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The Wicca Handbook by Eileen Holland
ISBN: 1-57863-135-1
Published by: Samuel Weiser, Inc, PO BOX 612, York Beach,
ME 03910-0612
Subject: Witchcraft-Handbooks, Manuals, etc.
Subject: Magic - Handbooks, Manuals, etc.
Library Cataloging: 133.43 HOL
Cover Art by Lori Baratta
309 pages, paperback
The book is broken into three sections. The sections
include: Becoming a Witch; The Craft; and Correspondences.
The book seems to follow the standard ploy of the modern
pagan writer. Assume your audience knows nothing, and
attempt to try and cover every topic known to man in
one book. I feel this writer failed miserably if that
was the attempt.
What was covered in the Becoming A Witch section does
not explain enough for someone to begin to understand
the religion. There are around 20 pages of information
on the religion, without much detail. Much more time
is spent on writing your own spells and invocations
than in understanding why one would do such a thing.
Much of what was covered could be found out on the Internet
in far greater detail.
The Craft section of the book contains a large amount
of symbology for specific spells as well as some example
spells and a little detail about each section. Topics
included: creativity; fertility; health and healing;
law and justice; love; magic; money and business; protection;
psychic work; sex magic; and wisdom. It is excellent
as an encyclopedia tool on each of the topics covered.
But none of the topics seemed to be covered in much
detail or with much thought. The wisdom section is only
two pages. Is that enough to cover the use of love magic
and sex magic?
The Correspondences section appears to be a misnomer,
since the majority of the book has already been covering
correspondence tables. And this like the rest of the
book is fully detailed in the way of correspondences
for magick. I find this book as good as ones such as
Encyclopedia of Magic as a tome of symbology.
If you wish for a good reference tool, then this is
the book to go with. Go get another book to fill in
the details of each topic. I do not recommend this book
for any beginner who is not familiar with the basics
of magick and the religion.
reviewed by Neal Levin
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