The wetlands have acted as a mirror: to myself; to my body; to the emotional ‘mud’ within. Its cries and my own have mingled as I’ve trekked, fallen, entangled myself in bracken, stepped in pools that turned out to be rivers, been snagged, been bitten, almost tripped into an adder’s nest, gotten lost. But still, here, I am definitely not a dog – I am a wolf. I let myself off the leash. I forget what I should be and be. I grunt as I trudge through the mud, relishing the guttural ‘u’s of this action, and revelling in the strange, fantastical birdsong around me. I hum and sing, whistle and shout, emit the odd swear when I stumble. If, when I peer into the murky pools and puddles of the wetlands, I see myself, then it’s in her strange and spooky sonics that I hear myself, too.
Mab Jones explores the wetlands, the healing of immersion in nature, and the murky side of both this ecosystem and the human soul. This is a short book, an expository essay, touching on a number of topics. This little book is not a guide nor a description of a specific place with lists of plants and animals or their uses. There are no spells or magic workings or instructions. Bog Witch is Jones' personal story of abuse, divorce from nature, a childhood in the council houses, and the liberation of developing a bond to the bog. She writes to enchant the reader with the mystic qualities of the fen, to cajole us into recognizing its value and protecting us by protecting our natural habitat.
Her story is personal and sometimes despite her desire to not have people anthropomorphize nature, she writes of her pain in a way that is so immersed in the swamp as to bring both to the forefront, tied together, through her words, through her emotional connection. She delves into the muck with discussions of misogynistic beliefs about women that lurk still in the UK psyche that appears in sharp relief to the reclaiming movement, the feminism of Goddess worship. The joy in being in female form that one finds in much of pagan worship is curtailed here by the harsh effects of an upbringing that did not value the divine feminine. The bog has become her safe space, liminal space, healing space and in return she has become the champion of the swamp, singing its praises, reminding us of our long but overlooked history within it and the necessity of wild wetlands.
Readers who find themselves on a similar journey of self-discovery will relate to her and find comfort in her words and shared experiences.
Recommended
~review by Larissa Carlson
Author: Mab Jones
Moon Books, 2024
82 pages, $9.95
