Hedge-Rider: Witches and the Underworld [Paperback]

Eric De Vries (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 24, 2008

Hedgerider: Witches and the Underworld is a re-interpretation of (Hedge-)Witchery. Drawing from an extensive historical, folkloric and mythological body it re-attributes and re-defines Witchery as a Heathen Cult centred around the journey to the Underworld and contact with the Unseen. With the insights into Cosmology, Philosophy and Practice this book provides a working body of Heathen Witch-lore, designed to transform the essence of humanity in something greater through contact with our Fetch and the Underworld itself.

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Pendraig Publishing (June 24, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979616875
• ISBN-13: 978-0979616877
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #252,892 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hedge Rider, November 22, 2008

By 

Rowan (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hedge-Rider: Witches and the Underworld (Paperback)

Excellent beginners book into a Western European viewpoint on Hedgecrafting. A good beginners book on anyone interested in the true old ways. It shows the influence of Anglo-Saxon Heathenry on Hedgewitchcraft as I know it.
I have a few gripes, but I would still highly recommend the book. English is his second language and it shows to the point where it makes the book a difficult read. Oh well! I would say read it anyway. The second is, he does borrow information without giving references and one of the things that I think is missing from books published by a certain new age publisher is references. This is a huge gripe for me. I know where he got his information, but new readers may not. I still will say 'read the book' but maybe in the future he can provide references, in fact, maybe Mr. de Vries could write some more books?

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good points and bad, May 12, 2009

By 

Azelma (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hedge-Rider: Witches and the Underworld (Paperback)

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it's a refreshing change from much of the Wicca-inspired witchcraft out there. It's one of the few books around that doesn't confuse Hedgecraft with kitchen witchcraft or something to do with gardening. For that alone it's a refreshing find for the burgeoning hedgewitch looking for some guidance. The book focuses on hedgecraft as a form of "shamanism" linked particularly to Germanic practises - which then came to Britain, particularly England, via the series of Germanic invasions prior to 1066. This cultural basis, and the focus on Germanic tradition, is uncommon and quite interesting, but as a result the book will not appeal as much to those without an interest in Germanic-inspired witchcraft or traditions.

The spells included are interesting - although not to be performed by someone very new to witchcraft - and the tone of the book is much darker than is common in books on neo-pagan witchcraft, which is something I personally quite appreciate.

I was disappointed, however, with how much space de Vries uses trying to convince the reader that Hel is the Goddess of the (hedge)witches. Freyja I could understand - she taught Odinn the art of Seidr, after all - but Hel? Yes, she is goddess of the underworld, but she stays there. I can appreciate her place in the faith of a hedgewitch... but not why she would be named specifically the goddess involved with this practice, rather than Freyja. On top of this, de Vries tries to link Hel to Frigg and to Freyja as if they were all the same goddess, without much to support the claim. He certainly tries, but his reasoning is not particularly convinving, and as someone whose religion has a basis in Nordic Heathenry, I found the equating of the daughter of Loki to the Vanadis quite irritating. It just doesn't mesh. And if Hel's position as goddess of hedgecraft is valid, why is it necessary to spend that much time and effort attempting to convince the reader? I was not convinced by the time he was done, and I feel that space could have been put to better use.

The value of this book lies in the fact that it is "different". I would say it is certainly worth a read, but whether you choose to actually purchase it is up to you. I'd recommend it to a person fed up with reading the same sort of neo-Wicca-derived witchcraft over and over, and looking for something new. You may not agree with what he writes, but it's nevertheless quite interesting and worth exploring, even if you reject his ideas when you're done.

In short, I'm glad I purchased it, and I can see myself referring to it again and again, but I am a tad disappointed with some of the content, and don't agree with all of de Vries's ideas.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting interpretations of lore, April 11, 2009

By 

T. Seifert "tclefey" (Harrisburg, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hedge-Rider: Witches and the Underworld (Paperback)

That's about what I got from this book; personal interpretations of Northern lore with little or no documentation to back him up. My main issues is that he tries to make Witchcraft (or, at least hedgewitchery) a wholly Germanic shamanic practice (when I can think of at least one other European cultural group that also felt that the between times were closest to the other world and used burial mounds for shamanic practices). I think he also makes it far too narrow of a practice.

He pulls most of his evidence for traditional Witchcraft practice from records of confessed Witches during the witch trials (which, since most confessions were given under torture should be taken with a grain of salt the size of Gibraltar), loosely added with the Frau Holle folktales (who is, understandably linked with the Norse goddess Hel, but inexplicably linked with both Freya and Frigga) who is called the goddess of the Witches.

He mentions that in the Norse myths, there are nine worlds, but only focuses on Hel as having any real merit, even placings elves (who live in Alfheim, one of the higher realms according to Norse myth), and giants (who live in Jotunheim, a middle realm) in the underworld. He mentions Odin's Valhalla, but does not state that it is located in Asgard.

His focus is on gaining knowledge through shamanic practice (which can be useful) but he gives no real practical application for his methods. "Go to the underworld to be with Frau Holle and the Terrible God (Odin)for the Sabbaths." What is gained from this practice, what purpose the Sabbaths have, what is done there, is never described. It makes me wonder if he has ever made it there himself, if he even practices the path he has created (which he states is a Reconstructionist view of Witchery, when, based on his mincing of Norse/Germanic Lore, it most certainly is not).

I give this book two stars, instead on one because I was able to get through it (instead of most of the drivel I buy in hopes of finding non-Wiccan witchcraft), and it does have some good discussions on varying ways to enter shamanic trance. This book just isn't the book of "true Witchcraft" it claims to be. If you buy it, buy it for the interesting interpretations, as a starting point for your own research, and a guide for varying shamanic techniques, not as a guide to a true, historical Witchcraft, because it's simply not.