The Real Witches’ Garden

May 18, 2004

The Real Witches’ Garden
By Kate West, Element (Harper Collins Publishers)

Real Witches. Real power. That is the premise of Kate West’s new book, The Real Witches’ Garden. In this book, like the others in the Real Witches’ series Ms. West delves deeply into all the ways to bring your practice into focus using a garden. She states that since we are following a nature-based religion, we might as well do our rituals in nature. Makes sense to me.

Now, you apartment dwellers don’t go skipping over this book. There are gardens for the very large area as well as for the non-existent outdoor space. Something for everyone, no matter the size of your space or property. And you might even grow that green thumb you never knew you had.

In 12 easy to digest chapters, we learn how to make and celebrate gardens of all sorts. We are taught about planning for things like pets and children. There are gardens with a focus on the Lady and Lord, the Elements, the Seasons, magic or healing.

Each chapter contains numerous rituals to plant and celebrate in the garden’s focus. Gizmos and doodads are kept to a minimum, so costs are not a big deterrent in achieving one with the great outdoors.

While I enjoyed this book and found it interesting, the writing style took some getting used to, probably because the author is from the UK. This is an excellent book for a beginner either to the Craft or to gardening. Especially useful are the lists of correspondences in the book, as well as the chapter entitled “Take it from here” that lists further reading and resources.

I was also pleased with the appendix explaining what witchcraft really is. It included brief paragraphs on our beliefs, something that is usually overlooked in many witchcraft books. All in all this is nice, handy book to add to your spiritual library.