I recently received a request from a reader asking for recommendations for non-fiction books that have a ‘Wilde Grove’ sensibility to them. Books that could inspire and help us to lead  more environment-conscious, connected lives. Thinking this would be a great resourse, to have a list like this, I went to social media and posted a request for book suggestions. This list is the result, and I look forward to reading them myself, as some of them are definitely new to me. 

Some of the links to these books are affiliate links, which means I get a small amount of money if you purchase through the link. You don’t pay anything more, but get to support my work in a small but valuable way. Thank you. 

Now, on to the list! 

As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert).

Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings―asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass―offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.

Discover how to be a powerful psychic witch with this book on wielding energy and awakening your psychic senses. Psychic Witch explores the relationship between psychic ability and magick, interweaving them to create a strong foundation for accessing the full potential of your mind, body, and spirit.

Mat Auryn reveals some of his most closely guarded tips, secrets, practices, and meditations so that you can master the perception and manipulation of energy. Featuring over ninety exercises and the inner tools you need to perform magick anywhere and at any time, Psychic Witch helps you tune in to yourself and the subtle energies of the world.

The Cottingley Fairies appear in a series of five photographs taken by Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, two young cousins who lived in Cottingley, near Bradford in England. In 1917, when the first two photographs were taken, Elsie was 16 years old and Frances was 9. The pictures came to the attention of writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who used them to illustrate an article on fairies he had been commissioned to write for the Christmas 1920 edition of The Strand Magazine. Conan Doyle, as a spiritualist, was enthusiastic about the photographs, and interpreted them as clear and visible evidence of psychic phenomena. Public reaction was mixed; some accepted the images as genuine, but others believed they had been faked. Doyle championed the photographs, and in the process destroyed his reputation; which is probably why this book, out of all of the Doyle corpus, has rarely been put into print until now.

Nature and the Earth are conscious. They speak to us through our dreams, intuition, and deep longings. By opening our minds, hearts, and senses we can consciously awaken to the magic of the wild, the rhythms of nature, and the profound feminine wisdom of the Earth. We can connect with nature spirits who have deep compassion and love for us, offering their guidance and support as we each make our journey through life.

Druid Magick presents everything you need to know to become a Druid and even start your own Druid “Grove” (the name of a Druid group). Learn about the Druid’s tools―the sickle, wand, cord, and more―and how to make and use them. Discover all of the beliefs the Druids hold, including the emphasis on honor and ethics.

And, of course, you’ll learn the secrets of the magic of the Druids.

One of Britain’s best-known naturalists, John Wright here introduces us to the natural (and unnatural) mysteries of the countryside, giving us the tools to identify Witch’s Broom, Robin’s Pincushion, Dew ponds and Hollow Ways, and also their histories, how they come to be, and where to find them. From the enormous to the truly tiny he illuminates the oddities that pepper our countryside and the pleasure of spotting and understanding them.

Beautifully illustrated, practical and entertaining, this is for anyone who has wondered what is that? or simply longs to get outside.

Wildwoods is a fascinating account of his journey over a typical year. Along the way, he uncovers the ancient roles of trees in Irish life, he examines lost skills such as coppicing and he explores new uses of woodlands for forest schools, foraging and rewilding. Ultimately, Wildwoods inspires all of us to pay attention to what nature can teach us.

Western folklore and mythology are rife with brilliantly creative, fulfilled, feisty, and furious role models for aging women, despite our culture’s focus on youthfulness. Blackie explores these archetypes in Hagitude, presenting them in a way sure to appeal to contemporary women. Drawing inspiration from these examples as well as modern mentors, you can reclaim midlife as a liberating, alchemical moment rich with possibility and your elder years as a path to feminine power.

Like Women who Run with the Wolves, this is powerful rallying cry to women to embrace a different kind of femininity. Described as both transformative and essential, Sharon Blackie leads the reader on a quest to find their place in the world, drawing inspiration from the wise and powerful females in native mythology, and guidance from contemporary women who have re-rooted themselves in land and community and taken responsibility for shaping the future.

The enchanted life has nothing to do with escapism or magical thinking: it is founded on a vivid sense of belonging to a rich and many-layered world. It is creative, intuitive, imaginative. It thrives on work that has heart and meaning. It loves wild things, but returns to an enchanted home and garden. It respects the instinctive knowledge, ethical living and playfulness, and relishes story and art.

Taking the inspiration and wisdom that can be derived from myth, fairy tales and folk culture, this book offers a set of practical and grounded tools for reclaiming enchantment in our lives, giving us a greater sense of meaning and of belonging to the world.

In this classic book Dorothy Maclean tells her story of how she came to be one of the three founders of the Findhorn Community in Scotland. Following her inner contact with the Divine she came to communicate with the devic or angelic realms that over-light all aspects of existence. The success and subsequent fame of the Findhorn gardens arose in part from Dorothy’s telepathic contact with these kingdoms. She now travels the world giving workshops and talks about her own inner practices and attunement to the Beloved. Many of the messages she received are included in this book. Their simple wisdom cannot fail to quicken an awareness of our birthright as conscious partners with all the evolutionary streams of life.

Michael Roads had always been close to nature, but when a river started talking to him, he began to doubt his sanity. A series of encounters with the natural world followed, and Roads began to listen — and let go. He found himself led stage by stage to a final wisdom, remarkable in its simplicity and in its message of hope for humanity. This book, a bind-up of his two best-known works, beautifully articulates that message.

We’re not just losing the wild world. We’re forgetting it. We’re no longer noticing it. We’ve lost the habit of looking and seeing and listening and hearing.

But we can make hidden things visible, and this book features 23 spellbinding ways to bring the magic of nature much closer to home.

In the cloud-washed airspace between the cornfields of Illinois and blue infinity, a man puts his faith in the propeller of his biplane. For disillusioned writer and itinerant barnstormer Richard Bach, belief is as real as a full tank of gas and sparks firing in the cylinders . . . until he meets Donald Shimoda—former mechanic and self-described messiah who can make wrenches fly and Richard’s imagination soar. . . .

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is an icon—a phenomenal bestseller celebrating the strength of the individual and the joy of finding one’s way.

This is a story for people who follow their hearts and make their own rules…people who get special pleasure out of doing something well, even if only for themselves…people who know there’s more to this living than meets the eye: they’ll be right there with Jonathan, flying higher and faster than ever they dreamed.

Are trees social beings? In The Hidden Life of Trees forester and author Peter Wohlleben convincingly makes the case that, yes, the forest is a social network. He draws on groundbreaking scientific discoveries to describe how trees are like human families: tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers. Wohlleben also shares his deep love of woods and forests, explaining the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration that he has observed in his woodland.

An Immersive Guide to Celtic Magic and the Wild Wisdom of Your Heart

This book is a storehouse of magical and spiritual lore as well as practical knowledge based on age-old Celtic traditions. Filled with hands-on exercises and deep meditations, Wild Magic will show you how to access the Otherworld and come into a profound connection with the divine in nature. Author Danu Forest explores the timeless animistic practices of the Celtic faerie faith, creating relationships with the faerie folk, green kin, the ancestors, and the spirits of the land. You will learn to call on your spirit cousins for protection, and practice magical techniques based on the elements, such as fire scrying and spells to raise the wind.

Uncompromising and all-encompassing, Pearce uncovers the archetype of the Burning Women of days gone by—Joan of Arc and the witch trials, through to the way women are burned today in cyber bullying, acid attacks, shaming and burnout, fearlessly examining the roots of Feminine power—what it is, how it has been controlled, and why it needs to be unleashed on the world during our modern Burning Times.

No one has done more to transform our understanding of trees than the world-renowned scientist Suzanne Simard. Now she shares the secrets of a lifetime spent uncovering startling truths about trees: their cooperation, healing capacity, memory, wisdom and sentience.

Raised in the forests of British Columbia, where her family has lived for generations, Professor Simard did not set out to be a scientist. She was working in the forest service when she first discovered how trees communicate underground through an immense web of fungi, at the centre of which lie the Mother Trees: the mysterious, powerful entities that nurture their kin and sustain the forest.

Your body is teeming with tens of trillions of microbes. It’s an entire world, a colony full of life.

In other words, you contain multitudes.

They sculpt our organs, protect us from diseases, guide our behaviour, and bombard us with their genes. They also hold the key to understanding all life on earth.

In I Contain Multitudes, Ed Yong opens our eyes and invites us to marvel at ourselves and other animals in a new light, less as individuals and more as thriving ecosystems.

In An Immense World, Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us. We encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth’s magnetic fields, fish that fill rivers with electrical messages, and even humans who wield sonar like bats. We discover that a crocodile’s scaly face is as sensitive as a lover’s fingertips, that the eyes of a giant squid evolved to see sparkling whales, that plants thrum with the inaudible songs of courting bugs, and that even simple scallops have complex vision. We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street. We listen to stories of pivotal discoveries in the field, while looking ahead at the many mysteries that remain unsolved.

I hope you find something on this list that sparks your interest! Thank you to everyone who recommended books for this list. If you have a book you think others will enjoy, please let us know in the comments. 

One more thing – here’s a good option if you want to do a lot of reading, but are on a budget or prefer to read in ebook form before purchasing paperbacks, then you might find Scribd to be a good option. It’s a subscription very similar to Kindle Unlimited or Kobo Plus, and it has plenty of ebooks and audiobooks too. I use it to do most of my research, and if you use my link when signing up, you get a free two-month trial, and I get a month’s discount on my subscription. We both win – and you can do a lot of reading in two months! 

Katherine Genet is the author of the Wilde Grove mythic/visionary fiction series, as well as complementary non-fiction. She has been walking a pagan path for 30 years and is a shamanic Druid, spirit worker, and priestess of  Elen of the Ways.