Spellcraft for Hedge Witches: A Guide to Healing Our Lives

by Rae Beth

Village wisewomen and men, the community's witches, have always helped to heal wounded lives. When disaster strikes, such as serious illness or some kind of abuse or loss, or when we're struggling through things such as divorce or family conflict, today's hedge witchcraft can still give us the means to help ourselves or others. There are, for example, spells to banish the spirits of cruelty or injustice. There are ways of countering the ill effects of spiteful thoughts which others may hold about us. We can rebuild our sense of ourselves by magic that holds us true to our real life purpose, throughout any crisis. What is presented here is not superficial and not a shortcut. Rather, it is a powerful process, a method which can be adapted to any situation where help may be needed.

Genres: Witchcraft, Magic, Wicca, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Paganism

176 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2004

Reviews

[Lesley Arrowsmith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a skim through to get the general gist - but I'll certainly come back to it for ideas.

[Antony Simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

From AntonySimpson.com:

Spellcraft for Hedge Witches is a remarkable book about natural magic, spell craft and paganism by Rae Beth.

It is aimed at Hedge Witches (solitary practitioners) of all levels who are in need of healing for themselves or others.

Beth’s part-conversational and part-instructional writing style is engaging and informative.

Spellcraft for Hedge Witches covers all things natural magic including:
- The basics: tools, visualisation, magic as energy, how to raise – intent – release energy and the importance of having a strong emotional resonance when spell casting.
- Throughout brief mentions of the history of the Craft.
- Magical Correspondence (along with why they’re important).
- More advanced ways of working (nicely done as the book progresses so does the spell craft).
- How to communicate and work with: the Fae, elemental spirits and the God/Goddess.

Here’s a list of spells in the book:
1. Spell to Heal Anything.
2. Chant for Power.
3. Spell to Banish Abuse from a Relationship.
4. Spell to Banish Humiliation.
5. Spell to Counter an Ill Wish.
6. Spell to Gain Psychic Protection.
7. Spell for Transforming Destructive Feelings.
8. Spell to Heal Psychological Trauma.
9. Spell for Justice.
10. Spell to Consecrate Your Life to a Chosen Purpose.
11. Spell to Gain the Right Home.

Dotted throughout Spellcraft for Hedge Witches are superb illustrations and purely on a visual front, these would have been even better if they had been in colour.

I’ve been pagan for well over a decade and still learned many things from Spellcraft for Hedge Witches. Beth also reminded more of many more things that I already knew, but had forgotten about. I found the ideas in this book inspiring.

Throughout Spellcraft for Hedge Witches Beth encourages the reader to be creative when spell casting and do what works for them. Beth truly is a wise-woman and this book is bursting with her wisdom.

I would highly recommend Spellcraft for Hedge Witches to any Witch, pagan or other follower of an earth-based religion. I bought it from The Goddess and the Green Man shop on a recent trip Glastonbury, but it is available to buy on Amazon.

Review soon,

Antony

[Beth Galloway · Rating 1 out of 5]

First book I've picked up from this author. And I should have read the contents page. It would have let me know what I was getting into.

When I started on my journey, I was Wiccan and have no problem with people who identify as Wiccan.

However, this book is supposed to be about Hedgecraft. Not Wicca. Misleading title. This is not Hedge Witchery.

[zaynab · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was probably the first book on hedge witchcraft that I've read, at least to my own memory. I found rae beth's perspectives on ethical and social justice oriented ways of relating to the earth's energy and one's own psychic intuition fascinating. Additionally, the fact that the majority of the book's references are U.K centric is both interesting and yet sometimes a turn off. But Beth does acknowledge the need for a person to look within their own socio-cultural context in order to find deities and spells that are relevant to them, all the while providing a blueprint as to how to adapt her spells for specific scenarios. I enjoyed it, and I look forward to reading her other books.

[Nyx Vera · Rating 3 out of 5]

A focus on fae and UK mythology/plants, but overall solid collection of info, advice, and ethics.