This particular 'witchy' book is published over in USA which I thought would make it difficult and expensive to get my hands on. Fortunately good old Amazon came to my rescue again. The RRP cost of this book is £12.99 however its almost always cheaper on Amazon especially if you buy second hand or in one of amazons book sales.
'If you are a woman and dare to look within yourself, you are a Witch. You make your own rules. You are both free and beautiful. You can be invisible or evident in how you choose to make your witch-self known'.
The first thing I loved about this book was the illustrations. They run throughout the chapters; they are incredibly beautiful, modern and unique. I can only describe these images as the tumblr-esque 'modern Witch'.
This predominantly is a self-help book. There is little information on how witchcraft works and the science and meaning behind the magik, the spells and the rituals written about.
It's a book that definitely gives the middle finger to society and encourages the reader to be who they truly are and go after what they desire without caring what others think. However this is not specifically what Witchcraft is about or designed to do.
One of the first things I noticed within this book is that unfortunately it's full of inaccuracies when it comes to Witchcraft and Wicca. Although I didn't expect this book to focus solely on Wicca and the Pagan religions relating to Witchcraft, I expected it to be accurate when Wiccan religion and the magik community was spoken about.
The spells within this book are nothing but poor, badly written poems. I have no idea where the authors got their ideas for spells from but these spells come across as very stereotypical of fictional witchcraft spells seen on TV and movies and read very juvenile. This slightly rattles my cage as it's implying that Witchcraft (which plays a huge part in many Pagan religions) is not being taken as seriously as it should be, that it can be made up by anybody for fun and turn into something with no real meaning.
It's a book that definitely gives the middle finger to society and encourages the reader to be who they truly are and go after what they desire without caring what others think. However this is not specifically what Witchcraft is about or designed to do.
One of the first things I noticed within this book is that unfortunately it's full of inaccuracies when it comes to Witchcraft and Wicca. Although I didn't expect this book to focus solely on Wicca and the Pagan religions relating to Witchcraft, I expected it to be accurate when Wiccan religion and the magik community was spoken about.
The spells within this book are nothing but poor, badly written poems. I have no idea where the authors got their ideas for spells from but these spells come across as very stereotypical of fictional witchcraft spells seen on TV and movies and read very juvenile. This slightly rattles my cage as it's implying that Witchcraft (which plays a huge part in many Pagan religions) is not being taken as seriously as it should be, that it can be made up by anybody for fun and turn into something with no real meaning.
That being said, these spells are a tool to help people learn the fundamentals to Witchcraft by tap into the psychology behind what they desire from life, boosting self confidence and empowerment; these spells are all for very minor things and our first world problems.
Readers should understand that there is no right or wrong way to create spells and that all spells are personal to the person carrying the spell out. Sure, the book includes tools of certain shape or colour or element to symbolise what the spell is harnessing, but nothing is mentioned about choosing what feels right for the reader and nothing mentions that tools of magik are not necessary.
I feel that the authors have directed this book directly at millennials who will buy it for the beautiful illustrations and because they believe Witchcraft is 'cool', a bit of fun and bang on trend. Again quite insensitive to those who practice Witchcraft as a religion.
Its a good read for those who don't want to commit to a path of witchcraft; the book is full of ideas for a beginner to get to grips with basic harnessing of intent, intuition, will and loose concepts of ritual. Not for those who have no interest or basic understanding of any form of Witchcraft wanting to find out and learn more.
Overall I didn't enjoy the content of this book. I suppose I expected too much from it; I wanted it to be accurate and informative which it wasn't. The illustrator in my opinion is the one who put the most thought into creating this book.
I like the idea behind the book and its title however I feel it should have been approached much more thoughtfully and not as if the writers are jumping on a "Witchcraft Trend" before they've done their homework.
I wouldn't say I wouldn't read another book by these authors, but this book didn't sell them to me this time.
Readers should understand that there is no right or wrong way to create spells and that all spells are personal to the person carrying the spell out. Sure, the book includes tools of certain shape or colour or element to symbolise what the spell is harnessing, but nothing is mentioned about choosing what feels right for the reader and nothing mentions that tools of magik are not necessary.
I feel that the authors have directed this book directly at millennials who will buy it for the beautiful illustrations and because they believe Witchcraft is 'cool', a bit of fun and bang on trend. Again quite insensitive to those who practice Witchcraft as a religion.
Its a good read for those who don't want to commit to a path of witchcraft; the book is full of ideas for a beginner to get to grips with basic harnessing of intent, intuition, will and loose concepts of ritual. Not for those who have no interest or basic understanding of any form of Witchcraft wanting to find out and learn more.
Overall I didn't enjoy the content of this book. I suppose I expected too much from it; I wanted it to be accurate and informative which it wasn't. The illustrator in my opinion is the one who put the most thought into creating this book.
I like the idea behind the book and its title however I feel it should have been approached much more thoughtfully and not as if the writers are jumping on a "Witchcraft Trend" before they've done their homework.
I wouldn't say I wouldn't read another book by these authors, but this book didn't sell them to me this time.
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