If you will pardon the joke, the word I would use to describe Mrs. B’s Guide to Household Witchery: Everyday Magic, Spells, and Recipes is enchanting. By Kris Bradley, creator of the blog Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom, it is a comprehensive guide that discusses everything from herb lore to simple sabat worship.
Its fifth section, “The Domestic Witch’s Herbal,” is the best I’ve found outside of Cunningham’s famous tome. The focus is on herbs, vegetables, fruits, and other food products that are not just in the witch’s cabinet, but also in every pantry. Every entry gives a little bit of lore spanning Greek mythology (beans) to astronauts (peanuts) as well as all appropriate correspondences and uses. Even if you’re not a house witch yet love to cook or to work with herbs, this book is something worth picking up.
The book also goes through the various rooms of the house and outlines rituals and types of workings for all these spaces. Mind you, not all homes have all these places (for example my landlord would be pissed if I put an altar in my building’s laundry) and some homes have extra rooms not covered in this book. But the basics–kitchen, living room, bedrooms–are all discussed with great ideas on how to incorporate magical elements into everyday tasks.
When it comes to sabats, Ms. Bradley has you covered. She gives an outline for one personal five-minute ritual and one with the family. The one drawback of this book is that this book is geared to family life, yet doesn’t discuss kids and ritual or sabat activities and kids. Of course there are wonderful books (Circle Round by Starhawk et al.) and vlogs (CharmingPixieFlora the early years, 2009-10) that cover this topic, but this is one discussion that is missed from this book.
Overall I would recommend this book to several categories of people. For hedge and house witches, this is a must have. Also, herb people and cooks should pick it up for the herbal. Depending on personal practice, I’d also recommend it for busy Pagan parents.
© Ariadne Woods