The Pagan Book of Halloween: A Complete Guide to the Magic, Incantations, Recipes, Spells, and Lore

by Gerina Dunwich

A Pagan's guide to to Samhain, or Halloween, describes how to incorporate the original meaning, spirituality, and ritual into their most sacred holiday.

Genres: Reference, Halloween, Paganism, Nonfiction, Wicca, Religion, Occult

189 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

About the author

Gerina Dunwich is a professional astrologer, occult historian, and New Age author, best known for her books on Wicca and various occult subjects. She is also involved in paranormal research and is the founder of the Paranormal Animal Research Group, which investigates cases of alleged hauntings by animal spirits.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting things in here, but I am skeptical about the facts and research. Informational for anyone researching the pagan origins of Halloween, but I wouldn't use this as as sole resource.

[Leigh Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're cynical, it can certainly seem like everybody and his grandmother has written a book on some aspect of neo-paganism; there are certainly enough of them out there. Dunwich's book hits the sweet spot between floofy woo-woo and serious-scholarly by being a matter-of-fact little manual full of traditions, lore, suggestions for ritual practice and--of course--spells. Call it a Samhain starter kit. That's not a complaint.

Dunwich follows the usual pattern of beginning with a poem, discussing the history of the holiday, and setting the skeptical straight on any misunderstandings they might have. Symbolism and superstitions are explained, herb and other spell correspondences, noted, and various spells laid out for your consideration. Because divination in matters of love is often practiced during this time, there's a whole chapter dedicated to that. There's a bibliography that runs the gamut from commercial-witchy to heavy-hitter, and a nice little section on seasonal recipes and the traditions that go along with them.

The one minor concern I had was that there's a love spell offered here that ignores the big no-no of not asking for a specific person's affection. Given that this interferes with free will, most practitioners consider it a huge faux pas, and warn you repeatedly not to do it. Not that Dunwich encourages it, exactly: she just sort of lists it along with everything else as A Thing Some People Do, which, if you're going for straight reportage, is perfectly fine. However, given Dunwich's repeated stance that black magick is not cool, it's a little weird. Readers should leave it to their own conscience on this matter, and reader advisors should note this in case it comes up in conversation (you'd be surprised what comes up in the RA conversation).

So, a perfectly nice little book, with one minor ethical quirk. The BF section has seen a lot worse. Recommended.

[Julie Decker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a collection of legends, lore, folk customs, rituals, recipes, and ideas to put Halloween into a Pagan context. There's an attractive shine to some of the old language and presentation of ancient times, but considering some other sources I know, some of the information was myth and some of it was--myth of myth? Some of the descriptions of meanings behind certain symbols and traditions contradict other accounts, and though some of the ideas are fun for old-school down-to-earth Samhain rituals, I felt like a disproportionate number of the magical ideas had something to do with finding the person you're going to marry.

[アレツクス コツト · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow what a read this was. I was born and raised a Jehovah's Witness and reading this really opened up my mind. I was always told witchcraft was evil and dark and brings in the devil and that Halloween and everything associated with it is bad. This book really cleared up the misinterpretations and misunderstandings about Halloween and the craft. How the old ways came to be and what it's changed into now is fascinating. I enjoyed this book in full and loved the little spells you can perform as well as the recipes at the end. This is a great read and recommend to anyone wanting to know more about Halloween.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's lots of great info on the origins of Halloween, how the customs of things like giving candy, jack o' lanterns and bobbing for apples came about and such. Some of the stuff I already knew but lots of it I didn't. It's a nice little book to put you in the spirit!

[Dominique Lamssies · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book didn't work for me, and there are several reasons for that.

First off, there's an attempt to give the historical origins of Halloween, but I feel like most of the claims the author makes have been thoroughly disproven well before the 2000 release date. Also, some of the history seems dicey. The author also goes to great pains to describe how Halloween is celebrated all over the world, but apparently the world consists of Ireland, the UK, the USA and sometimes Mexico? This is where I point out that not all ancestor festivals are the same and the Latin Day of the Dead should not be conflated with Halloween.

The target audience for this book also confused me a little. Some of the information seems painfully obvious even to people who don't practice Pagan religions. For people who do practice, there's nothing in the book for them to actually practice, nothing that would add to their workings on the holiday.

There's also quite a bit of repetition of material throughout.

This book is much more a list of Halloween superstition than a practical guide to a religious holiday. And there are much better guides to Halloween superstition out there.

[Echo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to read this as Halloween is my favorite holiday, but it was just very insubstantial. It was of for the first half, and the last third was just various “spells” that were all about seeing who you’d marry one day. Dozens of slightly different variations in the same theme. Three different versions of cooking objects into cakes and which item you find determines the next years fortune. I don’t mind including it, but they should have been grouped together and condensed instead of used as filler.

My other issue with the book was how it filled from so many different traditions without pointing out which was from what and how old it was. Occasionally it made those distinctions, but it only made the lack f it for others stand out more. As an avid mythology reader, some of the animal symbolism in particular seemed completely made up by the author.

[Weslyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an entertaining read, but I expected a little more out of it based on the synopsis. While there was mention of various rituals and spells, I definitely don’t think this is a “complete” guide to Halloween. It’s full of history and lore which I absolutely loved, but I would have liked to see more actual rituals, recipes, and spells than the handful that we are given towards the end of the book. It’s definitely worth the read, but is going to be more of a reference for me than anything else.

[Mercedes McLean-Wheeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a lot of fun reading this volume about the history and traditions of Halloween and how modern witches might celebrate, but at time it read as kind of goofy. I don’t know if that’s just because of my bias or because the author really did have some amusing dramatic tendencies. It also seemed unclear whether the author was suggesting that some of the historical traditions were thought to be effective or just superstition. The line between historical record and suggestions was foggy.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is another DNF at 125

Solid history of Halloween but only seemed to focus on superstitions or stereotypes of witches

[Mitchell Stern · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent enough guide but very clearly written by and for Wiccans. On occasion it runs into historical myth (for example the Burning Times), but still has some interesting stuff worth checking out.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite holiday

[Swankivy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did you know that Halloween's all about doing divination to find out who you're gonna marry? That's like half of this book. It was charmingly old-school, but not that helpful.

[Robert]

This was at the library when we checked out. If the season throws it at you ... why not?

--- Didn't get past the intro. Had to return it to the library.

[Kati]

Didn't get all the way throught it. It was fun to learn about the different myths and traditions of Halloween before it was the way we know it. :)

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful tome of Halloween past, present, and its possible future as told by one of the world's best Pagan authors, Gerina Dunwhich.

[Necole Manna · Rating 1 out of 5]

AWFUL! Couldn't even finish it!

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of interesting facts, legends, lore. Some of it will go into a program I'm leading for one of my women's group - October is the month for it!

[Kelly Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book about the history and pagan traditions of Samhain.