Magical Alphabet: "A is for Apples"

Welcome to a new series of articles I'm calling "Magical Alphabet", as you can see from the title, we're starting with "Apples".

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Apples and apple trees pop-up in a variety of magical traditions and Pagan beliefs... if you slice them in half they even have a pentacle at their core! For this reason apple recipes are often included at ritual meals.

One thing apples are said to be magically linked to is eternal youth or immortality. In Irish tradition the eating of apples is what kept those in the faery realm ever young ( Connla the Fair). This has similarities with the Norse stories of the Goddess Idunn, who fed apples to the gods to maintain their youth.

Apples are also linked to love... especially divination of romantic situations. It is said that if you peel an apple in a continuous strip and then drop it on the floor, it will fall to form the initial of your true love. Another practice is to cut an apple into 9 sections, eat the first 8 standing in front of a mirror and then throw the last one over your shoulder. When the last section is thrown, the face of your intended should appear to you in the mirror.

To ensure plentiful supplies of apples, wassailing apple trees is still practiced throughout many counties of England. This is a practice designed to awaken the apple trees and scare off bad spirits to ensure a good harvest. This is a rather jolly affair which involves lots of singing and cider drinking.

Here’s to thee, old apple tree, 

Whence thou mayst bud 

And whence thou mayst blow! 

And whence thou mayst bear apples enow!

Hats full! Caps full! 

Bushel--bushel--sacks full, 

And my pockets full too! Huzza!

-Gentleman's Magazine, 1791

Book Review: Hedge Witchcraft, by Harmonia Saille

“Hedge Witchcraft” is written by Harmonia Saille, and published by Moon Books as part of their Pagan Portals series.

The description reads:

“This book will guide readers to read more about hedge witchcraft as a pathway, or are already following such a path and wish to progress. It only has a little about hedge riding as this book has too small a scope to include it. Please read the accompanying book in the Pagan Portal series, Hedge Riding.”

This is a really nice little book about traditional British witchcraft. It ties all the information together with personal accounts from the author which heavily adds to the readability of this book. I enjoyed the section about tree lore, and liked the healthy does of folklore that was included in it. I also really liked the section on "Spirit of Place". This is a topic woefully overlooked in lots of similar books, and Harmonia does a fantastic job of eloquently, but unpretentiously, describing this. 

However, I can’t help but feel quite disappointed with this book, simply because it isn't specifically about Hedge Witchcraft. As the description indicated, it made little mention of hedge riding, referring you to another book by the same author. Given that neither book is hugely long I don't see why they weren't integrated, especially given the importance of hedge riding to this path. Although it made the very truthful claim that all hedge witches will follow a slightly different path, it didn’t highlight the key points that unite them. 

If you are after a short guide to traditionally based witchcraft then this is a really interesting little read, it will provide you with a general overview of  pagan festivals, and examples of how they are practiced. It also goes into elemental correspondences, and how these tie the everyday world to the magical one. But, if you have a decent background knowledge of general traditional witchcraft and modern pagan spirituality, then you may be left feeling a let down by this title.


The book market really needs some good titles about true hedge witchcraft, and if can be in a small, easy to read format like this, then so much the better. Unfortunately I don’t think this book does that. It will however keep it’s place on my bookshelf, due to the traditional folklore facts, interesting personal antidotes, and the style of writing, with turns this from a reference book, to an enjoyable quick read.

Podcast: Episode 1 - Yule 2012

Episode 1 - Yule 2012 - The new site, Yule & music from Snowflake!

Treasuring our naivety

I spent last weekend at a large MBS event at the Olympia in London. This was a much bigger event than we normally attend, and put me in contact with an entirely different set of people. Lots of the people approaching the stall were drew by the name "Hedge Witchery Books", and not having had any contact with witchcraft before wanted to know all about it. Answering their questions put me in a somewhat reflective mood, not about witchcraft or Hedge-Witchery, but about learning, knowledge and our attitude to it.

You see, unsurprisingly, there are lots of things I do differently after 10 years plus of magical/pagan practise than I did in my first few years. Had I started the websites and business now rather than then, I may have chosen to call it Haegtessa, to avoid the modern misconceptions of the practise. I may have written about the moons and festivals differently, tying them to the natural calender I now use, rather than the Gregorian one I used to, and still refer to in articles and beginners books. But in some ways I'm very thankful I started the site and business whilst I was still a little more green.

Way back when I was first starting out on this path, there is no way I could have worked to an entirely natural calender... it would have baffled me. There's no way I could have pronounced Old-English terms and charms... let alone used them. There's no way I would have felt comfortable using different names for festivals and celebrations, to the majority of people on a similar path to me... let alone go into details as to why the ones I use seem more appropriate.

Now I'm meeting people in the same position, just starting down their paths and looking for few helpful sign-posts and a way to make the journey easier.

Some people will say that I should only pass on the practises I practise now, that the reason I have evolved my practises over the years was because what I learnt earlier on was "incorrect" or "modern mis-teaching"... or in the case of one writer I had this debate with recently "uneducated". However, as all spiritual and magical practises have a personal relevance to each individual, this is not the case.

Hedge-Witchery.com has always been a "beginner friendly" site... and it always will be. Although we've recently started providing resources for people a little further down there path with the online and in person courses, we'll never -(I hope!)- lose the way absolute new-comers can jump into the beginners articles and books and find a way to practise that they can easily relate to and fit into their lives.

The lessons I learnt and the way I practised in the past is what enabled me to be comfortable and build skills in my path and what led me to where I am now. Had I not learnt those lessons I would not have learnt all the ones that followed. You will no doubt meet writers who have turned the first lessons they learnt, and the people who still pracise them, into negative things that they now point to as "inaccurate", wielding them like hammers to be thrown at new-comers they find disdainful and un-deserving of their self-supposed advanced knowledge, but, in my humble opinion, you should pay them no heed.

I will always hold onto the terms and practises I learnt in my more naive days, although I may not use them in all situations, they are still very relevant. They hold a certain magic of their own, a kind personal to me, a kind of energy that relates to wonder, excitement, curiosity and a desire to learn more. Who knows, another 10 years down my path and the terms and practises I use now may hold the same magic.

Plants and Magic

Plants form an integral part of magic, as they have throughout history. The use of herbal medicines go back thousands of years, and over those thousands of years the way herbs and plants are used and the people with access to them has grown and diversified.

Within witchcraft they are commonly used by being turned into incense or burnt as smudge sticks, to decorate places and altars and as ingredients within potions or meals to celebrate Sabbats and Esbats.

As the demand for plants with magical associations grows, so does the number of retailers that stock them. It is important to check that wherever you purchase any magical items, you ensure they have been grown or manufactured in a sustainable, organic way.

Of course, in an ideal world everyone would all grow and harvest their own herbs, or forage for wild ones. If you do decide to go down the route of growing your own, it is recommended that you use a book or calendar that details key dates in the lunar cycle, in order to gain maximum magical energy. Many practitioners have found that gardening is a magical ritual in itself. If it’s not something you have done before it is certainly worth trying.

If you decide to collect plants and herbs from the wild please be respectful of where you collect them from and give something back; collect seed pods from that area and scatter them to help the area grow. It goes without saying that rare or protected plants should never be removed from their habitats.

There are many sources of information available for the different ways in which you can use plants and herbs in spells and rituals. ‘The Book of Magical Herbs: Herbal History, Mystery, & Folklore’ by Margaret Picton and Michelle Pickering is a popular choice. It is a beautiful book that provides information on the history and folklore surrounding the everyday plants and herbs found in kitchens and gardens.

If you want a big no-nonsense sourcebook to look up the properties of a wide range of different herbs, you would be hard pushed to find a better book than ‘The Herb Book: The Complete and Authoritative Guide to More Than 500 Herbs’ by John B Lust. Another good book, and firm favourite amongst the magical community is ‘Cunningham's Encyclopaedia of Magical Herbs’ by Scott Cunningham.


There are also countless websites that provide information on this subject matter. An important point to remember is that whenever you read about magical correspondences associated with plants, that they will be slightly different for everyone. The more you work with plants, the more your instincts for what will work where, will grow.

For an article about specific magical plant correspondences click here.

Magick vs. Magic

"What is the difference between 'magick' and 'magic?" is a question a lot of people new to witchcraft will ask themselves at some point.

Anyone researching magic or witchcraft on the internet, in books or anywhere else, will come across the words 'magic' and 'magick'. This is something that often confuses people, as they seem to be referring to the same thing. And, for the most part the are.

The use of the spelling 'magick' is largely believed to have started with Aleister Crowley.  He offers one explanation as to why he used this spelling in his book 'Magick in Theory and Practice'.

“In my third year at Cambridge, I devoted myself consciously to the Great Work, understanding thereby the Work of becoming a Spiritual Being, free from the constraints, accidents, and deceptions of material existence. I found myself at a loss for a name to designate my work, just as H. P. Blavatsky some years earlier. "Theosophy", "Spiritualism", "Occultism", "Mysticism", all involved undesirable connotations. I chose therefore the name "MAGICK" as essentially the most sublime, and actually the most discredited, of all the available terms. I swore to rehabilitate MAGICK, to identify it with my own career; and to compel mankind to respect, love, and trust that which they scorned, hated and feared. I have kept my Word.”

Another theory that a lot of people subscribe to is that he chose this spelling for numerological reasons. In Numerology 'k' corresponds with 11, and 11 is a powerful number denoting psychic ability and deep insight.

A lot of people who chose to use this spelling do so in relation to Wicca. This is a little unusual as Aleister Crowley was not Wiccan. In fact the majority of significant figures within Wicca (including Gerald Gardner), used the spelling 'magic'.

As a general rule of thumb, if you see the spelling 'magick', it is usually in relation to a form of ceremonial magic. However, as with a lot of things within witchcraft, it comes down to personal choice. A lot of magical practitioners use the way they spell it as an expression of the path they follow. Some simply use the same spelling as the person that taught them. Some take it from their favourite witchcraft books or websites.

Either spelling is neither correct nor incorrect, and you can see examples of them both on all manner and type of literature and websites.