A Witch's Notebook: Lessons in Witchcraft

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I’ll start right off by saying that I have not been a fan of Ms. RavenWolf for a long time now. I truly enjoyed a few of her early books (Silver Broomstick and Magick Cauldron, to be specific), but since then its been dreadful. I didn’t expect to change my mind when I read the introduction to Witch’s Notebook and discovered that what I would get was a rehashing of her journey from neophyte to expert.

I was wrong.

A Witch’s Notebook is delightful. If nothing else, it reads like her early books – no pretension and an honest desire to share what she has learned in a conversational style that invites discussion (rather than lectures). I may not be an expert, but it is rare for me to find truly new information in most of the current books about witchcraft. Here I found a glorious bunch of little gems. Some were just perspective, others literally were new pieces of data to file away into my store (jackdaw style, a trait of the eclectic witch).

A major flaw is that there are only five sections, and the fifth (A Witch’s Herbal) is only another list of herbs and their (magickal) uses. Frankly, Cunningham did it better and more comprehensively. And this section is nearly a third of the book – which feels like a ripoff.

So, I recommend you get this book if you have cash to spare, but it is not vital to the average witch’s bookshelf.

~review by Lisa Mc Sherry

Author:  Silver RavenWolf

Llewellyn Publications, 2005

pp. 264, $12.95

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