Poisoner' Rogue; and two new Warlock Patrons, the Flower Bride and the Winter Queen), and three character backgrounds - the Forager, the Wise One, and the Apothecary.

Kickstarter campaign ends: Sun, July 3 2022 6:06 AM BST

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