What books over witchcraft are your favorites? I am looking for some good books just to read, because I am a witch and I love reading more and looking for anything I may not know.
I like this one book I read off the net. Had all this different info. I was more into reading Anton La Vey's satanism books.
These aren't specifically about witchcraft, but would most likely appeal to a female Wiccan or someone of similar beliefs. Two books by Barbara Walker, 'The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets' and 'The Women's Encyclopedia of Symbols and Sacred Objects.' Very good books.
When I was disillusioned with Catholicism, I Xperimented a little with witch craft and wicca. I have three books, one an encyclopedia that deal with witchcraft. I quit it because I lost dedication.
someone's already mentioned a book by star hawk called spiral dance i also loved her book 'the pagan book of living and dying' which is fantastic. here are some books by some english authors, i make this point not because i think english authors are any better than anyone else but because you may not have heard of them. sacred celebrations by Glennie Kindred the wheel of the wiccan year by Gail Duff and anything by Vivianne Crowley shes great magickal reading! s
I have heard a lot about the spiral dance. One very good book I read not nessercarily about Wicca, but still very good was 'Of Ash, Oak and Thorn' about Celtic Druidism. A great read.
i have heard so much about this book, but never read it, being a starhawk fan, i really must try and get hold of it, how do you think it compares to spiral dance? s
Spiral Dance is non-fiction. I own it as well and also her book Dreaming the Dark. I like Starhawk. Anyways, The Fifth Sacred Thing is fiction, whereas the others that I have of hers are non-fiction. It is a story about post-cataclysmic society, in the San Francisco Bay Area, of California. If you are looking for a good fiction read, I would suggest it. I've actually read it more than once. I usually don't do that... But I really enjoy the story. Spiral Dance is more like a workbook. It has lessons and exercises and things to teach you how to practice majick. It is her teachings in the Reclaiming Tradition of God and Goddess worship. Whenever we have new ladies join our circle, we require that they read Spiral Dance. We don't practice exactly as Starhawk does, but it is a great "Wicca 101" text. My advice... Read both!
ive read spiral dance loved it, although its not quite as good as her book pagan book of living and dying have you read that. can you tell me what 101 means? s
Anything by Scott Cunningham, would be good... Starhawk, of course... I had a book (before someone stole it), called A Witch Alone. The author was Marion Weinstein. Great book about being a solitary. Very down to Earth. I like Dianne Stein (sp?), but she's Dianic Wiccan. She has a great book on Reiki, if you're interested in that...
Hmmm... No, I have not heard of that book of hers. I shall have to check it out, thanks! "101" means its for beginners, or a starting point. If you take a college course, the first one, the basic, beginning one is often 101: Psychology 101, Chemistry 101, Art 101, Math 101, etc. So, we call basic, beginner Wicca stuff "Wicca 101". That means that it's going to tell you what the directions are, what the colors represent, how to cast a circle, maybe a few simple spells, basic stuff.
i'm reading abook at the moment called GOD/GODDESS BY A.J. DREW AND PATRICIA TELESCO it explores the two different sides to wiccan deity and how the energies can be applied to different areas of ones life. theres also a bit of stuff about gender and sexuality which is interesting. i don't agree with everything they're written but its a bit different to your normal (if thats the right word!) pagan book s
i love Starhawk's writing, she gets right at the heart of things. too many Wiccan writers are too mechanical, writing magickal how-to books . . . Truth or Dare and Webs of Power are epecially good on the political implications of Wiccan teachings . . Ann Moura's _Green Witchcraft_ books are very good I am a Reiki Master Teacher and second the reccomendation of Diane Stein. she has a great book on channeling too. Marion Zimmer Bradley's _The Mists of Avalon is wonderful. not explicitly Wiccan but similar in spirit are Joan Halifax's _The Fruitful Darkness_ about shamanism and Buddhsm and the divine feminine, some of Alice Walker's work, and Terrence McKenna's writings.
marian weinstein wrote earth magic and positive magic, not a witch alone. i've heard her recommended a lot but i find her scholarship to be questionable and largely based on conjecture, and i think she's a little, well, flakey. marian green wrote a witch alone, which i haven't read entirely. a witches' bible compleat by janet and the late stewart farrar is a good resource on traditionalist wicca, and their wtiches' god and witches' goddess books are also excellent. for more recent books good for ecclectics and solitaries, i heartily recommend books by phyllis curott (witch crafting is excellent) and yasmine galenorn (embracing the moon). i'll definately have to agree on the starhawk recommendations. the spiral danse was my first book on witchcraft. dreaming the dark and truth or dare are also excellent, but very political.
Oops! Thanks for clearing that up, my mistake... Like I said, the book got stolen from me, as did ALL of my Wicca 101 books, so it's been at least 3 years since I've looked at it. I knew it was a Marian, of some sort! LOL But, A Witch Alone really was a great book. I read it at a time when I truly was a witch alone. The right book at the perfect time and it really struck a chord in me. Okay, please strike my last recommendation of Marian Weinstein. I've never read any of her stuff and cannot recommend it... Please change it to Marian Green...
a witches' bible compleat by janet and the late stewart farrar is a good resource on traditionalist wicca, and their wtiches' god and witches' goddess books are also excellent. for more recent books good for ecclectics and solitaries, i had a look at the witches bible and sorry couldn't stand it so black and white thinking (sorry about the pun) do it this way or not at all, and i hated what they said about sexuality and gender. starhawk would never tolerlate that type of stuff in her books. my advice is if you want to be creative with your wicca stay away from the witches bible its put me off anything else by them and i heard they where never witches in the first place just journerlists. rant rant! sorry each to their own s
i think american witches tend to think of the farrars as being a little wooden because they're british and traditionalists. also, keep in mind that a witches bible was written over 20 years ago, and witchcraft was practiced differently then. you were just starting to see solitaries and american ecclecticism was just starting to pick up speed. janet and stewart were writing from the perspective of british traditionalist witches. brit-trads are very concerned with what they call "lineage", or tracing initiations back to the founder of the trad, and with the traditions practiced within their particular trad, that's just how their tradition works. it's not wrong, it's just a little more formalized than what a lot of american eclectic solitaries are used to. i've had the honor of meeting janet and stewart at a festival briefly before stewart died, and they both are/were very warm, wonderful, and welcoming people. janet, in her workshop, made the point of saying, personally, that she loves american ecclectics and the new things and ways of thinking that they are bringing to the craft; it's not what she practices herself, but she does seem to find it like a refreshing breath of fresh air. i think that, as american witches and pagans, we need to drop the fear of traditionalism, realize that it's just a different system with different priorities and definitions, and work on creating dialogue about what we have in common. we've come a long way since 1981, when a witches' bible was published, but i still think it's a valuable resource, especially for students new to the craft, who need to have a good understanding of our roots in order to understand and appreciate the kind of witchcraft/wicca practiced today, both the pros and the cons. wicca isn't just about "being creative" with spirituality. we need to acknowledge our (albeit short and confused) modern heritage in order to understand where we're going. (btw, i myself am not a traditionalist, i am a solitary, and i guess technically you'd call me gaian pagan, not wiccan. i still believe that modern wiccan history is very important for wiccans, witches, and pagans to grasp, however.) so i'd like to repeat my recommendation of that book. if you don't like the way a ritual is presented, don't do it that way. it's just a book. if you disagree with the author, then note why. books you disagree with are important, especially to the ecclectic, because they make you think about defining your own practice, and the reasons behind that disagreement. but try to see past the specifics of ritual and get a grasp of what they're doing with it, where they're coming from, and where they're going. peace, kitty fabulous
