The Secret People: Parish-pump Witchcraft, Wise-women and Cunning Ways
Ξ September 12th, 2016 | → Comments Off on The Secret People: Parish-pump Witchcraft, Wise-women and Cunning Ways | ∇ Spirituality |
The Secret People by Melusine Draco is a quaint and wonderful read. The book is an easy to read resource for folklore, herbalism and some intertwined Christianity overlapping into pagan heritage.
The book is very seasonally oriented which is what most readers in this niche are looking for.
The Secret People: Parish-pump Witchcraft, Wise-women and Cunning Ways is the full title, and I really enjoyed learning about the rural folk-customs of the Parish-pump people. Although as the author points out at the end, it’s doubtful these people would have referred to themselves as witches. It’s a wonderful example of how the older pagan customs became blended into Christianity.
I couldn’t agree more with the author when she tells us, “Much of what passes as Craft today has its roots in ritual magic rather than traditional rural witchcraft.” I think many of us chafe against the ritualistic nature of some flavors of the Craft. So, personally I resonated with this pagan, people of the land, form of the Craft and will bring many aspects of her teachings into my own spiritual practices.
As a Master Herbalist myself, I am recommending this book for its excellent presentation of herbal knowledge, herbal folklore and Earth-based spirituality because at the end of the day we are all The Secret People.
