Britain’s Magical Battle

 The setting is a World War II and Britain is about to be facing an invasion from Nazi Germany. Everyone is gripped in fear , rationing is about to begin and it is lights out in case a German plane is flying overhead. Simultaneously Gerald Gardner is initiated into a New Forest Coven.

Phil Heselton is a researcher who has produced many scholarly works on Gerald Gardner and Wicca. What he has produced here is a work of historical fiction based on his research. Operation Cone of Power did in fact occur. While the overall writing is rather simplistic making the book an easy read in just a day or two it did give good insight in to who the people of the New Forest Coven were. The writing could have been more developed then again Phil Heselton is non fiction scholarly writer.

As the invasion becomes more imminent Gerald Gardner’s relationship with the coven and Dafo in particular grows. Gerald visits Dafo’s house regularly to the point where they become close friends. She and the Coven teach him about magic and ritual and she will also look over his manuscripts making sure he does not leak out any magic. She also rewrites his work making it more readable .

As the war progresses members of the Coven want to do more to protect Britain .  Gerald volunteers with the civil guard and is willing to let out his weapons to fight Nazis if they arrive on British shore.

Ultimately they chose to do a ritual to stop Hitler from crossing the English Channel . Magic has been used to defend Britain from foreign invaders before.

Everyone knows the outcome of the ritual .

Botanical Magic

 This has got to be one of the best books about using essential oils in Magick. It is an easy to read book packed with  information. Almost every herb from A to Z is mentioned. The author renders over to the reader what the magical and heath purposes these herbs have. Included in the explanation about the herbs are recipes for different oil blends geared toward a magical purpose of course. Also thrown in are corresponding deities, colors, crystals and astrological times.

There are many different ways to use essential oil. The most common way is to add essential oils to a carrier oil like olive oil, jojoba oil, coconut seed oil and almond oil. There are lots of names in this book, many of which i forget. There is a terms for multiple essential oils in a bottle. Hydro soul come after the oil is leeched from the herbs. The left over water is a called hydrosol. There is infused oil where in the herb is soaked in an oil that allows it to get the essence. Conditioned oil is oil that is heated with the herbs to get the essence .

The author also tells how to discern if an essential oil is diluted or if it is pure. All I can say is that when it come to essential oil she really knows her stuff.