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Rating: 
Summary: Considering the topic, not a bad try
Review: Being PA Dutch myself and having grown up with the tales of PowWow and the powers of Hex, I was very interested in this book. It is a difficult subject to research, firstly. Not much has been written about it, old timer Dutchmen tend to keep those things spoken, not written (we're talking about a culture that has a language best spoken, rather than written, lest you start fighting over proper spelling) and the new Dutchmen have distanced themselves from the old and unfortunately have made it near impossible to understand some things. So we speculate and get a book such as this. A nice attempt. Getting Dutchmen to agree on history is like getting cats to herd, easier said than done. So even speaking with old timers isn't gospel truth. My mom mentioned PowWows to me as a child, said it was strange, as religious as her mother was that in times of need or great misfortune, a trip to PowWow would be in order, though never spoken about it. She was raised Old Order Mennonite; my mom's mother did not condone ANYTHING pagan, though PowWow wasn't seen necessarily as Pagan.. ironic. What the book does do though is summarize what is a dead art and a dying power. Hex signs, whether they worked or not, were a roadside beauty to behold on many a barn. The artists work, choice of colors and design all meant something... if only to themselves. Trying to capsulize the meanings is okay, but futile as some would paint what they wanted, regardless of meaning. They were all signs of prosperity, growth, fertility, hope, love and joy.. for these were all things needed and wanted in daily life on the farm. The hex sign and the bank barn are both indigenous to PA and a dying roadside view.
Rating:
Summary: Teen Witch
Review: For people who are interested in reading about the Dutch Country Magick, this isnt' a bad book. Ravenwolf packs it with quite a bit of information,and shows many of the charms used by the Pow Wow Artists. It also shows her struggle in trying to write the book, as well as other things. Definitly a decent read if interested in Pow Wow, or desitring ot read more of Ravenwolf's books.
Rating: 
Summary: Faulty Premise
Review: One of the primary premises of this book: that the Hexcraft of the Pennsylvania Dutch originated with Witchcraft and only covered itself with Christianity in order to be accepted by the masses.
For those who know better, read instead: "Hex and Spellwork by Karl Herr.
Rating: 
Summary: It's OK, but your money is better spent elsewhere...
Review: The title of this review ought to say it all. Silver Ravenwolf (i.e., Jenine Trayer)has, in her own way, attempted to tackle the subject of Pow-Wow and hexerei. She does the practice a grave injustice with her incessant wiccanizing. "Ravenwolf" has had timerity to wiccanize such elements as the biblical Psalms and traditional Christian prayers, throwing in for good measure New Agey concepts such as chakras, etc. In spite of her having been taught by a Pow-Wow, Preston Zerbe, she displays little respect for the art. For those who don't have their heads in the sand, it is a well know fact that the wiccan religion (as practiced today) is a mere 50 or 60 years old (and that's being generous). Through out the text Trayer makes stellar comments where she laments that Pow-Wows no longer acknowledge or utilise the "Rede" or "Law of Three". These are thoroughly modern concepts only found in wicca. Within the book she attempts to show Pow-Wow as merely a Christian cover for American witchcraft. Now, hexerei is witchcraft. Witchcraft is a practice, not a religion. As a practice, it can be worked within any religious context. However, Trayer wants everyone to believe that Pow-Wow is "actually" a bastardized form of Wicca (which she obviously believes predates Pow-Wow and other traditional magical practices). While witchcraft can be worked within any religious context, Trayer does Pow-Wow a disservice by trying to make it so generic that it will fit anyone's fancy or fantasy, thereby removing it from its cultural roots. "In the name of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost" is 'corrected' by Trayer as "In the names of Maiden, Mother and Crone". Prayers to Isis find their way in the text, too. New Age wiccan writers such as Trayer are jeopardizing the survival of true traditional witchcraft practices such as hexerei with their lousy 'scholarship' and historical revisionism. Witchcraft is, indeed, pre-Christian in the sense that *every* art of civilization predates Christ. Witchcraft is as much a skill or art as fire-making, cooking, blacksmithing, basket-weaving, etc. Just because house building, for example, predates the advent of Jesus doesn't make it a "pagan" craft. Thowing out, minimizing, or tokenizing the Christianity within Pow-Wow subtracts form the cultural organic whole of the practice instead of adding to it. Llewellyn Publications and its authors are quite guilty of this manner of cultural rape. It's too bad there can't be laws against this manner of reprehensible 'scholarship' and its publishers. For a truely decent book on Pow-Wow see Karl Herr's book *Hex and Spellwork*. Also, get a copy of Lee Gandee's *Strange Experience: an autobiography of a hexenmeister*. These texts, plus the traditional Pow-Wow books *Long Lost Friend*, *Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses*, and *Albertus Magnus Egyptian Secrets* are invaluable to the study.
Rating:
Summary: tipical ravenwolf
Review: This is yet another bookby Llewellyn which rehashes the same gunk that the others do, this time it is explained in terms of the pow wow practice. Wiccans like revenwolf seem to think that any practice dealing with any kind of herbal medicines or folk tradition is wiccan...ITS NOT!!!!....Wicca is a neo modern religion with absolutely NO roots what so ever except that it claims to stem from old religion. If you are looking for pow wow practice read "the Long Lost Friend"....If you want witchcraft, not wicca, but witchcraft which is entirely different, I suggest Mastering Witchcraft by Paul Huson.
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