Hedge Witch vs. Green Witch: IS There a Difference??

It seems to be a commonplace occurrence for people to interchange terms. Even terms within the Witchcraft category get interchanged, even though they are unrelated to each other. Take Hedge Witchery and Green Witchery. These two practices are often mistaken as one in the same thing, despite they're being two different concepts. Let's explore.

A Green Witch is a witch whose practice surrounds the use of gardening, herbalism and generalized plant life, hence the title "Green". Green Witches will be meticulous when it comes to their gardens, will grow lots of plants including herbs, flowers, foods and even things we would consider "weeds". Each and every plant seen around the Green Witch's home would have some sort of use to that Witch (yes, even the grass!) Indoors you may see more plants, either being grown in pots, or being dried for use. A Green Witch will use plants in almost every aspect of their craft, from casting spells, to cooking their meals, and even cleaning their homes. They're practitioners who focus mostly on one aspect (unlike eclectics who focus on multiple aspects of Witchery).

Hedge Witches have little to do with plant life (though plants may play some role in their craft). The term "Hedge" refers to the border that surrounds ones property. Hedge Witches work between two worlds; crossing the "hedge" between this world and the world beyond, or the "otherworld". They spend a lot of time communing with either deities, ancestors or random spirits of whom they meet on this plane, while also working within this plane.

A good excerpt from a class I previously took that included touching on "Hedge Witchery" says: "...a Hedgewitch's path is one mainly for their own personal knowledge and gain whereas many other paths are for the greater good of humanity and the Earth around them."

--Lady Scar-Lotte Blacke

I think the confusion between terms stems probably from the term "hedge" itself, because when someone thinks of a "hedge", they think "tree", "plant", or "green". Thinking "hedge" they automatically assume "Green Witch". Another misinterpretation may be the fact that they may use psychotropic plants (or entheogens) to enhance their experiences when "crossing the hedge". Using a plant doesn't make you a Green Witch.

I believe one of the most perpetuated misinformation on Hedge Witchery would be Silver Ravenwolf's book "HedgeWitch: Spells, Crafts & Rituals for Natural Magic". The description of the book itself describes Green Witchery: "Get a fast and fun jump start on the 'Hedge Witch' path with a little help from [...] Silver Ravenwolf".

--From Amazon.com

Firstly, Hedge Witchery is far from "fun". It's actually quite terrifying if one is not prepared for it. Visiting the other world is not like being in this one. Structure is almost non-existent.

To continue with the description from $RW's book: "A handy reference section offers tips, forumlas, recipes [...] on topics such as soap making, tea leaf reading, butterfly garden magic and organically growing your own herbs."

--From Amazon.com

This is a disgustingly syrupy description of Green Witchcraft, not Hedge Witchery.

A much better book for a better understanding of Hedge Witchery would be "Hedge Rider" by Eric De Vries. It's description states: "Drawing from an extensive historical, folkloric and mythological body it re-attributes and re-defines Witchery [...] around the journey to the underworld and contact with the unseen."

--From Amazon.com

An example of the kinds of things people have seen while "riding the hedge" as they say, are:

-a field of eyeballs and you're given the task of picking them

-a giant tree with a trunk full of baby pigs squirming

-being disemboweled and you're helping to remove your insides

--From Lady Scar-Lotte Blacke

Not exactly a "fast and fun start" to Hedge Witchery, now is it? To me that does indeed sound very terrifying.

So as you can see, there is indeed a BIG difference between Hedge Witchery and Green Witchery. While Green Witchery can enhance Hedge Witchery, and many Hedge Witches make use of many aspects within Green Witchery, that doesn't mean they're one in the same thing. Interchanging the terms makes as much sense as calling Wicca, Witchcraft or Christianity, carpentry.