I got this book and then went the next day to download it and it had already archived. I'm sorry I was looking forward to reading it.

Absolutely loved this book. Has a lot of good information in this book. 5 star book. and i plan on rereading this book again. Already read this 2 times already. Highly recommend this book. I did tell one friend that they need to read this book and hopefully they do because I think this a good for research or even if this is what you want to do or is doing.

3.5 stars

[[The author states early on that they try to avoid certain herbs due to appropriation and overharvesting etc.. but then goes on to highlight sage as a herb to use. I found this confusing?... I know very, very little about witchcraft and spells but I was educated by someone just recently about sage being overharvested.. so, I'm just a bit unsure.

I also noticed a rather passionate reviewer of this book, highlighting that it contains some factual inaccuracies which is a bit troubling.]]

All that aside -- visually, I found this book very appealing and easy to read. It's a pleasant, pretty book. I liked the spells and the intention behind them, the illustrations and mindfulness inspiration.

The "thrifty" part was a little lost on me. I found the required elements and ingredients needed for the spells were the same as any other witchcraft book I have read. I definitely don't have most of them on hand.

Overall, a nice book.

This book had me at thrifty. So many books have expensive and hard to get items for spells. This book is good for the beginning Witch or seasoned one. It has a lot of information and correspondences. It is easy to understand and the artwork is very appealing. I recommend this book for any Wiccan or Witch Library.

I was so curious to see what this book would be like and I’m so glad Maple wrote this… she literally spells it out for you!

But more importantly for me is the invitation this books represents, the welcoming.

“Witchcraft is 90% intention and 10% using tools in a ritual way.”

And in this powerful, simple and honest statement — Wren releases all of us from the need to acquire materialistic goods to practice. Witchcraft is a practice that’s also a culture with a multi-million dollar industry and with this one sentence, the world of rituals, spells and casting is more inclusive. It’s more approachable.

There’s a whole lot of comparison culture and pressure to have, be and do on social media. Buy this, buy that to make the perfect altar, and it’s easy to get wrapped up in purchasing (which quite often is the opposite of witchy living). Tools are fun and a valuable addition, but overdoing — it’s quite literally too much.

And like a breath of fresh air this book encourages simplicity and crossover ingredients. Quite logical and practical, enabling thrifty peeps and minimalists alike the chance to practice some of Wrens spell suggestions without breaking the bank. And remember, meditation is free!

Spot on is the suggestion to use the master healer clear quartz in place of any crystal. And herbs are generally inexpensive, especially if bought loose. I particularly like the jar spell to protect your house and already have most ingredients at home. I don’t have a black candle but I improvised and Voila!

Appealing to all but particularly younger or new witches who might find the open arms they are looking for in this book, the invitation to cast and perform ritual with some wiggle room and permission not to have all the things. ✨

In an age where witchy influencers are all the rage, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with figuring out which witchy product you need next. This book is a great reminder that keeping things simple is often best, especially if you’re a baby witch or just becoming interested in developing a practice. As a newly practicing witch who finds myself in a bit of a rut with my practice, I really enjoyed the spell work included in this book. The ingredients are simple yet powerful, and the key message is that it’s all about intent when practicing witchcraft! I loved the simple, straightforward, informative writing style. The illustrations left much to be desired in terms of quality, but I enjoyed the diversity of people included in the illustrations as this is often forgotten in witchy resources unfortunately. Many thanks to the author for sharing your wisdom with us!

This book is so helpful with simple easy spells and guides for beginner witches. It's written in a really easy reading way. I cant recommend this enough. I like that it doesn't go straight into spells it described the basics of magic and other tools used to aid this too.

This is much more of a “Witchy 101” than I was expecting it to be. Roughly one-third of the text is dedicated to a general rundown of different styles of witchcraft, common tools used in ritual, and beginner meditation tips.

The illustrations and overall book design are lovely, and I really appreciate the message that spellworking does not have to be an expensive or unnecessarily complicated activity. A lot of care was taken to present the craft as an open, inclusive practice. There was a nice variety of intentions for anyone just getting started in the world of spells.

That said, the only “real” thrifty tips involved substituting clear quartz for any other crystal, and replacing unavailable herbs or plants with thyme - and those two items were listed in almost every spell in this book. I was really hoping that this book would include more in-depth advice on how to adapt your practice in budget-friendly ways.
Also, I was disappointed to see that no explanation was given for why specific ingredients were being used in each spell - there’s just a list of ingredients, some brief instructions, and an incantation. I feel that the “why” is just as, if not more, important than the “what”, and this was a missed opportunity in the book.

I might recommend this book for young-ish beginners just dipping their toes in, with the caveat that more research should be done to understand the reason for including the different elements into each spell. But for serious budget-conscious witches (both beginner and beyond), I’d more eagerly recommend a comprehensive book of correspondances.

This book is excellent for beginners and has lots of useful information.
I really enjoyed this book, i loved the graphics in the book.
I like that this book has budget spells for people who want to start out but do not have lots of funds.
This book is clear and easy to follow and very useful to beginners just starting out.
Thankyou Wren Maple and Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC.
5/5

As a beginner, I really felt as though this book was easy enough to understand, without lacking the information necessary to actually complete a spell. It was a good reference that I can see myself referring back to quite often.

I'm not a witch but an aspiring one, I should say. I work as a tarot reader and I'm very interested in spellcasting so I've been trying things out yet I don't like having to prepare loads of stuff for spellcasting. This is perfect for me as it is not only thrifty but practical and most of all, logical. I don't need to buy 23 new ingredients anytime I need to do a spell! Absolutely yes to that. This book emphasizes just the right things that tickle my skeptical part of the brain and I love it. And the illustrations are very green (or kitchen) witch vibes, which I love. I haven't casted a spell after reading this book but you bet I'm going to utilize techniques from here. Sending love to the author. I hope this review helps you as much as you have helped me with this book.

This is a great little spell book. At first I thought it was going to be a craft primer with no substance, but after some foundational info, the author jumps right in.

Keep in mind, thrifty.doesn''t mean free so there are recommended crystals, teas, etc. I'd like to see foundational price information. Yes, every store is different and sometimes you have to pay whatever they charge for an item, but a ballpark figure would be good. Also maybe a size chart--like what is a "pinch" equivalent in crystals. The place I go to sells herbs, crystals, etc. I pay the same price for a tiny rose quartz as a large piece so my instinct is to always go big, but that isn't always correct for the working. Crystals can overwhelm other ingredients and not many authors speak to that.

I really liked the herb illustrations in this book. Some craft books have drawings or photos but these were just really pretty.

Also the spells are self-care and self-love focused--I loved that!! All good magic starts with you.

Much Valuable Information

Wren Maple discusses some of the types of witches one may encounter, such as:
1. Eclectic Witch.
2. Elemental Witch
3. Hedge/Hearth Witch
4. Kitchen Witch

She provides a brief description of each group of the above types of witches.
The author discusses various herbs, stones, crystals, and some of the various deities witches tend to worship. Additionally, I love the fact that the author suggest doing a five-minute meditation prior to beginning your spellwork, and provides instructions for doing this meditation process.

To add more to this book, the author provides quite a few spells. I truly love this book, and I have decided to purchased the hard copy in lieu of the digital copy for a hands on experience.

I highly recommend this book, it is packed with information that is very beneficial, especially for beginners.

I found this difficult to read him my kindle and wish the pages could be annotated to read like a normal book.
It has some fantastic sounding spells that I would like to try. Easy to understand and beautifully presented.

The Thrifty Witch's Book of Simple Spells by Wren Maple is a great book for new practitioners. It also makes for a great reference book if you're more experienced. The artwork throughout is gorgeous to look at, and the information provided is easy to understand. Definitely one for your crafty shelves.

I did really enjoy this book, and can see myself recommending it to patrons who are interested in this genre/topic. While I don't know if it would be very popular, I can see it being well enjoyed in people who are interested in this topic.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

Love it. Great book, so very helpful and interesting.

This book is a decent one on how to be thrifty in your spell work, rather than breaking the bank. I've found this book to be useful and imaginitive, and because of this book I've found new ways to utilize home items in my spell work.

An unassuming book that is chock full of knowledge. A handy guide to spellcraft and doing it without spending a bundle. Witchcraft can be very expensive for beginners. This book helps dispel that notion. I loved it this book! And I was glad to have had the opportunity to read this book via Netgalley.

This is Tumblr witchcraft condensed into a book. In itself that isn't a problem so long as it doesn't pretend to be what it's not. A lot of the first chapter or so should be removed, because the beginning of the book serves only as an extended introduction, and while I like that idea the information it contains is repetitive at best and incorrect at worst. The entire thing is filled with misrepresentations, and much of the "factual" information is straight up wrong - claiming, for example, that hedge witchery and hearth witchery are the same (they could not be more different). There's a lot of stuff included here that has nothing to do with witchcraft, and is actually new age anti-science traditions (the ridiculous earth sound pseudoscience, or whatever we're calling it now, being the one I was most surprised by because I have never seen that in pagan, neopagan or witch traditions before, even by people who don't really know what they're doing). Honestly a lot of this just speaks to a lack of care on the author's part, because even a quick Google would give at least slightly more accurate information.

The "spell" section would more accurately labelled as small guided meditations, which there's nothing wrong with but it is wild that an entire book was commissioned on the basis of essentially 2-3 basic meditations that aren't all that witchy, repeated ad infinitum with slightly different "ingredients" (and if you don't buy into crystals, this entire book will be useless to you.) Again, a lot of the stuff is wrong - the author's comments on sacred circles are just not true (and she is missing common and obvious parts of it) which show that she probably hasn't even looked at basic social media information, no matter talked to, read books from or learnt from actual witches. Her aversion to what is now commonly called shadow work really sums up what she thinks "witchcraft" is - shallow, feel good mindfulness without the effort.

This book also doesn't live up to the "thrifty" description, as it focusses heavily in crystals (which have to be bought and aren't cheap) and avoids discussion of real cheap tips, such as how to forage and find spell constituents, what kitchen items (other than herbs and spices) can be used, how to craft spells yourself for your environment etc.

This book actually reminds me more of the early 00s trend of "asking the universe what you want," but with less effort. I am not impressed.