Customer Reviews

Everyday Magic: Spells & Rituals for Modern Living (Everyday Series)

5 star:		(68)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I purchased my copy of Dorothy Morrison's book "Everyday Magic: Spells & Rituals for Modern Living" several years ago not long after I began to study Wicca and Witchcraft. I regard it to be a very handy reference, and have done some of the spells that Ms. Morrison describes within its pages. Divided into two parts, the first part is entitled "Ancient Arts, Modern Solutions" and contains four chapters. The first two chapters provide basic information about various phenomena and things that can affect the outcome of a spell, such as location, timing (moon phase, day of the week, etc.), colors, words, herbs, flowers, trees and stones. The third chapter discusses the use of modern kitchen appliances for preparation work. The fourth chapter is a brief discussion on the karmic implications of magick with an emphasis upon understanding just how powerful magickal energy can be, including situations where someone may not realize that he/she may be unintentionally sending out magickal energy that may have positive or negative results. (Several examples are described.) The second and much longer part of the book is a grimoire containing over 300 spells subdivided into 100 topics. These topics include addiction, anger, business success, communication, computers, creativity, depression, divorce, enemies, friendship, gambling, health, jobs, legal matters, lost items, money, obstacles, parking spaces, protection, stress, success, traffic, wisdom, and many others. It is important to note here that in dealing with any negative matters, Ms. Morrison always provides positive ways to handle them. As she correctly points out in Chapter 4 of Part 1 about karma, whatever energy that you put out will come back to you three times as much. Thus, it is wise to only perform spellwork that has a positive intent.

Though I regard "Everyday Magic: Spells & Rituals for Modern Living" as a valuable reference (especially with its appendixes about herb and deity associations), I do have some concerns when it comes to novices. In Chapter 1 of Part 1, Ms. Morrison's brief description about location, subtitled "Atmosphere and the Working Environment", discusses the fact that performing magickal work is generally regarded as being spiritual and is usually performed in the presence of an altar. However, it does not mention that before any spellwork is done, the working space (usually referred to as "sacred space") should be ritually cleansed, especially if no spellwork has ever been performed there before. This ensures that no lingering, possibly negative, energies are present. Also, it does not mention that spellwork is typically done only within a sacred circle. Casting a sacred circle protects you from any outside influences that may meddle with your spellwork. Performing spellwork in an area that has not been ritually cleansed or outside of a sacred circle can prevent the desired outcome of the spellwork from occurring. If you are a novice, I highly recommend that before attempting any spellwork, that you first familiarize yourself with sacred space and sacred circles. Several good instructional books include Starhawk's "Spiral Dance", Christopher Penczak's "The Inner Temple of Witchcraft" & "The Outer Temple of Witchcraft", Scott Cunningham's "Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner", Silver Ravenwolf's "To Ride a Silver Broomstick: New Generation Witchcraft" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft" by Denise Zimmermann & Katherine A. Gleason. For more information about the deities mentioned in "Everyday Magic: Spells & Rituals for Modern Living", I highly recommend Janet & Stewart Farrar's books "The Witches' God: Lord of the Dance" and "The Witches' Goddess: The Feminine Principle of Divinity".

Overall, for its compact size and amount of information, I rate "Everyday Magic: Spells & Rituals for Modern Living" with 4 out of 5 stars. One final piece of advice that I give to a novice is as follows: keep your spellwork secret; telling others about any spells that you have cast is the surest way to keep them from happening.

Everyday Magic is a well written book and it fit into my everyday living just as if it had been written for me personally. The modern day methods of dealing with the "old ways" of the craft amazed me. To go to a thrift store and pick up a cheap blender instead of trying to do so many herbal blends with the mortar. I was so mermerized with so many of Dorothy's modern gimmicks. Being able to improvise has always been big with me, Dorothy seems to do the same in her book.

The spells and rituals in here are all based on today's available materials. Trying to find something called dragon's blood was not easy for me. In this book, Dorothy makes it all so simple and still so effective. Spells of interest to the modern twentieth century housemate and businessperson. Spells and rituals that make so much sense and are so easily adaptable for my and others active lives.

I recommend, as I have many times, reading this book. I have read many and find this one to my liking on a high rating of "Way to go, Dorothy Morrison"

Excellent book and will keep an eye and ear open of reports of others from D. Morrison.

Age, gender, and type of path are not even a stoppage point here. For all and then some.

Oceana Boston, Massachusetts

This book is great! It is good for beginners I think. It has a table of contents [LOTS AND LOTS of useful subjects]like Money, love, illness, jobs, beauty, anxiety, happiness, and A LOT more. It must have about 100 subjects like that! and each subject has lots of diferent simple spells. This book is SO WELL ORGANIZED and easy to follow, you won't be able to put it down. Lots of other books have tons of sometimes boring and complicated text that leaves you frustrated and confused, but this is NOT like that at all. It is strictly made up of spells. THIS BOOK IS EXTREMELY NESSECARY IF YOU WANT TO BE A WITCH. I LOVE IT! YOU must GET IT! Sorry, I get a little excited... BUT BUY THIS BOOK< YOU WILL NOT BE DISSASPOINTED, GUARUTEED!

I really love this book! It's just so practical, and deals with everyday problems and situations in the modern world. Dorothy writes in a very straightforward and logical manner, and deals with subject matter that you won't find anywhere else. I've been a Wiccan for several years now, and whenever I need some help on a spell, I turn to this book. I just love her writing style, and the spells and suggestions are very easy to adapt to my own work. Thumbs up, Dorothy! :-)

This is an excellent book for both beginning magicians and advanced alike. The spells in here really do work. If you try something and it doesn't work at first, you must use persistance. I'm sure we are all familiar with the saying..."if at first you don't succeed try and try again", well this book puts that to the test. The first spell I tried did not work quite well, but one must ask themselves if they put their heart into it. It must be something you really want. My favorite spell by far is the one to slow down time. I couldn't believe what happened after performing this spell. I won't tell you what actually did happen, but I loved it, and I'll let you try for yourself. Please do yourself a favor and get this book if you are at all interested in magick!

This isn't a book for beginners, neither is it a book for ceremonial magick workers.

This is for every pagan who is tired of their computer crashing or being stuck in constant traffic jams, people who live busy lives but want to bring magick into them, everyone who wants a spell for ordinary life but needs inspiration and humour.

Everyday Magic fills this need, and does it superbly. Not only is it a comprehensive grimoire filled with spells for every conceivable eventuality that are simple, safe and worthwhile, it is also a reference book for experienced magick workers with a list of deites and their associations as long as your arm, a concise but helpful guide to sun and moon phases plus their uses, quick guides to herbs and stones...the list goes on.

It also explains how modern technology and magick can complement each other, with examples of how to use household appliances in magick.

I am forever picking this book up and reading through it for interest and enjoyment. It's fun, ethical and helpful - everything a book on magick should be.

I first became aquainted with Ms. Morrison's writing several years ago. After reading her wonderful book "Bud, Blossom and Leaf.......the Magical herb gardeners handbook", I was hooked. She writes in a straightforward way and her apendixes and bibliography is both useful and extensive.
This is a book the takes the Principals and Concepts of Magick, and brings it into the modern home and office. (After all, like it or not, coputers are part of our daily life, so why not spells to help with them?)
Another reviewer faulted Ms Morrison for not including how to raise power etc. She has covered that extremely well in some of her other books, and franky I get a bit tired of authors that introduce a "new" book that is 10% new material and 90% a rehash of what they covered in another volume. Apparently Ms Morrison is on the same wavelength. These are, if you will, textbooks and the textbook for chemisty 301 does not include the material from chemistry 101.
As a practicing Witch for over 30 years I would not start a neophyte off with this volume as they need some basics first. But for the Witch, Wiccan or Neo Pagan that has a grasp of the basics this book shines....Thank you again Dorothy for a wonderfully written and useful addition to my library!

This is a simple book of spells and some quick rituals/chants one can use. I think sometimes a simple book, that is full of simple ingrediants and suggestions can help you get those creative juices going because it can spark an idea. Morrison gives you some correspondances if you want to refer to it to make some changes in a spell.This is geared to modern day pagans so you won't find chants in latin, ingrediants such as graveyard dirt and rhino horn. I find it a delightful addition on my shelf and I'm not a beginner, but both beginners or long time pagans will enjoy this book.

When I bought this book, I immediatly fell in love with it. This book has everything. It has gods/dess, herbs, stones, a ton of spells and rituals, and other information on wicca. The spells are simple to follow with easy to get, common herbs and materials availible, leaving the hassel of finding the rare herbs and oils. It has spells for love, money, protection, tuition, bueaty, healing, prolong life, change, luck, traffic, weather, and much more. I highly recommend this book to any wiccan or anyone searching for a great spellbook!!

First off, I bought this book since I wanted to find a bit of a primer for someone to avoid something big and schmaltzy that would either A: Be too commercialized or B: Scare them off from learning more by calling for insane ingredients or the like. What I found in the book were simple instructions, an open mind, several tips for people with limited cash (for which to buy fifty different kinds of herbs! :) Goddess Bless the Herb Substitution Guide!) and lots of hints for making your own supplies without tons of work (without a drop in quality and the added bonus of your own craftsmanship!).

Also, there was a great deal of thought and ethics in this book, which I feel many books of the like don't mention. Things like WHY you should do a spell (and WHY NOT!) and the different kinds of paths for different situations, as well as some of the philosophy and religion about doing magick that some books lack (without being PREACHY!).

Add to this lots of information, several easy to use and modify spells, a great deal of heart, more great stuff I can't remember, and you've got this great little book!



And BTW....I never gave the book to the person it was intended...it was just too good! But I'll be ordering another one for them right away! :)
Blessed Be and Good Luck All!