Book Title and Author: The Witch at the Forest’s Edge by Christine Grace
Status? : Finished
My overall rating of the book : 9/10
My personal thoughts/opinions: The Witch at the Forest’s Edge was written, at first, as teaching material for the Forest’s Edge tradition co-founded by the author, Christine Grace. This book relates back to my own practice because it is animistic and spirit-centered. The book leaves plenty of theological wiggle room and approaches deity and spirit in a non-dogmatic way.
I very much appreciated the way the book was written and laid out. The author makes it clear from the beginning that while this book is based on her tradition, it will not be for everyone and that’s okay. There were some very interesting parts in this book that I will be going back and reading again. One part in particular I appreciated was the idea of spiritual ancestors. This is the connection we have as magical people to the magical people that have come before us. In everything we do, we are connected with them. One way I see this is through crochet. I am connected to my grandmother who crocheted, but also to her ancestors that crocheted and any other fiber artist around the world. We are connected through our common interests and skills.
This is applied throughout witchcraft, too. Do you practice divination and tarot? You have spiritual ancestors through diviners and tarot readers of the past. The same is said for everything else! It really opened my eyes to just how connected everything is in that respect.
There was another interesting section on hedgeriding, also called Spirit Flight. This is something I am really, really interested in but have never been able to accomplish. With the guidance in this book, I am now more confident in my ability to get it done. It just takes practice!
An interesting quote from the book
What does it mean that magic workers are outsiders? It positions us nicely in the liminal space between the nucleus of mass culture and the realms beyond. We’ve always straddled this line between being admired and needed and feared and disowned. The language of witch places our magic even more firmly at the margins – even among magic workers that term stands out. With that word, we reclaim the power of doing magical work that is not socially sanctioned by dominant powers. Chapter 11: The Practical Use of Magical Theory; Page 158
All in all, would I recommend this book?: Yes