Doctrine of Signatures

Apropos of I am not sure what, Mr. F asked me last night what old timey skill I wished I had.  He chose blacksmith; for me, I could go any number of ways (i.e. making butter, identifying animals by their tracks, cheese craft), but knew right away my top choice: herbalist.  You know, the type of solitary crone living in a mud hut filled with all manner of dried flowers, tinctures, salves, and such.  Mostly the villagers would be afraid of me, but in a time of need, they'd seek me out.  In payment, I'd take cloth, eggs, firstborn, you know.

So, I really do want to write a book that incorporates herb lore and the Doctrine of Signatures (key to folk medicine, the idea being that, for example, if a plant's flowers were shaped like an ear, those flowers would be useful to treat ear pain).


But, I do not want to resort to the classic example I mentioned above for my main character-- the crone/witch.  What I see is a young girl, mostly self-taught, who becomes prized in her village for her compassion and skill.  She lives in a frontier area that is frequented by all types of traders and word of her skill gets around, until....

She is kidnapped by Native Americans (who sometimes raided and took white settlers, for all kinds of reasons including retaliation, replacement children, etc.).  The book I see would be told in alternating points of view...

(to be continued)--it makes sense in my head...