Customer Reviews

The Study of Witchcraft: A Guidebook to Advanced Wicca

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I pre-ordered this book months ago because I loved the other books by Deborah Lipp. I was extremely dissapointed in the content of this book. The topics are barely discussed, the entire Western Mystery Tradition is summed up in 3 pages and thats generous compared to most of the other topics mentioned. The only good thing I could say is that this book points you to the other good books on various subjects in the occult. The majority of this publication is a bibliography...and not on that you couldnt get elsewhere. I would definately NOT have purchased this book if I had a chance to look at it before!

Any time you put the words "Advanced Wicca" on the cover of your book, you are bound to be criticized. The problem is that you can't advance spiritually by reading 150 pages of someone else's words. That is why Lipp's book is a "guidebook" to the "study" of witchcraft.

I devoured this book the day i received it--i read it fast and didn't put it down until i finished it. I found it facinating. Each topic was written about intellegently and the recommendations for further reading has put this bibliophile's bank account in jepordy.

This is a book that asks you to think. I don't always agree with Lipp's oppinions (and she is oppionated--but I think its a good thing), but I enjoyed her exploration of topics both wiccan and not. Lipp rightly shows in this book that Wicca is about doing and stresses that advancing on your path involves branching out beyond Wicca 101 books and becoming well rounded and knowledgable on topics related to your religious path.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who feels that 101 books are becoming stale and boring.

The title of this book suggests that it is for more advanced Pagans, but I would recommend it for beginners. While it does expect you to understand the the spirituality and basic practices of the religion, it covers other aspects beginning Wiccans may want to know.
Outside of an excellent section covering the history of the religion, the rest of it is mostly the social aspects of the religion in our modern society. It is not a spiritual guide, more of a practical education. Lipp does have a more spiritual book, "The Elements of Ritual".

The thing that I really liked about this book was the study sections in the back of each chapter. It is set up so that a person can read and study the topics on their own, or groups can read and convene on a regular basis, sharing what they have learned. Having access to more references really rounds out the experience. Personally, I would recommend it to 1st year students of Wicca, preferably in a group, but not as a first book.

I really do love this author...
but this book I didn't like. I couldn't get beyond all the recommendations of other books to read which in my opinion was all this book was ! I'm glad I borrowed it from the library first !

If this book is supposed to be a guidebook for "advanced" or providing a "Master's Degree" then something is seriously lacking in how Wicca/the Craft is being taught these days, especially at the author to supposed to be a longtime pracitioner.

Topics such as the Burning Times, psychology, the various Wiccan traditions, etc should be part of basic Wiccan/Craft training and are hardly "advanced" topics in my opinion. If teachers these days are not instructing their students on the above, what is given in this book is barely enough to give the reader even a basic understanding of same.

Whilst the recommended reading lists are very book and varied, that is about all this book offers. However anyone with an inquiring mind should have been able to seek out most of the books listed, and better ones to that.

While this book may appear to the less experienced, it is far from a "Master's Degree" - save your money and buy "Wicca: An Old Religion for the New Age" by Vivianne Crowley if you want to know about psycholowy and the Craft, and a book dedicated specifically to meditation (which should be basic 101 teaching), Western Occultism etc.

Very disappointed.

According to Wiccan High Priestess Deborah Lipp, ". . .there are few books on `Wicca 202'--and there will be doubtless more in the future--but I suspect that Wicca 202 will always be sparsely represented because real Wicca 202 happens when you stretch beyond Wicca" (Page 26).

With this in mind, Lipp created a 150 page compendium of nearly everything a learned Witch would ever want or need to know about the Craft of the Wise. The text spans such diverse topics as the history of Western Occultism and "The Burning Times," magical practice, and political activism with ease and readability.

As one [...] reviewer mentioned, you cannot advance as a Witch simply by reading someone else's work. THE STUDY OF WITCHCRAFT does not have all the answers. What is unique about it is that it shows you how to find them. At the end of each chapter are lists of recommended reading that will aid you in your quest for deeper understanding. Lipp also suggests homework assignments to further this endeavor.

If you've covered the basics, this book is for you. It will show you where you have gaps, and will likely spark interests into areas you've not explored. Honest and at times witty, THE STUDY OF WITCHCRAFT
should be essential reading to any serious student of the Art.

Rating: 5 out of 5 magick wands!

When I purchased this book I did so without reading the reviews of previous costumers. Now I wish I had read the reviews. I was highly disappointed with this book. It is nothing but a beginners book and a reference guide to other books. If I were looking for a wicca 101 book this would be excellent, however obviously from the title many people buying this book including myself did so in search of an advanced book. So my advise is DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK unless you do so to learn some random information on wicca 101.

Having read The Elements of Ritual, my ladyfriend was already a fan of Deborah Lipp before we attended her workshops at Heartland Pagan Festival 2011. In her workshops and previous books, Lipp complains that publishers have been printing and reprinting the same dozen 101-level books on witchcraft for the last 30 years. Her most recent book, The Study of Witchraft: A Guidebook to Advanced Wicca, is an answer to that complaint. It is an excellent answer to that complaint.

Speculating as to why so few books on Wicca have anything new to offer, Lipp concludes that it is because in the Good Old Days (an implication she makes with all due irony) the shortage of books on witchcraft forced a Seeker to study farther afield. It is in those "outside" studies, Lipp argues, and in the process of applying the core ideas of witchcraft to both those studies and one's life as a whole, that "advanced" Wicca actually happens. She goes on to suggest areas of study, both wide and deep, which she believes are essential.

The Study of Witchcraft, then, is ultimately an elaborate framing device for an extensive reading list and a few "homework" assignments aimed at better understanding those readings. I have read - at best - 10% of the books she recommends. Those I have read, though - Ronald Hutton's Triumph of the Moon, Carlo Ginsburg's Ecstacies, Charles G Leland's Aradia, Dion Fortune's Sea Priestess, to name a few - and the number which have been in my "to read" pile, convince me of the quality of the rest.

In the introduction to her workshop, Deborah Lipp admonished her audience, "...[I]f you haven't read two books on witchcraft, go read two books on witchcraft!" My advice would be, having done that, read this book (and at least half of the books it recommends) next.

I was very impressed with this book... it was everything the seller said it was. I received this book WAY sooner than promised.

This is a great Book for the serious student of Wicca. I am so happy that I purchased this book despite some other reviewers questioning the value of this tome. I can tell you it is worth reading. It gives you a great insight and an overview of what you should know to consider yourself an advanced student of Wicca. Deborah Lipp then recommends you to read a list of books which alone is worth the price you payed for this book. I give 5 stars to "The Study of Witchcraft: A Guidebook to Advanced Wicca". I have already ordered "The Elements of Ritual: Air, Fire, Water & Earth in the Wiccan Circle" by the same author.


Gaius