'Kitchen' witch books can be pretty formulaic, repetitive and a touch.. shall I say . .. kitschy? But Mrs. B's Guide to Household Witchery is all about making magic a part of your daily life. It's not for special occasions, or specific workings, magic can be part of everything you do.
Written in a casual yet intelligent manner, Mrs. B (Kris Bradley of the very popular blog, Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom), provides lots (and lots) of examples of how to incorporate an alternative spiritual practice into your mundane life. She avoids sounding preachy or too 'One True Way' and clearly practices what she describes.
Bradley launches right into it: the first chapter focuses on making the mundane magical, and taking a quick room by room tour of your home, starting with your very own front door. The second chapter addresses the four classical elements of earth, air, fire and water, and how they can be applied in a domestic setting. Mrs. B feels that balance in the home is important, and it’s useful to figure out what sort of energy a room has in it already, in addition to what sort of energy you’d like to have there. (Sort of a witchy feng shui.)
Although she doesn't spend a lot of time on Magic 101, Bradley does offer an excellent herbal section with culinary and magical correspondences, as well as an in-depth exploration of household deities from around the world.
I found the appendices as useful as the book itself, and the Simple Sabbats for the Busy Witch were excellent. The Sabbats were clearly written by someone actively making magic daily.
~review by Lisa Mc Sherry
Author: Kris Bradley
Weiser Books, 2012
pp. 224, $16.95
