This is a delightful book that explains what it means to be a nature-loving witch in a city environment over the course of a year, and how to recognise any witch-like tendencies you may have that are surely ripe for nurturing and exploring. If so, you will find many references to guide you with insightful explanations and the associated histories of magic, spells and folklore throughout the last six centuries.

For clarity on the art of witchcraft, Alice explains: 'Witchcraft starts happening when our bodies come right up to the edge of their sensory and linguistic abilities. What the edges tell us, if we listen to them, is that there are experiences we can have that we cannot talk about using normal means.'

Alice helps us to realise that the world isn't something we are connected to but rather something we are part of. This means every time we act and think we are helping to shape the world around us at the same time as the world is helping to shape us. Understanding this relationship is fundamental to witchcraft and learning how to enter into, court and cause beneficial encounters to take place is where the magic happens.

Following an excellent introduction to witchcraft and natural magic with important notes on spells and magical conduct, 'A Spell in the Wild' follows the seasons with rich descriptions for each month of the year including references to key events in the Wicca calendar, seasonal urban foraging, rituals, meditations, spell-making, fairies and so much more that will have you reading the whole book at once as I did, and then referencing back each month for new ideas.

This wonderful book introduces magical practices in nature as a means to live as responsibly as possible. It suggests new and magical ways to connect with our natural world (in general and especially in urban areas), encouraging a way of 'speaking with its secret corners with new point and moments of connection.'

I have learned that witches work best when they transform, hide, leave and return. They make good our relationship with our planet by forming beneficial habits that follow the natural cycles of birth, life, death and re-birth to look after ourselves and nature, and to make things happen in the local community in service to the common good.

Witchcraft, therefore, is a way of understanding the beauty and connectedness of the world we live in, and the magic that connects us to the edges where we can see that everything in the world exists in relation to us. No better way to get closer to nature and bring the outside in.

Witchcraft is something that can be enjoyed and experienced by anyone with a love for nature and a belief that we are an intrinsic part of nature and the world we help to evolve. As Alice says: 'We make magic as best we can, with what we have, acknowledging that everything in the world, from the most beautiful thing to the least, exists in relation to us.'

Sue Cartwright

Spiral Leaf