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Books and Authors

Favorites Exceptional Worth reading Mediocre Atrocious (0 stars) Beyond bad Click on the title below to read a review. A link to the book in question on Amazon.com has been provided, or you can search Amazon from the box to the right. For those wondering why so many books here are favorably rated: I do not seek out books to mock. I pick up books because I expect them to be good. Occasionally, I am disappointed. Also, occasionally I am given books as gifts. For those not sure where to start, I also offer a specific list of recommended readings.

Most Recent Reviews:
Frederic Lamond, Fifty Years of Wicca
Thea Sabin, Wicca for Beginners

Must Reads
Deborah Lipp, Elements of Ritual: Air, Fire, Water & Earth in the Wiccan Circle
Ronald Hutton,Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft
Lilith McLelland, Out of the Shadows: Myths and Truths of Modern Wicca
Gerald B. Gardner, Witchcraft Today

Highly Recommended
Frederic Lamond, Fifty Years of Wicca
Diane Sylvan , Circle Within (tentative, currently reading)
Laura Wildman, What's Your Wicca I.Q.?
John Michael Greer, A World Full of Gods: An Inquiry into Polytheism
Issac Bonewits, The Essential Guide to Witchcraft and Wicca
Thea Sabin, Wicca for Beginners
Elen Hawke and Martin White, eds., Spellcaster: Seven Ways to Effective Magic
Frater U.: D.:, High Magic
Deborah Lipp, The Way of Four
Ellen Cannon Reed, The Heart of Wicca: Wise Words from a Crone on the Path
Joyce & River Higgenbotham, Pagan Spirituality: A Guide to Personal Transformation
Scott Cunningham, Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner and Living Wicca: A Further Guide for the Solitary Practitioner
Janet and Stewart Farrar, A Witches' Bible: The Complete Witches' Handbook
Phyllis Curott, Witch Crafting: A Spiritual Guide to Making Magic
Doreen Valiente, Witchcraft for Tomorrow
Christopher Penczak, Sons of the Goddess: A Young Man's Guide to Wicca
Amber Laine Fisher, Philosophy of Wicca

Other Reviews
Philip Hestleton, Wiccan Roots (tentative, currently reading)
Ronald Hutton, Stations of the Sun
Graham Harvey, Contemporary Paganism: Listening People, Speaking Earth
Graham Harvey and Charlotte Hardman, eds., Pagan Pathways: A Guide to the Ancient Earth Traditions
Patrick Dunn, Postmodern Magic: The Art of Magic in the Information Age
Gerald Gardner, The Meaning of Witchcraft
Raymond Buckland, Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft
Starhawk, Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess
Gus diZerega, Pagans & Christians: The Personal Spiritual Experience
Doreen Valiente, An ABC of Witchcraft
W. Lyon Martin, An Ordinary Girl, A Magical Child

Books to avoid
While I generally recommend that everyone to read as many views as possible in order to form their own opinions, I personally consider the following books and authors to be a waste of time, not to mention dangerously misleading for newcomers as they are full of inaccuracies.
Barbara G. Walker, The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets
Silver Ravenwolf, To Ride a Silver Broomstick or anything else by her
Fiona Horne, anything by her
D.J. Conway, anything by her
Amber Wolfe, Druid Power
(0 stars) Migene Gonzalez-Wippler, Book of Shadows

Erroneous Historical Sources
The following books have been influential in the early development of Wicca and are still quoted by some authors today. Academics have discredited all of them, so ranking them is a moot point. I include them here because It is important for us to know where ideas came from even when those origins are erroneous. None of these books should be taken as historical fact.
Robert Graves, The White Goddess
Margaret A. Murray, The Witch-Cult of Western Europe and The God of the Witches
Sir James G. Frazer, The Golden Bough

Good Historical Witchcraft Sources
The following are all respected academic texts dealing with the historical witch-trials: why they occurred, who was targeted, why they were targeted, who was practicing magic, and what people generally thought about magic during this period. These people have very little in common with Wiccans or modern witches, but as historical and modern witchcraft are still linked in the minds of many, I thought the resources would be appropriate here. This list barely scratches the surface of aviailable material.
Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic
Alan MacFarlane, Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England: A Regional and Comparative Study
Brian P. Levack, anything by him