For a witch the magical energies of Traditional Witchcraft for Fields and Hedgerows differs quite considerably from Traditional Witchcraft for Woods and Forests because whereas the woods have been part of our landscape since the beginning of time, fields and hedgerows are a relatively recent innovation. It therefore stands to reason that the witchcraft of fields and hedgerows is going to be much more of a domestic and homely variety, not moving far from hearth or cattle byre. It will lack the primitive, sometimes hostile, sensations that we encounter when walking alone in the woods. Unfortunately, very few modern witches have the opportunity to understand the land, but once we learn to appreciate it again and begin to feel part of it, it begins to share its secrets.
This quote is taken from the introduction to Melusine Draco's book on traditional witchcraft for fields and hedgerows. It makes plain the case for why this manifestation of the countryside needs considering as a separate issue from working magically with the land in wilder places.
Much of the UK has been in agricultural use for a very long time - there are field systems that go back to the Iron Age, and many iconic landscapes - our moors, commons and fells - have been co-created by humans and their grazing flocks. The energy of land that has a long history of human use is not the same as that of a wild place. This book explores the differences, but without prioritising one kind of experience of the natural world over another. Fields and hedgerows are nature, too. Just nature that we've interacted with a lot.
How we understand the countryside has a lot of impact on how we treat it - which in turn has far wider implications than magical use alone. Being able to see the ancestors in the land, the human uses and influences, and being able to recognise that and work with it, rather than romanticising it - as people often do with the tapestry of British fields, and not rejecting is as really just another industry and therefore not nature, opens the way for a better relationship between people and the soil.
