12 best books years

Product features

Product features

Product features

Product features

The Year of the Witch

The year of the witch is the year of you. My biggest goal in writing this book was to inspire a spark of change in witches both new and old to their path. By learning the origins, traditions, and alternatives to the wheel, it becomes easier to craft the reality we want on our own journey.

For the witch, every day of the year can become a sacred one. The year of the witch starts with you, and it starts right now. In the words of psychol­ogist Charles Richards, "Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week."

-Temperance Alden

Soul Planting

Gardening to the witch should not be purely a physical experience but a soul-deep interaction. It is where we give ourselves freely to the earth, and the earth gives itself, its bounty, and its energy back to us. In this way, the relationship between the gardener and their garden is much more spiritually tuned. Including our garden in our daily spiritual prac­tice takes it out of the realm of chores and puts it into the realm of enlightenment.

Calling Down the Elements

Each of the four base seasons has a primary element that can be specifically drawn on to aid spellwork. When calling on the elements, we can use the power of the seasons to evoke particular energy! I think connecting seasons with elements is a really cool concept, and has allowed me to gain a deeper relationship with the natural world and its elements seasonally. Thinking back to the pentagram and the elements of fire, water, earth, air, and Spirit, we can begin to match seasons with their respective elements.

Outdoor Altars

When creating an outdoor seasonal altar, start by closing your eyes and allowing the energy of your surroundings to flow through you. Where are you called to place this altar? When you find the spot, look around. Are there any rocks or pieces of wood or naturally carved-out spots that seem like natural places for an altar? If this is a temporary altar that you will be packing up when you leave, you can use any supplies that you brought in, such as tables, cloths, statues, candles, etc. If you are crafting a more permanent altar to last through the season that you can return to again and again, it is best to use the material that nature has supplied to prevent damage to the space you are in.

Your Wheel of the Year

Your wheel of the year starts here, and it starts right now. How we use the opportunities that we are given to positively change the world matter. What would happen to your practice if you were forced to move tomorrow? Would you be able to support your craft in a new set­ting with different lands, spirits, elements, and climates? Or would you find yourself struggling like a fish out of water, trying to connect using methods that are no longer effective for where you are?

A connected wheel of the year practice is extremely grassroots in that it encourages you to become one with the land you are on, to touch and experience everything that the earth has to offer you while staying grounded to the only constant that there is: time. It doesn’t matter if you build a fancy aesthetic altar, or prefer to get your daily dose of spiritual­ity outdoors—what matters is that you take the time every day to push yourself and grow deeper in your craft.