The Modern Witchcraft Book of Natural Magick: Your Guide to Crafting Charms, Rituals, and Spells from the Natural World

by Judy Ann Nock

The magic of witchcraft never dies. Harness the power of nature-based magick, including herbal charms and remedies, cleansing rituals, crystal healing, astrology, and more with this new guide in the popular Modern Witchcraft series—perfect for millennials.

Modern-day interest in witchcraft and wicca isn’t surprising—who wouldn’t want to focus their energy into rituals of change and healing in today’s troubled and chaotic times? Right now, many of the most popular types of magick are nature-based.

This fun and practical book includes methods to help you connect with the Earth mother and your own natural self. Each chapter focuses on a different type of nature magick, from seed magick to the magick of the sun, of water, of the moon, and more—and every topic includes its own accompanying spells, charms, rituals, and meditations.

The Modern Witchcraft Book of Natural Magick is your complete guide to everything you’ll need to know about nature-based magick to fully embrace your spiritual and natural self.

Genres: Witchcraft, Nonfiction, Paganism, Ebooks, Witches, Magick, Wicca

240 pages, Hardcover

Published June 5, 2018

Reviews

[anastasia ♥ hiraeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

“If there is a price on the wood, never haggle. This is a taboo when it comes to obtaining magickal tools.“

Gaslighting the reader into accepting whatever skyrocketing price somebody wants for a product. I bet she has friends or family selling things, maybe secretly running a shop on Etsy herself?

[Anniken Haga · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I am honestly not quite sure how to rate this book.
All in all, I did find it enjoyable and I feel I learned and discovered a lot of things, which is good. But it didn't really give me what I wanted or expected.
What was that?

When I bought this book, I honestly thought it would contain more information on herbal lore and use. There was some of it, and that was interesting, but it seemed thrown in there as an after thought. The rest of the book was about the elements, the moon and stars, and the goddess, which are ok, but not what I was looking for.

My general thought on the book is a good one.
I've never read any of the other books in this series, but I'd heard good things for those wanting to learn more about witchcraft, and in that sense it was good. It was well written and easy to read, with good instructions. It is a book designed for experienced witches, so it does not go into detail on the basic practices and such, so having some knowledge of this is needed to get the whole picture.
This may also have bitten the book a little in the behind, as I think this may be why it focused as it did on the elements and such. It seemed to give a deep dive into these things that one learn about when starting out but don't learn much about.

So yeah, you see why I'm having trouble rating it?
The book in itself is a good one, and I don't really have any complains with it. I'm even considering buying the rest of the series because they look so old and wise and I want that in my shelf. And if the rest of the series are as easy to read, understand, and learn from as this one, I won't mind reading them either.
But I didn't get what I was expecting, and that again may be a result of my own ignorance, as I thought natural magic would be mostly herbs and crystals, but I also think the title gives the impression that it will actually teach you the things you know to craft your own charms, rituals, and spells, but it only gives you the information to do the ones it has already written, and to create your own you have to find other books to read.

And with that, I just landed on my problem with the book. The sprinkle of information that is just not enough to continue on your own without picking up yet another book (I don't really mind reading more books, but I do wish this contained more information)

[Olivia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uber Wiccan. While she mostly has you calling on random Greek deities, there are times she has rituals calling on Egyptian or Norse. At one point, you call on 5-6 different pantheons in one breath. No. You need to build a relationship with deities before calling on Them; of course, she doesn't say that anywhere.

NOT male witch friendly! Constantly uses 'her' when talking about witches, and has a meditation where you call yourself a 'high priestess' and 'woman of power'.

Fills in the end of meditations FOR you. At one point in the wind meditation, you fall off a cliff. Zephyrus (Greek West wind god) catches you. Specifically Zephyrus. Not an unnamed wind god that you can fill in depending on your religion & experiences.

The meditations were pretty good, but nothing else in there was new or unique. Skip this book.

[Sosanna Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Today I'm reviewing a book by Judy Ann Nock on Natural Magic. Thanks to the fine folks at Adams Media for providing me this review copy. I have review a few books in their Modern Witchcraft series which you can find here and here

I am going to preface this review with the following statement. I do not practice Wicca. I am not a priestess nor do I claim any religious affiliation. I identify as an atheist witch and my review of any pagan/witchcraft books is presented from this point of view.

Again I have to call out the publisher for this book being not that great to look at. I know, I know, don't judge a book..... But yea, these pages that are mismatched and don't line up correctly. Majorly annoying to me. Makes it hard to hold and a little annoying to flip through the pages. I know it is just a way to give the book character but, yeah. No.

This book addresses how nature can be involved in your magical practices. Each chapter covers a different aspect of magic and nature. Air, Fire, and water are pulled together to show how working with the natural world is as common today as it was with our ancestors. Chapter one talks about seed magic and how to create your magical outdoor space.

As you progress through the book there are references to other belief systems as well as Wicca. The author references the Nine Noble Virtues in chapter two, which is part certain sects of Odinism and Ásatrú. Each chapter offers not only information on natural magic but provides the reader with spells, ritual tool creation and a history around its usage. Chapter five even goes into creating your own incense, which I feel is a lost art today.

This book comes with quite a few reference tables and a complete index in the book. Looking for herbs, stones or a list of correspondences you cannot go wrong with this book. There is nothing mind blowing new about this book but it is a solid reference that any witch would be happy to have in their library.

[Alli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only good if you don't care to Google basic witch information, not comprehensive and weirdly laid out.

[✧Neko✧ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that her writing certainly has some good ideas, valuable information and interesting meditations, spells etc. but there are certainly a few issues with the writing and execution

First of all, she refers the entire book to you as “she” and “goddess” etc., etc., as if a male could not be a witch/wizard. Secondly, a lot of these meditations do not make sense. Complicated, calling on multiple deities without forming a bond and much more. Lastly, the writing aside from the tutorials is almost unbearable. “It contains implicit traditions but instead is cantered on an incredibly unlikely series of atomic and subatomic reactions disconnected from any sense of custom. It is an egocentric product of an imposing masculine mind.” I have NO idea what that even says. CAN YOU UNDERSTAND THAT? I CANNOT.

Overall, there were quite a few good pieces of information (I especially liked the diagrams) and a few spells/ meditations that I will be trying, but I wouldn’t reccomend this book as I think there are better, more well educated options on the same subjects.

[Rhiley Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Flails arms aggressively* READ THIS BOOK!
If you are a fellow witch or are interested in learning the craft, start with this! Unlike most Wicca/Pagan works that are written like self-help books, this one is written like a work of fiction. Though entirely true and authentic-It reads as though you're engaging into a lyrical fantasy novel. With the stories of old gods and goddesses thrown in here and there, the history of the first pagan rituals and practices, and every minuscule detail of what emotions you will feel during a meditation-It's the perfect start to anyone's journey into Witchcraft.

[Hollidaisy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was ok, and there were a few charms and spells that I found to be useful. The reason I didn't enjoy this so much is because, for me, this was exceptionally chaotic in terms of deities on which to call and the reasons for doing so. It is Wicca-centric, which isn't a criticism at all, just want to make sure you know before you read. For my personal practice, there was too much focus on doing rituals with others. I do not live in an area where that is ever going to be possible, and I don't like feeling that I am doing "less" by being solitary. I felt this was implied too much in the book. Again, personal preference.

[Bekah · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. The introduction states: "This book is not intended to be another Wicca 101 book; rather, think of it more along the lines of Witchcraft 3.0." but it is pretty much a Wicca 201 book. There is a massive amount of Wicca-specific rituals and dogma. I was hoping for a book that focused on, well, natural (plant, animal, nature) magick, rituals, and lore, but a lot of it is repetition of new age appropriation and Wiccan ideas. I did like the way it was laid out and organized, though.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pros: The book is a well-organized witchcraft ABCs with detailed introductions. The materials appearing in this book are generally harmless, even healthy. The paradigm for each witchcraft is material preparation, energy charging and making wishes ( imposing one's intent).

Cons: Though the author tried to extract a general witchcraft science from religions of vast range, the background and spells are very confusing, which can jump from greek to india or make a synthetic invocation including Kali and Isis. The methods are also lack of references. It seems that the author itself made the most of writing with meer assumption.

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was not a fan. I thought there would be far more charms and spells like the cover advertises. Instead it was pages of background on gods and goddesses and meditation. While meditation is positive, I didn't really need 100 pages of it. It also had an entire chapter devoted to finding your spirit animal which I don't necessarily agree with as appropriate. Also very wiccan based which was not advertised anywhere on the cover or the overview on the back. I would not have purchased had I know that. However, there were a few really good tidbits about the practice and a nice reference chart for herbs. If you're an absolute beginner this would probably be very helpful.

[Burb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of the series was a lovely addition. It adds so much to practice and actually harbors practical information. It was a short fun read!

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talks a lot about goddesses and gods, full of interesting recipes and very well explained.