Customer Reviews

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca Craft

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Most people will read the title and think it's a 101 book on Wicca or Witchcraft or both. However it's NOT either. Taking the title literally it's a book on CRAFTS. Basically a how-to book on making robes, candles, brooms, wands, crosses, pendulums, smudges, books, athames!!!, holiday related, etc.
So if you really want to learn how to do it yourself for pretty much ANYthing that deals with working magic, ritual and what to do for the holidays this is it.

The only part I found...bad was the athame part. It's almost copy and paste from Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft. Not only that, the book makes it out that every craft is simple and easy to do and everybody can make these out of stuff lying around. I'm sorry I don't have a metal cutter and metal grinder just lying around my house. White glue and newspapers...maybe.

Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca Craft / 1-59257-262-6

To date, I have found about three guides on Wiccan craft projects, and these guides are all fairly disappointing.

"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca Craft" tries to do a little bit of everything - cooking, brewing, sewing, miscellaneous crafting, and so on. Sadly, each topic is remarkably shallow - in this case "a little bit of everything" means, apparently, a VERY little bit.

The section on sewing a ritual robe basically involves buying a really big bolt of cloth, cutting a robe-sized shape out of the bolt, and then sewing the two sides together and wearing the result. I'm not a professional seamstress, but I do know how to sew a robe and I know how to sew a potato sack; the instructions here are far closer to a potato sack. For the record, if you want to sew a ritual robe, I personally recommend buying a "Christmas Pagentry" pattern for 99 cents and sewing up the ubiquitous "Angel Robe". If you want a hooded robe, check out the Halloween patterns - there's always a good "Elven Cloak" pattern available. These patterns are professional but not too hard, and you'll have actual sleeves and a proper neckline and maybe even a back zipper, rather than a potato sack to slip over your head. I'm just frustrated with why this book doesn't use simple and obvious tips and patterns like this, instead of describing a potato sack as a ritual robe!

Everything else is superficial as well. The full moon cookies are a basic sugar cookie recipe my mom has used for years. The goddess libation is a common non-alcoholic drink mix. The majority of the other crafts utilize very simple and "childish" craft materials - white Kraft glue, glitter, paper plates, Popsicle sticks, and so forth. I think this would be a GREAT resource for pagan parenting, or if you were trying to put together some kind of pagan "Sunday School" class, but since I don't have children it doesn't do much for me.

I think the biggest problem is that a lot of these authors assume that if a person is new to the Craft then they must also be new to crafting. I'm still looking for a good Wiccan crafting book that is really in-depth and professional, but if you're looking for a book to involve children in Wiccan crafting, this is probably a decent resource.

~ Ana Mardoll

This book is excellent. It is full of creative craft projects for the wiccan practicing person. It is a great way to create items for rituals and altars and it also has recipes for many different items to be made for rituals and the celebrated holidays.

I have read other reviews about this book, and I have to say that I may disagree with some of what was said. I loved the book and couldn't put it down. No, many of the crafts call for equipment we all don't have laying around, but I was actually surprised at how much I did have in my own home and what I had that could be used as a substitute.

This book is a great starting point for Wiccans looking for simple to in depth craft ideas or just a little boost in your own creativity. No the book is not a complete encyclopedia of everything a Wiccan might want to craft, but it definitely gives you a starting point, some great ideas, and is very easy to understand for the most part.

I would recommend it to anyone with the curiousity to explore Wiccan crafts, but I do admit I will definitely be searching for a more detailed and intese book of crafts, recipes, etc.

Love the book. Very easy to understand, and lots of insights into the Wicca world.