The Natural Home Wheel of the Year is an accessible and useful guide to the natural/magical calendar written and curated by Raechel Henderson. Released 8th Dec 2023 by Llewellyn, it's 272 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats.
The book is graphically pleasing, with simple line drawn illustrations and clear color photography throughout. It's arranged around the 8 high holidays of the pagan/Celtic calendar (Samhain,Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lammas, and Mabon), with recipes, crafts, and activities for each. The crafts are simple, attractive, and do-able without a lot of extra tools or supples.
The author's voice is friendly and positive, and there's a lot of practical wisdom scattered throughout the book. Salient points appear in highlighted text boxes, and the author/publisher have included appendices with templates and links/bibliography lists for further reading and learning.
There's an emphasis on nature crafts, and ecofriendly tutorials. Each tutorial includes a bullet list of tools & supplies, followed by step-by-step instructions. The tutorials are well photographed and "action" shots are well staged without hands or other items blocking the steps.
High quality, well written book with useful tutorials. It has a definite pagan/wiccan slant, but the author is *not* heavy-handed or proselytizing in language or philosophy. The tutorials run the gamut from making runes, to creating wreaths, altars and ritual, and making teas and other recipes.
Five stars. This would be a great choice for public library acquisition (with the codicil that in the USA at least in some areas, there are active book bans happening and this book could be a lightning rod for controversy for some not very valid reasons). It would also be lovely for gift giving or for home crafters, smallholders, and self-sufficiency fans.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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