Wicca: A Modern Guide to Witchcraft and Magick

A new book primarily aimed at teens and college-aged women, Harmony Nice is a popular YouTube and Instagram creator with a charming and natural style. Wicca: A Modern Guide to Witchcraft and Magick is basic but also personal, friendly, self-aware, and informative. Modern Wicca is presented primarily as a way of connecting to nature in a fast-moving world. There is a lot of self-care presented, and a frank discussion of using magic to assist with mental health issues like depression.

Ms. Nice is interested in empowering young women (men are not under fire, just  . . . ignored) and that is a major positive for me. As a relative newcomer to witchcraft, Nice is someone the reader can feel like they are growing with, moving along a similar journey of exploration and discovery.

That said, the founder of Wicca wouldn't recognize much of what Ms. Nice presents: this is a book about one person's eclectic witchcraft rather than the specific Tradition. Nice's view of the history of Wicca has lots of errors, which even basic research would have uncovered. I don't usually notice editing issues, but the ones here were obvious and I have to call them out; her editor did not do a good job at all.

Overall, I liked this book although it wouldn't be my first recommendation. I hope Ms. Nice produces more, her empowerment of the next generation is refreshing. But I will understand if she sticks with teaching others through visual mediums.

~review by Lisa Mc Sherry

Author: Harmony Nice
Seal Press, 2018
pp. 230, $20