Ms van der Hoeven has written a classic. Many people now are working solitary either by choice or by necessity. Finding a reliable well written and realistic book on how to do it is very hard IMO. I found one here. My own situation is similar to others. How to practice a meaningful spirituality that is inclusive of nature and others views too. IMO this book came at a perfect time for me. It is first of all a story that features the real needs of the reader. I had lots of questions and the author answered them . The more I read the more I understood why deity is called on and what Gods or Goddesses have an interest in life and why others call on them. The rituals here are not overly wordy or filled with odd sounding items and unrealistic jargon. Down to earth (literally) rituals are featured. More important for me was the fact I wanted to do them after reading about setting up my own practice . The reality of religion and its negative side is also discussed but not focused on. By that I mean why people need a circle or whether there are dangers in paganism practiced in this manner. She is honest in her answers and gives more than enough evidence for ways to practice safely and easily if you are concerned. I love this book. It is simple, but profound.A meaningful book for going forward on your own or with others, Excellent!!

I have enjoyed some of Joanna van der Hoeven’s work, having previously read several of her Pagan Portals series books related to Druidry. While I identify as a druid, Joanna identifies as both druid and witch, and I was curious to read a witchcraft-focused book from her.
There is a lot to appreciate about this book – it’s very 101-level, consistently defining terms rather than presuming the reader knows them, is written in accessible language, and is encouraging of diverse cosmologies and belief systems (ex. noting the chapter on deity can be skipped entirely if personified deities are not part of your practice). I also appreciate the author’s willingness to make ethical statements – ex. on the environmentally devastating impacts of crystal mining and the importance of sustainable harvesting – though it’s not the focus of the text, and to clearly distinguish what is her own experiential view versus what is traditional or scholarly. I do wish she would do much better at not putting forward a cis-centric and binary conception of gender (ex. referring to gender with reference to reproductive anatomy), though this too is not the focus of the text and in this book is confined to perhaps two passing comments. I also wish the book was more consistently footnoted – lots of claims here are unsubstantiated – though I do appreciate the bibliography.
van der Hoeven notes that the term ‘hedge witch’ is used in a range of ways – to refer to anyone who is a solitary witchcraft practitioner, for example – but that her focus is on hedge riding as a practice. I wish that this was actually more the case with this book: a lot of what this text covers is in no way specific to hedge witchery or even to witchcraft in general: moon phase associations, herbal work, working with elements, and the wheel of the year cycle of holidays are all practices common to many traditions and paths, and these kinds of topics taking up as much space as they do in this text means that it ends up repeating a lot of what is found in many, many other 101-level witchcraft books rather than emphasizing the specific topic of hedge riding. This might be fine if this is a beginner witch’s first book, but for any reader who’s engaged with other beginner books on witchcraft this will probably be very repetitive.
I will note that I cannot include anything related to the images in the book in my review as these were not included in the digital ARC copy.

Thank you to Llewellyn & NetGalley for providing an ARC.

An unfortunate book in that it is a combination of Neo-Pagan Wicca 101 with the barest info on journey work and dangerous at that if anyone actually does journey with only this information.
Fae Folk are not all kind and saying that its only Christian propaganda or people with evil in their hearts that meet bad ends when encountering entities in other realms is ignorant. Just as you wouldn't saunter into someone's property or a city run by a gang or mob with disrespect and ignorance, you wouldn't wander through a realm without any protection other than basically "don't eat the food."
The same with guiding people through rituals and techniques for hedgeriding (journey work) without the foundation of cleansing, energy work, or building their spiritual protocols and getting their own house in order with ancestors and Gods...sure there's a section on Deity but its flippant at best.
I was just disappointed.