Looking around and finding a gaping hole in the types of books available for beginning pagans -Wiccans especially - Scott Cunningham set out to fill it. The result is this book. With Wicca, anyone anywhere can find an introduction to the Craft. He created a guide that is down to earth and easy to read. The reader gains knowledge in both magic, it’s uses and ethics, and in the philosophical/religious aspects of Wicca. This is also a good book to hand someone who wants to know more about Wicca and paganism, as it’s straightforward and easy to understand. He cuts no corners and adds little fluff.
Wicca was the second book on paganism bought by this reviewer. I leafed through the pages and tossed it aside, bored. I thought it was stuffy and pretentious. Of course, liking hands-on activities while my subconscious thinks over the theory/theology, I’d spent much of my skimming in the book’s last section - a book of shadows. Cunningham had written it in a pseudo-baroque manner to "spark the imagination" which I would have known had I taken the time to read his introduction to it. Sparking the imagination was important to him, as he felt Wicca wasn’t truly your own unless you made it your own.
Needless to say, I’ve since learned that at the very least it’s a good idea to read the preface and introduction - even when skimming. And it’s a far better means to judge a book’s validity. That’s the first lesson Cunningham’s words taught me: Pay closer attention. Having come quite some distance since then, this is still a well-thumbed, well-loved volume in my library. It’s fantastic to reach for if you need a refresher, information, inspiration, or you just want something good to read.
Highly recommended, especially for beginners. Others would probably enjoy it as well.
-- reviewed by Tilly, 1 January, 1997
Originally
composed 23 July, 1998.
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