Customer Reviews

Witches' Calendar

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With each new year, I enjoy getting a copy of the newest Witches' Calendar from Llewellyn Publications. And, as if often the case, the 2005 calendar has even more information than the previous yearly calendars. Like its predecessors, the 2005 calendar lists all eight of the Wiccan/Pagan holidays (Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lammas, Mabon, Samhain and Yule) as well as all significant Christian holidays (including observed Orthodox holidays), Jewish holidays, Muslim holidays, U.S. holidays and Mexican holidays. Other listed holidays include Earth Day, International Astrology Day, Chinese New Year and the beginning & ending of Daylight Savings Time. It also lists all significant moon phases (new, waxing quarter, full and waning quarter), significant planetary movements between the twelve constellations of the zodiac (including whether the movement is retrograde) and the color of the day. Birthdays and decease dates for significant people in Pagan history are also listed, as well as other significant Pagan dates. A new feature in the 2005 calendar is a table in the back that lists the visible times for the five planets that can be seen without a telescope: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

As usual, each month is beautifully decorated with appropriate artwork and accompanied with interesting articles that are usually written by well-known Wiccan/Pagan authors. This year's monthly articles (and their authors) are as follows:
Jan.: "Winter" by Raven Grimassi.
Feb.: "Imbolc" by Gerina Dunwich.
Mar.: "Ostara" by Abby Willowroot.
Apr.: "Spring" by Ellen Dugan.
May.: "Beltane" by Elizabeth Barrette.
Jun.: "Litha" by Danny Pharr.
Jul.: "Summer" by Barbara Ardinger.
Aug.: "Lammas" by Lynne Sturtevant.
sep.: "Mabon" by Cerridwen Isis Shea.
Oct.: "Samhain" by Arthur Rowan.
Nov.: "Autumn" by James Kambos.
Dec.: "Yule" by Christopher Penczak (an interesting article focusing on the stress that so often accompanies this holiday season and methods for dealing with it).

Other insightful articles contained at the back of the calendar include:
* "Honoring Our Ancestors" by Yasmine Galenorn.
* "Elementals" by Deborrah Lipp.
* "Altars for Everyone" by Magenta Griffith.
* "The Body as Sacred Space" by Dianne Sylvan.
* "The Witch's First-Aid Kit" by K. D. Spitzer.
* "Countering Curses" by Janina Renée.
* "Solitary or Group Practice?" by Nina Lee Braden.
* "Yemaya, Ocean Lady" by Denise Dumars.

Overall, I rate "Llewellyn's Witches' Calendar 2005" with 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it.

This is an excellent calendar, in fact, the calendars of this series are of the highest caliber year after year. I make it a practice to always have one near my desk. This calendar helps witches keep track of the stages of the moon, esbats and sabbats as well as holidays important to us. The art is gorgeous and inspirational. The articles are an excellent bonus. Highly recommended.

This is a wonderful calendar of knowledge, history, and folklore. Every year, the Llewellyn Witches' Calendar has new and interesting things.

You'll start off with learning about Janus, the ancient Roman god that January is named after. Then you learn about the pagan tradition of blessing doorways. Each monthly calendar is filled with quotes, phases of the moon, planetary motion, Wiccan holidays, and more. The artwork is consistently beautiful, especially the August drawing of the Japanese star shrine.

Beautiful and informative, this calendar is one you'll not quickly toss when the year is done, and makes a wonderful gift.

Well it's really hard to screw up a calendar and thankfully Llewellyn hasn't done that thus far! The calendar is colorful with nice artwork so it's pleasing to the eye.

Each month has a theme and is written by an individual such as January's is about doorways and is written by noted author Raven Grimassi whose works on Wicca & Stregha are popping up all over the place.

One of the better essays in the calendar is not attached to a month but follows the calendar proper and is by Yasmne Galenorn. Here she talks about honoring the Ancestors and setting up an Ancestral Shrine, something I HIGHLY reocmmend to any Pagan. In the Neo-Pagan community, it seems the ancestors are only shown homage once per year whereas in the African diaspora, one's Ancestors are shown homage daily. My hats off to Ms. Galenorn for admitting she too honors her Ancestors in the morning and before retiring.

And the essay on the Orisha, Yemaya as the Lady of the Oceans, was nicely done by Denise Dumars. Here she mentions how you can petition the Queen of the Oceans with a simple ritual and it looks to me like Denise did her homework.

The calendar itself is useful to have around with the planetary data, Moon phases, and which Astrological sign the Moon is currently in all helps to facilitate your Magical practices - especially if you're observant of such things.

All in all, I found the calendar to be terrific to add to your temple wall OR like me where I have my office. Plus at the listed price, it's a nice piece of art to hang. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.