Candlelight Spells: The Modern Witch's Book of Spellcasting, Feasting, and Healing

by Gerina Dunwich

Briefly discusses the history of witchcraft, provides recipes for foods, herbs, and spells, and defines witchcraft terms

Genres: Witchcraft, Wicca, Nonfiction, Occult

186 pages, Paperback

Published June 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

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Gerina Dunwich's first book, and it's very eclectic. The history needs to be taken with a grain of salt: Wicca isn't ancient and the witch trials resulted in the deaths of Christians for the most part. Very few Pagans were executed in proportion to the non-Pagans. If you can get past these inaccuracies, and the white-witch white-magick, black-witch black-magick bits, you're in for a bit of a curious little treat.
I have cooked several of the dishes from her Sabbat and Esbat recipe sections. Her cakes and cookies are especially good, and I had no problem making substitutions for some of the more odd ingredients. I'd like to brew up some of the wines, as well.
The brief chapter on candle making is not bad. It's just the nitty gritty, but still enough to get you started. The incenses smell great and are easy to throw together, always a plus.
I wasn't overly impressed with the section on herbs, but this isn't a book about herbalism so maybe I'm being unfair. She gives some solid remedies for common ailments, and provides a list of plants that should just be left alone due to poisonous properties.
The spellcasting chapter is a real mixed bag. There are several spells in there that I have deconstructed and altered slightly to good effect. Some are great as springboards for inspiration, and some are just odd and out of place. The Ceremonial Evocation of Spirits and Exorcism are just bizarrely thrown in at the end of the chapter. The tone and procedure is so out of sync with what had been previously explained that I did a double take.
There are a couple of very folksy old spells in there, and I just love them. Simple charms that are easy to perform. I wish the book included a bibliography; I'm very curious about the sources for some of the spells and would love to read more about them.
There is a brief lexicon in the back that defines a number of common words that you may see or hear in witchy books and spaces.
Overall though, I think this book would confuse the hell out of a newcomer if they didn't have a solid text on Wicca to go along with it. It's a neat reference with a lot of fun gems to be incorporated into your practice.

[Madalynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is written from a very set-in-stone type of path, where there is no flex on what can be said, what can be used, in spells and rituals. Not really my cup of tea, and most of the book is devoted to indexes that could have and have been included in plenty of other books on the market.

Drawn in by the title, there was a very small maybe 20 page section on candlelight and candle spells.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, goofy book. Yes I said GOOFY. NO, I don't take this WITCHCRAFT stuff seriously. Sorry, folks. :) I just find it a little interesting to read up on. LOL.
The love potion tea wasn't too bad. Not sure if it worked though, but I did serve some to my hubby to make him fall even MORE madly in love with me than he already is. LOL. :)

Some of these spells and recipes are a little far out there though! I wouldn't quite know where to get squirrel for instance and not sure that I would ever want to eat it. LOL.