What do you think?
Rate this book
Craft of the Wild Witch: Green Spirituality & Natural Enchantment
Wild Witchcraft is a magical, free-spirited philosophy that embraces nature. It resonates with those who yearn to express their inherent spirituality in a joyous, meaningful manner; who sense their wild heart and soul nature; who know there is beauty, magic, and meaning in the world if only we want to find it. It is a magical path for those with poetry in their souls. Evocative and compelling, Craft of the Wild Witch reveals how to practice a form of Witchcraft that is both wild and free. Within these pages you will discover the wild Witch's way of seeing and knowing, how to discern one's suitability for the wild Witch's path, and the fundamental themes of green spirituality. Also covered in this guidebook: --Rituals, chants, pathworkings, and seasonal prayers
--Tree meditations, spell-weaving, and trance work
--The Fey and other-worldly companions
--Herbs as helpers
--Other-life memories
--Sacred intent and safe practice
--Tree meditations, spell-weaving, and trance work
--The Fey and other-worldly companions
--Herbs as helpers
--Other-life memories
--Sacred intent and safe practice
336 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2004
41 people are currently reading
1104 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
October 11, 2008
This book had such a lovely start. All the writings about experiencing Witchcraft in a natural, self-affirming way, based on your own soul's experience of the beauty of the outside glory, filled me with beautiful feelings. Then, for a book based on a Witch path with no rules, tons of rules came up! First, eveidently we all have to have chants for everything, even if our minds don't work that way. The incredibly detailed checklists for how to do ANYTHING was so disempowering. The book was as dogmatic as any I have ever read. So much better would have been a book about ways for exploring my own Wild Witchiness. Rules rules and more rules! Then it just sunk into terrible basic Witch 101 with her own rules about how that too has to be done! Sabbats she renamed, spellcasting as if she invented it. And what was hardest for me was her demand that we do not in any way believe in, much less work with, the Gods and Goddesses. I can't take away 20 years working with my Beloved Gods and Goddesses. Yet she throws in over and over that we should be working with her two powers, Jack (the green world not a God but is a God - sorta) and the Moon (the great Goddess oops not the G word). How can she make these distinctions for us? The ego! I haven't encountered such formula since I stopped working with "Pagan teachers" who slammed all other ways to boost their fragile, yet huge egos. I am sorry, but if I am to decide my Wild Witch path, why was she arguing at every turn in the path as to what and why I have to do things HER way?
March 17, 2014
Perfect book for those who are new to the craft, especially if you are not into the ceremenonial or Wiccan aspects. The Wild Witch is very different from your typical witch. The wild witch it seems usually works alone out in the wild communing with nature. Their path is different and to be a wild witch you must learn to stand alone despite what everyone else says or does. You are dedicated to helping nature and having power with nature rather then over nature.
At first I thought the book would be a poetic adventure of Unverified Personal Gnosis, but as I read on I realized that it was quite a bit more. The book is not meant to be a bible but rather it is meant to be a starting point to where you can do what works for you. Not complicated which is what I really love about this book. Spell work can be simple as chopping herbs and chanting or visualizing.
The book renders information on how to contact out spiritual companions and faery helpers. There is a word of warning to be wary of any entity you meet in your astral travels. Some mean you harm while other are just dangerous because their nature is similar to that of wild animals. To protect us from dangerous entities you can use cold blue fire and point it at the entity thus forcing it to reveal it’s true nature. Or you can show a mirror at it which makes the entity reveal it’s true nature. The cold blue fire can be used to create a circle of protections.
Of course before going on to any astral journey it is wise to create a circle of protection, which is advised before even beginning a prayer. It can be envisaged as a suits covering your body or envisaged as a hard bubble of sparkling white light. The protection should b e pliable and not too hard as you do not wish to block anything out.
After every working one should use one of several grounding techniques to get oneself centered. Such techniques may include putting one’s hands to the ground and releasing the energy back to the earth. One can also journal their experiences or eat some food.
The book comes complete with some trance path working meditations. There are also some techniques of drawing down energy from natural elements to power your work. The author also discusses the Sabbats in a way that honors the increasing and decreasing power of the sun. The phases of the moon are discussed along with some working that go with each phase.
The author does not simplify things with Wiccan model of god and goddess. Rather there is a reference to Sun father, Earth mother, feminine moon and Jack of the Green. There are also technique for building your astral dwelling that is preferred to be nature driven.
I found the book enjoyable with good practical working suggestions for the beginning witch. It might serve as a review for those of intermediate reading or learning. Guess I would call it a Witchcraft 201 book.
At first I thought the book would be a poetic adventure of Unverified Personal Gnosis, but as I read on I realized that it was quite a bit more. The book is not meant to be a bible but rather it is meant to be a starting point to where you can do what works for you. Not complicated which is what I really love about this book. Spell work can be simple as chopping herbs and chanting or visualizing.
The book renders information on how to contact out spiritual companions and faery helpers. There is a word of warning to be wary of any entity you meet in your astral travels. Some mean you harm while other are just dangerous because their nature is similar to that of wild animals. To protect us from dangerous entities you can use cold blue fire and point it at the entity thus forcing it to reveal it’s true nature. Or you can show a mirror at it which makes the entity reveal it’s true nature. The cold blue fire can be used to create a circle of protections.
Of course before going on to any astral journey it is wise to create a circle of protection, which is advised before even beginning a prayer. It can be envisaged as a suits covering your body or envisaged as a hard bubble of sparkling white light. The protection should b e pliable and not too hard as you do not wish to block anything out.
After every working one should use one of several grounding techniques to get oneself centered. Such techniques may include putting one’s hands to the ground and releasing the energy back to the earth. One can also journal their experiences or eat some food.
The book comes complete with some trance path working meditations. There are also some techniques of drawing down energy from natural elements to power your work. The author also discusses the Sabbats in a way that honors the increasing and decreasing power of the sun. The phases of the moon are discussed along with some working that go with each phase.
The author does not simplify things with Wiccan model of god and goddess. Rather there is a reference to Sun father, Earth mother, feminine moon and Jack of the Green. There are also technique for building your astral dwelling that is preferred to be nature driven.
I found the book enjoyable with good practical working suggestions for the beginning witch. It might serve as a review for those of intermediate reading or learning. Guess I would call it a Witchcraft 201 book.
September 3, 2014
I've had this book for years yet had never managed to finish the 1st chapter - it was so annoying yet boring. Finally I decided to force my way through it now. I can see this book appealing to some beginners who might find the language inspirational, which is why I gave 2 stars. It's pretty useless for anyone more advanced because, behind the adjectives, is a whole lot of nothing.
It's full of what I call padding or filler - what someone adds if they have 5 pages of information and need to turn it into a 20 page paper. So you say the same bit of information as many ways as possible plus add as many flowery adjectives as you find in the thesaurus. Actually, this is beyond flowery to the point it's nearly impossible to follow what is being said.
I don't think a "wild witch" is ever actually defined. How is it different than any other type of Wicca or witchcraft? Near as I could make out- a wild witch is solitary and likes nature. Perhaps they like to do their own thing and don't mind not following the status quo. But that's not anything new or unique, you say? Exactly. The book cover also refers to "green spirituality" - here again, liking nature.
Finally past the first chapter which just is nothing but describing how wild and wonderful wild witches are, comes the usual extreme basics, the 8 sabbats, the three (!) phases of the moon, etc. Again with as much flowery obfuscating as possible. She make statements that sound romantic or profound with little to no follow up. When discussing how to ground she calls trees "our mentors". Well no, she's just using the usual analogy between a tree's roots and grounding ourselves. There's no mentoring. She gives dire warnings about the negative vibes that can result when mixing alcohol and witchcraft. Her only actual reason is once she drank and got - a headache. But then wild witches are more sensitive don't you know?
It's often as if the author is only just beyond Wicca 101 herself. As a reason why we all must use psychic protection, she uses the analogy that gardeners might protect seedlings from frost. That sounds profound right? Well most plants managed to grow without that gardener's protection for millennia. And what about once the plant grows past being a seeding? The author may be repeating someone else's good points but she has no idea about the whys.
A beginner is much better off getting the same structure from books like The Spiral Dance or Cunningham's book on solitary Wicca.
It's full of what I call padding or filler - what someone adds if they have 5 pages of information and need to turn it into a 20 page paper. So you say the same bit of information as many ways as possible plus add as many flowery adjectives as you find in the thesaurus. Actually, this is beyond flowery to the point it's nearly impossible to follow what is being said.
I don't think a "wild witch" is ever actually defined. How is it different than any other type of Wicca or witchcraft? Near as I could make out- a wild witch is solitary and likes nature. Perhaps they like to do their own thing and don't mind not following the status quo. But that's not anything new or unique, you say? Exactly. The book cover also refers to "green spirituality" - here again, liking nature.
Finally past the first chapter which just is nothing but describing how wild and wonderful wild witches are, comes the usual extreme basics, the 8 sabbats, the three (!) phases of the moon, etc. Again with as much flowery obfuscating as possible. She make statements that sound romantic or profound with little to no follow up. When discussing how to ground she calls trees "our mentors". Well no, she's just using the usual analogy between a tree's roots and grounding ourselves. There's no mentoring. She gives dire warnings about the negative vibes that can result when mixing alcohol and witchcraft. Her only actual reason is once she drank and got - a headache. But then wild witches are more sensitive don't you know?
It's often as if the author is only just beyond Wicca 101 herself. As a reason why we all must use psychic protection, she uses the analogy that gardeners might protect seedlings from frost. That sounds profound right? Well most plants managed to grow without that gardener's protection for millennia. And what about once the plant grows past being a seeding? The author may be repeating someone else's good points but she has no idea about the whys.
A beginner is much better off getting the same structure from books like The Spiral Dance or Cunningham's book on solitary Wicca.
August 3, 2020
Horrible. Pushes her own personal beliefs instead of guiding others to find their own. The entire book is filled with filler sentences that create no actual meaning or importance and tries to sell it as “spiritual poetry.” She completely discounts religion in spirituality and pushes the idea that religion and spirituality cannot connect and if you think it does, you aren’t a witch. But despite her hatred for religion, she is very clearly presenting wiccan beliefs and has made up her own god named “jack” that she never stops talking about throughout the entirety of the book. She completely disrespects the fae folk by saying that theyre just innocent little pixies and she has no real respect for people with view points that are anything other than her own.
This is less of a book about teaching the way of a green or “wild” witch and more of her own autobiography on how often she decides to disrespect a belief, religion, or other practice.
I will never recommend this book to anyone.
This is less of a book about teaching the way of a green or “wild” witch and more of her own autobiography on how often she decides to disrespect a belief, religion, or other practice.
I will never recommend this book to anyone.
January 30, 2023
All I can say about this book is it's so beautiful, and she has some ideas and viewpoints that resonate very deeply with me. I would love to read her other books. The most powerful magic is always found in the simplest of things. She helped me to discover that and be able to put it into words. I have so much gratitude for that.
March 26, 2017
1. While Palin doesn't specifically come out and say it, this book is heavily Wiccan influenced. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but for a beginner witch or someone entirely new to witchcraft, it might constrict them into Wiccan ideals that may not suit them and their path.
2. The language. Honestly, I thoroughly read the first 30 pages and couldn't do it anymore. I skimmed the rest of the book. I wanted a straight-forward book about green witch craft and spirituality, not an anthology of the author's poetic ramblings about their own path. That's great if you're into it, but I expected a book with practical applications that I didn't have to dig deep to find. An author whose poetic writing about their path that I don't mind and is easy to read would be Starhawk. If this book was written in the same style, it would have been more palatable. The actual "substance" of this book, if you can find any, could have been cut down to less than 20 pages.
3. This book isn't green witchcraft. Just because you follow the cycles of the earth and get in touch with nature *does not* make you a green witch. You're welcome to put whatever label you want on your craft and/or path, but typically green witchcraft works with plants and herbs and uses those for their inherent qualities and correspondences. Green witches may also work with plant spirits and faeries and they may do most of their work or find their tools in nature. Most of what's in this book is what I would consider "hedgecraft". Mainly working with spirits and crossing the physical realm to gain guidance and/or connect with spirits.
4. On the note of this being more of a hedgecraft book, it has poor instructions on how to protect yourself, the many different paths one can take to cross the hedge, as well as not being upfront about the dangers of spirit contact/work and Palin's favorite, trance journeying- which happens to be the main thing she talks about between all of the poetic fluff.
5. No spells! Okay, I lied. There are probably 3-5 spells and these did include herbs, which was nice and probably the only really defining green witchcraft component in the book. Also, the incantations for both the spells and trance journeying are looooonnnng. That's cool if you're into it, but I'm certainly not. If I'm journeying/meditating/astral projecting, I'm not going to want to open my physical eyes and read an incantation or chant. For beginner witches, having an idea of how to write a spell, what constitutes a good spell, and how to put it all together is invaluable. There's nothing like that in this book.
6. Wild witch, wildwitch, wild witches. Okay, I get it. That's the name of the book. You can stop saying that we're wild witches every sentence. Or that wild witches do things "this way" and then at the end make a side note of "do what feels best for you". You can't expect to give someone only one option and then tell them to do what's best for you, especially if they really want to be a wild witch and you say wild witches do x, y, and z.
2. The language. Honestly, I thoroughly read the first 30 pages and couldn't do it anymore. I skimmed the rest of the book. I wanted a straight-forward book about green witch craft and spirituality, not an anthology of the author's poetic ramblings about their own path. That's great if you're into it, but I expected a book with practical applications that I didn't have to dig deep to find. An author whose poetic writing about their path that I don't mind and is easy to read would be Starhawk. If this book was written in the same style, it would have been more palatable. The actual "substance" of this book, if you can find any, could have been cut down to less than 20 pages.
3. This book isn't green witchcraft. Just because you follow the cycles of the earth and get in touch with nature *does not* make you a green witch. You're welcome to put whatever label you want on your craft and/or path, but typically green witchcraft works with plants and herbs and uses those for their inherent qualities and correspondences. Green witches may also work with plant spirits and faeries and they may do most of their work or find their tools in nature. Most of what's in this book is what I would consider "hedgecraft". Mainly working with spirits and crossing the physical realm to gain guidance and/or connect with spirits.
4. On the note of this being more of a hedgecraft book, it has poor instructions on how to protect yourself, the many different paths one can take to cross the hedge, as well as not being upfront about the dangers of spirit contact/work and Palin's favorite, trance journeying- which happens to be the main thing she talks about between all of the poetic fluff.
5. No spells! Okay, I lied. There are probably 3-5 spells and these did include herbs, which was nice and probably the only really defining green witchcraft component in the book. Also, the incantations for both the spells and trance journeying are looooonnnng. That's cool if you're into it, but I'm certainly not. If I'm journeying/meditating/astral projecting, I'm not going to want to open my physical eyes and read an incantation or chant. For beginner witches, having an idea of how to write a spell, what constitutes a good spell, and how to put it all together is invaluable. There's nothing like that in this book.
6. Wild witch, wildwitch, wild witches. Okay, I get it. That's the name of the book. You can stop saying that we're wild witches every sentence. Or that wild witches do things "this way" and then at the end make a side note of "do what feels best for you". You can't expect to give someone only one option and then tell them to do what's best for you, especially if they really want to be a wild witch and you say wild witches do x, y, and z.
January 30, 2020
I adore this book. I've been reading and rereading it for years and it never fails to give more with each reading. In many ways it reads like poetry— on your first reading you have to let it wash over you, not demand immediate access to its depths. It's extraordinary. Poppy Palin expresses herself in a truly magical, sincere and empowered manner.
July 1, 2025
This book is written in highly descriptive poetic language that will appeal to some readers and annoy others. It had some useful information, but a large part of the text is devoted to pre-written trance journeys. If trance journeys aren't your thing, you may be disappointed.
The author wrote a few things I disagreed with. That said, this wasn't a bad book on Green Witchery. I feel like this should be read alongside other books on Green spirituality, not as a standalone guide.
The author wrote a few things I disagreed with. That said, this wasn't a bad book on Green Witchery. I feel like this should be read alongside other books on Green spirituality, not as a standalone guide.
November 27, 2022
Good for begginers that want structure but don't have interest in wicca. Has a nice flow to it but kind of boring and the format of the book makes it hard to read. Good references at the end that i will refer to someday. Not a bad book just not for my personal craft. It was, however, interesting to find more about this specific type of witchcraft.
March 15, 2020
This is an okay book with some fascinating insights but it is quite heavy to read and mostly meant for the beginners. Took me ages to finish and I skipped some ritual descriptions etc. as they did not really inspire me or give me anything new.
March 3, 2022
There's good information here. Some of it is basic with a Green witch perspective. There's a lot of dos, don'ts andd how-tos that could turn people away. If this was my full path, I do find some of that helpful, but I also find it limiting in some ways. Still useful. Just take what resonates.
September 16, 2019
A slow but interesting read , there is so much information that you feel overloaded by it ! I liked some of the recipes used for healing but I found it too focused on trance state .
November 4, 2023
Beautiful and down to earth book on earth based spirituality
August 20, 2025
for a book written for "wild witches" there certainly are a lot of rules for what a wild witch is and what she can or cannot do.
January 22, 2018
Wow, this one took me a while to get through; it is really jam-packed with... I don't know what, frankly. So, as a nonfiction guidebook to a spiritual practice, this book was a failure for me. It was far too fluffy and self-indulgently written to learn much from. However, as a fascinating look at one woman's shamanistic ventures, I couldn't put it down. There is so much airy-fairy (excuse me, aery-faery) pagan poetry in here. There are spirit guides and magic flame cloaks and exhibitionist old ladies, intentional and unintentional thought-forms. I mean, it's really a trip. So, my three-star rating is definitely a product of how much I enjoyed reading this book--even if it was mostly morbid fascination--rather than how useful it will be to me.
September 2, 2012
I rather enjoyed this book. It is very basic, yet the information is very solid and aligned with my own beliefs. The woman is a fabulous writer whose words are, at times, akin to poetry. I truly enjoyed reading this, and would recommend it to anyone interested in learning about a more holistic and integrated approach to magick.
December 13, 2007
For those interested in witchcraft, but not in Wicca, Palin offers an original and freespirited alternative. She sometimes takes herself a little too seriously, but as long her readers don't they should find much that is useful and inspirational.
May 26, 2014
Very Wicca based, though no indication is given in the title. I also agree with the previous commenter who mentioned there were a lot of rules suddenly for such an allegedly "intuitive" and "free spirited" craft.
August 24, 2011
A very beautiful and poetic look at contemporaty religious Witchcraft, a great piece of literature if not a little on the impractical side. Not recommended for complete beginners.
May 10, 2014
Starts beautifully. About halfway through chapter 4 it starts to bog down for me. Too many almost ritualistic exercises. I'll finish the book and may revise my opinion.
October 24, 2020
This book resonates very well with me. I like her style of writing, no drama, no fuss, just tells you as it is.
April 27, 2010
need to explore it some more.
Want to read
May 15, 2013อยากอ่านมากๆจ้า
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews