I was able to read this book after it was published. I was looking for something deep and in depth about Hedge magic but instead found a good basics book. This, like many other pagan books, talks about starting things such as candle colors, etc. It could have had potential but this one fell flat for me.

Very informative book. Full of a lot of useful information. This book will also be very useful for future reference

Pagan portals: magic for hedge witches is a VERY basic introduction to magic, and barely talks about actual hedge craft. I was hoping to learn more about hedgecraft, but came away with nothing. A lot of this stuff, like candle colour meanings, days of the week and moon cycles, you can find in almost any witchcraft book for sale currently. Also the use of the g slur (for Romani people) was incredibly inappropriate and racist. It’s 2022, it’s high past time that occult and witchcraft authors stopped using this word. The author also talked about smudging. YOU CANNOT SMUDGE IF YOU ARE NOT INDIGENOUS TLDR: if you’re going to write a introduction book to hedge witchcraft, maybe actually talk about it and not stick to basic witchcraft that everyone knows, Don’t use racist slurs against Romani people, and don’t be a colonizer.

Another good jumping-off point book. Nice topics like building up your ingredient supplies, correspondences, magical space and more.

Magic for Hedge witches was a great read but like other reviewers have said I would recommend it to folk who have some previous knowledge for spell work. Its a book you will go back to time and again as a resource.

Well written and researched. I enjoyed that the Author gave you listings on other books to follow up with as well.

Thanks to Netgalley and Moon Books for the ARC. This review is my own opinion.

Like many readers for this book, this was a miss for me. I tried to look at it from the perspective of both a well versed witch of two decades but also as a new witch and either way...this book was not particularly. helpful. It rambled, hit on subjects I didn't feel necessary, and just wasn't cohesive - which I think could be partly to blame on the editor/publisher as these companies tend to push authors towards 101 dialogue even when the subject should be more focused elsewhere.

Unfortunately this book was not enjoyable for me. I found that it spent too much time writing about non-related topics and expanding on specifics that was not needed... sort of like filling in space. It is disappointing since the topic of hedge witches was something I was interested in learning more about.

I’ve read quite a few Pagan Portals books over the years, and have always appreciated them for being quick overviews of a specific subject with Paganism and related areas. I had high hopes for this one because it is about hedge witchery and folk magic — taking in older practices and texts that aren’t usually considered when writing about Witchery in contemporary times.

However, speaking as a Witch of thirty-plus years’ experience, I’m afraid this title did miss the mark with me. I found it rambling and not very cohesive. There wasn’t as much in terms of recipes or spells as I’d hoped, and there was cultural appropriation and a r*cial slur, neither of which I would expect from a 2022 title. There were also some vague comments about shamans, and some sentences where the author seemed to drift off the point, as well as a lack of diversity when it came to both talking about sex and the recommended reading list.

That said, it did have some interesting ideas about connecting with the land around you and some techniques such as a witch’s bottle, but overall it felt basic and not one of the better Pagan Portals reads. With the above thoughts in mind, it’s not one I would recommend.

I received an e-ARC from the publisher, Moon Books, through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

As a reader of many of these books over the years, I was very disappointed in this one. There was just a lot in this one that I felt was on the toxic end of the spectrum and not very nice. Slurs for Romani people, using magic practices by Indigenous People who the writer does not seem to belong to etc. I have read more inclusive books published 30 years ago. Utterly disappointing and to top it all off there is really hardly any content in this book.

Pagan portals magic for hedge witches by Harmonia Saille is a magical book that can help beginning witches learn the basics of witchcraft and spell making. The book goes over different magical ingredients for spell crafting as well as correspondence for trees and runes. I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in writing their own spells and rituals.

This is a great little book for those wanting to step k to paganism or the experienced practitioners, it’s well presented, it’s so interesting and I loved the practical exercises, think could be written a bit more diversely (it’s 2022 after all) but overall a nice little guide

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

An informative, clever, and easy to follow book. I liked the style of writing and the ideas. Will surely try some of them.
It was an excellent read, full of food for thought.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

My thanks to John Hunt Publishing/Moon Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Pagan Portals: Magic for Hedge Witches’ by Harmonia Saille in exchange for an honest review.

Harmonia Saille has written a number of books for this series including two other guides for solitary practitioners of folk magic, often known as Hedge Witches.

I have read a few of the Pagan Portals titles and have found them well rounded guides that combine history, theory, and practice. This short book is written in the same spirit with practical applications such as sourcing ingredients, connecting with nature, working with familiars, and creating witch bottles.

Harmonia Saille also includes lists of correspondences and practical exercises such as Hedge Riding, her name for inner journeying. The book is rounded out with notes and a bibliography.

I do feel that ‘Magic for Hedge Witches’ provides a foundation in folk magic especially aimed at those who may not have access to direct mentoring.

I found this to be an interesting introduction to natural magic, and it confirmed much of what I have intuited throughout my life. Well-organized and basic introduction to elements, woods, stones, runes, etc.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

Such great book, very educational, very interesting.

Are you a budding witch?

Well, this little primer will be sure to help get you started, with hints on how to create candle spells, the spells to attract more money with a little help with the semantics on getting what you wish for), spells for improving health and starting anew emotionally and spells evoking the four elements of fire, earth, air and water.

There is also a section giving delineations on rune symbols - alas, on my Kindle, only the interpretations appeared m, but no rune symbols!

This book is not afraid to draw on really old and traditional Craft practises, some of which seem to hark right back to what is reported in the museum of witchcraft at Boscastle, Cornwall. Some practitioners for exams might be leery of creating a witch bottle, which may involve peeing into one spiked with nail clippings and sharp objects: it is meant to be buried at the threshold of a house, to bring psychic protection.

Sources include the wisdom of Culpeper and other traditional times of witchcraft dating from the times of James the First. The reader is, however, advised to adapt spells for the present, alongside not misusing magic for negative ends, although this writer professes an open mind on whether to use spells such as binding rituals.

There is much about the use of herbs and found objects in Nature included here, alongside exhortions to get closer to Mother Nature. Therein lies the true value of witchcraft, in my opinion, beyond any concerns of any kind of manipulation: this is a natural Shamanism that allows its practitioner to cross the hedge of the title here, to enter a level of awareness that recognises signs if the sacred all around us. Especially in animals, plants and trees.

While there were a few interesting ideas and several nice suggestions for spellwork here, this reads like rambling musings more than a cohesive book. Way too much of it was filler for a text this short — for example, after noting the value of time alone free of distractions, the author then lists numerous examples of distractions (spouses, roommates, pets, children): this is filler. I finished reading this book feeling like I’d taken in very little actual content. Some of the content I did take in was incorrect (no, glass is not biodegradable, so choosing a glass bottle “because it’s biodegradable” makes no sense: burying glass is definitely preferable to burying plastic but the reason for that has nothing to do with biodegradability).

In a number of respects, this book doesn’t feel inclusive: it includes a racial slur (for Romani people), appropriative comments (’smudging,’ vague references to shamans, etc), and cisnormative understandings of sex (referring to the difficulty ‘the ladies’ might experience peeing into a bottle to acquire urine for a spell). This is all really disappointing in a book releasing in 2022.

This book would have really benefited from stronger copy editing. There are a lot of unclear run-on sentences, mismatching tenses, and missing punctuation. The section on runes and their meanings just has a list of keywords — the runes themselves aren’t actually listed, so it’s not at all clear which rune goes with which keywords; I hope that this is just an e-book formatting issue that will get fixed prior to release, otherwise this entire section will be of no use to anyone purchasing this book in e-format.

I do appreciate the inclusion of both a bibliography and a ‘suggested reading’ section, though the latter would benefit from being much more diverse (it is almost all Pagan Portal books and a substantial number are by this author).

*Content warnings: racial slur*

*Thank you to NetGalley and John Hunt Publishing / Moon Books for providing an ARC in exchange for this review*.

This is the first book on Hedge Witch magic I've read and I've really enjoyed learning about an area of witchcraft that I haven't done much reading around. It's also the first book by Harmonia Saille that I've read I must say I really enjoyed her writing style. It's a well-written informative book and I definitely will be looking for her other books on the subject to expand my knowledge.

Right off the bat, this book lost a star for me for using the G slur for Romani people. More than that, though, it just felt very basic and (I'm very sorry) a little amateur. A lot felt made up by the author for her own personal belief systems, a lot felt like it was just taken from other belief systems, and it also just sort of felt outdated, cursory and rambling. The author takes a tone of an expert but I didn't feel that she earned my trust as an expert. There are no images, photos, charts or artwork.

Two stars for me, for "it was okay."

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

I so enjoy the Pagan Porrtals books. I'm really happy to have discovered this one in particular. I had no idea what a Hedge Witch was until I opened this book. I just considered myself to be a solo practitioner of the craft, turns out, there's a name for what I do! Ms. Saille does a wonderful job of writing about what we convenless witches practice. I think it will offer much insight into our magic and help beginners find their way in the craft. Trial and error is involved and a bit of intuition, but it's so wonderful that someone had written this down to aid beginners. This book covers all things in nature, herbs, stones, trees, etc... spell creations, tarot and other forms of fortune telling, types of magic, where to find spells and ceremonies -and how to use the old ones in the modern world. So much info! So exciting! Wonderful history of hedge witches. Highly recommend this book to readers who want to learn more about us and what we do.