Previously published in Australia as The Coven: Making Magick Together (Random House, 2003), this version has been slightly updated and has some new information i (specifically, "Share the Love" and the Tri Johns’ Appendix “The Elements of Me” are the big differences).
Overall, this book veers between talking about the basics (the Witches Pyramid, Can someone else use my athame?, raising power. . . ) and intermediate-to-advanced stuff (Checklist for Coven Meeting Structure, Astral travel. . .) While this isn’t a book to love (having written my own ‘how to’ books, she wasn’t telling me anything new, nor do I think she did as good a job as I did <grin>) I certainly didn’t dislike anything major. (Horne is just a little on the name-dropper side, which gets a tad tedious.)
A review of Witchcraft basics progresses to tips for finding other practitioners (there is even a spell you can try). The book continues, helping the reader establish a loose coven structure, suggested tools, circle format, as well as officially establishing/dedicating the coven. The second half of this guide reads like a coven workbook with info on group mediations, celebration suggestions, spells, rituals and more.
At the beginning Fiona states, "I have tailored this book to specifically encourage you to break out and do it your way. There are other books that generously spell out traditional coven structuring and practices, but I wanted this book to document and illustrate a more fluid and intuitive approach to covencrafting (pg. 7).” She succeeds, and well.
Recommended.
~review by Lisa Mc Sherry
Author: Fiona Horne
Llewellyn Publications, 2007
pp. 232, $14.95
