The Real Witches' Handbook by Kate West © 2008 Llewellyn Worldwide
ISBN
0-978-0-7387-1375-5 198 pages Paperback $15.95 (U.S.)
$15.50 (Canada)
How do you react to title like this one - The Real Witches Handbook? Does
it sound pretentious to you? How dare Ms. West insinuate that hers' is
the
REAL way to do it? Actually, that isn't what she is insinuating at all.
What she is saying is that this is a book for those Witches who live in
real
world - the world with fulltime jobs, families to raise, and bills to pay;
the world where a tem****ary altar is far more likely than a permanent,
dedicated one; and the one where you don't have the luxury of spare time
and
money for elaborate rituals.
If you are looking for elaborate rituals accompanied by deeply profound
thoughts, you will likely be disappointed with this book. The rituals are
designed for the solitary practitioner who is not inclined to ceremonial
observances. They represent decades of involvement in various forms of
the
Craft, and the realization (too often lost on the newbie) that intent is
far
more im****tant than form and format. A Sabbat may be celebrated as
movingly
by a walk through the countryside as by a formal ritual.
The thoughts and wisdom expressed by Ms. West are really quite profound,
no
matter that they are homey and "common place." Far too many people today
assume that "everyone knows" certain "common sense" things, and thus fail
to
pass that information along to their students. I have lost track, over
the
decades of my Craft involvement, with the number of "aha" moments when
something has suddenly crystallized for me and a companion has said "I
thought everybody knew that." Everyone has different life experiences, so
don't hesitate to look for the obvious answers, and don't over-think
things.
I can find points to disagree with (".magick, making changes by force of
will."), but find far more to agree with. In the above example, I would
probably change "force" to "use," since "force" seems to indicate one can
cause change simply by brute strength. On the other hand, I fully agree
that ".self-initiation, or more correctly, self-dedication" is a good
description of the individual's decision when dealing with the newbie who
has no formal coven training.
While not necessarily a great book, this is without a doubt a well-written
book and it definitely deserves to be on the short list of books which
should be available to loan to inquirers and those who care about the
seekers.
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