Meet the author is a series of articles intended to introduce you to our wonderful authors. Learn about the books they’ve written, the spiritual pathways they’ve traversed and some fun little tidbits… introducing Angela Paine

Tell us about yourself….

I’m an 80-year-old grandmother (and yes, this is a recent photo – taken last year at the Jaipur Literature Festival, early in the morning before the huge crowds arrived.) I am a firm believer in the powerful healing properties of plants – not all plants, some are poisonous, some less effective, some more effective. I was healed of salpingitis and acute rheumatism by a herbalist when I was thirty-two, two conditions the conventional doctors had been unable to cure. This led me to begin studying herbalism, eventually leading to my 

PhD in medicinal plant chemistry at the School of Pharmacy, London University. 

After my doctorate, I threw the baby out with the bathwater, leaving London and academia and going to live on the borders of Wales, where I decided to study the plants growing around me. I soon discovered that the native medicinal plants were inextricably intertwined with ancient, Celtic myth and symbolism. I began teaching small groups of students, who asked me repeatedly whether there was a book on Celtic Medicinal plants. When I replied that I couldn’t think of one, they suggested I write it. The rest is history.

I love travel, meeting people of all nationalities, hosting people of all nationalities in my home in Stroud. I have friends all over the world. 

People can find me on substack: angelampaine.substack.com , on couch surfing: couchsurfing.com ,instagram: @botanicangela, Facebook

What books have you written?

The Healing Power of Celtic Plants

Healing Plants of the Celtic Druids

Healing Plants of Greek Myth

Healing Plants of Renaissance Florence

What Deity(ies) would you love to have dinner with?

I would love to have dinner with the Mistress of the Animals from ancient Mesopotamia. We would dine on pomegranates, crunching the seeds and spilling red rivulets of juice down our chins. 

What magical items would you take with you if you had to live on an island for a year?

If I had to live on an island for a year, I would take a magic pot that would fill with wholegrain rice every day, to which I could add the fruits and vegetables I could find and grow. I wouldn’t be able to catch fish, and I certainly wouldn’t eat any animal, since they are all my friends. After all, I’m dining (in my imagination) with the mistress of the animals. 

Angela Paine grew up on a hop farm in Kent, where her botanist father taught her about plants. She ended up in Florence in 1967, washing books in the National Library, after the great flood, later marrying, having two children and living in an old olive press in Tuscany. On her return to Britain, she embarked on a first degree in Human Physiology, a postgraduate diploma in Pharmacology, and then a PhD in medicinal plant chemistry. She went on research trips to Africa and South America to collect plant material used as medicine, and collaborated with scientists around the world, publishing internationally in scientific journals. She spent time in the Golden Valley on the border with Wales, where she continued her research into the medicinal properties of the local, native plants, which were used by the ancient Celts and wrote her first two books. She now lives in Stroud, where she wrote her next book: Healing Plants of Greek Myth. Always remaining in contact with Florence, she was inspired to write her latest book: Healing Plants of Renaissance Florence. She runs workshops and courses on medicinal plants and how to use them to make tinctures, oils, ointments and teas.

For more details: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/moon-books/authors/angela-paine