Craft Of The Wild Witch: Green Spirituality & Natural Enchantment

Rating:
Summary: A truly soulful book
Review: `A Wildwitch seeks to honour the land on which they live, experiencing life as an endless circling dance or enchantment and devotion, finding magic in the mundane and inspiration in the midst of modern existence.' Poppy Palin

What a delightful new exploration in the midst of so many `how to be a witch' books that have hit the market. This is a natural and honest exploration of the inner realms. Pomp and ceremony has been excluded (although a little guidance on creating magical ceremony is offered) as has any allusion to hierarchical mystery, and yet all the delight of natural magic and mystery is retained. Here is a book for beginners and the more experienced alike. Although written for adults, this is a book that you would be thrilled (rather than nervous or dubious about) for your children to read on their spiritual path.
Craft of the Wild Witch manages to be both grounded and spiritual, being rooted in the poetry of the Earth. Thankfully, for the more eclectic witches among us, there are no Wiccan structures to adhere to. Moon phases, divination and the Sabbats are covered but even these more exhausted subjects are given a fresh slant with Poppy's poetic descriptions. Guidance on spellworking is offered in a way that I found to be more in tune with natural laws and less prescriptive than many other texts. The author takes us on trance journeys (guided visualisations) as well as detailing some of the various reasons for feeling the need to do this. The journeys provided take us to meet Green Jack, Moon Mother, our Spirit Guides, our Otherworld Self and to connect with the strength of trees. Thus, the necessary is covered as well as some more original journeys that I haven't seen elsewhere. There is also a valuable section on safe journeying and checking the validity of guides before welcoming them wholeheartedly into your life.
A review at the end of each chapter is a very helpful feature of this book, although I would have liked to see an index too.
This is a truly soulful book with a holistic un-adorned approach to witchcraft. It is delicately subjective in the way that Ms Palin blends ethos and practice with personal experience. Craft of the Wild Witch is not only a `how to' book but a `how to feel' book as the author's genuine connection to spirit and nature is thoroughly infectious!
Why only 4 stars? Because I'm a perfectionist! Also, Poppy Palin's books just keep getting better so I have to leave room for her next work...!