Book Title and Author: The Crooked Path: An Introduction to Traditional Witchcraft by Kelden
Status?: Finished
My overall rating of the book: 9/10
How does this book relate to my magickal practice?: As I began doing more reading and exploring of my path with paganism and witchcraft, I feel like a lot of books repeat the same information and tend to have a Wicca-leaning stance. There’s nothing wrong with things that lean toward the Wicca end of the spectrum, but Wicca itself doesn’t really resonate with me, nor do things that lean more toward high/ceremonial magick. The past few months, it’s been hard to find inspiration to be spiritually active like I want to be, and the thought of reading another book on Wicca or that just repeats the same information was honestly a turn-off.
I remembered that I had read The Crooked Path a while back and that it spoke to me at that time, so I decided to reread it. I’m so glad I did! It was exactly what I needed to reignite my spiritual fire, and I’m more excited than ever to continue on my spiritual path.
My personal thoughts/opinions: As I’ve already said, I’m tired of reading essentially the same book in a different cover with a different name on the front. Although this book wasn’t entirely novel in its contents, it was a breath of fresh air to read. It’s hard to explain, but the way Kelden writes, information is approachable by a novice but also allows more experienced Witches to be able to glean something new.
That being said, I personally wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book for a complete beginner to Witchcraft/Wicca without the aid of other books/resources While it briefly touches on the theory behind magickal practices and materia magica that goes into workings, I feel like it could go a bit deeper than it does. The complete novice may like to have other texts for some of the chapters. For example, I would recommend Scott Cunningham’s Earth Power and Earth, Air, Fire & Water to provide more information to go along with The Crooked Path’s “Part IV: Working with the Natural Landscape”. (But then again, I might be biased in this desire for more information because when I learn about something, I like to learn 
D E T A I L S about it…)
An interesting quote from the book: There are so many great quotes from this book that it was difficult to pick just one, but I decided on the following from the final section, “A Witch’s Farewell” (page 203) because they sum up the overall theme/message of the book:
- “Traditional Witchcraft should be a personal experience, infused with the traditions and folklore of your ancestors and the magical virtues of your natural landscape.”
- “There is no right or wrong way to practice Traditional Witchcraft, so long as it works for you.”
- “Authenticity in Traditional Witchcraft comes from having confidence in yourself, from having personal connection with the spirits, and from magic that gets results.”
All in all, would I recommend this book?: Yes!