Each of these refers to a symbolic hedgerow, one which could be seen to divide the everyday world of the human community from what was perceived as being beyond it – the Otherworld of wild nature spirits and ancestral spirits and elves or faeriekind. Harmonia rectifies that oversight with her revelations of that practice as it may be followed throughout the year. With the help of the gods and goddesses of the Earth, we can hold bright visions of the future – and hold them as a magical act of the soul.

BUT it is important in my view not to name any specific, alleged abuser in our spells, in case we are wrong. At times I felt I was being lead into a deep meditation with sentences like "feel the rough bark of the tree, .Anyone interested in hedgecraft can pick up this book and have a general understanding of what a hedgewitch is and how they perform magic. Witchcraft can be followed as an individual or as part of a coven, or with a partner but this book is chiefly for the solitary practitioner. I'm not pursuing Wicca myself, but Rae Beth's approach to "hedge witchcraft" is in line with mysticism, and I found that my own ideas were influenced to a great degree by this strange little book. A hedge witch might work with gods or goddesses, perform healing and shamanic actions, or perhaps work with the changing seasons. The book's structure of letters between correspondences makes it hard to know where information is among the extraneous sentiments.

Think ‘wise-woman’ and natural healer rather than spells and incantations and you will be close to the content of this book. I really enjoyed this quick, quirky little book, it's got some lovely little life lessons in it and was a nice side story to Threadneedle. Such a charm or something like it can be followed by a spirit journey (a light trance) in which to meet with faerie familiars and/or the land-spirits, ancestors or even the deities. Still - if you can highlight this book and tab it up, it will work for those who want 'a year in the life' of a hedge witch.If followed with commitment, this Path can bring you to see the magical, shape-shifting nature of all reality and also to see a role for yourself within that as a healing spell-caster with spirit allies. Although Gopi Krishna's The Evolutionary Energy in Man, purchased on the same day, is shaping up to be an edifying read as well! This is one who straddles the boundaries of this world and the next, of time and space, the known and the unknown, the civilised and the wild.

As a person who doesn't know any fellow witches to share her views with, I thought this would be a book to read. But a hedge witch is much more than that, and the hedges she crosses can be those that represent the barrier between this world and the world of the spirits as much as the boundary between a field and country lane. As the book says "Her lyrical letters, accompanied by delicate pen-and-ink sketches, bring the reader towards a deeper understanding of the solitary witch's lifestyle and beliefs".In my opinion, this is the most important work we can do and is a present day version of the hedge witch’s traditional role.

Was expected there to be answering letters, rather than the one sided conversation it was, but no matter, it is simply more of an informative non-fiction book than one that tells a narrative. It can help to bring a union with a familiar spirit and to make communications with many spirits a possibility.For help with this, a hedge witch can choose, from the symbolic hedgerow between the everyday World and the realm of spirits, the magical power of the blackthorn tree.