Magical Hearth: Home for the Modern Pagan

Rating:
Summary: Endearing but also small and shallow
Review: This book does have a friendly, earthy tone. You could be listening to a mild-mannered neighbor over a cup of chamomile tea. Nothing in this gentle book is offensive. It's just too small a view, and too shallow.

It gives a personal view of Wicca without providing an overview or much spellcraft. Beginners will have to look elsewhere for a solid introduction. Yet advanced witches don't get much either: a few short lists on herbs and stones. A goofy description of the Morrigan, a Celtic battle goddess, as an earth mother.

I held out hope that this book would have value as a personal memoir. I always want anecdotes about practicing paganism in the modern, often intolerant world. But there were no personal stories -- just a general essay on hearth and home.

Rating:
Summary: Endearing but also small and shallow
Review: This book does have a friendly, earthy tone. You could be listening to a mild-mannered neighbor over a cup of chamomile tea. Nothing in this gentle book is offensive. It's just too small a view, and too shallow.

It gives a personal view of Wicca without providing an overview or much spellcraft. Beginners will have to look elsewhere for a solid introduction. Yet advanced witches don't get much either: a few short lists on herbs and stones. A goofy description of the Morrigan, a Celtic battle goddess, as an earth mother.

I held out hope that this book would have value as a personal memoir. I always want anecdotes about practicing paganism in the modern, often intolerant world. But there were no personal stories -- just a general essay on hearth and home.

Rating:
Summary: There are better basic books out there ...
Review: This doesn't offer very much: little or no spells, no real personal examples, not much of a basic overview. Scott Cunningham's Wicca, A Guide For the Solitary Practitioner has all this and a lot more.

Rating:
Summary: Reassuring look at a Witch life beyond the circle.
Review: This is a charming, refreshing book that isn't a 'how to'-it's more of a 'how I do it.' As a previous review states, this is a book for someone who is already walking their Path, and wants to know what life as a pagan or Wiccan is like outside the circle. I recommend both of Janet Thompson's books (Of Witches is her other title) to anyone seeking to bring the Goddess and God into his or her daily life. Read, and be reassured that you can do it, too.

Rating:
Summary: Reassuring look at a Witch life beyond the circle.
Review: This is a charming, refreshing book that isn't a 'how to'-it's more of a 'how I do it.' As a previous review states, this is a book for someone who is already walking their Path, and wants to know what life as a pagan or Wiccan is like outside the circle. I recommend both of Janet Thompson's books (Of Witches is her other title) to anyone seeking to bring the Goddess and God into his or her daily life. Read, and be reassured that you can do it, too.