Book Review: Family Coven by Lydia M. Nettles Crabtree

Family Coven: Birthing Hereditary Witchcraft by Lydia M. Nettles Crabtree

As a solitary Pagan who occasionally moves in and out of group practice and a new parent, I was eager for the opportunity to read Family Coven by Lydia M. Nettles Crabtree. This dense book is full of ethical musings, experiences, and ritual suggestions all geared at building a Wiccan-centric family magical structure that creates the coven experience at home. Crabtree offers suggestions for various rituals that include children while still honoring the bond between adult partners, and she presents a variety of interesting ideas on what modern witchcraft (and Wicca) has the potential to look like as traditions are handed down through the generations.

The book didn’t include as much “how-to” as I think I was expecting, but it is one of three titles by the author that covers the workings of family magic, so I assume one of the other books will include more simple spells and step-by-step rituals. I did love some of the ideas Crabtree presents, particularly the idea of a Family Coven Grounding Stone, which can be charged regularly and is kept outside to mark the boundary of the energetic space. I’d like to explore adding such a stone to my own family’s homestead, but that’s probably something I’ll wait on until the wee one is old enough to help choose and charge the stone. (I already ran the idea by my husband, and he’s on board with it, so now I just have to try to remember that I want to do this in a few years).

One complaint I had about this text: much of the working involves older children, more specifically those who have come of age, and since that time is still a long ways off in my family’s future, I’m not entirely sure how I can adapt some of Crabtree’s suggestions into my own family practice. Perhaps one of the other books in the series offers a more inclusive view of all ages and stages of family members, but for now, I really enjoyed reading Family Coven, and it gave me a lot to think about as I begin to consider what kind of spiritual education I want to pass on to my daughter. This is a good read for anyone looking to expand a solitary practice to include family members, or to anyone who is seeking an alternative coven structure to the hierarchical model.