If you’ve been reading my blog posts you will have seen me quoting this book quite a bit throughout. That’s because almost at the same time that I finally started writing for my blog, I picked up this book. I knew I wanted to write about Mabon so I went to my witchy bookshelf and looked to see which one mentioned it. The Wheel was one of them.
Being a bookish person, I figured why not use this platform write a little more in depth about this book, and possibly some others in the future.
Within about 2 pages I realised that this book was meant to fall into my hands at this specific moment. The book starts out with Jennifer talking about feeling lost in her 9-5 job, feeling disconnected from nature and her craft, and the darker season looming and threatening to make it all worse.
A few pages on she spoke about her cat: “a cantankerous calico beast who enjoys clawing my favourite mustard-coloured armchair and likes being stroked as much as the average person likes being punched in the face” (p.21) anyone that has been to a house that I have resided in over the past 8 years knows my mustard coloured armchair, and my beast who likes to claw at it and hates pretty much everything else.
Hang on, is this book about me?!
(also, I checked, from her instagram I think it is actually the same chair, it’s from Ikea)
From that point, I did not want to put this book down. Naturally it was my 9-5 that got in the way of that so it took me a little longer than I wanted to, to finish this book.
The book is laid out like the Wheel of the Year, with Jennifer going through the pagan festivals and her own recollections and rituals tied to these festivals. It jumps through time every now and then, but mostly it’s focused on the year she spent getting back to her witchy roots. Even though the book is about The Wheel, magick, witches, deities, I still feel like even those not truly invested in any of those things can find bits of wisdom in this book.
The quote that has stuck with me the most is: “The real issue is that none of us, not a single person on this planet was destined for office life” – and this feeling goes beyond anything witchy.
Jennifer writes about her seasonal affective disorder, her physical problems and how reconnecting with nature (and in her case, her witchcraft) helped her get this back on track. At the same time, she remains honest that even after her full year of reconnecting with nature, the arrival of winter still isn’t her favourite. And it’s that honesty that kept me reading enthusiastically as well. The honesty in her own experiences, the rituals, and the people she meets. She writes about experiences with friends. Friends that might not all be as witchy as she is, but mention how there’s a festival coming up, and then promptly move on. As someone who is still hesitant to brand herself a witch, it was nice to read about a casual conversation between friends, where a festival is mentioned but not in depth and that’s fine from both sides.
The book is not what I expected when I first picked it up, because honestly, I was looking for information about Mabon, and if what you’re looking for is a book that will teach you all about the pagan festivals of The Wheel – this isn’t it. But it also doesn’t pretend to be that, it was simply my expectation going in. From the first few pages it’s clear that even though it’s called The Wheel and the chapters line up with the festivals, it’s much more about a personal experience throughout a year where the authors happens to celebrate the festivals.
In fact, the book might not even be so much about witchcraft and The Wheel of the Year, but more of a woman struggling and trying to find her way back to herself. Which makes sense if you take the subtitle into account: ‘A Witch’s Path Back to the Ancient Self’. Though I feel that the book is much more raw than that.
Basically, if going into the darker months makes you feel a bit antsy and you’re looking for a book that will make you feel a little bit less alone about that feeling; this might be the one for you. It was definitely the right one for me.
(The only part I couldn’t relate to were the several references to a certain wizarding book by a known transphobe that now leaves a bad taste in my mouth whenever I read anything related to it. But I also grew up with that specific book and it was also a large part of my life for a while so I understand the references. In my copy of the book … I crossed it all out.)
thewitchywanderings.com 