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Pagan Portals - Hedge Riding
One aspect of hedge witchcraft is engaging in a form of Otherworldly travel called hedge riding. The hedge is the symbolic boundary between the two worlds and this book will teach you how to cross that hedge. While hedge riding, the hedge rider's consciousness travels to another place, the otherworld, which is also the realm of the collective unconscious. There the rider guided by his or her animal and spirit guides, encounters archetypal symbols and assimilates this knowledge to help guide her or him on their pathway.
This book is an experiential guide, as Aristotle said, 'For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them'. Learning by experiencing is about trusting your instincts and connecting with your inner spirit. The hedge riding aspect of hedge witchery is perhaps the most difficult part of the hedge witch pathway. This book focuses on that aspect alone. If you want to learn more about Hedge Witchraft, there are two accompanying books in this series, Pagans Portals -- Hedge Witchcraft, and Pagans Portals -- Hedge Magic (which will follow soon).
This book is an experiential guide, as Aristotle said, 'For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them'. Learning by experiencing is about trusting your instincts and connecting with your inner spirit. The hedge riding aspect of hedge witchery is perhaps the most difficult part of the hedge witch pathway. This book focuses on that aspect alone. If you want to learn more about Hedge Witchraft, there are two accompanying books in this series, Pagans Portals -- Hedge Witchcraft, and Pagans Portals -- Hedge Magic (which will follow soon).
- GenresWitchcraftEbooks
68 pages, Paperback
First published August 16, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 6, 2016
This is *not* a go-to instruction manual on hedge riding.
Saille, while Irish herself, insists on appropriating native American and "indigenous" (as she calls them) culture and practices without acknowledging or even really understanding them. In the same chapter that she talks about meeting her Scandinavian ancestors, she says that while having a Native American "spirit guide" may be cliché, they take forms that are most comfortable for you, which therefore means it's okay for her spirit guides to be two Native American men. I suppose if one fetishizes the spiritual practices of a closed religion, then their brain will produce something "mystical" such as that to look at - and that does seem to be what a lot of her practice is: subconscious traveling rather than actual hedge riding.
There are a handful of pages on Saille's "worlds" that vaguely match the Norse idea of worlds. Which, preceded by instructions to use shaman rattles to trance, was pretty odd.
When I call the book "unconventional," I don't mean "new and innovative" or "intuitive and ground breaking." I mean, what Saille is presenting is by no means a common or baseline example of hedge riding. Some of her tips and hints are very helpful - she talks about protection and grounding, she discusses the importance of meditation, but that's about where the resemblance to hedge riding ends, both from a historical standpoint and a vast majority of modern practitioners. One might even call the information in the book harmful to new practitioners, attempting to go out and expect everything to be all a happy go lucky fairy land, where most things want to help you and the things that don't can be dismissed with a single thought, and find quite the opposite to be true.
I might recommend this to people only as a short account of what one person says that they do, but by no means as a helpful book to get started or even persist as a hedge witch.
Saille, while Irish herself, insists on appropriating native American and "indigenous" (as she calls them) culture and practices without acknowledging or even really understanding them. In the same chapter that she talks about meeting her Scandinavian ancestors, she says that while having a Native American "spirit guide" may be cliché, they take forms that are most comfortable for you, which therefore means it's okay for her spirit guides to be two Native American men. I suppose if one fetishizes the spiritual practices of a closed religion, then their brain will produce something "mystical" such as that to look at - and that does seem to be what a lot of her practice is: subconscious traveling rather than actual hedge riding.
There are a handful of pages on Saille's "worlds" that vaguely match the Norse idea of worlds. Which, preceded by instructions to use shaman rattles to trance, was pretty odd.
When I call the book "unconventional," I don't mean "new and innovative" or "intuitive and ground breaking." I mean, what Saille is presenting is by no means a common or baseline example of hedge riding. Some of her tips and hints are very helpful - she talks about protection and grounding, she discusses the importance of meditation, but that's about where the resemblance to hedge riding ends, both from a historical standpoint and a vast majority of modern practitioners. One might even call the information in the book harmful to new practitioners, attempting to go out and expect everything to be all a happy go lucky fairy land, where most things want to help you and the things that don't can be dismissed with a single thought, and find quite the opposite to be true.
I might recommend this to people only as a short account of what one person says that they do, but by no means as a helpful book to get started or even persist as a hedge witch.
April 13, 2013
This is a relatively short book - 60 pages on my Kindle app - so it didn't take long to read. I have mixed feelings on this which will likely sort themselves out as I write my thoughts here... One thing I can say is that this book the author mentions it as hedgeriding but in my experience it is more of a pathworking exercise she describes.
She begins the book with some introduction of herself. Basically, she's been practicing for quite a while and is Irish living in Ireland. She claims that people who find astral projection (AP) and lucid dreaming come easily will have an easier time riding the hedge. She explains the difference between AP and hedgeriding (HR) as AP being something you can control but HR something where you cannot control anything but yourself. She also mentions how HR is similar to seidr and how shamans travel but that each usually has different reasons for doing so. Her method of crossing is a meditation-type journey rather than an ecstatic one. She suggests you have a journal or something near you so that when you "come back" you can immediately write down all you can remember as you may not remember it all later - much like a dream.
She warns anyone who is new to any sort of magical practice to not try HR until they have had significant experience in the craft to better protect themselves if need be. She gives some examples and explanations of things one should already be proficient in before working up to journeying such as meditation and visualization (a few paragraphs on each) including some guided examples of how to practice these techniques. She says she's Irish, lives in Ireland and follows a more Celtic path due to her ancestry and living space but also incorporates some Norse in her practice. For instance, when she plans to go HR, she holds a rune in her hand. She follows the Norse teachings regarding the Otherworld with the Yggdrasil tree as the the names, creatures and aspects of each section. However, her human-like guides she encounters are Native American including tipi, peace pipe, feathered headdress and all. This is find a bit confusing as to her earlier detailing of where she lives, how she practices and about her ancestry since it never touches nor comes near the "New World" and Native Americans or culture. She explains that a person's spirit guides will show themselves in a way that will be most welcome to the crosser.
She discusses quickly proper etiquette when in the Otherworld. Basically, giving your spirit animal some attention, asking if you can ride it (if it is such a creature that it can be ridden) and always giving thanks to anyone/thing that you may encounter especially when they answer your question, give you a gift and guide you through the world(s). Always be polite.
She tells you to never try to cross without traveling with your animal guide and/or spirit guide in order to always be safe. She says to never travel to the Otherworld without having a purpose in mind, a question to ask, something that suggests a reason you are going and a good idea of which realm you wish to visit before heading there. She tells you to trust your gut instinct on how you feel in any area and if you feel something is not right to get out. She says if you encounter anything that you don't like (creature/other being) to make sure you have with you something to make them go away. She suggests having your wand near you or a besom before settling in to cross in case you encounter one of these creatures so that you may touch them with the tip of your wand and say "go away" and they will.
She gives some examples of crossings she did and experienced on the three different levels of the World Tree - three different episodes of HR. In one instance she encountered different types of fae folk and was drawn to follow them but realized that would not be right and used a rowan branch to help "pull" her out of it. None of the tales she retells are very outrageous or outlandish and I an unaware if this is because she hasn't ever experienced those or because she doesn't want to scare anyone off.
What she does not mention at all is "What is fair is foul and what is foul is fair" as she seems to operate under the complete opposite "rule" and this is not what I have come to find in my experience (as I do follow that "rule").
Should someone read it? Well, it is better than Rae Beth's and certainly better than $ilver's book and better than a couple other of the more recent published authors who write on hedgewitchery as though it was kitchen witch, hearth with or plain ol' neo-Wicca of another name. If you can get it for free or nearly free to satisfy curiosity, go ahead. But it does not have too much super information in it and I would not call it a "must have". Eric DeVries "Hedgerider" book is better even with the broken English and typos (hers has a few typos but not many at all - just a couple slips). She very briefly mentions the use of ethneogens such as flying ointment but it is only in a passing mention as she says she doesn't and has never used them.
She begins the book with some introduction of herself. Basically, she's been practicing for quite a while and is Irish living in Ireland. She claims that people who find astral projection (AP) and lucid dreaming come easily will have an easier time riding the hedge. She explains the difference between AP and hedgeriding (HR) as AP being something you can control but HR something where you cannot control anything but yourself. She also mentions how HR is similar to seidr and how shamans travel but that each usually has different reasons for doing so. Her method of crossing is a meditation-type journey rather than an ecstatic one. She suggests you have a journal or something near you so that when you "come back" you can immediately write down all you can remember as you may not remember it all later - much like a dream.
She warns anyone who is new to any sort of magical practice to not try HR until they have had significant experience in the craft to better protect themselves if need be. She gives some examples and explanations of things one should already be proficient in before working up to journeying such as meditation and visualization (a few paragraphs on each) including some guided examples of how to practice these techniques. She says she's Irish, lives in Ireland and follows a more Celtic path due to her ancestry and living space but also incorporates some Norse in her practice. For instance, when she plans to go HR, she holds a rune in her hand. She follows the Norse teachings regarding the Otherworld with the Yggdrasil tree as the the names, creatures and aspects of each section. However, her human-like guides she encounters are Native American including tipi, peace pipe, feathered headdress and all. This is find a bit confusing as to her earlier detailing of where she lives, how she practices and about her ancestry since it never touches nor comes near the "New World" and Native Americans or culture. She explains that a person's spirit guides will show themselves in a way that will be most welcome to the crosser.
She discusses quickly proper etiquette when in the Otherworld. Basically, giving your spirit animal some attention, asking if you can ride it (if it is such a creature that it can be ridden) and always giving thanks to anyone/thing that you may encounter especially when they answer your question, give you a gift and guide you through the world(s). Always be polite.
She tells you to never try to cross without traveling with your animal guide and/or spirit guide in order to always be safe. She says to never travel to the Otherworld without having a purpose in mind, a question to ask, something that suggests a reason you are going and a good idea of which realm you wish to visit before heading there. She tells you to trust your gut instinct on how you feel in any area and if you feel something is not right to get out. She says if you encounter anything that you don't like (creature/other being) to make sure you have with you something to make them go away. She suggests having your wand near you or a besom before settling in to cross in case you encounter one of these creatures so that you may touch them with the tip of your wand and say "go away" and they will.
She gives some examples of crossings she did and experienced on the three different levels of the World Tree - three different episodes of HR. In one instance she encountered different types of fae folk and was drawn to follow them but realized that would not be right and used a rowan branch to help "pull" her out of it. None of the tales she retells are very outrageous or outlandish and I an unaware if this is because she hasn't ever experienced those or because she doesn't want to scare anyone off.
What she does not mention at all is "What is fair is foul and what is foul is fair" as she seems to operate under the complete opposite "rule" and this is not what I have come to find in my experience (as I do follow that "rule").
Should someone read it? Well, it is better than Rae Beth's and certainly better than $ilver's book and better than a couple other of the more recent published authors who write on hedgewitchery as though it was kitchen witch, hearth with or plain ol' neo-Wicca of another name. If you can get it for free or nearly free to satisfy curiosity, go ahead. But it does not have too much super information in it and I would not call it a "must have". Eric DeVries "Hedgerider" book is better even with the broken English and typos (hers has a few typos but not many at all - just a couple slips). She very briefly mentions the use of ethneogens such as flying ointment but it is only in a passing mention as she says she doesn't and has never used them.
August 20, 2013
I never pick up a book expecting a disappointment, and I did not expect that with this book either. Unfortunately, this book just didn't deliver. It was a quick and easy read, but it lacked a great deal of insight of or information.
In many ways, I found myself completely disagreeing with the author. It makes me wonder if she were hired to write about the subject, but is not actually a practitioner. This book was basically "fluff."
In many ways, I found myself completely disagreeing with the author. It makes me wonder if she were hired to write about the subject, but is not actually a practitioner. This book was basically "fluff."
January 25, 2013
This book follows on from the first and gives an insight into Hedge Riding. Harmonia shares what hedge riding is with meditations, visualisations and pathworkings to help you along. She also goes into detail on the three realms.
Her section on animal and spirit guides is good and she shares her own experiences here too, along with an exercise for shapeshifting.
Followed up with a section on protection and preparation the book ends with instructions on how to follow your own hedge riding journey.
Her section on animal and spirit guides is good and she shares her own experiences here too, along with an exercise for shapeshifting.
Followed up with a section on protection and preparation the book ends with instructions on how to follow your own hedge riding journey.
November 2, 2022
Not my favorite of the Pagan Portals series, but still worth read. She gives lots of personal examples and it sounds like hedgeriding has really changed her life. Like her other book, this was more heavily a memoir than an instruction or information book.
July 13, 2020
Basiquito
January 13, 2021
Simple and short, great for beginners.
June 17, 2015
I have to make an embarrassing admission here, despite having read a couple of books on hedge witchcraft, I somehow never came across the term 'Hedge Riding'; hedge diving - yes - but that is a different story (and I hasten to add, not one usually found in books on esoteric themes!) So it was with great interest that I picked up Harmonia Saille's concise volume on that very subject (Hedge riding - not hedge diving - are you still with me?)
Anyway, digression aside, this is a very enjoyable and informative little book that packs a lot of useful and practical information into a small number of pages. A great jumping off point for further study, this book introduces the reader to the tradition of Hedge Riding - an important aspect of Hedge Witchcraft.
The author explains how Hedge Riding can be used by the solitary practitioner to travel to the upper and lower realms to gain spiritual knowledge and connect with spirit guides. She provides a concise description of the nature and structure the realms, from the divine spirit guides of the upper realm, through the middle every day realm the lower realm inhabited by animal guides, to the under world inhabited by the souls of the dead.
The author also delves into the history and place of Hedge Riding within Shamanic, historic and literary traditions. She even manages to gently touch on the sometimes thorny issue of whether it is more appropriate to work with local deities and fauna or non-local traditions you may feel particular affinity with. The book also contains a wealth of practical advice and personal recollections about embarking on Hedge Riding journeys.
There is a great quote in an old-ish Doctor Who episode "A door, once opened, may be stepped through in either direction" - it seems the same caveat could apply to hedges as well - from the outset the author is at pains to emphasize that it requires years of experience and a pretty thorough understanding of Shamanic practice before attempting this....however she does a good job in providing the reader with enough information and step by step guidance to set out safely on this fascinating and universal path.
Anyway, digression aside, this is a very enjoyable and informative little book that packs a lot of useful and practical information into a small number of pages. A great jumping off point for further study, this book introduces the reader to the tradition of Hedge Riding - an important aspect of Hedge Witchcraft.
The author explains how Hedge Riding can be used by the solitary practitioner to travel to the upper and lower realms to gain spiritual knowledge and connect with spirit guides. She provides a concise description of the nature and structure the realms, from the divine spirit guides of the upper realm, through the middle every day realm the lower realm inhabited by animal guides, to the under world inhabited by the souls of the dead.
The author also delves into the history and place of Hedge Riding within Shamanic, historic and literary traditions. She even manages to gently touch on the sometimes thorny issue of whether it is more appropriate to work with local deities and fauna or non-local traditions you may feel particular affinity with. The book also contains a wealth of practical advice and personal recollections about embarking on Hedge Riding journeys.
There is a great quote in an old-ish Doctor Who episode "A door, once opened, may be stepped through in either direction" - it seems the same caveat could apply to hedges as well - from the outset the author is at pains to emphasize that it requires years of experience and a pretty thorough understanding of Shamanic practice before attempting this....however she does a good job in providing the reader with enough information and step by step guidance to set out safely on this fascinating and universal path.
April 13, 2014
Harmonia Saille is an English hedgewitch who for the past few years has lived in Ireland. I attended one of her rune workshops a few years back and it was well turned out and I enjoyed it. Hedge Riding is an accompanying book to Hedge Witchcraft, a beginner book, and this one too is very much a beginner book based on her own practices as no two hedge witches, she says, practice the same. I have attended courses in Western shamanism and I see she uses standard methods for achieving an altered state of consciousness and accessing the other realms. And it's an affective way and as good as any. She ably explains the preparation that leads up to journeying in a gentle manner and I have to say that so many novice witches these days throw themselves in at the deep end without realising you need to start with the basics. It's a shame this isn't a longer book with more application included. I would've liked to have seen more on how Harmonia uses journeying within her magical practice. Better than Rae Beth's book in that it's actually about hedge witchcraft, I would say this is a good one for the beginner, but not perhaps for the more experienced witch.
December 29, 2015
I devoured this in one hungry mouthful. What a delicious piece of Witch Lit. An extremely practical book that doesn't get bogged down in too much theory. Just the right balance for a subject which could go either way and have us fall over the hedge and into the ditch. Ouch!
The author gives a good foundation to her subject, clear instructions and fair warning of the pitfalls. I liked the inclusion of magical tools as an aid to strengthen the focus and will - all important in working magic - and the author's own hedge riding experiences at the end gave a real feel of authenticity. It's definitely something I shall be including in my own spiritual practise from now on... This is Witchery at it's finest and most useful. For what is the point in learning to develop our magical vehicle (the mind) if we cannot view the landscape and journey within it?
A wonderful little book. Simple. Concise and Magical... of course.
The author gives a good foundation to her subject, clear instructions and fair warning of the pitfalls. I liked the inclusion of magical tools as an aid to strengthen the focus and will - all important in working magic - and the author's own hedge riding experiences at the end gave a real feel of authenticity. It's definitely something I shall be including in my own spiritual practise from now on... This is Witchery at it's finest and most useful. For what is the point in learning to develop our magical vehicle (the mind) if we cannot view the landscape and journey within it?
A wonderful little book. Simple. Concise and Magical... of course.
April 25, 2015
Need to be reviewed.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews