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Picture
yourself in a lush, enchanted garden where morning glories
and moonflowers tumble over fences. Listen to the buzzing
of bees busily pollinating sunny beds of fragrant flowers.
Feel the cool air of the shade garden as you gather magickal
herbs for you spellwork.
Whether you have a country cottage, a suburban backyard, or
an apartment balcony, your can create a powerful and enchanted
realm-a
place close to nature to practice your craft, grow your own
magickal ingredients, or just escape the cares of the mundane
world. Written with down-to-earth humor by master gardener
and practicing Witch Ellen Dugan, Garden Witchery will inspire
you to create your own magickal garden-whatever your experience
level.
Learn the magickal meanings of plants from the perspective
of color, scent, and the language of flowers. Get common sense
information about cold hardiness zones, soil requirements,
and a realistic listing of accessible magickal plants. Design,
plan, and maintain many kinds of Witch's gardens-including
moon, container, shade, harvest, tree and bush, groundcover,
fairy gardens, and houseplant gardens. Enhance your life with
floral and herbal spells, faerie magick, "Witch Crafts," and
suggestions for Sabbat celebrations you can enjoy with your
family. Plus, a journal section makes it easy to keep track
of your progress.
Get Garden
Witchery and step into a magickal realm in your own backyard!
Editorial
Reviews
Garden Witchery: Magick from the Ground Up
From
School Library Journal
Adult/High
School-With good-humored flair, Dugan offers a practical introduction
to gardening that incorporates an eclectic blend of Wiccan
and magical traditions. The author encourages readers to work
hard to make the garden "a place where both our metaphysical
and ordinary lives begin to thrive together." Outlining basic
principles such as working with the directions and the elements,
moon phases, and color, the author shows how this lore, rooted
in a respect for nature, also forms the basis of good gardening
practice. She offers succinct and useful information on a
great variety of topics such as astrology, fairies, herbal
spells and charms, crafts, and journaling, and on dealing
with an equal variety of garden situations and types. Throughout,
she suggests excellent sources for further information, including
the Extension Service, the Poison Control Center, and the
public library, and she offers an extensive bibliography (mostly
of magic literature). The good advice and sound horticultural
practice found here can help novices and/or budding garden
witches to discover their own style and get off to a solid
start, and can also enrich the experience of those who are
already knowledgeable. Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County
Public Library, VA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information,
Inc.
From
newWitch Magazine (Summer 2003)
There exists
a romantic image of a garden witch that most feel is only
part an idealized past. She (or he) roams carefree through
a lush garden of bright flowers, old trees, and peaceful water
fountains while faeries thrive and play off the natural energy
of their surroundings. According to Ellen Dugan this is not
merely a romantic image of an idealized past, but it is in
fact real and obtainable in today's world. This books clearly
shows how that can be done. Using a casual tone that is easy
to read and sometimes downright funny, this University of
Missouri Master Gardener devotes the early chapters to listing
and describing many trees, plants, and flowers with magickal
properties that can be found in the average backyard. She
explains there is no need to hunt for exotic or rare plants
and herbs, instead a few steps into the backyard or a quick
jaunt down to the local garden center is all any witch ever
really needs to do. Dugan gives plenty of practical advice
for nearly every type of magickal garden imaginable, and includes
lists, graphs, spell worksheets and a gardening journal section.
She discusses faerie garden magick, as well as warnings of
their inevitable mischief. The pages are sprinkled with quotes
from the famous to the not-so-famous to inspire the magickal
gardener along. This book is packed full of information and
projects that encourage anyone to get outside, get their hands
dirty, and get back in touch with the very Nature that first
inspired Wicca. Ownership of this book should be required
for any witch who wishes to get back in touch with their earthly
roots. (RATING: 5 Broomsticks) Michael Samhain newWitch Magazine
Summer 2003.
From
The Tarot Reader Magazine UK. (Summer 2005)
Garden Witchery is an easy to understand book, crammed with
helpful practical advice, information, charms, spells and
rituals. The Chapters include Backyard Magic, Flower Magic,
Flower Folklore, Speciality Gardens, Moon Gardening & Astrological
Timing, Faery Magic, Crafts and Sabbat Celebrations. There
is also a 30-page Gardening Journal, with seasonable quotations
and spells. The book concludes with a Glossary, Bibliography
and Index.
The book is aimed at anyone with a garden, whether they own
several acres of countryside or a small windowbox or flowertub
in the city centre. I was particularly impressed by the chapter
on Speciality Gardens. This gives detailed instructions and
advice on planting various types of garden including Shady
Sorceress Gardens, Moonlight Gardens and a Halloween Pumpkin
Garden.
Simple pen and black ink drawings by Kerigwen are scattered
throughout the book. Ellen writes in her usual lively and
informal style, including interesting anecdotes about her
own practical experiences of Garden Magick. One of the glories
of her writing style is that she inspires her readers to want
to try out her ideas for themselves. Shortly after reading
the section about Charm Bags and Spellbinding Sachets I was
inspired to try making a bag for myself and I was pleased
to discover that almost all the ingredients needed were growing
in the garden of the house where I was staying.
Overall, this is an accessible, entertaining and informative
book about Magickal Gardening, which I enjoyed reading. I
can thoroughly recommend it to everyone interested in Wicca
and Gardening.
Reviewed by Brian Stevenson 2005
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