Very informative and interesting book. I highly write recommend it. Very educational. Very enjoyable

"The Witching Year" by Diana Helmuth is a captivating exploration of self-discovery and transformation. Amidst the backdrop of a global pandemic and personal tribulations, Helmuth embarks on a mystical journey, delving into the ancient practice of witchcraft for a year and a day. Her candid narrative weaves through moments of both triumph and setback, as she navigates the complexities of spells, rituals, and the metaphysical. What begins as an experimental foray into the esoteric realms gradually morphs into a deeply personal memoir, offering readers a fascinating glimpse into the author's evolution. Helmuth's story resonates with anyone seeking a spiritual anchor in tumultuous times, reminding us of the power of introspection and the magic of embracing change.

What would you do with one magical year?

Witchiness has had a rise in interest as of late riding on the back of cottage core, goblin core, and hardcore gardening. Perhaps this is a result of the Covid lockdown where people found themselves journaling, making their own bread, gardening, and cooking. You know, witchy stuff!

And, that's really where most of Helmuth's journey takes place, during lockdown. I will say at first I was a bit annoyed by her insecurities and uncertainties. It takes her a long time to embrace her journey. I think she assumes her audience are people that she has to win over on why practicing witchcraft would be a good idea. She pokes fun at herself and how silly she feels a lot at the start and it wore on me a bit. I wanted to jump right in and learn more. I picked up the book for goodness sake. You already have me interested by the title. But, her tentative approach does open up for a great section on researching and where to start. I found the book was really thorough and balanced. I appreciated her questioning whether practices were appropriative or not. She is a really good tour guide through this wild and weird world.

In the end, I found that she balanced the content well and I especially loved the interaction she had going to events. I wish she would have had more time to visit more places and peek into the witchy world, because within such a independent practice, its' fascinating when you see people come together.

Did I read this and decide witchcraft is for me? Not exactly. Did I have more respect for people who practice it? Sure. If anything I found that this book really argued for people's desire for ritual and community. That's where the real magic happens.

This was a book that I bought as soon as I could when it came out last year and initially wanted to read it in January, but just got to logged down with other books and of course, my endless TBR list. I finally got around to it last month.

Overall, it was a good read, especially if you are new to the subject or want a complete beginners deep dive into witchcraft. As someone who has read A LOT of books about witches and witchcraft and alternate religions, this one was a bit redundant and frankly annoying at times. I’m not a fan of a lot of humor in what I read, especially as often as it is in this book. I think I’m also not as culturally knowledgeable as the author is in so some of the humor, if not most, fell flat for me. I do like that she attempted to make it a fun and engaging. She also focuses a lot on California where she lived and the Pacific Northwest which I get since it’s pretty important to her life, but also made it pretty limiting when reading.

I wouldn’t say don’t read this book because it does have a lot to offer when it comes to beginning a deep diving into something as huge as witchcraft and there are a lot of fun things that happens throughout her year that are very magical. I think I expected it to be something a bit more intellectual, and it fell away from that for me.

It’s hard for me to rate this one. I found myself frustrated with the author. She approached witchcraft with basically no faith and a lot of criticism, and completely unprepared. She seems to have just literally jumped in to fill lockdown time. From there she bought a ton of books and supplies and then did random stuff while waxing on repeatedly about cultural appropriation and colonization. I agree with the importance of those issues but the whole way she approached everything led to a mess —more of a spiritual pile than a path.

It was also hard to be in the head of someone so different from me who wrote as if the reader will automatically agree with her many opinions and relate to her life. She’s a fairly upper class, well educated, fairly wealthy, healthy, young white woman who wants to stay in her rather dangerous large California city and panics when an affordable home in a literal mansion on the water in Washington opens up that is her boyfriend’s dream home. She seems to assume that her readers will all agree with her on everything from politics to atheism to covid protocols to the sacrifices involved in moving to someplace with a lot of military personnel. This is a woman who really grew up in a bubble and doesn’t even see how cringey she comes off for a great deal of the book.

I also was really hoping for an epiphany, and — spoiler — there isn’t one. If I’m going to read along for a year of someone’s life who’s trying to find some answers or meaning, I kind of expect some of that by the end. I’m guessing a lot of people will buy this book purely from the premise, but I don’t know how satisfied they will be by the end.

I read a digital ARC of this book for review.

I have read plenty of books about witchcraft, but there aren't enough of them written from the perspective of a beginner trying to feel their way through the experience. Helmuth's writing is beautiful, approachable and often quite funny, and her journey will be relatable to anyone who has explored whether witchcraft or Wicca is right for them. But this book isn't just for beginners; wherever you are on the path, you'll find this book compelling, relatable and illuminating.

A woman's search for meaning during the pandemic and attempt to return to the magic she felt when younger. Thoroughly enjoyed her frank openness to experience small glimmers of connection to the world around her.

ARC from the publisher via NetGalley, but the opinions are my own.

Hello, book friends, and welcome back for another mini review! Many, many thanks to Simon Element and NetGalley for the digital review copies.

The Witching Year: A Memoir of Earnest Fumbling Through Modern Witchcraft is advertised as perfect for fans of AJ Jacobs and Mary Roach, both writers I adore for their ability to balance intense interest in a subject with humor. I've been on a quest for a witchy memoir I could actually relate to, and when I read about this one, I felt a spark of hope.

So many witchy memoirs are steeped in magic and metaphor, rarely leaning into doubt or considering if magic is real. It's taken for granted, which may be the honest experience of some people, but it's not been my experience.

Enter Diana Helmuth, a woman who is skeptical of organized religion but still seeking something to ground her life in spirituality. So, she goes on a year-and-a-day quest to pursue modern witchcraft and write about the journey. Yes, please.

THIS is the witchy memoir I've been searching for. Diana believes in magic enough to be a bit scared of it, but she's also skeptical. She creates her altar on a cardboard box because it's all she's got. There's a realistic, modern approach to witchcraft here that I adore. And she writes about it with openness and humor, taking it seriously, but not too seriously.

I honestly just adored this book from start to finish. I don't know that I have any criticism, really, except perhaps that she leans so hard into Wicca and misses out on all the Instagram trendy witchy stuff that I would've loved to see her take on.

I would recommend The Witching Year to anyone who's checked off "spiritual but not religious" on a survey question or who is curious about witchcraft but not quite ready to paint with their menstrual blood under a full moon.

I enjoyed Helmuth's The Witching Year. Witchery has had various "trendy" online moments, so it's fun and interesting to see someone actually attempt and stumble through elements of it with earnestness.

I love how painfully relatable this book is. Accompanying Diana on her journey felt like I was right there with her taking each step too. I loved that it wasn't strictly a manual and how funny she is. I loved spending time in this book and with Diana and all her friends.





Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I don’t typically enjoy memoirs, but this one intrigued me due to the topic. Probably like most millennials, I’ve always been interested in witchcraft (the curse of Charmed in my younger years). So I was interested in following along on Diana’s journey. The book was well written; Diana is at times witty and her personality comes through her writing. Her anxiety towards witchcraft is similar to mine, so this was very relatable for me. As most people on a spiritual journey, a knowledge of the divine and a sense of community that accepts you are the most sought after, especially for the author. I think in the end, she found a deeper connection to not only the divine, but also to herself.

I found the premise of this memoir to be pretty interesting. I definitely learned a lot about modern witchcraft while accompanying Diana on her exploratory journey. Her memoir was funny at times and seemed authentic and honest.

Unfortunately, I did find myself getting pretty bored once I got about halfway into her year. I was disappointed that she didn’t end up getting much out of her experiment. I was also left with a lot of questions that I assumed she would answer eventually, but never did. (For example, what did the autopsy results reveal?) Overall, I was invested in her journey, but it left me wanting more.

My rating: 3.5/5

The Witching Year is a memoir of the author's year long quest to earnestly learn about and practice modern witchcraft. After feeling disillusioned by mainstream organized religion but still yearning for a sense of order and agency in a difficult world, Helmuth decides to give modern witchcraft a try. Modern witchcraft and pagan religions are things that I know almost nothing about, so I was interested to read this book for more information.

I enjoyed this book! I thought that the author struck a nice balance of history, practice, and general meditations on how to practice respectfully and in a non-culturally appropriative way. The writing was very witty and I snorted at several occasions. I definitely came out feeling more respect for a religion that I knew nothing about going. I like I actually know more of the history and modern practices.

My main problem just kind of lost interest about halfway through. It got a little formulaic to me with a holiday coming up, doing research and finding mixed results, trying to combine the "instructions," and then actually trying to perform the ritual. It seems like modern witchcraft is pretty fluid and accepting of individual differences in practicing the craft, so I think that the repetitiveness isn't really the author's fault. It was just hard for me to read a lot about something and then the conclusion being ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But I'm also a psychologist and my job is literally trying to quantify the "unquantifiable" so this might be a me problem.

Overall, I recommend this book if you are interested in religion, modern witchcraft, or historical witchcraft (or lack thereof). 3.5 stars from me rounded down to 3. Thank you to Simon Element and NetGalley for the electronic advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review, my thoughts are my own!

In The Witching Year, Diana Helmuth gives an open account of her relationship with religion and tries her hand at modern witchcraft. It's described as "perfect for fans of A.J. Jacobs and Mary Roach" and I totally agree. I've read both of those authors and can attest that The Witching Year can happily sit on the same shelf.

So, I loved this book. I found Diana to be funny, endearing, and relatable. In many ways, I saw myself in these pages (yep, I was that pre-teen looking for answers in a Raven SilverWolf book). I learned a lot and it was told in a journal-style format that is very easy to read. Some things were helpful and others just down right entertaining -- I had no idea there was a whole movement in the 2016 election.

For a few years now I've been wanting to read more about witchcraft and paganism, and maybe start my own practice. This book has definitely helped push me towards that.

Thank you for the advanced copy!

Author Diana Helmuth commits to a year of practicing witchcraft. Her journey is written in a brutally honest journal form. She doesn’t shy away from mentioning the parts of the craft that go wrong. One moment you’ll be laughing and the next you’ll get hit in the feelings as she is so relatable. As someone who has been curious about witchcraft, reading another person’s experience has proven to be enough information that I don’t feel the need to try it myself. I hope Ms. Helmuth continues to write similar books on her life adventures.

As someone who is exploring more of their witchy side and nature I found this book to be apropos. Outlining the trials and tribulations of finding the “right” materials and discovering what works for an individual as their practice, this book flows easily with humor and personal reflections. At times a bit limited and hard lining in how to apply different kinds of practice, I do wish the author let go of the strict formulaic approach as they developed through the year.

This memoir is an interesting account of one millennial woman’s journey into witchcraft. I don’t usually enjoy memoirs as a whole, and for some reason, I thought this would be different. But with Halloween coming up, I felt I needed a ”witchy” read for October.

While the subject matter intrigued me, the memoir was like a dry piece of toast I tried to choke down. I felt as if the title lured me in, only to disappoint not only one chapter in. Overall, this needed a bit more flare and less political ideation sprinkled throughout.

This book would be great for that millennial looking for another’s attempt at finding meaning in this crazy and sometimes cruel world.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Diana Helmuth's The Witching Year takes a look at one of the fastest growing religions in the US - Witchcraft. Delving into a year-long personal journey, she takes the reader along with her, examining ancient and more contemporary witchcraft, as well as neopaganism and and more traditional religious beliefs. Told with a wry humor and filled with revelations about her personal growth during this journey, I enjoyed being along for the ride on this one.

I appreciated the deft handling of her own personal struggles with a difficult childhood, as well as navigating the stay-at-home perils of the years of COVID (during which she started this book). She is able to take an honest look at what worked for her (and what didn't - a sagging cardboard box for an altar is a running issue throughout the book), and have enough self-analysis to be able to recognize what parts of being a witch are keepers and which are not. Ultimately what Helmuth finds is the things within herself that speak to being true to who she is, and to celebrate the things that bring her joy, whether they fall under "witchcraft" or not.

Entertaining, funny, and engaging, I found this a good read (and will look for other titles by the author in the future).

I wanted to like this book. I am interested in Wicca and was really interested with what the author's experience with exploring it would be. Unfortunately I found the tone of this book to be more cutesy, tongue-in-cheek than an honest attempt to explore what beginning a practice of Wicca is like.. It reminded me of A. J. Jacobs "The Year of Living Biblically". The author tried hard to be amusing but for me it just fell flat. I am not able to recommend this book.

This book has mixed reviews, and I read through some, and honestly, some of the things people hated about the book, like, she read too many books and researched so much, she didn’t come to many (or any) firm conclusions, etc., were things I liked. For me, I really enjoyed the book. I have interests in Wicca/witchcraft/tarot so I relate to the author a lot. I enjoyed reading about her journey and felt like I learned a lot about Wicca as well as witchcraft in other cultures, and I appreciate the author’s thoroughness. Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!