Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If Tasha Tudor was pagan, she might have written this., September 5, 2005
This review is from: A Victorian Grimoire: Romance - Enchantment - Magic (Paperback)
This book is great for the magical Victoriana buff. I love my copy of Mrs. Sharp's Traditions:Reviving Victorian Family Celebrations of Comfort and Joy, but what it lacked was a magical, mystical component. This book evokes all the imagery of a Victorian lifestyle, but puts a magical spin on it. I DO lots of these things already, but with a magical focus, it makes it fit into my life that much more meaningfully. I wish it had more delightful Victorian images, but that is the only obvious downfall. If you love Victoria magazine, but have a magical heart inside, this book will appeal to you! You will be dreaming up the perfect life for yourself over a nice cup of tea!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Subtitle is apt..., May 31, 2000
This review is from: A Victorian Grimoire: Romance - Enchantment - Magic (Paperback)
I picked up this book hoping that it offered some insights into the Occult Revival of the nineteenth century, or even some useful information about the origins of spiritualism or the Golden Dawn. This isn't a book about the actual magic practiced by actual Victorians. This book is much more interested in Romance and Enchantment -- that is, in twentieth-century nostalgia for a vanished heyday of home and hearth. This is kitchen witchery -- it's certainly simple, beautiful, and meaningful, but the only real "Victorian" aspects are some trappings and an emphasis on domesticity. It's strongest when it discusses recipes and magical practices, and it's weakest when it overgeneralizes about "the Victorians", lumping American and Englishman, gentleman and laborer together. One gets the impression that the 19th century was peopled mostly by cryptoPagans practicing herbal spells for home and family -- so just who *were* the folks who raised enormous sums of money for missionary efforts to convert "heathens who bowed down to wood and stone"? I've always been suspicious of books that include both ritual and history -- inevitably, one or the other suffers. This book is no exception. The magic is *beautiful* - but the history is much more Romanticism than fact.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My favorite, October 29, 2005
This review is from: A Victorian Grimoire: Romance - Enchantment - Magic (Paperback)
It's almost time for me to buy a new copy of this book. I've referred to it time and again, bookmarked, toted around, and used in the messy kitchen so often that it's about to fall apart.
And I'd hate to go without it. Great book. It really got me started with kitchen witchcraft. And I love the Victorian period and it's myriad of customs and superstitions.
The format was great in an unexpected way. I was expecting rituals and magical history but got ways to bring a little Victorian custom into my magic. Very nice.
Also, my cousins and nieces are all addicted to the American Girl books and love the recipes and crafts in this book as well.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
