#chapter: books

[cottageshadowwitch]

As disappointed as I was by my last read as hopefull am I by the current book.

The beginning, at least, is very promising. Witchcraft presented as having

"no central authority, no sacred texts, ans no agreed-upon consensus, your craft can and should be highly personalized." (page 6, Witchcraft for Everyone: A no-nonsense guide and to creating your own magical practice)

There's also the little note on the next page stating

"the influence of Wiccan authors on modern witchcraft cannot be overstated".

Here's to hoping it will be a good book for my practice.

[cottageshadowwitch]

It's been ages since I last sat down to read a book on witchcraft. But I finally did so and one of the first things this book tells me is

"In Neopagan times, witches were Priestesses who served the Triple Goddess of the Moon, the Earth, and childbirth. Representing the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone, or the three stages of the female life cycle[...]" (The Witchy Way in 21 Days, kindle pos. 71).

I mean, come on. Why?! I really need to ignore everything that is pissing me off and hope to find at least a little bit of worth for my own practice. Don't know how successful that'll be though.

[cottageshadowwitch]

Reading an excerpt from a book about Knot Magic which tells you you have to "take the Witches' Oath" before performing any of the spells.

Which is wrong on so many levels I don't even know where to start.

[cottageshadowwitch]

Blame determines who is at fault for something, responsibility determines who is committed to improving things.

- Hal Elrod, The Miracle Morning

[cottageshadowwitch]

Book Review: Becoming the Witch by Danae Moon Thorp

Oh fuck no. I seriously hope no beginner witch picks this one up and no experienced witch who isn't wiccan wastes their money on it

Among the top issues I had with this book - and I started skim reading because I just couldn't deal with it anymore - are:

picking gods from all over and using them as an ingredient

"There is no doctrine invovled, no one tells you what to believe in" (kindle pos. 98) vs. "The moon is the high priestess of the night sky, the witch's Goddess, your Goddess." (kindle pos. 236)

forcing the belief of the Triple Goddess onto the gods of different pantheons

FUCKING OSTARA as a god and being possible Astarte AND Ishtar

telling people to salt the earth for rituals more than once

Do I need to say more?

Disclaimer: I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[cottageshadowwitch]

I've requested a few books that are or might be related to my practice thinking I won't be getting them all.

Turns out I did. Oops?

So my reading material is set for next month and very, very possible the month after at well. At least.

So expect more critical reviews from me soon-ish. (Weave the Liminal might have to wait a bit though since that one isn't an ARC).

[cottageshadowwitch]

Review: Magick from the Mat: Using Yoga to Enhance Your Witchcraft by Casey Giovinco

Well... I enjoy the foreword more than the actual book which is kinda sad tbh.

I didn't not enjoy Magick From The Mat but I didn't enjoy it either. I don't know I was just so very hyped from the foreword and then quickly losed that excitement.

I'm practicing Yoga longer than I practice magic and I haven't incorporated one into the other. There had been some grounding through Yoga but more or less in the mundane sense of it. So I was and still am very interested in how to combine those two practices at times.

The book gives some ideas on how to use Yoga to raise energy for magical workings so that was interesting enough.

There is also a lot of talk about Crowley and his writings about Yoga which... disappointed me. It fits into the "magick" spelling of the title though.

What I really didn't like was the sexism and trans*phobia. Fits into Crowley, again. I'm also on the fence about incorporating sacred texts of Hinduism into a witchy practice. But I need (at least) one actual review of a person practicing Hinduism to be sure about that.

At least there are sources cited?

Disclaimer: I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.