Customer Reviews

Gardner Witchcraft Series

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These books, published by Mercury Publishing, is a limited-edition set of Gerald B. Gardner's two classic non-fiction books on Wicca. New pictures have been added, provided by Patricia Crowther. Also included is a CD recording of Gerald himself, his coven, and Patricia's coven reciting some of the pieces which have become standard liturgy. The recordings were made over 45 years ago, and the quality is poor at best, but it is still a remarkable collector's item. If you don't already have copies of Gardner's books, this is a great opportunity.

How can a book be both bone-dry and fascinating at the same time? I don't know either, but these two books manage to do it. Interesting enough to keep me up until 4AM reading, but I grumbled the whole time. :-)

They're both a bit disjointed - information is often assembled in seemingly unconnected ways, and I could have really used a decent index. I was also very annoyed by the presentations of historical/anthropological guesses-at-best as hard fact, and the repetition of "I'm forbidden to tell you XYZ". I do understand that he was oathbound, but at times it seemed almost gratuitous to put in a "teaser" bit of information and then remind the reader of his oathbound insider status. Unfortunately, I find the CD to be almost unintelligible, and think it was a bit of a waste to have included it in the set.

I suppose I had expected better. Believe it or not, it's a little bit hyped-up in some places that you MUST read Gardner to understand modern Witchcraft. I am still very glad I read it, though, as a historical document, even if I was unable to find anything in it to really incorporate into my own practices.