Bkwyrm reviews Everyday Wicca: Magickal Spells Throughout the Year by Gerina Dunwich in the Bkwyrm archive.
Dunwich is a Wiccan who writes beginning Wicca books. This work is about spellcraft and ritual – when the major holidays are, how they’re celebrated, what a spell is, and how to do one. The chapter headings include Lunar Spellwork, the Magick of Incense, Dedication and Initiation, the Wheel of the Year, and others. It has a decent “Glossary of the Wiccan Craft”, as well as a tremendously handy incense correspondence table. It’s completely indexed, which is unusual in this kind of book. Very basic stuff. Reads quickly, simple language, clear and easy-to-follow directions for spellwork.
I’d leave it at that, if I thought that told the whole story about this book. Admittedly, I hold the Pagan community to a pretty high standard. I think Pagans tend to be pretty bright, on the whole, and are people who can absorb complex ideas and theories without too much trouble. That’s why I really don’t understand books like this one. Okay, people need beginner books. That doesn’t mean that the beginner books have to be written at what appears to be a sixth-grade reading level – that’s dumbing down Wicca a little further than even an absolute beginner needs it. Beginner books also, in my estimation, need a decent bibliography for further study. The bibliography in this work has under ten books on it. Three of the books are by Dunwich herself, and none of the books were published before 1995. This is a shallow, superficial overview of Wiccan spellwork with a few useful bits. I never thought I’d say this, but you’re better off with Cunningham or Buckland.