What are some good wicca books, which are the bad?
I am 18, and grew up in a catholic house(but don't practice it), and I and have done research about Wicca on line and got interested in it, but I want some solid information, that I can read, not something someone just made up on a website. That is why I am asking for help, which are good books, and which ones to stay away from?
What about good tarot books, starter ones that come with decks?
any thing by Scott Cunningham is good
bazillion has a lot of good books to read on Wicca go to witches voice and modernizing.com these are good sites for information . good luck on your path
blessed be....
All books by Scott Cunningham are good, especially his beginning Wicca books............Silver Ravenwolf, I would not read until you have been doing it a while - she seems to be one-sided.
Please stay away from Silver Raven Wolf or Sylvia Brown! People just don't read what was written by the very people who started Wicca, some of the first High Priests and High Priestesses, its so sad! Read Gardner, Valentine, Farrar, Buckland.
Then I'd try Cunningham and Starhawk.
Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham gives a good general overview of Wicca. It is great for anyone who is just starting to learn about Wicca.
I don't recommend books by Silver Ravenwolf because I feel like she focuses more on spells and correspondences than the religion itself. I also feel like she blatantly bashes Christianity.
http://wicca.timerift.net/ has a great list of literature which you can access here http://wicca.timerift.net/books.shtml The site itself is also a great source of information on Wicca.
Good Wicca Books
Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft by Ray Buckland
Wicca For Life: The Way of the Craft from Birth to Summerland by Ray Buckland
Wicca: The Old Religion in the New Millenium by Vivienne Crowley
Wicca for Men by AJ Drew (even if you are a woman)
Making Magick by Edain McCoy
Elemental Magick by DJ Conway
Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practicioner by Scott Cunningham
Earth Power by Scott Cunningham
Earth Air Fire Water by Scott Cunningham
Everyday magi ck by Dorothy Morrison
Stay Away from Trendy Books or Books geared towards teenagers
Silver Ravenwolf books are too trendy and don't contain enough real info.
Any books that gear towards just spells and not philosophy. Like Good Girls book of Bad Spells.
The important thing is to learn the philosophy of Wicca before the magick.
OK you know what stay away from anything that doesn't sound right to you as a person if makes no sense or sounds like a crazy person wrote it . it maybe a good idea to stay away from it and anything else by that writer anyone can write a book of spells so write your own they'll work better if you do design your own rituals as well use the books as a reference guide but nothing more that's where people get hung up at if its in print its not necessarily true. after all no one does magi ck outta a Stephen king book do they ?
I like this recommended reading list:
http://www.tangledmoon.org/reading_list.htm
These are some interesting articles on some authors:
http://www.ecauldron.com/opedtarnishedsilver.php
http://www.cyberwitch.com/wychwood/Library/whenIsACeltNotACelt.htm
This is a very good article on critical reading and pagan books:
http://www.tangledmoon.org/critthink.htm
My personal favorite books were "The Heart of Wicca" by Ellen Cannon Reed, "Wicca" by Vivianne Crowley, "A Witch Alone" by Marian Green, and "Covencraft" by Amber K (very good if you are interested in joining a coven or study group).
Also, this is an excellent article on the history of Wicca:
http://www.geraldgardner.com/history_of_...
Books on Wicca are hard to come by for two reasons, the first being that a lot of authors cash-in on Wicca's popularity and the second being that Wicca is oath-bound and as such very little about Wicca is made public.
The most you will learn is outer-court teachings, history, and more general pagan information, all of which is necessary to learn to become Wicca.
All books have their value, even the books that are way off the mark on reliable information about Wicca still can contain some useful information and they are also a good judge of how much you know ? the more you learn through serious study the easier you will see for yourself what is reliable information and what is pure nonsense.
The top writers to stay away from are Ravenwolf, Horne and Tatiana, without going into a rant the basic reasons for staying away from these writers is because firstly what they write about isn't Wicca, secondly because a lot of the basic information they give is incorrect, thirdly because they put emphasis on magic rather than anything else within Wicca, Ravenwolf also has the added problem of being anti-Christian.
It is a general good rule of thumb to avoid any book that contains mechanical magic ? i.e. spells ? spells are something a witch writes herself, the spell construction is half the magic, the knowledge to construct the spell is half the practice, taking a spell from a book or web site is about as much use as going to your room saying 'ankle finagle tinkle do oh' and expecting something magical to happen.
Another suggestion is to be weary of books that spell magic with a 'K', there is a reason for the spelling 'magi ck' however for the most part people use it without knowing it's significance, instead only using it to attempt to show-off.
Books that ignore the fact Wicca is an initiate only priesthood are also generally a big no-no if you are reading about Wicca specifically because of course they ignore what Wicca is.
Writers to be cautious of are the likes of Cunningham and Buckland, they do contain a lot of reliable information, however what they write about is not Wicca but the early forming of Neo-Wicca.
Due to public interest in Wicca writers saw an opportunity to cash-in, they soon realised that they could make a lot more money by telling people they can become Wicca by believing in a goddess & god and casting a few spells than point out to them that to become Wicca takes a lot of hard work, study and dedication before you can even become a Seeker (someone who wishes to become Wicca and are 'seeking' a coven), there is then finding a coven itself and then study within a coven.
Most people do not even realise that to become Wicca you have to be initiated into a coven with a lineage back to Gardner or the New Forest coven ? this is ignorance, however it has been suggested that this mass amount of misinformation helps covens to differentiate between genuine Seekers and those just interested in Wicca as a fad, thus helping to protect the oaths and mysteries within Wicca.
Thanks to such writers there are many people who are ignorant about Wicca by no fault of their own, many had a belief with basis on the outer-court teachings of Wicca while not being Wicca themselves, they became known as Neo-wicca to differentiate what they are from Wicca to help prevent spread of ignorance and disrespect towards Wicca while at the same time acknowledging that what Neo-wicca do is still very much a valid path.
Some more reliable books on Wicca specifically and on Wicca are as follows?
BOOKS ON WICCA:
The Witches' Bible: The Complete Witches' Handbook - Janet & Stewart Farrar.
The Witches' God - Janet and Stewart Farrar
The Witches' Goddess - Janet and Stewart Farrar
The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft - Ronald Hutton.
Witchcraft Today - Gerald B. Gardner.
Witchdom of the True - Edred Thorsson
Wicca: the Old Religion in the New Milennium - Vivianne Crowley
Advanced Wiccan Spirituality - Kevin Saunders
The Elements of Ritual: Air, Fire, Water & Earth in the Wiccan Circle - Deborah Lipp
What Witches Do - Stewart Farrar
BOOKS ON NEO-WICCA:
Witch Crafting: A Spiritual Guide to Making Magic - by Phyllis W. Curott
Positive Magic - Marion Weinstein
Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner - Scott Cunningham
The Circle Within: Creating a Wiccan Spiritual Tradition - Dianne Sylvan
Book of Shadows - Phyllis Curott
The Second Circle - Venecia Rauls
The Heart of Wicca: Wise Words from a Crone on the Path - Ellen Cannon Reed
Evolutionary Witchcraft - T. Thorn Coyle
The Wiccan Path: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner - Rae Beth
21st Century Wicca - Jennifer Hunter
Witchcraft: A Concise Guide - Isaac Bonewits
Way of Four - Deborah Lipp
As a side note - just because it is a published book does not mean it is any more likely or less likely to be made up, you may find my links on Wicca useful, all are good resources specifically on Wicca - http://www.blinklist.com/tarnished_sprout/wicca
What are some good wicca books, which are the bad?
