A few months ago I picked up Hands of Apostasy: Essays on Traditional Witchcraft at my favorite local occult shop Edge of the Circle. I slowly made my way through this book and finally finished the last essay about ten minutes ago. I must say there's something delightfully profane about reading essays on Traditional Witchcraft while listening to Christmas music.
I highly recommend this book for anyone with any interest in Traditional Witchcraft.
The essays cover a wide range of subject matter from intensely academic explorations of historical practices to quick and easy essays on specific modern rituals. There is not one bad essay in this book - and that's really saying something given the subject matter.
I read this book with very, very little knowledge of Traditional Witchcraft (I'm more of a make stuff up as you go kind of gal). The entirety of my knowledge of Traditional British Witchcraft comes from Hutton, Heselton, and Gardner - which is not a whole lot. I think having a better background in Traditional Witchcraft would have made some of the reading easier, but I don't feel like I suffered for lack of background. Take that how you will.
My favorite essay was the beautifully written "Mirror, Moon and Tides" by Levannah Morgan. In this piece Morgan tells how she learned to scry naturally occurring tide pools and then sun and moon charged mirror bowls. This essay has that rare quality of both being magically interesting and informative while also being a work of literary quality that actually moves the spirit. I pretty much loved every word.
I also particularly enjoyed "Waking the Dead: The Ancient Magical Art of Necromancy" by Michael Howard and "Conjure-Charms of the Welsh Marches" by Gary St. Michael Nottingham.
My only criticism (that's barely a criticism) is that the reading level
of these essays vary tremendously, to the point where it can be a
little jarring as you move from essay to essay. However, that's not a
problem at all if you put the book down between essays; which you really
should because these essays require thought and post-reading
pondering. A few of the essay are very dense and very academic - to the point where I actually had to break out the dictionary several times. I have a BA in philosophy and a JD; I read Heidegger for fun. When I say an essay is difficult to read I really mean it. It's totally worth it though.
Truly, if you have any interest at all in Traditional Witchcraft go directly to your local high quality occult shop or directly to Three Hands Press and get this book.
The essays cover a wide range of subject matter from intensely academic explorations of historical practices to quick and easy essays on specific modern rituals. There is not one bad essay in this book - and that's really saying something given the subject matter.
I read this book with very, very little knowledge of Traditional Witchcraft (I'm more of a make stuff up as you go kind of gal). The entirety of my knowledge of Traditional British Witchcraft comes from Hutton, Heselton, and Gardner - which is not a whole lot. I think having a better background in Traditional Witchcraft would have made some of the reading easier, but I don't feel like I suffered for lack of background. Take that how you will.
I also particularly enjoyed "Waking the Dead: The Ancient Magical Art of Necromancy" by Michael Howard and "Conjure-Charms of the Welsh Marches" by Gary St. Michael Nottingham.
Truly, if you have any interest at all in Traditional Witchcraft go directly to your local high quality occult shop or directly to Three Hands Press and get this book.
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