Seasons of Wicca: The Essential Guide to Rituals and Rites to Enhance Your Spiritual Journey

by Ambrosia Hawthorn

Strengthen your practice, deepen your faith—Wiccan rites and rituals for every season Rooted in nature, spiritualism, and a reverence for the divine, Wicca is a religious practice focused on the balance and harmony between life and nature. Seasons of Wicca offers practical guidance and empowering rites and rituals that will bring the magic of Wicca into your daily life. Discover the origins of Wicca with an overview covering the importance of working with nature and the deities. Explore in-depth primers on the Wheel of the Year and the crucial purposes of the elements, and embark on your own spiritual path with step-by-steps for Sun Celebrations, Moon Celebrations, and Wiccan Rites. Seasons of Wicca Celebrate the changing of the seasons, sabbats, and deities with the life-changing rites and rituals in Seasons of Wicca .

Genres: Witchcraft, Wicca, Nonfiction, Spirituality

182 pages, Paperback

Published May 12, 2020

Reviews

[Miranda Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wicca emerged in the United States in the 1960s as an Earth-centered religion that incorporates diety and ritual.

If you've ever been curious about Wicca, then this is the book for you!

This handy little guide begins by discussing what Wicca is - including its origins and core beliefs.

One thing that surprised me is how low-commitment you can be and still be considered a Wiccan.

Somehow, I always thought it was an all-or-nothing sort of thing. But, apparently I was very mistaken.

It's possible to have a full Wiccan practice without harnessing energy or casting spells.

From there we talk about the popular Wiccan traditions and typical aspects of the spiritual side.

Everyone's spiritual journey is different, and what makes your journey unique is the fact that you have your own goals, ideas, and convictions.

The rest of the book focuses on the rituals involved.

It begins by laying out the basic requirements (i.e. cauldron, crystals and candles) and the core rituals (i.e. purification circle).

From there, we learn about the Sun Celebrations (Sabbats), Moon Celebrations (Esbats) and various Wiccan Rites.

I really enjoyed reading about the history of the rites and how modern Wiccas go about them.

I felt like learned a lot and love the idea of some of the rituals (which focus on celebrating nature and promoting goodwill).

All in all, this is a great introduction to Wicca and its holidays!

A huge thank you to Rockridge Press, Callisto Publisher's Club and Ambrosia Hawthorne for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

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[Weslyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me start off by saying this is a beautiful book. The illustrations are simple, yet appropriate. Moving on to the introduction - the author states that this book is for new and experienced practitioners, but I have to disagree with that. This book is for beginners. The majority of experienced practitioners are going to be bored to death by this book, but beginners should find it useful and fascinating.

I did have a couple of issues with it, but since everyone’s practice is personal and I do not have a Wiccan practice I’m not going to say that the author is incorrect. I just want to point out for anyone interested that I wouldn’t do 99% of the rituals in this book as rituals, but as spells instead. A lot of these rituals don’t necessarily require casting a circle or calling on deity. For me it kind of seems like calling on your highest power for something mundane...it’s unnecessary, but that’s just my personal opinion.

Overall, good book for beginners, but not for experienced practitioners. I would seek out other books if you’re looking for more in depth information.

I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a beginner Wiccan I found this book to be a wonderful reference for me. It wonderfully details rituals, Wiccan holidays and a wealth a general knowledge. Every ritual include the steps to follow, the tools that you will need and also offer you substitutes of practice based on the practitioner's tastes. An excellent book for any Wiccan's library. I highly recommend
I would like to thank Ambrosia Hawthorn, Callisto Media and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

[Jason Pettus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I checked this out as part of my ongoing efforts to find interesting things to read through the Kindle Unlimited program, after impulsively pre-purchasing a six-month subscription that was on sale earlier in the year, then immediately learning that barely any books I actually want to read (including all 98 titles in my TBR list at the time) are available through it. The rabbithole that led me to this particular title actually started with the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced me this year at the age of 51 to miss spending Christmas with my parents for the very first time in my life; but with my parents currently in their end-of-life years, I acknowledge that this may become my new permanent reality beginning as soon as perhaps next year. But as a single childless atheist, I've discovered the hard way that it's pretty much impossible to celebrate Christmas traditionally under such circumstances, since almost all traditional Christmas rituals are designed to either celebrate family or celebrate Lil' Baby Jesus; and so in an effort to come up with a new holiday ritual for myself, I've been reading a bunch of books about the old pagan holiday Yule (pronounced "ewe-ELL," source of the bastardized Christmas term "Noel"). And although by definition I as an atheist have little interest in their Goddesses and spells, researching Yule* has at least made me curious to learn more about paganism in general, which in the 21st century is basically akin to saying Wicca, a nature-based religion invented in Britain in the years after World War Two, and the only form of paganism still being widely practiced in our modern times.

[*Well, and at the risk of digressing even further, one of the other things that's made me interested in paganism is that, here at the Chicago co-op I moved into earlier this year, I've just started a coming year-long apprenticeship for our 20-bed community garden; and this has made me really eager to embrace the so-called "wheel of the year" which goes back to the beginning of agriculture, in which pagans would organize special celebrations (or "sabbats") centered around eight special days in the solar agricultural year. (Very quickly, I promise -- there's the Winter and Summer Solstices [Yule and Litha], the days we respectively get the least and most amount of sunlight in a day; the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes [Ostara and Mabon], the two days a year when we have exactly 12 hours apiece of day and night; and the four days that fall exactly in the middle between each of these spans, which roughly correspond to our modern holidays of Groundhog Day [Imbolc], May Day [Beltane], and Halloween [Samhain]. [The one remaining, Lammas on August 1st, has no modern equivalent.]) Pagans used these sabbats as a checklist to tell them what work needed to be done in their gardens that particular month and a half; so in my admittedly somewhat goofy desire to really embrace my gardening apprenticeship to its fullest, I would like to acknowledge these sabbats all through 2021 as well. Whew, digression over!]

All this is a really roundabout way of saying that Ambrosia Hawthorn's Seasons of Wicca fits the bill quite nicely, a plain-spoken and celebratory introduction to the religion, thorough and well-researched but not overly long or academic like some of the other guides I've now read. (Back in pre-Christian days, seemingly every single one of the thousands of villages in Europe each had their own separate form of celebrating these sabbats, and some of these guides are determined to tell you about each and every single one of them.) Presenting both an overview of what Wicca is all about, and a detailed guide to how Wiccans celebrate the eight sabbats, this is both a history book and a practical how-to, easily skipped if you're already a practicing Wiccan but nearly a perfect beginner's guide if you're not. Gorgeously designed on top of everything else, it comes strongly recommended to those like me who know nothing about paganism and are not sure where to start, and it should be read in this spirit.

[Cary Morton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book directly from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Seasons of Wicca by Ambrosia Hawthorn is a great resource for beginner Wiccans who are looking for an all-encompassing reference for modern Wiccan Rituals. The book features a comprehensive list of not only rituals, but Wiccan holidays, and general knowledge. Each ritual comes with a complete list of tools, steps to follow, and offers alternatives of practice based on the reader's preferences. It is a solid book to add to anyone's Wiccan library.

[Mary Bronson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I
thought this was an interesting and very informative introduction to people who want to start studying and doing Wicca. It broke down the religion and everything people need to know.

[Nikki (Dark.Side.of.the.Tome) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, I've read my fair share of books and already have a practical knowledge of Wicca. This review is based on who I think would most bennefit from this book.

This is a good book for beginners to start in with rituals. It has basic descriptions of magical tools, elements, the wheel of the year, alter setup and casting a circle. There were rituals workings for each of the yearly celebrations as well as rites. 

As far as bieng an Essantial Guide, I think there could have been more content and in depth information presented. As stated, if you are just starting out and looking for basic knowledge and understanding, I think you would bennefit from this book.

However, for anyone who knows the basics already, I don't think there is much you can learn from this book. There are many other books out there that are similar that contain more in depth information that can help you in your ritual workings.

I did like the minimalist art and thought it brought enough visual content withought taking away from the information itself.

Thank you to Netgalley and Publishers for allowing me a copy in exchange for an honest review

[Anisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very informative , easy to understand, and is laid out beautifully. All in all it’s excellent for beginners and I think my favourite thing about it is that it isn’t patronising or ‘preachy’ in the slightest (I find that some books on this subject can be). This is definitely a book i’d recommend to anyone, whether you’re thinking about starting your Wiccan journey or simply wanting to learn more about it.

[Chloe ☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been eyeing this book for months to expand on my Wiccan beliefs and rituals. I didn’t mind that it was mostly a beginner book. It had great information that can be referred to time and time again. I do wish it had more involvement with deities, as it mainly just involves calling upon them in the rituals.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

For someone who knows nothing looking for an introduction to Wicca and basic instructions on the calendar and rituals, which was me, this was perfect. For people who know more about it and want to depend their knowledge I’m sure this would be too basic. I got the book from the library but will likely buy it to keep as a reference.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! It gives a basic overview of Wicca, but the part that excited me was all the rituals. This book is chalk full of them and I'm excited to try them!

[Sami · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating this again because I’ve successfully completed two rituals laid out in this book and I had the most powerful spiritual experiences that I’ve ever known without the use of psychedelics.
Love

[Paige Ovanisian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a nontheistic eclectic pagan (read: NOT Wiccan) and picked this up as I'm always delighted to learn more about magickal practices, especially Wicca since my own practices are very nature-based and thus there is some overlap. While this will likely bore seasoned witches to tears, I will say it's a fantastic beginners book for those interested in pursuing their witchy path. The illustrations are lovely, and the information is well organized; some of what you can expect: origins, sects and each of their overarching beliefs, basic traditions, simple rituals involving both sabbats and esbats, and Wiccan rites. Novice witches will appreciate the glossary in the back, as well as the list of resources. I'm not too keen on heavy ritualistic spellcasting and chanting, though if you are let it be known that there is a rather hefty selection of material for you to peruse. "Seasons of Wicca" happens to be one of the better books on Wicca I've read, and so I believe it will be one I'll often recommend to curious witchlings.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good basic guide for absolute beginners to Wicca. The rituals are creative and interesting, albeit shorter than I would prefer past the 101 level. If you have never worked with Wiccan spirituality before, this would likely be an enjoyable read for you. It allows the newbie to have clear instructions to jump right in and practice some rituals. Rituals encompass Sabbats (sacred Sun days), esbats (moon rites), and rites of passage in a person's life. As someone who is not a newbie, I prefer rituals that go deeper. However, this is a great way to get started. Thank you, Callisto, for the review copy!

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautifully designed and illustrated book. I was hoping this would be more an introduction to Wicca, beacuse I don't know very much about it and was hoping to learn some basics. It does go over some basics, but it's mostly filled with spells and rituals for all the seasons of the year. So maybe it would be more suited for somebody who actually knows stuff about Wicca to start with. But it's a really beautiful book and would be great for someone who practices!

Thank you very much to Callisto Publishers for providing me with a copy. A review was not required.

[Alexis Sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a great beginner book for a “baby witch” or someone that’s been a Wiccan for years. I’ve just started my journey a couple of months ago but I’ve been drawn to this for years anyways I know once I start my rituals and spells I’ll be using this book because it’s really helpful so I hope whoever reads this book likes it as much as I do. Blessed Be 💙

[Bryanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book I didn’t know you should have before purchasing The Wiccan book of shadows from Ambrosia. I’m glad I got both now & it’s helping me make more sense out of the book of shadows! I have way more confidence to actually write inside the book of shadows now because of this one. Over joyed and definitely recommend to everyone who wants to be or learn more about Wiccan history and tradition!

[Sercalunna Pautasso · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it's a good book if you just started your Wiccan path or you want to learn about Wicca.
I liked the illustrations and the style of writing.
I recommend it.
I received this ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a honest review

[Cassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a complimentary copy.

A really cool book if you are into the topic or just interested. It covers a good amount for beginners.

[Liselotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not that amazing, but it's a good beginner book! I enjoyed the writing style a lot, which is always a plus.

[Nadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better books I have read on Wicca.

[Joelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice reference

If you’re interested in the Wiccan religion its a great starting point and reference. Very beginner focused. Quick read but has some nice points of reference.