 Finally a book that isn't for beginners. Hey there saplings, welcome back to esoteric moment. This week's book review is exciting because it's not for beginners. It is a fairy witchcraft by storm fairy will. I love a good book about druidry. I love a good book that is for beginners, but finding a book that is for intermediate or advanced practitioners of any sort is kind of hard to find. At least ones that I think are good. Clearly I have my own bias. What a book needs to be to be good. But I'm excited to share this one because this is an intermediate advanced book that I actually think will work for some druids and isn't a beginner book. Forbidden mysteries of fairy witchcraft by storm fairy wolf has an apparent like very strong disconnect from druidry. Fairy witchcraft is a very particular path, you know is not the same as druidry. The first part of this book shows where some druidry elements can really kind of cross over and that is through fairy witchcraft dealing with myth. The strong connection to a Celtic worldview is also very noticeable in this book about fairy witchcraft. And then as you dive deeper into work with like the other world and things like that, there are skills and tools that you will find in this book that is going to be relevant to your druid practice. One of the reasons why I wanted to talk about some books that are very clearly not geared towards druids this month is because this is such a great time to shift our focus, to really think about druidry, our practices in our lives in a slightly different way. You know, if you imagine your worldview as kind of like this sphere, if we look at our practices in a slightly different way through the lens of fairy witchcraft or traditional witchcraft or some other path, it's kind of like taking your sphere and shifting it by like 15 degrees to the northwest. And you are still in the same worldview, but you're kind of seeing things that you are used to seeing at a slightly different angle and through a slightly different interaction with light and space. This gives you room to learn new things and really dive deeper into your practice to keep things from being stale, to help you get unstuck if you're experiencing any of that. But back to the book. The book is put together pretty well. It has some different rituals and practices that happen in each chapter. It's not really set up to be like a study manual in the same way that some beginner books are, but there's definitely like a lesson section and then practices and it kind of goes back and forth. So it's easy to read and easy to practice and dive into. The magic work involved in this book will be really interesting and a different way of thinking about magic than the way druids typically write or talk about magic. When we get into talking about the inner work, fairy witchcraft is really talking about like demons and what that means for shadow work. Definitely different vocabulary than how I think most druids approach shadow work. Maybe even some different types of pagans in general. Keep in mind that the words we use to describe different elements of our practices and different concepts, that's just a title and it doesn't really matter what we call it in druidry or what we call it in fairy witchcraft. Some of those things will be the same. What's really important as we're looking to like shift our focus and try something a little new outside of our practice is to find the elements and threads that are similar to what we're doing and see how this new idea branches off of those kind of core tendrils. I think the shadow work in particular is a really great place for druids who are focusing on inner grove work and self-development to explore all of that work in a new way and that's where I think this book will be really interesting. The other nice thing about this is the author is upfront about certain regular practices that someone participating in fairy witchcraft is probably already doing and if you're coming at it from a different path there is this back appendix where it talks about some of those basic practices and ideas and gives you the foundation to kind of see if your practice is at the point where this book will be useful. I think that is an excellent way of writing an intermediate book about the very specific tradition that allows other traditions to participate and know if they're at the same level to be like ready to attempt some of these ideas and practices. I'm not a big fan of gatekeeping so this makes it open and accessible without being like I am holier than thou which I hate and sometimes happens in pagan groups. This is a pretty fast read but lots of work to dive into and explore. Definitely use it to reflect on your current tradition even if fairy witchcraft isn't your current path. I really enjoyed this book and I think it has changed the way that I'm doing some other practices in my druidry and that is what a great intermediate book is all about. In the comments below let me know what books help you shift your focus or what types of paths have you explored that have really added and enhanced your druidry or practice of any sort. This week's sapling shout out goes out to Melanie Lawrence. She actually wrote on an old video in the last month or so what the difference between fairy witchcraft and druidry was and I talked a little bit in that comment response about the difference and I think you can look on wikipedia and kind of just get the basics of what druidry is in the basics of fairy witchcraft. There are some core elements that are similar the love of Celtic traditions and myth there is magic there's a connection to nature but the the certain like setup of ritual and the way fairy witchcraft works with shadow work is definitely very different than in druidry and the way groups are set up is significantly different. If you want to be next week's sapling shout out definitely talk to me in the comments or over at instagram. I love to have conversations with you and I am super curious about what's going on in your path. Thanks for watching and as always may you find peace in the sacred grove.