Edited by Leo Qawas

Wort is a new independent journal of grassroots and radical herbalism. Based in Wales, Wort publishes contributions from lay practitioners alongside professionally qualified herbalists in recognition of the richness of folk traditions and the multiple kinds of knowledge they hold.

“Wort” is an old word for a plant and appears in the common names of many herbs. It comes from the Old English “wyrt” and derives from the same Proto-Indo-European origin-word as “radical,” “radicle,” and “root.” This new journal brings together all of these different meanings.

Following a welcoming editorial, this inaugural issue of Wort contains the following features…

• Herbal Abortifacients and the Fight for Abortion Legalisation in Ireland, written and illustrated by Ríona Ní Riagáin

• Rooting Myself: Herbalism as a Route to Connection as a Queer Autistic Person, by Olly Cameron

• Radical Herbalism Reading List, by erhan

• Foraging: An Exploration Based on Science and Soul, by Anja Van Geert

• Herbal Poems, by Fanny Mae

• Plant Medicine and the Tarot, written and illustrated by Matilde Wyrdlea and Libby Bove

• Cyanotypes: Using Light to Reconnect, written and illustrated by Annie Randall

• Project Focus: The Mobile Herbal Clinic Calais, by Paine B. Hoehne

• On Finding Beauty, by Em Swift

• Folk Herbalism: The Unwritten Strand of Herbal History, by Leo Qawas

• Vervain: Simpler’s Joy, Holy Herb, by Beth Maiden

…with illustrations throughout by Ross Fleming, editor Leo Qawas, and the contributing artists, mostly in black-and-white with occasional splashes of color.

The Peculiar Parish Bookshop has acquired a small quantity of this first issue and is proud and excited to share it with you.

Cover illustration by Ross Fleming. Published by Wort (Autumn 2023). A new pamphlet in perfect condition. Second printing.

96-page perfectbound pamphlet, illustrated throughout.