BOOK REVIEW - West Country Witchcraft
Mike
© 2007 Green Magic ISBN: 978-0-9552908-2-4 97 pages
Paperback $15.95 (U.S.)
This is one of those unique little books which tend to get overlooked
here in the U.S. It is a short book, on a highly restricted part of
Britain, and lays no claim to be being anything but the authors’
personal perceptions. It is in no way, shape, or form a scholarly
work. Nor will it teach you any “secrets”. It will educate you and
probably amuse you, and those are good enough reasons (at least for
me, anyhow) to recommend that you pick up a copy. I’ve been meaning
to do so since it was published, and finally got around to doing so.
It is filled with amusing anecdotes and interesting tidbits of
information which I have never encountered before in over 40 years of
reading books related to Witchcraft and that is, in my opinion,
moderately amazing. If there were no other reason that would be
enough for me to recommend it. But there is more. There are some
recipes included for ointments, charms and spells and, even better, a
listing and description of sites associated with magic in the region,
many of which are unknown (or lesser-known) to the average reader.
Although this is a thoroughly enjoyable book, there are a few
shortcomings which may be distracting for the reader. One of these is
an apparent lack of organization. I say apparent because it may
simp0ly be a result of the book having two authors with each author
contributing information, and not combining those contributions. As
an example, in the section dealing with Talismans, Amulets and Lucky
Charms definitions are provided for each of these items and then, with
no indication that you are moving from the definitions, separate
paragraphs appear for each item which cold have easily been integrated
into the preceding definition section. It seems (to me) it would have
been a better option.
There are also more than a few awkward sentence structures but (again
in my opinion) these merely add to the charm of the book, and make it
feel more like a friendly chat over a warm cup of tea, and not like a
lecture.
Is this a great book? I would have to say, not really. But it is
enjoyable and informative. I definitely recommend to one and all.
You don’t have to be a Witch (or even a neo-Pagan) to enjoy it…so do
so.
Evergreen
> West Country Witchcraft by Gillian Macdonald & Jessica Penberth
>=A9 2007 Green Magic ISBN: 978-0-9552908-2-4 97 pages Paperback
>$15.95 (U.S.)
>
> This is one of those unique little books which tend to get
> overlooked here in the U.S. It is a short book, on a highly
> restricted part of Britain, and lays no claim to be being
> anything but the authors=92 personal perceptions. It is in no
> way, shape, or form a scholarly work. Nor will it teach you
> any =93secrets=94. It will educate you and probably amuse you,
> and those are good enough reasons (at least for me, anyhow) to
> recommend that you pick up a copy. I=92ve been meaning to do so
> all. You don=92t have to be a Witch (or even a neo-Pagan) to
> enjoy it=85so do so.
Another book on useless psuedo-magick that doesn't work outside
of fantasy novels from good ol' Mike.
No, I am not being unfair. These 'neo-pagan' authors get their
information from exactly the same sources that the fantasy
writers use.
Sid
--
Sidney Lambe
Wiccan Priest and Apprentice Magician
http://tinyurl.com/7vs9zb
usenet4444 (at) gmail (dot) com