Witchcraft Authors to Avoid
So one of the most often thing I get asked is “why do you hate this author” so I decided to make a post about all the bad occult and witchcraft authors out there and why I dislike them.
Also remember folks, just because someone is published it does not mean they are intelligent, know a lot about the subject, or that it is a good book. Kim Kardashian has entire book of selfies for fucks sake.
D.J. Conway - Her book on Norse magick don’t even mention seiðr, its just neo-pagan and neo-wiccan rites with norse deities names in it. Conway is famous for her book on dragon magick, yet from what I can tell, she leaves out all the info of living traditions of dragons; people still worship dragons, dragons are still religious entities in parts of the world. I could go on and on about how her books are full of blatant misinfo and ignore the actual traditions she claims to write about. Besides the crap content of her books DJ Conway makes it very obvious that she has a deep hatred of men, she talks about trying out spells on shitty men, talks about her first marriage and how much of a “living hell” it was, and also how controlling her mother was. Do you really want to read that in a book about witchcraft?
Silver Ravenwolf- Do I have to even say anything about Ravenwolf? Like…do I really, y’all should know better by now
Raymond Buckland - I don’t even use his actual name when I refer to him. Cuckland created the Seax-Wica tradition because when his wife wanted a divorce he got upset and asked Gardner to kick her out of the Gardnian tradition, and when Gardner didn’t Cuckland got butt hurt and left. Cuckland makes claims that have absolutely no historical evidence and presents them as facts. Cuckland also spilled initiatory secrets of Wicca after he got butt hurt and left, uses the g-slur against the Romani people, is a very avid curse shamer.
Douglas Monroe: His books are FILLED with historical inaccuracies,for example he claims that druids are from Atlantis, mixes up deities very frequently. He claimed a pumpkin is a sacred tree (IT IS NOT). He has no botanical knowledge, yet tries to write about it, for example he has a mistletoe tincture, mistletoe is poisonous and he does not specify which type of mistletoe to use. To top it all of he is also misogynist.
Scott Cunningham - Many people love Cunningham, I already got hate in my ask box last time I bashed Cunningham. Cunningham presents a lot of outdated information such as incorrect correspondences for herbs and crystals, but he is dead, so he can not help that. But, Cunningham’s work also contributed substantially to the dilution and degradation of Craft tradition (both Wiccan and other) which lead to many problems in traditional initiatory practices of Wicca. There are also historical inaccuracy in his works, mostly because he is dead and now outdated. More (X)
Judika Illes - Has a whole shit ton Cultural appropriation in their books, particular towards hoodoo and African Diasporic Traditions. She is also an avid fan and support of Slither Rasinwood (silver raven wolf)
E.A. Koetting- He knows how to get a reader’s attention but the information presented in his books is absolute bullshit. He rips off Order of the Nine Angles. He clearly cares more about money than the quality of his books and work, his motto is literally “Become a living God”. Claims he is at war with Haitian Vodou Houngans on his YouTube channel. He is commonly referred to as “the silver Ravenwolf of the Left-Hand Path community”
Dante (Andrew Pike)- Calls himself a necromancer but is mainly a showman. Dances around graveyards next to Halloween props. A lot of historical misinformation, he also presents historically inaccurate practices.
E. A. Wallis Budge- good jumping off point for Kemetism but he is outdated with a lot of his translations and works, so it is now historically inaccurate.
Oberon Zell Ravenheart- If you are looking for a historically accurate practice, then do not read Ravenheart’s work. He formed the “Church of All Worlds” which is based on Robert Heinlein’s science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land. If you are into that pop-culture stuff then go ahead and look into that, but I thought it would important to know that before you jump into his work. He also claims to have raised unicorns and swam with mermaids…so keep that in mind as well.
Catherine Yronwode - Literally one of the worst people. Not only is she in charge of lucky mojo; (which any black rootworker will rant about as she is claims to be a “white rootworker” and has a “better then you” attitude toward any POC) she also who sells faulty spells and false ingredients, she is also a bully to LGBTQIA+ youth, and a rampant racist.
You an find more drama with her here (X and X)
So, you are probably wondering who the hell would publish these authors and the answer is Llewellyn worldwide. Not all of these people are published by Llewellyn worldwide, but a majority of them are. This is why I frequently tell people to avoid books published by Llewellyn worldwide
Bree Landwalker has a similar post, some of the authors included here on this list are also in their post. You can find that post here
