Book Review - Celtic Hedge Witchery

Title: Celtic Hedge Witchery: A Modern Approach

Author: Joey Morris

Publisher: Weiser Books

Rating: 5/5

Joey Morris is a hedge witch from Plymouth, England, with over 25 years of practice. She runs a YouTube channel and has an online witch supply store. This was my first time hearing of Morris, so I was unsure what I should expect. With how many hedge witchcraft books have let me down in the past, I didn't enter with high hopes. However, Joey Morris blew me away with this book. Now, I consider it a 'must read' for anyone considering the hedge witch path.

Celtic Hedge Witchery is 201 pages long and includes an extensive bibliography and suggested reading section. You know how much I enjoy a well-researched book. Morris is very open that her particular style of witchcraft is a personal one that was created through academic studies and hands-on practice. That's the best strategy for anyone wanting to learn ancestry-based hedge witchcraft. No one truly knows how people in previous generations practiced their art. There are very few written examples, even in the medieval period, and even that is tainted by Christianity and is skewed. We have no written records of ancient people's practices because many of them didn't have a written language yet. The Celtic and Norse religions have people called reconstructionists who try to live exactly as the old religion would, but it's an educated guess at best. The fact is, we don't know for sure how they worshipped, and never can. So, I agree with the way Joey Morris structures her practice. Learn as much as you can and respect the original teachings, but learn what works and doesn't. Don't ignore science and modern-day advanced knowledge simply because our forefathers didn't do it that way.

I appreciate the author's opinion and openness about the term 'Celtic.' As a person of Scottish and Irish descent, my family would have been Celtic. However, many believe that once a family travels to America, they can no longer claim their ancestors. Why? When did they become any less my family? I am not introducing myself as Irish-American, but that is still where my family came from. I agree that many discussions need to be had about racism and cultural appropriation of marginalized people (you can read my blog post on decolonizing your witchcraft here). However, the Celtic heritage encompasses a wide geographical and social location. They merged and were assimilated into different cultures; what we know of them is only second-hand, at best. I don't feel that every white American needs to pull out their family tree to prove they have a right to study and work with their Celtic ancestors. That's gate-keeping.

One interesting idea I had never considered was plant spirits in our religious histories. Non-magickal people find witches to be 'woo-woo' when respecting the spirit of plants. However, a God or Goddess has taken the form of a plant or animal in every culture. Even the Abrahamic God was said to assume the form of a burning bush to speak with Moses. At first, when the author began discussing an 'All soul' for the plants, I was skeptical. The longer I thought about it, the more I discovered my conditioning to dismiss the idea outright. But the idea has merit. We witches know that each plant has a spirit and life force. Why wouldn't those life forces speak with one another? Modern-day science has proven that trees can communicate. How much longer will it take for modern science to catch up to the rest?

Another idea I appreciated was the theory of the three cauldrons from The Cauldron of Poesy. It is a Celtic idea that resembles the chakra belief system in that the cauldrons sit at different points of our bodies and are pivotal to certain aspects of our lives. Since the chakra system has been heavily distorted in the West due to appropriation, I have stopped using that system. But I do like the idea of a hierarchy of needs. One of my favorite ideas that the author presents is in the Cauldron of Motion section. In my life, I don't subscribe to any religion or believe in deities. But I believe in science; according to science, energy is never destroyed. It only changes forms. I've long thought that we are all made up of energy and particles, but our soul doesn't cease to exist when we die. It just changes forms. So, I was so happy to read the following quote on page 64: "This in turn creates an energetic link between mourner and the person who has moved on. A piece of death is the carried within the mourner in their grief, and a piece of life is carried within the person who died so that they could be reborn..." The idea of an exchange of power after death that helps the dead be reincarnated is brilliant.

In the Sacred Grove section, Morris explains that calling the four corners is a modern-day practice (Wicca) and offers choices. I have never felt comfortable calling the four corners, and thanks to CHW, I now understand why. The author mentions that fire was never included in Celtic worship because it's not a realm of existence. It's a transitional element that can be created or extinguished. That was like a bolt of lightning for me. Of course, fire isn't a direction. You can't live there. It's not a place to go to. That's why it always felt so weird to me. In the future, I will use land, sea, and sky as my directional elements because they are actual places. I loved Morris's chant, calling on the spirits of pine, aspen, oak, and willow. This chant is the most beautiful and compelling chant I've encountered, and I will be folding it into my own practice.

I loved Celtic Hedge Witchery so much that I constantly stopped to make annotations or add a new page to my grimoire.

One idea that I did not agree with the author on was her view of hedge witches as psychopomps. According to the mythology we have access to, psychopomps are beings who can enter the realm of the dead and guide souls to their final resting place. Hedge witches (at least us mere mortal hedge witches) can't visit the afterlife. We can travel to the higher and lower realms in the Otherworld, but not hell or heaven (whatever form that is for you). We can speak with spirits and urge them to pass on, but no one has ever truly seen the afterlife. We don't know for sure what awaits us on that plane. Therefore, since we cannot guide a soul into the afterlife and return, we are not pyschopomps. Even in Greek mythology, Hermes was a psychopomp and messenger for the gods because he could enter Hades and return. Designating him for this role because of his special attributes means it was a rare gift, even among the gods. I don't know about you, but I don't have more power than the gods. I'm not sure where this idea started circulating in modern witchcraft, but this is the third time I've heard of someone referring to themselves as a psychopomp in the past year.

All in all, this is a fantastic book. Celtic Hedge Witchery is the closest book to my own practice that I have ever stumbled across. I love that the author uses historical information, pairs it with scientific and modern knowledge, and mixes in her daily practice. This well-rounded method is the most comprehensive approach I've ever seen in a witchcraft book, and I applaud Joey Morris for her authenticity. I would highly recommend this book, and I can't wait to read more from this author in the future.