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Book Review: The Little Book of Wicca. A Beginner’s Guide to Witchcraft (2024) by Kirsten Riddle
Book Review: The Little Book of Wicca. A Beginner’s Guide to Witchcraft (2024) by Kirsten Riddle Note: This book was originally published in 2014 as The Beginners Guide to Wicca. This new edition was published May 14th , 2024. “Kirsten Riddle writes a column on magic for Chat: It’s Fate, and writes regularly for Spirit and Destiny and Kindred Spirit. She is also a columnist for Take a Break: Fate and Fortune as Alison Davies. Kirsten’s books for CICO include Discovering Signs and Symbols and Trickster Magic. She lives in Nottingham, UK.” (Amazon) For those just beginning to delve into Wicca, Kirsten Riddle’s Little Book of Wicca A Beginner’s Guide…
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Book Review – Walking with the Seasons: The wonder of being in step with nature by Alice Peck
Book Review Walking with the Seasons: The wonder of being in step with nature by Alice Peck Publisher: CICO Books 128 Pages Release Date: February 13, 2024 Walking with the Seasons explores the habit of a ritualized daily walk as a way to stay in touch and build your relationship with nature throughout the year. The book is divided into four chapters corresponding to the four seasons, and each chapter deals with several different topics appropriate to that season, dedicating a couple of pages to each one. It’s a very well-designed book, with tons of full-color photos and graphics to illustrate the beauty of each season.…
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The Modern Merlin’s Corner: Owls and Oaks: Wisdom of the Seen and Unseen
My personal spiritual journey has been zig-zagging lately, between different topics, practices, pantheons and spirits. Lately, I’ve been on a path of deepening my connection with the land, the animals that inhabit it, and the spirits, too. When I began reading Celtic Goddess Grimoire for my review, which you can read here, I began sensing an even deeper appreciation for nature than I already had. I felt a deep connection with the trees, animals and land that I see everyday, and I can only explain this as Nemetona’s presence, one of the Goddesses in that book that really came through, along with Melusine, as I live in a town that was literally…
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Interview: How Happiness and Foraging Intertwine for “The Wildwood Way” Author Cliff Seruntine
“I wanted to inspire people to re-conceptualize happiness,” Cliff Seruntine said about writing The Wildwood Way: Spiritual Growth in the Heart of Nature. First published in 2015, the book was re-released last year. “I’m a psychotherapist by profession, and I’ve a lot of education in psychology. I’ve been enamored with the concept of happiness ever since my earliest undergraduate days,” he said in a telephone interview in late March as snow fell on his homestead in the wilds of Nova Scotia. “There is a fairly esoteric field called happiness science. It is a well-established branch of science. Very few people know it exists or how serious it is, but every…
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Book Review – The Wildwood Way: Spiritual Growth in the Heart of Nature by Cliff Seruntine
Book Review The Wildwood Way: Spiritual Growth in the Heart of Nature Written by Cliff Seruntine Publisher: Crossed Crow Books 432 Pages Release Date: November 15, 2022 (Previously published in 2015 by Llewellyn Publications) “In the green, there is room for mystery and enchantment, and there are moments when the amazing can and will happen,” Cliff Seruntine wrote in The Wildwood Way: Spiritual Growth in the Heart of Nature. Part adventure, part instruction manual, part spiritual experiences, and part old tales that get across messages for today, he takes readers on a magical and spiritual journey deep into the forest, imparting knowledge required to venture there safely.…
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Book Review – Rituals for Life: A Guide to Creating Meaningful Rituals Inspired by Nature by Isla Macleod
Book Review Rituals for Life: A Guide to Creating Meaningful Rituals Inspired by Nature by Isla Macleod Publisher: Laurence King Publishing 192 pages Release Date: November 29, 2022 I strongly believe in the power of rituals, which play an important role in my spiritual practice, so I was excited to review Isla Macleod’s book, “Rituals for Life: A guide to creating meaningful rituals inspired by nature.” It makes a wonderful manual for beginners because it goes into depth explaining the their purpose and potential, their gifts, essential components, how to prepare for them, and instructions for creating twenty rituals plus suggestions for variations. With its many…
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Notes from the Apothecary
Notes from the Apothecary: Wild Garlic Wild garlic or Allium ursinum is a fragrant perennial plant with tiny clusters of white flowers atop long, lush green leaves that don’t grow any higher than most people’s ankles. It’s also known as ramsons in Europe and ramps in the United States. Other related plants such as Allium canadense and Allium tricoccum are also called ramps or wild garlic, and just to be more confusing, you might also hear them called wild leeks or wood leeks. Whatever you call them, there’s no escaping the fact that these plants are one of the most delicious smelling harbingers of spring. In the woods…
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Book Review – What the Wild Replied: Poems From Human Nature by Becky Hemsley
Book Review What the Wild Replied: Poems from Human Nature by Becky Hemsley Publisher: Wildmark Publishing 199 Pages Release Date: September 20, 2022 From the publisher: What the Wild Replied is the second poetry collection from Becky Hemsley, author of popular poem ‘Breathe’ which featured in her first book ‘Talking to the Wild’. What the Wild Replied takes us through the four seasons from the perspective of human nature. It looks at how we navigate our own winters and embrace our own summers, how we let go during our own autumns and seize the opportunities of our own springtime. It includes poems of hope, healing and help. Designed…
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Book Review – Nature’s Hidden Charms by Liz Dean
Book Review Nature’s Hidden Charms Written by Liz Dean Illustrations by Lizzie Harper Publisher: Welbeck Balance 239 pages Publication date: November 2, 2021 Do You Wander in Nature? Nature’s Hidden Charms by Liz Dean, and illustrated by Lizzie Harper, is the book for you if you answered “Yes” to the above question. The book starts with a foreword by Victoria Preston that’s an in-depth look at Nature worship in Europe with sacred wells and springs, “clooties” and coin tossing, and how those old ways of using small, natural objects found on walks can be used to make Charms. Then we…
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Book Review – Nature Spirits and Elemental Beings: Working with Intelligence in Nature by Marko Pogacnik
Book Review Nature Spirits and Elemental Beings: Working with Intelligence in Nature Marko Pogacnik Published by Findhorn Press 254 pages Publication date: February 1, 2010 (Second Edition) For over thirty years, Marko Pogacnik has worked with Earth’s energies to heal and balance places where trauma or violence has occurred. He uses a process called lithopuncture – placing large stones at specific points in the landscape – similar to acupuncture. Nature Spirits and Elemental Beings: Working with the Intelligence in Nature is the result of his first encounters during lithopuncture work with the intelligent forces and beings who shape and protect Earth and her processes. Pogacnik wrote the first…
