The House Witch: Your Complete Guide to Creating a Magical Space with Rituals and Spells for Hearth and Home by Arin Murphy-Hiscock

The House Witch: Your Complete Guide to Creating a Magical Space with Rituals and Spells for Hearth and Home Reviews

• 
  Edric Unsane

  I honestly didn't care for The House Witch at all. It felt to me like a generic rip-off of Wicca. I really didn't like how the book appropriated most of the ideas from other systems of magick with little to no credit given. I was also not a fan of the author telling people how to smudge. Smudging is an indigenous Native American ritual, and it's not something most of us white folks have been trained to do. So yeah, just wasn't a fan.
• 
  Sosanna Olson

  Today I'm reviewing, The House Witch - Complete Guide to Creating a Magical Space with Rituals and Spells for Hearth and Home by Arin Murphy-Hiscock.
  
  Generally I like to start out with a disclaimer. I am an atheist witch. I look for the connection between magic and science without the need for a deity. I receive no compensation for these reviews and all my links are standard Amazon links and not affiliate links. I am a practicing photo reader and have spent the last 13 years honing my craft. I offer personal readings by request and have a strong online history that boasts nearly 400,000 views.
  
  
  I like to start out with a review of the physical book. This is a small book. It would easily fit in a handbag or tote to take with you when you're out and about. The cover is nicely printed and has a rough fabric feel. Both the front and back are illustrated and offer a nice hand feel. It offers a brief reference section with a short index and a quick list of basic color references as well as ingredients and supplies. The pages are nicely bound and the spine looks great on the shelf. The introduction is short and to the point. It tells what we're going to find within the pages of the book and is well written and easy to read.
  
  To be such a small book, the chapters are packed full of information. I really enjoyed with the way the author broke down the book into well defined chapters and sections that provide a great deal of easy to understand information. Chapters such as A Place to Call Home and Your Spiritual Hearth open the door for the reader to fully understand just how much magic already lives in our sacred spaces. The home being one of the most sacred. I found the section on incorporating the ancestors to resonate the strongest with me and in my personal practice. The author provides the following, which I found extremely powerful.
  
  
  
  Ancestors, thank you for being here with me and my family.
  Guide us daily and help us make the right decisions.
  Be our strength and our comfort,
  And help protect this home.
  Thank you for your lives and your accomplishments.
  Ancestors, we thank you.
  
  
  One of the things I really liked about this book is that it does offer examples from across spiritual paths. In the section related to the history of the hearth cauldron the author gives examples from Welsh, Irish and Norse histories, however I felt that adding a bit here related to some other cultures would have made the book a bit more inclusive. I would love to see these types of connections made from other cultures such as South Africa or Ghana. The more we open ourselves up to magic around the world the more we can learn to relate to others outside our personal experiences.
  
  I really enjoyed the section on household spirits. The author takes the reader through out the house and around the northern hemisphere. While a short book and I understand not all could be provided, I would have loved to see more here again from the southern regions of the planet. While much has been written about our witchy history from places like Scotland, Ireland and Norway; I would love to see more around other cultures as well. From the title, I did not take this was a book devoted to the way white cultures interact with magic. And seeing so many cultures left out was a bit of a disappointment. That being said, however, if you're looking for a book that pulls in deities, mythologies and magic from these northern regions this book is right up your alley.
  
  Overall this is a good book related to hearth magic from a northern perspective. I found it useful in giving me some background on the European background of household magic. I do think that it is a good introductory book, however the reader really should look to other sources to enrich their practice with magic from around the world.
• 
  Whispering Stories

  Book Reviewed on
  www.whisperingstories.com
  
  Have you ever seen a book, whether in a store online, and thought that is the book for me, but then when you purchase it and start reading you realise that you were wrong? Well, that’s what happened to me with this book.
  
  Now, first off let me be clear I’m not saying this book is bad, it just isn’t a book for me. This is a book for those who are new to Wicca. In case you didn’t know Wicca, Witchcraft, and Pagan are not entirely the same.
  
  I’m not going to get fully into the what the differences are, they are easy to find if you Google them, but the main one is that you don’t have to follow a spiritual path to consider yourself a Witch, in fact, there are a lot of Atheist Witches out there, for which this book might not be the right choice.
  
  This is a book for those that follow the spiritual path. There is a lot of religious talk, blessings, prayers, shrine building, etc, within the pages. Being an Atheist I had no interest in any of this talk or saying prayers, praying to a higher power. I have no issue with anyone’s belief system and I respect everyone no matter what you believe in or worship, it just isn’t me. Hence why this book wasn’t for me.
  
  The book is split into eleven chapters, and then each chapter is split into sections. From subjects such as ‘Your Spiritual Hearth’ to ‘The Spirituality of Food’, this book talks about making your home a sacred space. There are things that the author explains to make your home magical that is not easily achieved for some people who don’t have a garden or family who shares their Wicca beliefs.
  
  Overall, if you are new to Wicca and by this I mean following the spiritual path alongside witchcraft then this book would be a useful tool. If you are not spiritually inclined then I would say give this book a miss. Also don’t buy this book expecting it to be full of spells, as it is not that type of book.
• 
  Danni

  I thought this might be a fun look at ways to add witchcraft to my space. Instead, I found a book that was dull and slow. Much of the "information" provided was really just definitions that could be found in meatier books. While it's nice to have a book that focuses more on the home and hearth, the author fails to capitalize on this specialty look at witchcraft. I can't say that I'd recommend this book to anyone.
• 
  Jason Pettus

  This is one of a whole series of books I'm rapidly getting off my TBR list this month, that I would never really consider buying but that made for interesting reads through my neighborhood library. It's exactly what the title promises, a very New Agey guide to the practice of "hearthcraft," or in other words imbuing your living space with a sense of the sacred and magical. Thankfully author Arin Murphy-Hiscock tones down the actual magic "spells" and other rituals here, entering a more engaging conversation instead about how exactly we define "sacred" in the first place, and what this has to do with honoring your home as the safe, warm, cocooning space it should in a perfect world be, which made it quite thought-provoking and worthwhile even for me as an atheist. But that said, it does have lots of actual magical rituals too, a history of pagan thought when it comes to household worship, and an extended look at the importance of a "cauldron" to any hearthcraft-blessed home (whether a practical real one that you actually cook in, or the multitude of cute little four-inch symbolic ones sold all over the place at Amazon). By complete coincidence, this happened to have arrived right when I was making over the attic space in the Chicago co-op where I live into a new library and wellness room (
  see photos here if you're curious), so this was a perfect companion to that, a plain-spoken rumination on the places we call "home" and how we can make them even more enjoyable. It comes warmly recommended in this spirit.
• 
  Maggi Harris

  3.5 stars.
  
  If you’re new to the pagan path, this would be a novel book, but for those of us who are more experienced, it reads more as refresher.
  
  Still, I’ve dog-eared a number of pages to come back to. Things like incense recipes, quick references metal, stone, and plant correspondences. Of the handful of recipes included, I’d like to try one or two.
  
  One point I thought was especially interesting is when Murphy-Hiscock wrote that:
  
  “The feminist revolution of the latter half of the twentieth century succeeded in opening the workplace to women, but, unfortunately, in so doing it suggested that domestic management was somehow inferior to work done elsewhere.”
  
  This struck a chord with me. Overall, I find her works reliable but nothing groundbreaking.
• 
  Stef

  I read a little of the beginning, then started skimming, then I was flipping, then I was done. I picked this up, loving the beautiful cover and hoping for content that would appeal to a homebody who wanted to be a witch. But the information still felt out of reach, discussing praying to ancestors and deities, until ultimately hearth craft felt less accessible.
• 
  Abby Jones

  I'm not a pagan or a witch. I'm a Christian. But, I have found myself oddly standing shoulder to shoulder with these women when it comes to loving being in the home. The House Witch has no issue pointing out how unhappy many women are who have fled the kitchen. It has no problem calling us back to tending our hearths. Also, I'm not really into the 50's Housewife look. I prefer the cauldron, cast iron pans, frontier woman vibe. Books like this appeal to me.
  I don't know that I got anything real practical out of it, other than the encouragement to not ignore the spiritual side of homemaking. Meaning, as a Christian, home does help tend the soul and we should take this seriously. And food, cleanliness, and beauty are all part of that.
  I was encouraged, not to cast spells, but to pray for and about my ordinary work.
• 
  Erica Hopper

  Green Witch seemed more about spirituality while House Witch seemed more like Wicca and appropriating other religions. It had some handy materials but it really rubbed me wrong that it goes through smudging and casually mentions that it’s important to American indigenous people but makes no effort to give context to what that means.
• 
  Alexia ✨

  This a really good book about Hearthwitchcraft and lots of Kitchen Witchcraft. It's a fantastic resource for those interested in this more folk-type of magic. It has lots of good resources, information on warding, shielding, blessing the house, herb and other tools usage for the house, etc. I think this is a *fantastic* book for anyone interested in Kitchen Witchcraft or Hearthcraft. It's definitely a great book on my shelf and filled with notes and post-its.
• 
  Thaydra

  I love this book.
  If you are looking for spells and rituals, this isn't going to be for you. This delves into the heart of what it means to be a hearth witch. It was entirely eye-opening for me; it felt like I came home. I refer to this book constantly.
• 
  aimee

  While some of this is an all out info dump that can be tedious, bits and pieces of it touched my heart, and changed the way I think about the way I move through my home on a daily basis.
• 
  zaczytany_introwertyk

  Przyznam szczerze, że początkowo zainteresowałam się tą książką bardziej w celach nazwijmy to naukowych. Chciałam dowiedzieć się czegoś o współczesnych czarownicach, rytuałach - co mogłoby mi się przydać w pisaniu czy nawet podczas czytania książek fantasy o czarownicach. W efekcie znalazłam w niej o wiele więcej! Rozjaśniła mi pojęcia magii ogniska domowego, magii kuchni oraz zielonej magii. W ogóle wszelkie pojęcia są tutaj w niesamowicie skrupulatny sposób wyjaśnione - najpierw słownikowo, potem jeszcze własnymi słowami - co zrobiło na mnie duże wrażenie. Zawiera też ona wiele przykładów z różnych tradycji - np. słowiańskich, celtyckich itd. A że jestem dość świeżo po lekturze Siedmiorzecza, to pojawiające się odniesienia do wierzeń irlandzkich Celtów (bogini Ceridwen, Dagdy - króla Tuatha Dé Danaan, czy bogini Brigit) wywoływały we mnie wręcz rozczulenie.
  
  Dużym plusem jest też skupienie się na poczuciu duchowości, z zaznaczeniem, że nie jest ważne w co się wierzy - Boga czy jakąkolwiek postać Najwyższej Boskości w jaką wierzymy - bez narzucania czegokolwiek. Książka skupia się po prostu na ognisku domowym, jego dobrobycie, ale oczywiście też różnych rytuałach z nim związanych. Mamy kilka przepisów na dania, wyjaśnienia jak zbudować własną kuchenną kapliczkę, lampion czy kukiełkę czarownicy z liści kukurydzy na szczęście. A to tylko kilka z baaardzo wielu zagadnień, które ta książka zawiera. Czytało mi się ją naprawdę miło i myślę, że sięgnę po inne książki Autorki. Jeśli ta materia jest Wam zupełnie nieznana, a intryguje Was, "W domu czarownicy" będzie idealne, by poszerzyć swoją wiedzę.
• 
  Erica

  If you are an absolute beginner to hearthcraft, you might find this interesting. It's a pretty book but the information is hearthcraft 101 level. I don't think there is anything new or insightful in here. If you're interested in hearthcraft, I wholeheartedly recommend
  Hearth and Home Witchcraft: Rituals and Recipes to Nourish Home and Spirit instead.
• 
  G. Lawrence

  A sweet book, a few nice recipes and some background info. Was hoping for some history, but there was little. A nice self help book
• 
  Librarian Bee

  A great reference book to have on hand. I love the beautiful designs and simplicity of the writing.
• 
  Alexandria

  I opted for an audiobook version of this book since I would have to tweak most of the recipes inside anyway due to certain allergies. That aside though, I found this book to be an excellent introduction to hearth witchery. It was careful to distinguish between hearth witches, kitchen witches, and green witches, all of whom are usually lumped together. And while their work can overlap and people can practice more than one type of witchcraft, it was nice to see the distinctions laid out in writing.
  
  My only hangup with the book was that it was very rooted in Neo-Wicca. This is not a bad thing by any means. It just didn't align with my view of magic, ritual, or the divine. And that's okay. I enjoyed it immensely regardless and would recommend this book to anyone who is trying to find the magical path or paths that speak most to them.
• 
  Mar at BOOKIVERSE

  A
  www.... this book was SO SO charming!
  
  It speaks so much about the importance of home in our spiritual wellness. I loved all the historical references about where the home’s different spiritual elements and traditions came from all told in a way that is not boring whatsoever! Very interesting and engaging!
  
• 
  Laura Jayne Tricker

  I’m a beginner in hearth craft so am still very much finding and learning my craft but this book certainly helped in my journey. Very kitchen focused.
• 
  Victoria Mendes

  Granted I’m a baby witch and don’t know a whole lot of lore/history yet, but I feel like this book covers a lot of the upsides to practices/rituals without necessarily sharing the whole picture. Like, if there was a scale where cultural appropriation is on one end and cultural appreciation was on the other I feel like this would fall somewhere in the middle. I don’t think this was intentional, but referencing other cultural magics while constantly harkening back to one’s own cultural touchstones gets a bit old after a while. I get why it happened, but I don’t find constantly referencing the original cultural touchstone to be necessary. On another note, there’s a sizable section about smudging but it doesn’t at all explain the history behind how this has been culturally appropriated and in some cases taken from closed practices. There is also a recipe for how to create essential oils for bathing that directly involves cinnamon without a warning as to how several “warm” spices can be detrimental to the skin (please don’t use actual cinnamon on your skin in soaps - there are analogues that smell similar but aren’t harmful). Again, I don’t think this was intentional so much as it was an unfortunate placement of a recipe right after talking about mixing potions that can be used in a bath (without giving a clear demarcation that this might not be a good combo).
  
  If you’re looking for a very basic book on house witchery that is essentially Wiccan then go ahead and pick up this book. Just be wary of what you’re doing when you use some of these recipes - check to see what are skin irritants before blessing yourself with a full body bath rash.
• 
  DesTheWitch

  This was the second book by Arin Murphy-Hiscock that I read and honestly it was very similar to the last one, "The Green Witch".
  
  Just like "The Green Witch", this book has many interesting recipies and rituals that are good for beginners, and a list of correspondences at the end that are very helpful if you need to find information quickly. This time the book brought information about certain deities and spirits that are conected to the house and the fireplace, which I think is very interesting. It also talks about myths and legends that talk about the cauldron, which is very nice if you like to learn about it.
  
  However, just like the previous book, the beginning is very repetitive, which made the reading very boring at some points, and to be honest all the repetition didn't help me to understand the topic better. If you read "The Green Witch" first or will read it too, know that there are some informations that are very similar, including some rituals, crafts and recipies.
  
  Something that bothered me a lot about this book is the mention of using *sage* and *cedar* (for some cleansing rituals and recipies) without any warning or note about respecting closed practices, even though the book itself mentions that these herbs are considered *sacred* in Native-American traditions, which to me means that the author doesn't show any interest in respecting closed practices. In fact it says that "anyone can use" and there's "no right or wrong way to do it" which to me is very disrespectful and not good for beginners, since they don't know that much about closed practices.
  
  *Conclusion:* This book should be read carefully, knowing that some of the informations there could have been taken from closed practices. Don't use this book as your *only* source of information, search on multiple places and check the informations. The things in this book need to be very filtered. I don't recommend it.
• 
  RajKSiążek

  "W domu czarownicy" Arin Murphy-Hiscock to świetna książka o rytuałach, zaklęciach pomagających w stworzeniu przestrzeni wypełnionej dobrą energią.
  Mamy okazję przeczytać o bóstwach ogniska domowego i domostwa z całego świata. Znajdziemy tu mnóstwo wskazówek na to jak oczyścić naszą przestrzeń. Dowiemy się jakie materiały są odpowiedzialne za dane sytuacje.
  Możemy nawet skorzystać z podanych tu przepisów, np. na chleb, bułeczki, focaccie, gulasz, kurczaka po myśliwsku, wołowe chili z pieczarkami. Są tutaj również przepisy na potpourri, mydło z potpourri, kadzidło ziołowo-żywiczne, kulki kadzidlane oraz informacje jak uszyć ziołowe poduszeczki na dobry sen i zrobić butelkę czarownicy lub kolaże na każdą porę roku.
  Oprócz tego autorka zawarła też zajęcia i rytuały takie jak: palenie lampki oliwnej lub świeczki, kociołkowe zaklęcie harmonii, oczyszczenie progu, błogosławienie domu, osobiste oczyszczenie, uświęcenie przestrzeni.
  Za książkę dziękuję wydawnictwu♥️
• 
  Rosie Amber

  The House Witch is an alternative spirituality book for those interested in exploring energies of the hearth and the home. It is written in an easy-to-read format, and I would describe this as an overview of some age-old traditions mixed with folklore and a sprinkle of magic.
  
  
  Made up of quick chapters, the book covers a wide range of spiritual practices. I enjoyed reading about kitchen folklore, evaluating your home’s energies and some of the symbols and mythology chapters. My favourite pages were the ones about household deities and spirits and I recognised several of their names from fictional writing, for instance a Boggart and a Brownie.
  
  This book was given to me as a fun gift from a friend which I enjoyed, but I don’t think it would be of much use to someone who already has a serious interest in modern witchcraft.
• 
  Rosália Ramos

  Gostei bastante. Fala da importância do lar, não como casa própria dita mas como instituição que nos acolhe e nos Nutre diariamente. Com a industrialização e a emancipação da mulher fomos perdendo esta ligação ao lar, ao conforto e segurança que ele nos proporciona. Numa altura que nos volta a ser pedido que nos liguemos ao lar, não só por causa do confinamento mas também pela própria evolução do ser humano, é um livro com que nos dá umas luzes sobre o que devemos aprofundar.
• 
  Jenna

  Loitsuja, riittejä, tarvikkeita ja muuta kotinoituuteen liittyvää löytyy tämän kirjan kansien sisältä. Minusta kaikista mielenkiintoisinta kirjan sisällössä oli erilaiset puhdistus- ja siunausrituaalit. Myös oman jumalattaren muovailu itsestään kuivuvasta savesta jäi hyvin mieleeni lukukokemuksesta.
• 
  Mary

  When I first started reading this book, and it spoke about a person whose skill set lies in caring for home and family, I thought, this is a person like me. That is where my passion lies.
  
  As I kept reading, it delved more into spirits that might guard a home or its inhabitants, how to bless the center of your home, ways to use the four elements to protect a home, and so on. It moved on to recipes for potpourri, bread, and a hearty stew.
  
  This is one of those books where you read it, enjoy it, and take from it what applies to you and what you believe personally, and leave what does not fit. There's nothing negative about it -- but what it teaches doesn't necessarily jive with my personal spiritual beliefs. Besides, while I like pleasant smells and pretty knickknacks to enjoy, between kids and cats and a lack of space, leaving something burning somewhere is probably not going to end well around here.
  
  It was a good and interesting read and gave me a glimpse into how witch craft could be applied in and around the home and yard. I enjoyed learning more. But I'm not going to start leaving out little bits of food for the house elves (or the summer insects that love to come in if they get the slightest whiff of something).
• 
  Emily

  As someone that struggles a lot with depression, maintaining a living environment with positive energy is extremely difficult for me. This book gave me lots of useful suggestions to use to bring more mindfulness to my environment and to maintain it. I don’t agree with all the options in here but there is value.
  
  Also, there’s lots of fun recipes to try!
• 
  Marie

  Not bad. I guess house witch isn't really my thing. surprisingly most people seem to prefer this book to Green Witch but I found green witch more interesting. Still glad I read this, it was insightful.
• 
  Kathi

  Good book for beginners.