#temperance alden

[cinematic-literature]

White Noise (2022) by Noah Baumbach

Book title

Not of This World (1969) by Peter Kolosimo

The Occult: A History (1971) by Colin Wilson

Year of the Witch (2020) by Temperance Alden

The Supernatural: Witches and Witchcraft (1976) by Jeremy Kingston

[violatememoreplease]

Witchy review #1: Year of the witch

Author: Temperance Alden Length of the book: 186 pages

Verdict: Not what I was expecting, more basic witchcraft than actual facts about the wheel of the year and how to personalize it.

Would I recomend the book? Depends on what you're after. If you are into gardening you might appreciate this book, since she focuses a lot on that - her tips are very basic though (even I knew most of them). She puts a much magickal focus on growning your own food; sometimes as offerings for e.g. Samhain.

Description: I bought this book because I wanted to straighten out some questions I had about the wheel of the year; like, what celebrations do I connect to? How do I want to celebrate them? etc... Since this book advertised about making your own wheel through intuition I thought this would be a perfect fit! Unfortunately consists more than half the book of basic magick, like: what does the elements stand for?/ how do you set up an altar?/ the zodiac... Not really what I was looking for.

What I do appreciate about the book is that the vibe is pretty lax; Temperance writes out rituals, but points out that if there's something in it that you don't vibe with there's nothing wrong in changing it. We love a witch that is pro-personalized craft!! She also brings up blood magick, which is fun! It's a little basic, but still ^^

When Temperance finally starts to write about the different witchy holidays it's only 6 pages at most, and it's almost 100% based on a celtic/ wiccan perspective. The chapters mostly contains a short explanation of the mythology behind the holiday (here's where the wicca comes in, with e.g. the Holly king and the Oak king). After that she'll write something connected to the holiday; at Samhain she writes about ancestor- and spiritual work, and at Lughnasadh she writes about the connection to bread in the french revolution. Temperance rounds up every chapter with a short ritual for the season; like one to let things go, or maybe a dumb (/quiet) supper. Out of all of these her Mabon ritual (pick apples and drink warm apple cider) was the one that spoke to me the most - maybe because Mobon easily passes me by, and now I have something to remember it.

After Temperance has gone through a whole year of how she celebrates she's written 10 pages about how to create your own wheel of the year. Which is a fine setup. I just would've prefered that the where upfront about it - I came here to learn how to personalize mine - not to get to know her wheel. Something I really did appreciate was her philosophy on rituals tho: No witch is on a 100% every minute of every day, so instead she made a wheel that has small acts of devotion regularly - then you don't loose focus even if you don't feel real witchy that month.

A setup I'd have prefered: 1) Cut out all the basic witchcraft - sometimes witchbooks needs to be able to be intermediate/ advanced, and since the basic wheel of the year is easily found on the internet/ in most beginner books, maybe use this one to hone in on personalization. Just be clear in the blurbe that it's not for beginners and it's all fine. 2) Write the wheel of the year, but try to get as many perspectives/ traditions as possible for every holiday. Wiccan, celtic, heathen, hellenistic, atheistic... Bring up other holidays that aren't as common but you/ your friends still celebrate them. The birth of a pet can be a holiday! The first time you see a spring flower in bloom! The first leaf you see falling down! 3) Write more than 10 pages of your main thesis in your book.

[elhoimleafar]

The year of the witch is the year of you. My biggest goal in writing this book was to inspire a spark of change in witches both new and old to their path. By learning the origins, traditions, and alternatives to the wheel, it becomes easier to craft the reality we want on our own journey.

Temperance Alden, Year of the Witch: Connecting with Nature's Seasons through Intuitive Magick.

[thegeminiwitchbitch]

Year of the Witch

Temperance Alden 4/5 Published in 2020

As someone who is pretty new to her Practice, I am very happy to have found this book. Going into my practice I was always informed about the 8 Wiccan Sabbats and that most everyone observed them. Not that I really knew if everyone did, but it was a widespread piece of information that, when you are first entering into the craft, you believe. Temperance Alden did a wonderful job of changing my mind on the Sabbats in the best way. She helped me to realize that I don’t actually need to practice the Sabbats if I don’t find myself attached to them. Not only does The Year of the Witch address that you do not need to celebrate only the Wiccan Sabbats, but it gives you insight on how to adapt the Wheel of the Year to your practice and make it work for you. There are my positives, there are a few negatives that I need to give as well. Yes, she helped me realize that I did not need to only practice the 8 Wiccan Sabbats, however, I am sure that other books say the same thing. The way it is written was a bit confusing for me. There is a lot of information but at the same time, everything is glossed over. Now that could be put down to just wanting to give an overview of different topics that can help one to form their own Wheel of the Year, but in some places, there was just not enough information to make it make sense. Following my point above nearly half of the book, 40% is about the 8 Wiccan Sabbats. I went into this book thinking that it was supposed to take us away from those Sabbats and the ways we can make our own Wheel. While it did this, it seems a bit redundant to make nearly half the book about the Sabbats themselves. Now I understand that she does celebrate 6/8 of the Sabbats herself, however, she states at the beginning of the book, “My goal with this book is to give you what you’ll need to create your own personalized wheel of the year. In the following pages, we will explore the basic concepts of intuitively guided witchcraft, its role in the wheel of the year, the traditional wheel of the year, climate change, and more.” Yes, she states that she will be discussing the Wiccan Wheel, however, I see no point in dedicating such a large chunk of her book to correspondences and history lessons about the 8 Sabbats that we can find elsewhere. The other information given is in such short bursts that it is hard to gather any information out of them. There are a few points that she addresses that are longer and do delve deeper but they are far and few in between and do not reach the depth of time that she put into the 8 Wiccan Sabbats. Overall I the book fell short of my expectations. I am also unable to recommend this to a true beginner witch, as it would be easier for you to understand it with prior knowledge of the Wheel of the Year. Do I recommend it though, yes just be sure to gain insight on the Wheel of the Year before reading it.

[jlphillipscreations]

Fan Art of Temperance Alden (Wildwoman_Witchcraft) 

[ophelia-avalon]

Book review: Year of the Witch

In Year of the Witch, Temperance Alden tackles many aspects of connecting to nature: elemental magic, astrology, gardening and plant magic, spirit work and taking care of the environment, with ideas for first steps and exercises.

The second half of the book is dedicated to the Wheel of the Year. For each festival, there is a brief explanation of its history. Alden has done her homework: She steers clear of the common myth of ‘Christians stole all our festivals’ and acknowledges that what we celebrate today is not the same thing as people did in the past. Published in 2020, it meets the current zeitgeist quite well.

There are different snippets about deities and customs associated with the festivals and ideas for rituals that might fit, such as a rededication ritual, shadow work, or spiritual spring cleaning. The Wiccan interpretation of the festivals is also explained, but it does not take the central stage – I would say the book was written for a non-Wiccan or eclectic audience, although I am not sure how helpful it is for atheist witches.

One thing that surprised me was what came after the Wheel of the Year section: namely the admittance from the author that she does not follow the Wheel of the Year, but has created a system based on the twelve calendar months, that works better for her current location in Florida.

She explains a bit how she did that, but to me, using her experience from that and basing her book around how to connect to local wildlife and natural cycles would have been a far more interesting book. At least I would have expected it to come earlier, and not just as an afterthought.

There are a few things that didn’t sit right with me:

First, the paragraph on hormonal cycles is very cisnormative (women menstruate, men don’t), but the book is addressed to readers of all genders.

Alden also speaks about Abrahamic religions and Judeo-Christian concepts, where Christian would have worked just as good.

In one chapter she suggests a blessing invoking Lilith, which is a specifically Jewish figure, not a Goddess from an open practice. There are also recipes for Cascarilla and Florida water, which I know are both controversial to use for white witches – as a (white) non-American, however, I’m not the best person to speak on that.

Her suggestion to look into one’s “bloodline” also didn’t speak to me, although I know that for some people it can be empowering.

Still, I would say it is a good introduction to the Wheel of the Year, and green or nature-based witchcraft. I also liked the non-consumerist approach: there are no spells with long ingredient lists. The conversational tone makes it easy to read. A good starting point for beginner witches and a good read for everyone whose sources on the Wheel of the Year are dated.

Alden, Temperance. The Year of the Witch: Connecting with Nature’s Seaons through Intuitive Magick. Weiser Books: Newburyport, MA, 2020.