lacehearts's review against another edition
3.0
has a lot of indigenous spells which i believe shouldn't be used if u urself aren't an indigenous person
ravenkitty's review against another edition
1.0
This is a DANGEROUS spellbook and I would not associate with any witch who relies on it. Out of all of the rituals inside I could only find about a dozen that I could use regularly, if even. There are many practices that I would absolutely go as far as to call cultural appropriation. Not to mention the amount of harm the reader is suggested to inflict upon another person, an animal, or themselves.
I and many others found what lies within to be illegal, harmful, and reminiscent of cult-like activity. As a practicing witch for many years now this book feels wrong to have. I will not be using anything inside nor will I be supporting Anastasia Greywolf's other works. She gives witches an even worse name than we already have. I suggest other witches, old and new, do the same, for our safety as well as the safety of others.
I and many others found what lies within to be illegal, harmful, and reminiscent of cult-like activity. As a practicing witch for many years now this book feels wrong to have. I will not be using anything inside nor will I be supporting Anastasia Greywolf's other works. She gives witches an even worse name than we already have. I suggest other witches, old and new, do the same, for our safety as well as the safety of others.
bookivore's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.0
I'm not sure that "handbook" is the best description of this. It is a collection of spells, potions and superstitions gathered from various cultures, more akin to an encyclopaedia than an instruction manual. It's an interesting thing to read through, but maybe not what a reader expects from the title.
I found it a bit odd that so many witch's spells contained Christian references. Witchcraft and Christianity tend to be mutually exclusive.
There are also a lot of entries of the types of spells that gave witches a bad name, ones that are harmful and/or spiteful.
And then there's the impracticality of a lot of them. Even if someone wanted to try them, the ingredients are so obscure and/or the steps so implausible to follow that it would be next to impossible to do so.
I found it a bit odd that so many witch's spells contained Christian references. Witchcraft and Christianity tend to be mutually exclusive.
There are also a lot of entries of the types of spells that gave witches a bad name, ones that are harmful and/or spiteful.
And then there's the impracticality of a lot of them. Even if someone wanted to try them, the ingredients are so obscure and/or the steps so implausible to follow that it would be next to impossible to do so.
grantkeegan's review against another edition
2.0
I have mixed feelings about this witchcraft book for several reasons. On the one hand, I am very new to this topic, knowing next to none about these methods and the history of witches and magic. Although I am an atheist, I consider myself to have an open mind, so I picked up this book with curiosity, in order to learn about why people practice witchcraft. In the next few paragraphs I'll discuss some of my thoughts, opinions and conclusion.
At first sight, this book seems very commercial and mainstream, something that turned me towards my natural skeptical side and read it on the assumption that it was all BS and play-pretend. But taking a look on the notes I realized that there is a lot of history behind these spells. This is what interested me the most about the book, learning about the beliefs and superstitions from several cultures from different places around the world.
On witchcraft, spiritism and occultism: I don't believe actual deities and events beyond the explanations of science exist. But I do enjoy reading and investigating about these topics for educational, cultural and political reasons. As someone who believes in absolute liberty of religion and expression, I think it is great that people seek out alternative views about the universe other than the ones provided by powerful institutions such as Christianity, Catholicism and Islam. For personal spirituality (and liberty), anything is acceptable as long as you don't cause harm to yourself or others.
In conclusion, I enjoyed reading Witchcraft from a purely historical perspective. I do not encourage anyone to actually try out what is described in the book. Especially the spells that involve killing animals or gathering their body parts. There are probably many occultism books and grimoires that offer better philosophies and rituals that align with better values. Other than that I don't regret reading this as it taught me a little about the cultures and history surrounding witchcraft around the world.
At first sight, this book seems very commercial and mainstream, something that turned me towards my natural skeptical side and read it on the assumption that it was all BS and play-pretend. But taking a look on the notes I realized that there is a lot of history behind these spells. This is what interested me the most about the book, learning about the beliefs and superstitions from several cultures from different places around the world.
On witchcraft, spiritism and occultism: I don't believe actual deities and events beyond the explanations of science exist. But I do enjoy reading and investigating about these topics for educational, cultural and political reasons. As someone who believes in absolute liberty of religion and expression, I think it is great that people seek out alternative views about the universe other than the ones provided by powerful institutions such as Christianity, Catholicism and Islam. For personal spirituality (and liberty), anything is acceptable as long as you don't cause harm to yourself or others.
In conclusion, I enjoyed reading Witchcraft from a purely historical perspective. I do not encourage anyone to actually try out what is described in the book. Especially the spells that involve killing animals or gathering their body parts. There are probably many occultism books and grimoires that offer better philosophies and rituals that align with better values. Other than that I don't regret reading this as it taught me a little about the cultures and history surrounding witchcraft around the world.
monakabbani's review against another edition
Rituals that require some form of animal cruelty can definitely be replaced with representations - anything not harmful. Overall, I can’t really rate a spell book but I enjoyed the dive.
a_h_haga's review against another edition
3.0
I bought this book mainly for the list of omens and symbols in the back, but I thought I would give the whole book a look, now that I owned it anyway.
I was a little afraid it would be heavy on the Wicca front, but it wasn't. Instead, the little talk about where magic came from was interesting and down-to-earth. I actually agree with some of it. Like how what was counted as magic before is known as science today, so why can't it be the same for what we call magic today? There's still much for us to discover, after all.
To be honest, I skimmed the main part of the book, which is spells. There are pages upon pages of spells and potions from around the world. There is no comment on what's right or wrong or how to use the spells - other than what they were originally thought to be - which was refreshing. The author leaves all that up to the reader.
Some of the spells made me laugh, some I want to try, and others didn't quite work for me. So what one would expect from a book of spells from around the world and with different purpouses.
Also, the book look beautiful!
I was a little afraid it would be heavy on the Wicca front, but it wasn't. Instead, the little talk about where magic came from was interesting and down-to-earth. I actually agree with some of it. Like how what was counted as magic before is known as science today, so why can't it be the same for what we call magic today? There's still much for us to discover, after all.
To be honest, I skimmed the main part of the book, which is spells. There are pages upon pages of spells and potions from around the world. There is no comment on what's right or wrong or how to use the spells - other than what they were originally thought to be - which was refreshing. The author leaves all that up to the reader.
Some of the spells made me laugh, some I want to try, and others didn't quite work for me. So what one would expect from a book of spells from around the world and with different purpouses.
Also, the book look beautiful!