Review: The Elements of Ritual

In an ocean of introductory titles, Deborah Lipp’s The Elements of Ritual: Air, Fire, Water & Earth in the Wiccan Circle is a breath of fresh air. The Elements of Ritual is perfect for a beginning student moving into an intermediate level. It assumes that the reader has a basic understanding of ritual and is ready … Read more

Review: Exploring Wicca

If you’re looking for practical primer to Wicca, look no further than Lady Sabrina’s Exploring Wicca: The Beliefs, Rites, and Rituals of the Wiccan Religion. Exploring Wicca takes an eclectic approach. Lady Sabrina begins her book with a simple history of Wicca, breezing through years of Gerald Gardner, Alex Sanders, and even some traditions like Dianic and Strega … Read more

Review: The Art of Ritual

In The Art of Ritual, Renee Beck and Sydney Barbara Metrick explain the power, relevance, and need for ritual. American society has many rituals. We celebrate birthdays and marriages, have presidential inaugurations, and happily suffer through college rush traditions. These all have special meaning to the honouree, but oftentimes rituals become habitual and lose their … Read more

Review: Wicca Demystified

Wicca is one of the most rapidly growing religions in America yet misconceptions, misunderstandings, and untruths about it persist. While many excellent books for beginners have hit the shelves, most have been instruction manuals on the practice of Wicca. Bryan Lankford’s Wicca Demystified: A Guide for Practitioners, Family and Friends is a much needed book for … Read more

Review: Wiccan Roots

Wicca is said to be the only self-contained religion that England has ever given the world. While its mythical history has been established, it’s factual history is shrouded in mystery. Philip Heselton’s Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardiner* and the Modern Witchcraft Revival represents a major landmark in the recovery of those origins. There are many nagging questions: … Read more

Bees on a honeycomb

Review: The Secret Life of Bees

Set in the American South in 1964, the year of the Civil Rights Act and intensifying racial unrest, Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees is the coming-of-age story of 14-year-old Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon she accidentally shot and killed her mother when she was … Read more