Customer Reviews

Cunningham's Book of Shadows: The Path of An American Traditionalist

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just finished Cunningham's Book of Shadows, and I must say I am rather disappointed. The territory covered in this much-anticipated book is nothing new. In fact, the majority of it seems to be either blatant cut & paste copies of his other books, or eerily similar information provided in his other texts. Some of the newer information, however, shows a side of Cunningham that was a little bit more embracive of the darker aspects of the craft, which is oddly a positive aspect.

In this BOS, Cunningham details information on bindings (Herbs, Plants, Flowers that Bind pg. 149) and cursing someone using poppet magic (To Destroy Another's Power To Do Harm pg. 191) - though he recommends that you use this method, instead, to destroy aspects or weapons of that individual that would do you harm. This is nice to see from one of the most prolific authors of Paganism 101 texts, who has a decidedly `love and light' bent in his teachings. Other taboo subjects that are touched upon are the Use of Baneful Herbs by Witches (pg. 199) and his love spells which can be found in nearly every chapter. While this book might not necessarily be intended for use by your average 101-er, it is most definitely written at least on a 102 level, and I'm glad that Llewellyn published a text that at least mentions that it's ok to have darker or, rather, more direct methods of accomplishing your intent.

However, that's about where my fascination with the text ends. Sure it's pretty in its rare-for-Llewellyn hardbound cover, and a little kitschy in the fact that they included some supposed copies of Cunningham's original manuscript, but that's all just fluff to hide the fact that this is like a greatest hits listing of his other books. After the end of every single chapter reads a phrase that is something similar to "Excerpted from Other Book Title by Scott Cunningham." And the areas of the book, which are supposedly brand new, are really just retreading similar 101/Llewellyn/Cunningham material (The Circle of Stones from Wicca: A Guide..., several chapters on correspondences and formulas which all seem to be torn from the pages of his three encyclopedias, etc.). While not true copies, they are most assuredly kissing cousins.

Where I cannot forgive the book is the inclusion of utterly false information. Yet again, we have a widely read pagan author touting the idea of the Burning Times (pgs. 202-203), a war on actual Witches waged by the Church (pg. 107), and the notion that ancient Wiccans existed (pgs. 204-205 among others). All of the above has been proven false time and time again, yet massive pagan publishing houses still allow, and seem to insist upon including, this notion that 9 million women were burned at the stake for being God&Goddess-worshipping Wiccans that reincarnated from the magical folk of Atlantis. (Which, of course, Cunningham includes on pg. 205 along with his theory that witches are modern descendants of aliens that flew to this planet in silver needles and copulated with its inhabitants, creating the super-intelligent, super-magical society of Atlantis. Yes, that's really in the book.)

Oh, and he also includes a Curse on pg. 77 which is supposed to be laid upon anyone that would "[release] the secrets of the Craft, such as are contained within this Book..." This seems a bit strange and hypocritical as he just published all of these supposed "secrets" for any Joe Shmo to pick up and peruse. Time and time again he talks about the sensitive nature of the information within the book and how it shouldn't fall into the wrong hands. (I'm glad the publisher has this as an online-purchase-only book, as people could just pick it up in the bookstore and learn all the ancient Wiccan secrets.)

The book is redeemed in the aspect that not everyone that purchases it may also have purchased his other books. I would most definitely recommend buying the book if:
1. You love Cunningham, like I do, and want to own pretty much everything he's written. (Honestly, I do.)
2. You've moved on from 101 texts to at least the 102 level of pagan books.
3. You're sound enough in your own beliefs that you can read this book and not take every word as gospel.
For a Cunningham lover, it's a nice addition to your pagan library. However, it is not a must-buy if you already own his other encyclopedias and either of his Wicca textbooks. Also, I understand the publisher's desire to include Cunningham's full opinion and belief for his fans, but I am just not sure they should have included information that is known to be completely false and misleading.

Overall, it's a 3-star, okay text that isn't really something you need to buy unless you're a diehard fan.

I was immediately suspicious when word came out that a lost manuscript penned by the late Mr. Cunningham was found after all these years, especially when it was connected to DeTracy and Llewellyn. Having had an private ear to the messy lawsuit over the autobiography, it seems that Llewellyn and all involved haven't learned their lesson. Since the market has been saturated with Mr. Cunningham's work, all this is, is a way to try and squeeze out what is left of his memory. When I received my copy (which I bought for $4.99 through a book club. I had buyer credits.), I immediately pulled out my copy of "Wicca, a Guide for the Solitary Practitioner" and compared the Standing Stones BOS that is included in the book, to this "new" one. As my suspicions proved, this book is nothing but a reprint of the Standing Stones BOS, expanded upon by material from Cunningham's other books and maybe a few "new" inserts here and there. I saw nothing new and in fact, saw some material that maybe should not have been included. But again since DeTracy and Llewellyn are involved in this hoax, I can see where loyalties are seen as a thing of the past when the sacredness of the craft served a purpose for them. This is why I rarely, if ever, buy anything published by Llewellyn, besides the fact that most of it is crap and nonsense.

On a somewhat positive note, and why I gave the book a 3 star vote, I felt as a beginners manual for those who can't seem to hook up with a teacher or coven(which in these prolific days, I find hard to believe), the book serves well and is somewhat substantial. It's better then the skeletal Standing Stones BOS in the first "Wicca" book but it will never replace the benefits of learning the craft from a properly trained teacher or group regardless of the tradition. Mr. Cunningham had good intentions when originally writing for the solitary path, but if you study any other valid religions, the solitary path is always walked AFTER one has mastered the foundation of the spiritual path one is working and one is ready to investigate the higher mysteries.

I agree with the other reviewers that this book is really for the die-hard Cunningham fans who need to collect everything he wrote or maybe the novice just stepping out on the path of the Wise for the first time. Otherwise save your money, especially if you have Mr. Cunningham's other books. This work is NOTHING new and just because it was printed in hardback, which is rare for Llewellyn, doesn't mean it's a media event.

A last note on the unusual hardback publication; the last book published by Llewellyn in hardback was "Grimoire of Lady Sheba" and we all know what a "marvel" of craft lore that was.:)

Blessed Be
Prospero

After anxiously awaiting this book for the last handful of months I dove right into it when it arrived. After getting partway through the first chapter I could already tell that this wasn't going to be anything new and wasn't going to be a any ground breaking, posthumous classic. A large portion of the entries in the book are excerpts from Cunningham's previous books. It's commented in the forward that this was to essentially fill in gaps in the transcript found among Cunningham's papers. There are whole entries and whole pages that are duplicated throughout the book with copies of Cunningham's supposed transcript for this never published book.

There are a lot of weird things about the book including entries about the Burning Times, Atlantis, as well as rituals and invocations that are almost identical to other material from his previous books. There are also some God and Goddess invocations that are essentially rewrites of things like the Charge of the Goddess.

The one thing that I will give this book is it does make for a nice collection of some of Cunningham's "greatest hits" when it comes to rituals, spells, correspondences and recipes. If you enjoy the work in his other books this is worth having as a handy "go to" guide but it's not anything that will be ground breaking or bringing anything terribly new and exciting to light.

First of all, I would buy almost anything by Scott Cunningham. His insights and personality really come through in his writings and this book is no exception. I enjoyed actually being able to see copies of his notes and being able to examine them in detail. That being said, this book is mainly a rehashing of some of his prior works, but that is not an excuse not to pick it up. This book combines his viewpoints from his other books along with his notes that were more recently found in a way that lets the reader see how the author was attempting to expand on his prior works and bring them more up to date with modern times.

It was pretty clear, after reading this book, that the primary purpose of publishing it was to make money off of the author's name. There was little in it that you can't find elsewhere, either in his other works or even on-line.

The first half of the book included rituals and invocations, etc. Some of these have already appeared elsewhere or were re-written versions of things that have appeared elsewhere. The second half of the book included info on runes, color associations, spells, food recipes, and herbal info. Again, most of this can be found elsewhere as it appears all over the internet and in just about every beginner book.

What was far more concerning were a few of the spells and herbal remedies in this book.

One spell called for pressing the flat of your hand down in a bowl of broken glass. It stated that you would NOT hurt yourself. This is not necessarily true and more cautions/instructions should have been given or it should have been left out. One of the spells called for drinking salt water in order to break curses, and there was no commentary attached to that either regarding the potential dangers of drinking too much salt water.

Worse still, one herbal remedy called for using CATNIP and didn't mention a thing about the risks of eating or drinking catnip tea when PREGNANT. This one is a definite no-no and should have been caught by an editor and a notation added, or it should have been removed.

There were more like this, as well as not stating in the incense recipes that some of these herbs are also potentially dangerous and should never be burned in an enclosed space. A few here and there were marked as being dangerous, but definitely not enough.

Accordingly, I would NOT recommend this book to anyone just beginning to get into herbalism. Go to a trained herbalist instead and take some classes from a trained herbalist. There are not enough of the dangers indicated in this work to be entirely safe. If rated on the herbal info alone, I would give it a one star because of this. Otherwise, for a beginner, this is an average to below-average book and there are probably better choices out there if you are just getting started.

And I don't even want to get into the "myth" that was included about silver space needles and aliens and Atlantis and so on. I think that speaks for itself.

I'm actually quite a fan of Cunningham in that he was very direct and to the point; as a seeker back in the 90s, Cunningham, Adler and Starhawk were pretty much the extent of what I could easily find. So I really picked this up out of fondness.

If you've read a lot of Cunningham, or if you've read a lot of books on Wicca, you probably won't find a lot new here. There's some lovely prose, there's a lot that seems familiar. I won't say I was disappointed, but I can see where some people would be because it's not really new material. But it was a nice reminder of why I started on this path to begin with.

This was a great book, though there wasn't much fact and story in it about the past, I love that part especially. I loved that it really was a complete BOS, however I did find it in a way disrespectful to publish someones BOS, it was still a great asset and continues to be. I love the part in the beginning of the book "Before Time Was" where Scott tells the creation story, I loved it and use it in examples to many students of mine.

Blessed Be Scott, though you are gone my friend your work is your successor!

Very neatly presented, to the point and laid out well. Great for intermediate Wiccans as a quick reference guide because the extremely new to Wicca may find it skips a little directional information.

This is a wonderful treasure for Pagans, to have something of Scott Cunningham's after he passed on to the Summerlands.
I was fascinated reading it, loved the way they included his original notes and handwriting.

Cunningham's Book of Shadows: The Path of an American Traditionalist offers the spells, rituals and magical correspondences used by Scott Cunningham in the early 1980s. Readers will find his a positive voice offering practical advice on how to practice living Craft daily, from handfastings and covenings to weather divination and recipes. A fine addition to any magic collection.