This book is a beautiful masterpiece of one woman's magical workings with a sacred goddess. I love how the author writes with so much conviction and detail and how homey this book feels. This one truly is a work of art.

I've been trying to read every metaphysical type book that catches my attention, and this book has been one of the most inspirational and actionable of them all. I don't specifically work with Hestia exclusively, but I do have a lot of passion in caring for my home within my practice. And this book make home care and self care much more meaningful and spiritual too.

The Scent of Lemon and Rosemary by Raechel Henderson

240 Pages
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd, Llewellyn Publications
Release Date: May 8, 2021

Nonfiction (Adult), Self-Help, Religion, Spirituality, Magic, Paganism, Witchcraft, Hestia

The book is divided into the following chapters.

Chapter 1: Hestia – The First and the Last
Chapter 2: The Home – An Anatomy of Comfort
Chapter 3: Making Magick
Chapter 4: The Threshold – Protecting Your Home
Chapter 5: The Kitchen – Love and Transformation
Chapter 6: The Living Room – Communication
Chapter 7: The Bedroom – Prosperity an Sleep
Chapter 8: The Bathroom – Purification
Chapter 9: Breaking Bread – Feeding Your Body
Chapter 10: Cleaning – A Place for Everything and Everything in Its Place
Chapter 11: Creating Your Own Wheel of the Year
Chapter 12: Modern Values – Living Justly in an Unjust World

The author does an excellent job researching where Hestia rules in our lives and homes. I was unaware She was the goddess of the senate. Zeus allowed her to remain unmarried and awarded her the first share of any offerings. Hestia is really a part of every aspect of life. I made many highlights in this book and look forward to making my own wheel of the year for holidays in my bullet journal next year. There are spells, rituals, crafts, exercises, and recipes included. I think everyone could find something to like about this book.

While Hestia is not part of my own path of worship, I am always excited to see devotionals come out that I was happy to read this one.
Beautifully written. Deep insight.
This is inspiration for all pagans and polytheists seeking to develop or step more fully into their hearth craft.
I highly recommend for any of their bookshelves, hearth displays, or kitchens.
May the author be blessed.

The Scent of Lemon & Rosemary is a great resource for hearth and home-based magicks. I've personally never worked or really knew anything other than a cursory knowledge of Hestia before, so this was a great insight into working with her.

The author provides a brief history of Hestia and all that she represents. I absolutely love some of the ideas and ways to incorporate small magics into everyday items (placemats and cloth napkins). Or the room sprays, laundry additives, enchanting salt and pepper shakers, etc. It really is a way to claim, enchant, and protect those within your space will innocuous, everyday objects that doesn't necessarily announce to everyone there what it is or what you're doing. I loved it.

Overall, The Scent of Lemon & Rosemary is a great resource to have and I cannot wait for my essential oils to come in the mail so I can start some new "projects" going in my home.

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Excellent book about Hestia and domesticity. I loved the style of writing, the ideas and the rituals.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I was thrilled to see a book devoted to the goddess Hestia. There aren’t many out there. This is packed full of information and ideas. Would recommend it!

Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for the advanced e-reader copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book was alot more political than I thought. I was really looking forward to the teachings of hestia. The spells were great and the part about food magic was intriguing. I did enjoy the book as a whole.

This books was an interesting journey into the practices of working with goddess Hestia and delving into her two domains; the home and the state of affairs. It's a well-organized, thoughtful guide exploring daily practices in each room of the house. Raechel Henderson's focus is refreshing.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I honestly really enjoy books like this. I wasn't overly familiar with goddess Hestia, so it was interesting to read more about her. The book includes recipes, spell work, exercises you can use for each room of your house. It also includes mythology, history and facts that added even more to my enjoyment. I can't wait to try some of the recipes and techniques presented here.

**ARC Via NetGalley**

The Scent of Lemon & Rosemary by Raechel Henderson looks at infusing your home and daily life with magic and ritual by working with Goddess Hestia, the Greek Goddess of the hearth.

There's a general introduction to the goddess and a deep dive into the important areas of the home and how to work with Hestia there. It's easy to follow and a lovely read. There are directions to make home cleaners and for home rituals. There are simple recipes to use in your cooking and to make homemade bath products.
There is also a focus on social issues like cultural appropriation and capitalism as Hestia also dealt with matters of injustice and state, relevant topics that are affecting us today.


I would recommend The Scent of Lemon & Rosemary to newbie and intermediate witches.

Not overlooked on this but some good exercises. Decent starter homemade / natural ways of doing things. Around the home and to think of some broader issues.

As a fan of the often under-appreciated Hestia, I was thrilled to discover a book entirely dedicated to her and her inclusion in domestic witchcraft. With such excellent information and enjoyable “crafts,” everyone should be able to bring in Hestia and fun into their household.

An attractive, insightful journey into the practice of working with Hestia for home and hearth is explored in Raechel Henderson's The Scent of Lemon & Rosemary.

This book focuses on working with Hestia, the goddess of home and the state of affairs. It's a well-organized, thoughtful guide exploring daily practices in each room of the house. Raechel Henderson's focus is refreshing. Focusing solely on working with Hestia, her writing flows through the home with craft and spell ideas suited to all manner of practitioners, even if you don't want to focus solely on Hestia.

Henderson's journey with the goddess is an intriguing aspect of the book, though the specificity of the work with Hestia does limit the audience. For those looking to form a path in the spiritual, this book is not a good place to start. Instead, it provides a more focused level of work on the home and the state of the world that could be ideal for someone looking to deepen their studies and practices of the magical.

Even so, there are helpful tidbits that cover ways to bring peace and tranquility to the home. Aside from the hand-in-hand workings with Hestia, much of what Henderson offers throughout the book could be modified to suit the needs of a witch who knows herself and her practice.

The Scent of Lemon & Rosemary is a delightful and helpful book for any witch to add to her library.

This books was an interesting journey into the practices of working with goddess Hestia and delving into her two domains; the home and the state of affairs.

It was refreshing to read a book focused solely on one goddess, especially one who's mythology is actually pretty limited. The author makes the most of her story and her elements and builds a lot of practices around it. Each part of the home is analyzed, with craft ideas and a lot of spells and practices offered for each space and part of our lives that it represents.

The book also touches the aspect of the state of affairs of the world we live in, focusing on the damage of capitalism, the issues of environmentalism and the traps of cultural appropriation. It is a good take away this need to be more aware of the origins of our practices and our believes.

While I would have loved to learn more in-depth insights that working for so long with a specific goddess bring, I liked the voice of the author and how wholesome her perspective is. In the end this is a very helpful book of approaching goddess Hestia and working with her energy, but more than that, a collection of helpful ideas on managing and bringing good energy to ones environment.

I enjoyed this marvelous book on the Greek goddess Hestia and practical magic for your home . The book has much history of Hestia and many receipes for each room of your house from protection to abundance. I particularly enjoyed the spells that are easily crafted from items you already have at home. I enjoyed the lay out of the book and found it a pleasurable informative read. Very well done to the author. This is a book to add to your magical library and refer to for Hearth witchery.

Thank you to Net Galley and to the publisher. My review opinions are my own, Review cross posted.

Very informative book. Full of a lot of useful information. This book will also be very useful for future reference.

The Scent of Lemon & Rosemary is all about the deity Hestia and how to work with her in order to really make your home and surroundings better spaces to be in. The book centres on exercises, rituals and recipes, and use them to explain how Hestia works and how you can work alongside.

I liked the premise of the book as a sort of guide to getting to know Hestia and hearth magic, and I think that was also my “issue” with the book; that it was all about Hestia and Henderson’s personal relationship with the deity. It was an interesting read, but I think this is specifically more interesting if you are looking to work with Hestia rather than a everyday book for anyone who is meddling with the spiritual.

It has a nice build-up with facts, mythology and what each space in the house represents and how you can make those spaces better with some easy rituals and/or thought-patterns when making those rooms. All over, a nice book on Hestia and working with her, but not something I would have picked up to read if I were looking to work with other deities, or didn’t have any specific curiosity on hearth magic.

I have been curious as to the Greek Gods and their roles in the lives of he peoples that worshipped them, Hestia is one of the oldest and the phrase "first and last: relate to her powers and providence in the world of humankind.She is a Goddess of grounded living and a helper who will aid if asked in a proper way, More than that her example and the many activities and rituals in this book make her someone that is a positive model for good change. Plants and the kitchen are Hestias strong spot IMO. Using the simple and easily obtainable ingredients given a person can really live a life honoring Hestia and themselves too. Very well written and interesting as well as practical explanations of what and why.

Centered on the Greek goddess Hestia, this book at a slim 238 pages, is overflowing with ideas and information. There is a LOT here. It walks you through every room in your house and offers advice, activities, rituals, recipes and meditations to help you connect with your home. This book has a lot going for it and I was truly and unexpectedly impressed.
The contents, while heavily Wiccan influenced, avoid the. worst of the cultural appropriation usually so prevalent in Wicca writing. That trend is even discussed directly, Also, unlike most magick books you don't have to be pagan to benefit from it's content. Most of the recipes, rituals, and tips on how to organize and clean certain belongings could be used as meditations and mindfulness activities for those who are not pagan or Wiccan.
Further impressive aspects of the book involve the language, equipment and ingredients that are used. None are difficult to obtain or expensive. Most are things people are likely to already have. At no point does the elitist nature of many pagans come through in the text.
I have read lots of books of this genre and this is by far the most inclusive and most useful that I have ever read, I can't wait to order a print version for myself.