44 Days of Witchery: Day 13 - What are some "Witchy" books that influenced you?

I have several books on Witchcraft. Probably a LOT less than some people who have studied as long as I have. There are a couple of reasons for this: 1) I don't have a lot of money, and when I do have money, the local book store has a CRAPPY selection of reputable books (I waited several months for one book to finally come in) 2) I don't have a credit card because I don't have a job (well, I do stay home and take care of my children, but that doesn't qualify as a "job", even though I work hard, and have to take care of the house, which IS an expensive job, despite what the government thinks).

Anyways, I started out with Phyllis Curott's "WitchCrafting", but found it a more advanced type of book than a typical 101 type book I should have started with. I still can't seem to get past the first few chapters of her book. Not sure why. It's almost like trying to get through Raymond Buckland's Big Blue Book. While it has a lot of great information, it's still difficult for me to get passed maybe half the book (I get to the part on athame's and I can't seem to go further lol). 

I still recommend Buckland's book; probably though not for beginners (even though it's supposed to be a beginner's book, I'd say when you're just getting passed the beginner's stuff, THEN go on to Buckland's...it's kind of an advanced beginners book).

Anyways, books that have influenced me, it asks, not books I have that I can't get passed, lol. I can't say I've gone wrong with any of Cunningham's books. Yeah, they're more geared towards Wicca, but I've found very valuable information from his books that I would say his books have had the biggest impact on my path.  

Yeah, yeah, there are a lot of people who don't like him simply because of the publishing company he was with (talk about being found guilty merely by association), but I like his books because they don't baby the reader (as you see in many $RW books), nor do they get overly technical with the wording. Just down to earth basic-type wording ANYONE can understand and learn from. It took me forever to find his "Living Wicca" book, as, like I said above, the book stores around here suck. I was lucky enough to find his "Book of Shadows" far more quickly than "Living Wicca". But I'd say these books, as well as "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft" have had the biggest impact on my path. I often will try to re-read these books, and re-learn some things I have forgotten.

Then there are some PDF's I had found that I was reading (thanks to Scribd.com). Unfortunately I can't remember their titles at the moment (they're on my portable hard drive, and that's in another room lol). Regardless, they didn't have as big an impact on my practices as the ones I mentioned above.

Do I recommend them, and would I recommend them to people? Absolutely. Would I recommend them to Witches who aren't Wiccan? Again absolutely. I hate it when people who don't practice Wicca must put down all Wiccan books merely for being associated with Wicca (again, guilt by association). There IS good information in Wiccan books, you just have to get passed the Wiccan material, and just disregard it.





Ma’iingan