Cottage Witchery

February 14, 2005
According to Dugan, a witch's cottage can take any shape, from a city apartment to a house in the suburbs. A self-described "Garden Witch" and psychic-clairvoyant, Dugan offers a Martha Stewart–like guide for setting up a magickal home, helping readers to "reconnect to the energies of the natural world," and "direct these magickal forces into homes and everyday lives." A follow-up to Garden Witchery
, this guide will appeal to a broad audience, from the serious witch hoping to align each room with magickal principles, to the interested dabbler looking for ways to draw magick into the kitchen or the newbie seeking an alternative kind of feng shui. Included are a range of interesting spells for "removing bad vibes," warding off unwanted guests and buying and selling a home, as well as a household journal with blessings for various rooms of the home, and a helpful glossary of terms. Dugan is at her best when explaining concepts like the history of different goddesses and categorizing elements like the magickal qualities of houseplants, yet her tendency to converse directly with the reader can be off-putting, as are her frequent personal tangents. Though Dugan claims often that this is a guide for any style of home in any location, it will be most useful to readers with easy access to nature.