Rating:  Summary: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Review: Why is she still able to sell this crap!
Rating:  Summary: Wiccan Bible Review: I would recommend this book to every one. From beginners to advanced, everyone should have this book because it is a wonderful reference book. This will probably be the most used book in my house. It has everything from spells, tarot cards, runes, holiday information, and just about every single thing that a wiccan needs to know. This book is well worth the price. I recommend that you buy it. Just look how many pages it has! This book is worth the price you will pay for it.
Rating:  Summary: Why is she still allowed to write books Review: I don't understand why Silver RavenWolf is so popular. She is a horrible writer. You have to be an idiot to get anything out of it. That's all that really needs to be said. STOP WRITING SILVER!!
Rating:  Summary: Silver does it again!!! Review: Silver Ravenwolf is one of my favorite authors and teachers of Witchcraft! Ravenwolf proves/shares her vast knowledge of the various traditions and/or paths in this new and incredibly wonderful tomb of a book!Full of great information and tools, and nicely broken down with side tabs, this book will be a resource that you will use over and over again! Highly recommended for neophyte to crone.....this is one book that should be in every witch's library!
Rating:  Summary: SILVER AT HER FINEST!! Review: For the new or practicing Witch, this book is filled with ideas and extremely useful information. It also gives reference to other books if you are seeking more detailed information as everything in the world cannot be packed into one (although it IS large!) book. I believe Silver RavenWolf to be a woman ahead of the times. She is practical, down-to-earth, and is responsible for much of the Wiccan movement of today. She is no fluff bunny, and the book is not meant just for teenagers. If you are a true seeker, you will use this book and her recommendations of other books. Do yourself a favor and buy this book immediately! I have learned more in the past few weeks than I have from many of the more well-known books that have been around for years. Silver is a delight, and I have all of her books. However, I find the Solitary Witch to be her finest work yet. I highly recommend it for all! Blessed Be!
Rating:  Summary: Not Too Bad But Not The Best Review: Like several other reviewers here, I thought "wow, this is a BIG book so it must contain lots of stuff!" Well, yes and no. It IS big and it DOES contain lots of stuff but not necessarily lots of USEFUL stuff. I have read several other of Silver's books and must say that she is not my favorite pagan author. She can be confusing and is obviously out to look "cool" and make a buck but she is amusing and sometimes informative. This time, however, it looks like she bit off a bit more than she could chew. My first complaint is the format; it is very confusing and skips around far too much. I agree with others that this should not be your 1st book on Wicca. She writes as though she were reviewing techniques and concepts that she has already explained -- apparently elsewhere. Even the basics like casting a circle aren't very well explained. And while you're reading along, suddenly you stumble over a bit that someone else has written concerning "other" types of magick (such as hoo-doo) that really don't add to the part you were reading and, in fact, are often inaccurate. My other complaint is that this book is obviously written for the teenager. I am not a teenager. I therefore did not buy (or read) her books on teenage witches. I resent having purchased a book under what I consider false pretenses -- i.e. that this book was for an adult, solitary witch. I do not need help with my homework, with acne or with peer pressure. Most of the spells she gives are geared for these kinds of things and that irritated me a lot. I would've thought she more than covered these things in her other teenage-geared books but apparently she feels these things are also of concern for the adult witch. Sorry, Silver, they aren't. Granted, teenagers are more easily manipulated to a particular viewpoint than adults (most adults anyway) so I would predict that those books sell better. But why insult the adults with a supposed "ultimate book of shadows" that is really geared to kids? On the plus side, she is an amusing author -- even if she doesn't have the grounding in quantum mechanics that she'd like us to believe. There is some helpful information in this book, but you'll have to dig for it. I'd recommend Scott Cunningham's books instead if you are serious about the Craft.
Rating:  Summary: Not ideal by a longshot Review: Solitary Witch is a collection of information, some good, some bad, spliced together with Silver Ravenwolf's quick-fix low theology Wicca lite. I gave it two stars, instead of one, because it shows that perhaps Ravenwolf has been listening to her community. She still gets many things wrong-NOT ALL WITCHES ARE WICCAN, for example, but she seems to be trying. I would recommend anything by Cunningham, Buckland or Dunwich above this book, but if you are a teen who, for whatever reason, feels you need a dumbed down teen book, this is heads and tails over "Teen Witch" for quality. That being said, I feel the target age for this book is about 11-12, and I'm not sure it's appropriate for that age. As a mother of teens, if I gave it to my girls, they'd be offended. That, with all the other problems with Ravenwolf makes this a good book to pass over. Kids don't need Wicca dumbed down or misrepresented, they are just as capable of reading Cunningham as any of us old farts.
Rating:  Summary: Ravenwolf Speaks for All Review: I am a bit disheartened by the last few reviews of Ravenwolf's newest book. Constructive criticism is one thing but to write an entire section blaming the author is another. I am a avid Pagan reader and I find her work to be informative and yet at the same time very helpful in remebering the basics(which is the foundation of others magicks. sSe speaks to a younger audience which is apparent in her titles...Teen Witch, New Generation, terms like this are in reference to a younger generation of Witches. She wants a no fuss, no muss approach by laying it all out and encouraging and even at times enticing us to know more. Ravenwolf's work may at time seem to be repetitve with the pages on circle casting, grounding and centering etc but the book is geared towards the basics.(The important things we should not forget to do when we get caught up with all the directions and guidleines to rituals) This book was a great read. Her humour and style comes across marvelously through the pages of her work(she even had me laughing to myself a few times!) Although I understand that there are many levels to being a Witch and many levels for magickal practice, we should never be without humour and the ability to make it fun and inviting for others. I think part of the reason why so many people are afraid of Witchcraft is that they hear about complicated rituals with strict rules and guidelines. That could easily scare them off, or even hinder new practicioners. Ravenwolf encourages readers to make the craft their own and explore it further.(she does list other books to read for further information doesn't she?) I think this is probably one of her best books and I am going to recommend it to mid-learners and adults alike. You can never have too much Silver in your life!
Rating:  Summary: all in one book Review: I like silver, being new to the craft her books have helped me out. But like some others i do agree it is a little repetative, but there is more new stuff than old stuff. I like it all being in one big book, no need to shuffle dozens around to look for something. It is geared towards teens and "newbies" but thats ok because its easy to understand. It also, while giving me the info i was looking for, opened my eyes to things i never would have discovered an interest in.
Rating:  Summary: (3.5 stars) Something for everyone Review: I'm not RavenWolf's biggest fan, but this book is pretty good. I agree with the reviewer below who says this shouldn't be your first book. It would indeed be confusing if you had no background in the Craft, since it's not written in a narrative, read-from-beginning-to-end style. It's more like an encyclopedia or cookbook, and jumps from topic to topic with little fanfare or segue. This works pretty well, since if you're a beginner you can find fairly basic stuff easily, and if you've been around a while you can skip ahead to the new stuff. This book contains such things as extensive correspondence tables, spells and chants (well-written, poetry-wise), and advice on various sorts of situations. I was personally pleased to see a section on the Moon Mansions, since they're a particular fascination of mine, and there's not much information about them readily available. I think that's what most people will get from this book--a few treasures that happen to be what they were looking for. Like I mentioned in the title of my review, there's something for everyone. I will concur with other reviewers--this book is mostly written for the teen witch. You don't have to be a teen to read it, but RavenWolf touches on a lot of subjects that are of concern to teens, and helps them find a sense of personal empowerment. She's been criticized for talking down to teens, but I didn't really sense that in this particular book. She's also been criticized for encouraging teens to question authority, but as she says, there are adults out there who don't have teens' best interests at heart! Abusive parents and teachers, sad to say, are out there, and to exhort teens to blindly accept whatever they say is more condescending than RavenWolf's books. And even a teen whose parents and teachers are caring is going through a time when it's natural to question authority. It's part of the process of growing up and forming one's own opinions. Yes, adults can legally control teens' actions, but I don't believe that a teen has to eradicate even rebellious *thoughts* from her/his mind. (This is in response to criticism of RavenWolf's earlier books--she was blasted for saying a teen could be Pagan even if his or her parents disapproved.) I do have two gripes: (1) She criticizes the village "cunning folk" of the past for using the practices of witchcraft without the religion, and even implies that they brought on the witch persecutions. This is not true. These "cunning folk" lived in a time when there was little surviving pagan lore or belief, and of course they would have used only fragments of the old religion, if they used any pagan lore at all. And the witch persecutions were not about paganism, they were about politics and money. The people who were killed were not killed for being pagan, they were killed for being unpopular. (2) A less serious issue, but still irked me--Acne is *not* caused by being dirty! RavenWolf implies that teens who have acne probably have it because they are too lazy to wash their faces. In fact, acne is usually caused by hormonal imbalances, especially an excess of testosterone. Who do you think steroid users break out? And why do girls break out during PMS? Testosterone levels are out of whack. If a teenager who washes her face twice a day but still has zits reads _Solitary Witch_, she may come to believe she's not clean enough--and over-washing the face can actually irritate it and lead to more blemishes.
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