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Check out the newly revamped Pagan Book Reviews page!  And keep your eyes peeled for new reviews coming in new year!

BOTW: To Ride a Silver Broomstick

This book was originally published in 1993, and I believe it was Ravenwolf’s first book.  It has been reprinted many times over the years with updates and some of the more controversial portions removed or changed.  This is one of the reasons that there is so much debate over this book.

Some will claim that it is full of dangerous and unethical information, and others will claim that they found nothing of the kind. It all depends on which volume you happen to read.  The version I read for this review was published prior to 2000 (I wish I could check the copyright page, but I no longer have this book, so I am going by the year that it was given to me).

Book of the Week: Living Druidry

Living Druidry written by Emma Restall Orr is a glimpse at a religious practice that strives for total harmony with the natural world. The earth holds a romantic, poetic quality when seen through the eyes of a neo-Druid.

The guided meditations in this book are especially engaging, and if I found nothing else to love about this book, then I would have still gotten my money’s worth. The author puts forth some interesting theories concerning the divine that may appeal to those Pagans who have a difficult time holding on to the idea of personified deity.

Book of the Week: Wild Witchcraft

I was not as impressed with this book as I was with the author’s other works. On the whole I think that Marian Green is great for anyone interested in hedgecraft, but this book I found to be far too dogmatic for my tastes.

I find it prudent to mention that this is a reprint of an earlier work called ‘Elements of Natural Magic’. So it would seem that the author has since decided that a lot of the elements (if you’ll forgive the pun) she insists are ‘essential’ in this volume, are not really needed at all. Her attachment to tools and formal ritual work has also eased to a more fluid and natural practise in her later books.

Book of the Week: Witchcrafting

Witchcrafting by Phyllis Curott is a lesson book for Eclectic Wicca. Though it claims to provide new ideas and techniques for the adept, it ends up as a book that is truly aimed at beginners. Even though it tends to fail in its attempt to teach ‘old Witches new tricks’, I found it to be a very well written book and I recommend it regularly.

It is a thin paperback, and manages to still hold the magical tone of the author’s memoir work, Book of Shadows. This makes it very enjoyable to read. She doesn’t talk down to beginners and doesn’t make claims that her ways are the right ways.

Book of the Week: Book of Shadows

This fortunate library find has become one of my favorite books. Contrary to what its title suggests, this is not a book of spells or even a ‘how to be a witch’ text. Instead, we find the story of the author’s discovery and eventual initiation into the world of Wicca and modern witchcraft.

It takes place in the seventies, and provides those of us who weren’t around then, a rather shocking look at how much has changed in regards to women’s rights in only forty years. Hence, there is a pronounced feminist and environmentalist slant to this book, but if you liked Starhawk (or even if you thought she was a bit over the top), you will love the writings of Phyllis Curott.