Book 4

Natural Witchery 
by Ellen Dugan

For this book selection I wanted to shift away from Shamanism for a bit and head towards a more witchy-esque direction. This is one that I remember seeing on the shelf at the book store and thinking to myself "Oh, that's a neat cover, I should read that some time". Yeah, I'm one of those people...sometimes I do judge a book by its cover. Beyond that, though, I had heard good things about this book, so that's another reason for wanting to read it. 


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Update on May 10
So I just started reading this book today, which I kind of feel bad about - already over a week in to the month and I'm only just starting...

Anyway, I'm really enjoying it so far. I haven't read a whole lot yet, and I plan on reading some more tonight, but I just wanted to come on here and give you my first impressions.

Overall, it seems to me as if this book is directed towards a younger audience in a lot of ways, but it also seems as if she assumes you've already been practicing for a while, which seems a bit contradictory to me. I enjoy her writing style though - it's easy to read, and written in a conversational tone - but I also kind of feel like I'm reading a Silver Ravenwolf book because of that. Make no mistake though, this is certainly not a Ravenwolf book - just so we're clear.

I find a lot of the things she's said so far to be similar to my own personal stance on things - stuff like, we never really stop learning, and individuality should be celebrated and welcomed.

Her initial chapter is about exploring your intuition and how that can help you become more in tune with your own personal brand of magick. She gives you a quiz to do (again, seems a little juvenile) to help you discover what areas you might be stronger in, and then goes on to give suggestions on how you can develop these things further. She also gives three exercises to help open yourself up to your own intuition. I think that they're actually pretty useful, and I think that they're things I might try to incorporate into a weekly practice. In fact, one of the things I might suggest doing in our weekly coven meetings...mostly just for fun.

I'm hopeful that the rest of the book will be as useful as the first chapter is proving to be for me, despite the fact that I feel like I'm a teenager again reading it, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Update on June 25
I know I haven't been around much lately, but I just finished reading this book, so in proper fashion, I figured I'd come on here and follow-up, even if it's been nearly 2 months.

My overall impression was that this is a great book, especially if you've just been putting the feelers out, so to speak, to figure out if being pagan is something that's right for you or not. This is a great "next step" book. Say you've picked up a few beginner type books that talk about the basics but you want something that goes a little deeper, this one is great for that. She's got some great exercises you can do alone or as a part of a working group, and she's also got a lot of correspondences here and there. 

This was also a very easy read - it could easily be read in a day. If you did that, however, you'd just be passing up the exercises and rituals and whatnot she's got in there for you to try. Mind you, I didn't do them, but I did take note of them for future reference, because I think they might come in handy some time.

She talks about topics like lunar energy, working with the elements, how to get yourself out of a magickal funk of sorts, ethics, solitary practice vs group practice, how to get a group going, colour magic, and prayer, to name a few (well, ok, many of them).

I enjoy her take on a lot of things, and I found myself nodding my head a lot when I was reading through this. Stuff like: "no one can give you power and you don't take it from someone else either. Power is naturally in everything and it is everywhere. The trick is to identify it - and coax it into working harmoniously with you" (p71) and "some individuals find the process of dragging out all their ritual tools and supplies so daunting they don't even bother to celebrate the holidays anymore - they loose their focus because they are overwhelmed by the mechanics and they are missing the whole point. Keep your celebrations simple and be spontaneous. It's not about what book you pull your rituals from or what accessories you own. It's about your connectedness to nature" (p84)

I really enjoy the emphasis she puts on the individual, and how throughout the book she stresses that no one can really tell you how to practice except yourself. She continually stresses how important it is to keep learning and keep trying new things to see what works for you and what doesn't, and to get outside as often as you can.

So all in all, I would definitely recommend this book to someone. Specifically though, to someone just sort of getting into the swing of things and looking for a "next step" book. That's not to say that you wouldn't get anything from this if you've been practicing for years, because I have, and I've walked away with something new. It's a light and easy read that puts the focus on the individual and getting back to basics. Two thumbs up!

No comments:

Post a Comment