Garden Spells: An Enchanting Collection of Victorian Wisdom

I saw the bad reviews calling this a Christian book diguised as being pagan, but I figured since it was only $0.01, I would get it and mentally erase the Christian Dogma and rewrite/rework any ideas that might be useful to something that would work for me. (Nothing gets more Pagan than gardening!) Look at it this way, the Christian pantheon is just another pantheon. Plain and simple. Pagans can be as close minded as we claim others are sometimes! In reality, I wasn't overwhelmed by referrences to the Christian God. It happens directly like five times.... I would say the author refers to Goddess an equal amount if not more. Angels and the fey are refered to quite a bit as well. Its a cute book too, its small hardcover, with colored illustrations (more for decoration than reference). Some useful topics: Noble trees of Ireland/Druidical trees of the year, A gardian angel invocation, gardening by the moon, instructions for created an Elizabethan garden, moss house, and garden grotto. All and all, I would say the best way to describe the book is what some would call "Christian Wicca"...its not what I practice, but I did enjoy the book, more than a hard stale tootsie roll, which is pretty much the only other thing you can get for $0.01.

This book is really cute. It is very quaint and has nice pictures and things in it, but it really does not serve to be a good reference for someone looking for information on paganism. I knew that when I bought this book. I own Fairy Spells, also by the same author. Both books have beautiful pictures and lovely rhymes in them (I hardly call them "Spells", the title is somewhat misleading) but this book is a lovely addition to your library if you understand that this book is not really a reference, and rather more for entertainment value.

When I read this book I got a little suprise- It is not a Pagan writing, per se. Although some of the charms and spells invoke the moon as Selene, most of the material is Christian. Nevertheless, it is an interesting little book and gives some great hints about attracting and seeing faeries. There is a very extensive section on the meanings of flowers given in a a bouquet. Also the lore on some Angels, their planets, and their flowers. I would say that this book is a good starting point for anyone wishing to enhance their garden by magick... but definately not a great source for much in the way of garden magick.

"GardenSpells" is a whimsically illustrated little tome who's over 30 charms and spells were gleaned from the journals of the author's great-grandmother, a Victorian "wisewoman". In this book you will find omens as foretold by "garden creatures", and lists of Zodiac or Angel related plants for growing in your magickal garden. There are also spells which utilize garden plants such as this (abridged) one for an "Ivy Lovespell": "Ivy, ivy I love you, "In my bosom I put you. "The first young man who speaks to me "My future husband he shall be." Written in a clear and concise style, with each of it's 88 pages chock-full of magickal spells and charms, this is THE book for the garden witch in all of us.