Witchy Book Reviews! Spells8 Book Club Reviews Masterlist - Sessions I ~ XXV

[Susurrus]

Book Title and Author: The Complete Guide To Astrology - Louise Edington

Status? : Finished

My overall rating of the book : 8/10

How does this book relate to my magickal practice?: I work with astrology & it’s a significant part of my practice

My personal thoughts/opinions: I agree with @Francisco, it’s not for a complete beginner & to have your birth chart handy while going through it. Illustrations or diagrams would be very helpful, especially when discussing the decans of the signs. (Decans are the subdivisions in 10 degreee increments of each of the 12 signs).

An interesting quote from the book: "The Sun is your core, the Moon is your soul, & the ascendant is your persona "

All in all, would I recommend this book?: Yes

Since I won’t retain everything & I will probably use this as a reference point when I work with Astrology I am going to hold onto the book. The more detailed aspects I still don’t completely get, so it will be helpful when I go through updates to my chart or someone that I have done it for in my family.

[Rowan]

Book Title and Author: Complete Guide to Astrology-Louise Edington
Status?:Finished
My overall rating of the book: 7/10
How does this book relate to my magickal practice?: Astrology is an interesting part of my craft, and I hope to gain more knowledge about it.
My personal thoughts/opinions: Being not very knowledgeable in Astrology, this book was a bit overwhelming and I had to read and re-read a lot of the chapters. I think I jumped into the deep end of the pool without knowing how deep it really was.
An interesting quote from the book: “All the energies intertwine in an intricate dance of planetary magic and science, and the language of astrology interprets that dance.”
Edington, Louise . The Complete Guide to Astrology: Understanding Yourself, Your Signs, and Your Birth Chart (p. 4). Rockridge Press. Kindle Edition.

All in all, would I recommend this book?: Yes I would recommend it, but only to someone with a bit of knowledge about Astrology, not to a beginner.

[NickWick]

Hello ,

So I have read and enjoyed this book that I have chose for the Spells8 Book Club VII. This were my findings:

Book - Magic Made Easy
Author - Patricia Telesco
Status - Finished
Overall rating - 10/10
Personal Thoughts and Opinions I found this book to be very beneficial and full of information relating to magic, spells and chants. The book contains of rules, guidelines, principles and tips for successful magic. The information was very informative and easy to follow. I shared a little of what I read about magic made easy below

These tips and rules really help me to more understand magic💫

How does this book relate to my magical practices? - since spells and chants are part of witches life this book helps to strengthen my knowledge on spells that is related to the craft. By realigning this book it has also assisted me in strengthening my path as a witch.

Would I recommend this book to others ? Yes I would, since this book is suited for any type of witch or person interested in the craft. In this book there is also different types of magic, like numbers, knot, color and puppet magic to name a few. It has guidelines and is suitable for a person who has no experience in the craft. Overall it has a little of everything.

Blessed Be💫

[BryWisteria]

Just a quick note that any reviews that were already shared across the various threads for this month’s Book Session (the main thread and the two threads for books that had multiple readers) have now been gathered here!

This is to help keep the forum tidy by collecting all reviews in one place- and it makes it easier for anyone searching for book reviews to read!

Thanks again to everyone who has shared a review so far- I’m looking forward to reading them!

[IrisW]

I’ve quite finished but hoping to complete the book over the weekend so I’ll post my review when I’ve finished. I have though really enjoyed this book so far

[Sarafeena_Sage]

Book Title and Author: Reiki for Beginners
By: Adya Acharya
Narrated By: Jennifer Pineda

Status? : Finished

My overall rating of the book : 10/10

How does this book relate to my magickal practice?:
This book helped me understand more about the craft. How it works and how you can tie things in with others, like crystals and Reiki go well with each other and the Chakra and meditating is a big part of Reiki. I learned about something I knew nothing about before.

My personal thoughts/opinions:
I got really excited about this book after the first chapter. It answered some questions about Jesus that I had been seeking all my life! So the history part of this book was great for me. I like the thought of Reiki healing. I have found a place that does it local. I am going to get an alignment. I’m not sure if its ‘my thing’ yet. Going to try it out. I’ll share my experience when I do. @Magdelina you are very lucky your husband can do Reiki, That is soooo awesome!

An interesting quote from the book:
" Cats are particularily aware of Reiki energy but they have an attitude about it. They feel that cats invented it and they want to keep it."

All in all, would I recommend this book?:
Yes. Even if your not interested in the healing or getting certified for Reiki this book is still worth listening to (audible) or reading. It has interesting history information and a few neat stories about people in history and modern bio histories too! The narrator has a pleasant voice.

[Magdelina]

Book Title and Author: Reiki for beginners/Adya Acharya

Status? : Finished / Still Reading Finished

My overall rating of the book : ???/10 10/10

How does this book relate to my magickal practice?: I wanted to learn how to charge my selenite pendants with healing Reiki energy or general Reiki energy without draining my own energy reserves will doing so. This was the easiest for me way to learn how to do that since my hubby is a Reiki Master and can give me the proper attunements.

My personal thoughts are that the information given is good for a starting point but it is more a historical account than an actual reference into how to truly do it properly. I am sure the physical copy would include the hand positions and each of the Reiki symbols which are to me just as important as the history of the practice.

I don’t have any interesting quotes from the book as it’s an audio book and I didn’t write any notes during the listening as I was driving while working through the book. I will listen to it again at a later date.

I would definitely recommend this book as a starting point. Taking a class is just as important to get the total experience if that is what the reader is after.

On to my next book the Intuitive Witch.
Blessed Be!

[Jeannie1]

Written Bye: Jeannie

Book Title and Author: Moon Divination for Todays Woman by Cassandra Eason

Status? Still Reading

My overall rating of the book : 7

How does this book relate to my magickal practice? During one of our challenges we were working on Astrology and Reading the Sky’s, I found this book Moon Divination for Todays Women. I Explored the Zodiac Symbols, Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, Aquarius, Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn and Pices! Also the planets The Sun, The Moon, Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupitar, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and while working on this challenge I had a little help.

My personal thoughts/opinions: I like this book; it has a day-to-day challenge to help navigate the Zodiac Wheel and the Planets. Not only that I had activities to help me navigate the Zodiac Wheel and the Planets. While working with this book I made a Moon Cloth that is symbolic for the New and Waxing Moon, & Full Moon. The Waning/ & Dark Moon. I had some hands-on experience learning using my new tools for fair game. The Moon Cloth helps divide the seasons: Autumn, Winter, Summer, and Spring. I also made individual stones to represent the Planets so you can use the stones for casting.

**Cassandra goes into scenarios for readings for people and she helps them to understand how one would do an interpretation. For example meg’s reading for Mercury is the stone for communication and Megs hearing disability obviously puts obstacles in the path of clear communication. It is a sad fact that any form of disability tends to be regarded as symptomatic of mental feebleness. (Take some time to find the hidden issue)

An interesting quote from the book: " "An interesting chant there was in the book

New Moon,

True Moon,

Star in the Stream

Bring Me fortune in my dream

All in all, would I recommend this book? Yes But if you don’t like older books than I would say no it was published in 1994. Personally I like older books and I don’t mind. But that is a personal preference!
Blessed Be!

[Jeannie1]

Magdelina,
Thank you dear,
I love your Reiki and I need a book for beginners!
Does it have any pictures?
Jeannie

[Francisco]

Book - The Complete Guide to Astrology
Author - Louise Edington
Status - Finished
Overall rating - 8/10

Personal Thoughts and Opinions As a student of astrology, I thought this book was perfect for my level of understanding (beginner). It didn’t go in too deep on any particular topics but it was easy to follow in its entirety. I enjoyed reading it and it brought me a lot closer to astrology and my birth chart.

As a beginner I still feel that the title is a bit deceiving since the book is not a “complete guide”, it’s really only 160 pages long and it doesn’t have many illustrations or charts. I did like the inclusivity approach of this book replacing the terms “male” and “female” for “day” and “night”. However I’m not sure if this is something that is being adopted by the broader astrology community.

How does this book relate to my magical practices? It helped my understand a bit more and interpret my natal chart and the relationships between different planets, houses and aspects in the zodiac. I liked that the author made some emphasis on the differences between the southern and northern hemispheres since I was born in the south and sometimes I feel left out when reading about astrology.

Interesting quote from the book: “Astrology is archetypal and mythic but not essentially stereotypical. The stereotypes that may have arisen have more to do with the practitioner and the patriarchal conditioning of society.”

Would I recommend this book to others - Yes.

[IrisW]

Book Title and Author: Witta: An Irish Pagan Tradition by Edain McCoy

Status? : Finished (mostly, I’m still working my way through the resources at the back at the book, but I’ve finished the main part)

My overall rating of the book : 10/10

How does this book relate to my magickal practice?: I don’t intentionally follow a Celtic tradition, I’m fairly eclectic, but my husband’s family is Irish so I was interested in learning about some of his country’s heritage, pre-dating Roman Catholicism.

My personal thoughts/opinions: I really enjoyed this book. I’ve always been somewhat of a fan of learning about religions, even if they aren’t my own. However, what I’ve gathered from this book is that Witta has a lot in common with Wicca with structure and belief systems, tools and practices, though with some fundamental differences. And given the location of Ireland, to the West of the area of persecution in what they referred to as “the burning times” a lot of those traditions have remained and survived the takeover by Catholicism in Ireland.

My take is that Witta is stripped back way to worship the Earth Mother, coming from the heart of the person practicing.

I learned an awful lot from this book about Ireland and its religious history that I hadn’t previously known, and I was able to relay some of it to my husband who was interested (he considers himself a practicing atheist, though his family are Roman Catholic). Might not mention what I’ve learnt to his family over the Christmas dinner table!

I also didn’t know bagpipes were indigenous to northern Africa long before they came to the Celts!

An interesting quote from the book: “Witta, like other forms of paganism, offers several other alternatives to the traditional patriarchal marriage. Witta will recognize two females or twom mailes who wish to be handfasted, and will even recognize the sacredness of group marriage. The only important criteria is that of love, personal commitment for the duration of the agreement and a desire to build a life together for each patner’s mutual benefit.”

All in all, would I recommend this book?: Yes

[BryWisteria]

Well done and many thanks to @Susurrus, @Rowan (x2 books! ) , @Magdelina, @Fabian, @Liisa, @NickWick, @Sarafeena_Sage, @Jeannie1, @Francisco, and @IrisW for sharing your thoughts on the books you read!

I haven’t quite had a chance to read through everyone’s reviews yet, but I’ve loved the ones I’ve gotten through so far!

These reviews make it both easy and hard to find new books to read- easy because your thoughts are so helpful, and hard because there are so many good and interesting books there are out there

Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts!

[Amethyst]

I have two books to review this time! One was great and one was, sadly not. Here we go:

Book Title and Author: Hellenic Paganism by Samantha Leaver.

Status? : Finished

My overall rating of the book : 8/10

How does this book relate to my magickal practice?: I’m hoping to learn more about the Greek religions and practices, since I’ve always been drawn to Greek Mythology.

My personal thoughts/opinions: This was a very interesting book that covers just the tip of the iceberg in Hellenistic paganism. It’s a really good start out book that has a nice list of more books and websites to study if you want to learn more. I would have liked to have learned more about correspond aces and the Greek Gods, or Theoi, but this was a good start out book.

An interesting quote from the book: “Hellenism is more about connecting with and understanding the relationship you have to the natural world, it is all about living the best life you possibly can, with virtue, rather than sin, punishment, and redemption.”

All in all, would I recommend this book?: Yes

Next book:

Book Title and Author: Midsummer Night’s Mischief by Jennifer David Hesse.

Status? : Not finished.

My overall rating of the book : 3/10

How does this book relate to my magickal practice?: It’s a fictional book so it doesn’t really relate but I’m interested in seeing if it is even semi-accurate about Wicca and paganism.

My personal thoughts/opinions: I wanted to like this book. I was excited about finding it and talked about it on the forum. I even shuffled it to the top of my reading list.

I was disappointed.

The protagonist is flighty. She’s a lawyer for wills and probates and yet she talks about her clients funds to everyone in her office. She also casts a spell without a good focus, and when she realizes that the hottie from the bar the night before is a relative of the deceased at a funeral she starts to look for him. At a funeral! That’s where I stopped. I just couldn’t anymore, and it was so disappointing. But that’s just my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

An interesting quote from the book:** Where the protagonist’s witch friend gives her a stone and says: ‘“You know what to do,” she continued. “Imbue it with your energy. Feed it your intention. And carry it with you as a reminder, a touchstone. Then let the magic happen.”’

All in all, would I recommend this book?: Sadly no.

[Magdelina]

I only have the audio book so I have no idea if it has pictures or not. I would look on Amazon to see if it did. My husband has his workbooks from his classes and he went over the hand positions (I also found them on a website) and the 4 major symbols and what they mean and are used for.
Blessed be Jeannie!

[BryWisteria]

Sorry that Midsummer Night’s Mischief wasn’t a good read, @Amethyst - a shame! It has such a fun name, and the theme seemed intriguing! At least it looks like Hellenic Paganism was a much better read- glad to hear you enjoyed that one!

[BryWisteria]

Book Title : The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination

(This book is available to the public for free as an eBook through Project Gutenberg)

[Pic from Project Gutenberg]

Author: L.W de Laurence

Status? : Still Reading

My overall rating of the book : 9/10

How does this book relate to my magickal practice?: This book explores the Tarot in-depth. It explores the common symbolism of the cards, its history, different ways of reading, and more- it’s a very thorough guide to Tarot.

My personal thoughts/opinions: This is a fantastic book for any and all tarot readers hoping to learn more about the symbolism in the cards and gain inspiration about methods of reading. It is a very in-depth guide,

Two notes: one, the book is based solely on the Rider Waite Tarot. Much of the symbolism there will be present in other decks, but readers should also consult the guide books that accompany their other (non Rider White) decks.

Two, this book is very dated (that’s why it’s available for free!) so it is to be expected that the language and terminology can be a bit dry at times. None-the-less, it is fascinating to compare the symbolism interpretations in this book with modern interpretations (through Biddy Tarot and Spells8, for example) to see what has stuck over the years and what interpretations have changed/developed over time.

An interesting quote from the book: Here’s one of the reading methods suggested:

An Ancient Celtic Method of Reading

This mode of divination is the most suitable for obtaining an answer to a definite question. The Diviner first selects a card to represent the person or matter about which inquiry is made. This card is called the Significator. Should he wish to ascertain something in connection with himself he takes the one which corresponds to his personal description…

Having selected the Significator, place it on the table, face upwards. Then shuffle and cut the rest of the pack three times, keeping the faces of the cards downwards.

The book describes each of the next cards to be drawn in detail- basically you draw eight more cards to be arranged in the following diagram

The Significator.

1. What covers him.
2. What crosses him.
3. What crowns him.
4. What is beneath him.
5. What is behind him.
6. What is before him.
7. Himself.
8. His house.
9. His hopes or fears.
10. What will come.

[From The Illustrated Key to the Tarot]

All in all, would I recommend this book?: Yes! It’s a bit of a hard read for anyone who struggles to get through a book without a story and the dated writing style makes it a bit dry, but it’s a fantastic reference book for tarot

I wasn’t able to sit down and read the entire thing, but I’ll be checking back from time to time as I continue to expand my understanding of individual cards. Well worth checking out for any and all tarot readers!

[Amethyst]

It wasn’t even the magic stuff that set my hair on fire, it was her personal stuff. Oh well, not everyone can be Robert B. Parker or Rita Mae Brown. I’ve already got my next read planned and I’m looking forward to it! Thanks for the commiseration love! Glad your book turned out well!

[BryWisteria]

Thanks, @Amethyst! And ohhh yes- sometimes adding personal stories goes well with the content of a book, but other times making a book about something else into an autobiography totally puts off the reader I’ve got my fingers crossed your next read will be more fun for you! Enjoy!

[christina4]

I love your book review!! I think I may have to buy it! Thanks for the review!!

[Rowan]

Thank you lovely,