Practically Pagan - An Alternative Guide to Gardening

by Elen Sentier

Practically Pagan - An Alternative Guide to Gardening takes the spooky out of alternative and keeps the magic. Elen Sentier brings together, and expands on, recent scientific discoveries, and shows how close they are to the old ways that were labelled as superstition in the 20th century. Sentier's writing is accessible and opens up the down-to-earth practicalism of pagans as people of the land to all, for that's what the word pagan means, 'of the land'. Sentier doesn't preach or proselytise folk to become pagan, but brings to light how you've been thinking this way for years. Elen Sentier is a best-selling author of British native shamanism. She also writes paranormal mystery-suspense novels. She's a wilderness woman, born on Dartmoor and grew up on Exmoor in a family who had practiced the old British magic for hundreds of years. Her books include Pagan Portals - Once and Future Wizard (Moon Books, 2016), and Gardening with the Moon & Stars (Moon Books, 2015).

143 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 29, 2021

About the author

I write magic, mystery, murder & (sometimes steamy) romance.

All my life I’ve followed the deer trods of Elen of the Ways. My mother's mother was a witch from the Isle of Man and my father was a cunning man from Lancashire. I grew up in an ancient village on the edge of Exmoor where the church is dedicated to the goddess Iwerydd and my aunt owned her sacred well. My parents and the elder folk in the village taught the ways of the awenydd, the old native shamanism of Britain.

I live in the back of beyond with two cats and a host of wildlife where I write novels and I teach the ways of old ways of the awenydd that I grew up with. I read massively and am now converted to Kindle as well as having bookcases full of the lovely old paper stuff. Whenever I can I get out into the wild places.

Reviews

[Karen Mace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this an enjoyable and fascinating way to find out more about pagans and a different way to approach gardening. The author uses her own experiences for taking you through each season - 8 seasons in the pagan calendar, not 4! - and sharing lists of different jobs to do at that time, along with plants looking their best or ready for planting at that time.

I really found the pagan side of the book enlightening and has now got me interested in finding out more about pagans as I found myself connecting with many of her ways! She explains about pagan holidays and celebrations, alongside meditations and rituals that you can easily follow.

But at the heart of the book is a year of gardening tips and hints, and learning more about the plants she uses in her garden that can also be used in cooking, rituals etc. I really liked her approach to the world and gardening - she let her garden evolve to suit her needs at different times instead of being very rigid with her planning and structure.

I like the mix of family anecdotes throughout, and am sure this book is best read in stages, especially to correlate with the time of the year it relates to, which will help you garden well. It looks at different flowers and vegetables for each season, along with meanings of them for medicinal purposes so I've learnt a little more about certain plants in my garden, and ones I want to add in the future!

[thebiblioaddict · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book because I absolutely LOVE the Practically Pagan line and anything with Gardening for a kitchen witch is great. HOWEVER - this was a freaking text book and whoever formatted this for kindle did a terrible job (read it on NetGalley Shelf instead). Personally for me I like my pagan/wiccan books to have some illustrations or pictures. There is a lot more science in here for example on page 78 there is the discussion of the atmosphere blend and while that is great I am not going to utilize that information in my practice.

This is for the super science pagan - not for the easy practitioners like myself

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick, easy, informative, and enjoyable read! I am a pagan and a gardener. I love findiing and reading books on the old, new, ways, Elen Sentier also offers insight into paganism in bite-sized, understandable portions for non-pagans. It's well-written, with lots of great gardening nature's way advice and instruction. I wish the book could have been longer with some photos. But overall, I did enjoy this book and look forward to rereading it this winter.

I received a Kindle arc from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative, well researched and full of ideas and hints.
I loved this book as I'm a keen gardener and I loved how it helps you to garden in a way that is respectful of Nature and how it is related to the Wheel of Time.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Samantha Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the information in this book informative. However, it did get a bit rambly after a while.