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The Modern Witch's Spellbook #1
The Modern Witch's Spellbook
Presents a remarkable array of spells, charms, and amulets designed to help individuals achieve their romantic goals or exact retribution
246 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
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July 2, 2013
First, allow me to start this review by talking about the way the book is written before I do anything else. While I understand that this book was originally published in 1971, the book has an extremely shitty way of presenting materials. The fact that the writing in this book had both a condescending tone as well as an almost sarcastic but not really tone in the writing style made it extremely hard to follow in certain places. Especially when you’re reading over the blatant racism, privilege, and sexism which exists with the confine of these pages. Sometimes I asked myself if the author was fucking kidding or if the author was actually that serious and that problematic. I had a hard time believing that someone would be that problematic.
The format of the book follows something to the effect of random story from the author’s life (most of these I find highly unlikely having even occurred) and then a spell that may or may not have anything to do with that story. So essentially to get to the spells of this book (reading it cover to cover) one has to wade through the bullshit that the author spouts about their ‘friends’ or the “people that they know" which is really fucking irrelevant to what this book is supposed to be about. This is a spellbook, not a memoir to name dropping (not that any names were actually dropped). If we completely exclude all of the author’s rambling story telling bullshit, the book would, in total, be about 20 pages instead of the 237 page book that it is. Talk about filler content in order to up the page count to get more money, batman.
Second, allow me to say that out of all the books I’ve reviewed, this book has probably the best folk-ish spells I’ve seen in a long time for a spell book. This is not a spellbook which has a lot of ritualistic spells within it. However, without a resource page (though thank you very much for the index which lists where the spells are by page number), I can’t tell if these spells come from anywhere but the author’s head (which in of itself is not bad, but the fact she constantly refers to random cultures or places that she “read these spells from" makes it extremely bad because she’s trying to validate through someone else without actually backing up her validation).
The formatting of the spells also leaves much to be desired, mostly because of the way the bullshit filler content attempts to validate the spell’s purpose. Sometimes some of the instructions are actually with the bullshit filler content, and other times it’s not. Sometimes the tools or materials are clearly listed in front of the spell and most of the time they aren’t. Basically there’s no consistent style for each individual spell to kind of adhere to, which makes it hard to follow in places without having to go through the bullshit filler.
Thirdly, my review attempts to be as gender friendly as possible. The author has made it quite clear she lives in the gender binary constructs (including all the normal socially accepted gender roles for those genders). Where I say women, I am personally including anyone who calls themselves a woman. Same with men. There are no other genders which are present in the context of this book - which is something that I wanted to largely address outside of my main counter points. Why? Because there’s such a serious problem with gender binary bullshit within paganism and witchcraft. Many practices completely exclude the other forms of gender associations, for the sake of having two “easy" boxes to shove people into.
However, when I’m quoting directly from the book, the author is not being inclusive with their terms. The author doesn’t even recognize the possibility of different genders. It’s like they don’t even fucking exist.
I’m not sure how best to show the differences in uses. Please note while you’re reading that I, what I am saying, includes everyone which is why I often switch between they/their pronouns and discuss people as people.
—-
I’m going to cover some major points that are wrong with this book in this review, that I feel should be explicitly stressed. However, this is not the end all to this book’s inherent problems. Almost the entire book is filled with problematic language and thoughts which tend to dehumanize, oppress, or otherwise make fun of other folk’s business. So in essence, there’s a lot of things that I am not covering in my sections here for purposes of simplifying this review.
1. Rape Spells and Pretentious Ethics (Speaking With Both Sides of the Mouth)
One of my most hated types of spells are sexual dominance spells which basically are spells that do not allow for (sexual) consent from another party. As we all know, without a willingly given and happily given non-pressured answer YES, sex with that party is against their will otherwise known as rape. This book’s entire “love magic" section [both women’s and men’s sections] I could and do argue are all rape spells.
Ethically, I have a problem with supplying people the spells that I greatly dislike and find horrifying. But this is not a problem here for this author. In fact, even though she doesn’t like this one spell in her “Black Magic" [Racist connotations because obviously anything Black is Bad; MLKJr take the explanation away], she insists that someone who is new would never be able to perform it or in another spell section, she trusts that people won’t go around breaking up marriages for the hell of it. But here’s the spell, all served up on a fresh silver platter.
This little attempt at getting around the ethical problem by pushing the ethical problem onto the reader amuses me. But it is a poor excuse for bad ethics. If you are against something being practiced, why would you publish the exact HOW TO GUIDE to performing it? It doesn’t make sense to me on any level. On my blog, I am extremely against publishing rape spells, so I don’t. But here, she doesn’t have no problem with that and does some poor shitty excuses for why she is publishing them.
Anyone could do all of these spells listed in this book [minus maybe.. ONE] because they are simple and don’t have a lot of required context with them. Why would anyone possibly think that someone new could not cast these spells? Is there something magical she put on the book itself to prevent it from falling into newbie hands? Did she set it up to fail by having some kind of cut off point within the spells themselves to prevent people from casting them?
No.
Nope.
And No Way.
Instead she runs off into the sunset with her million dollar ideas about how people live their lives (obviously flying around in planes all day to go track down lovers) and has no hang ups about any of the material she’s published. Unless you’re a man.
2. Blatant Racism (From Phrasing to Slurs)
As I mentioned there is a hell of a lot of racism within this book. I started out counting how many times a racial slur was being used, when I got into the teens, I stopped counting. This book promotes some fucked up shit.
Within the first couple of pages she uses the rhetoric that black = bad and continues this rhetoric throughout the book, but not only that she also starts referring to cultural spirits as devils or demons. That when someone of that culture does a ritual or does something of that nature which has some level of magical involvement, it’s suddenly “a demon summoning." And there is a hell of a lot of negative associations with demons and devils. And a lot of folk practices and cultural practices have been wiped out because of things like mislabeling them as demonic and creating a state of fear of them within that culture. It’s part of how oppressions happened forcing folk practices to become Christianized and ultimately attempting them to be more Western. This is not limited to Afro-Caribbean practices either. This includes “Oriental" practices as well, which if we know anything about racial issues we know this term comes from Edward Said.
But one of probably the worst parts of the racism is the oversexualization of the Rroma, Sinti, and other tribes of Europe talking about how they successfully snag lovers via bewitchment and then bring them to their knees. This hypersexualization of the Rroma, Sinti, and other tribes has been a long standing mechanism in order to stereotype and further oppress these tribes. And wouldn’t you know, almost the majority of these exotic love-sex spells are attributed to this group via a slur.
Good job author. Really. No really. Good Job.
3. Sexism - Women
This book pretends to be written by a feminist, except she’s really not anywhere near what feminism is actually about. A lot of what this book writes about women (as in her little stories that may or may not have anything to do with the actual spell content) tends to be very demeaning and sexist. It’s almost offensive that this author thinks that she’s a feminist with as much internalized misogyny which is in this book.
But not only that it encourages some behavior that should be clearly addressed, like stalking. As someone who has had stalkers in the past, I can assure you that stalking should never be glamorized. It’s not pretty and it’s not a means to an end in order to cast your rape spell on someone.
This book predominately is about women putting rape spells on men.
But more importantly, the book endeavours to portray women as weak so that they must resort to “crafty, sneaky snares" in the game of love in order to win “her man’s heart." This book is full of things like, "[i]t’s only natural, therefore, that when two people are in love, the woman is, usually, the one that’s at a disadvantage." (p.22) The author includes in her stories about women how women have spy networks set up to check up on their partners. Clearly the author does not know what the fuck a meaningful relationship is like - which has both trust and communication as heavy parts of the relationship. No instead, we’ll make sure to pretend that women are sneaky using a network of “spies" in order to check up on their men because their men can’t be trusted.
The author takes a moment to shame women who want divorces from their husbands for whatever reason including to leave a bad situation at home. This is probably one of the most offensive things that I’ve found in this book for me as a woman myself. People should not be forced to stay in a bad situation. Never. Never. NEVER. People (especially women) should not be shamed for wanting to get out of a marriage, in general, regardless of what the reasons are behind that.
Including some commentary on female sexuality, this author goes out of her way to shame women who have a lot of sex and those who do not want to have any sex at all, all in the same breath. It’s got to the point for me in this book that I could not tell if the author actually found shame in her own sexuality or if she legitimately thought it was just everyone else that was fucked up.
4. Sexism - Men
This author is seriously against men, she almost says as much in the section about men, “My first emotional reaction about the idea of including this next chapter was entirely negative. I felt, as I’m sure you must, that it’s a bit of a dangerous intruder. Here I’ve been arming us women with powers that can put men just exactly where we want them - under our spell, subject to our will - and now I’m about to enlighten men so that they can have the very same power over us!" (p. 95) The fact that she had heartburn over writing a section geared toward men, tells me a lot about what the author’s personal feelings about men are like beyond what she paints as a “real" portrayal of men. Even as she attempts to say that men aren’t objects, that they are entirely human beings, I’m not buying it. The last 94 pages were about objectifying men.
A lot of what the material she writes about of men, is something like stereotypical things (how to get a man’s heart you go through his stomach) and other business that just isn’t okay.
This author makes men out to be emotionless, inexpressive, and almost robot like. There is no actual understanding that men are human beings (despite her saying that exactly) and that they should have their own feelings recognized as such. Men are beings, according to this author, who “only marry in moments of supreme weakness, or if a girl’s father is willing to make them vice president in the family firm." (p. 46) Basically one of the shallowest representations of what men or rather people are like, in general.
More importantly from a witchcraft point of view, she completely erases men as witches. No, she constantly refers to men who practice any kind of magic as something OTHER than witches within this book. Now while she recognizes that there are male practitioners, the fact that she does not call them what they call themselves is offensive and erasing. Men (of all kinds) have the right to call themselves witches just as much as any other person.
5. Heteronormative
Throughout this book there is only one mention of homosexuality. And it is in the negative, a pejorative kind of thing. All of the coupling spells are based on Man and Woman or Woman and man. It’s never about the idea that sexualities could include other kinds of business. She also doesn’t like Poly-relationships either.
"In truth, catching a man is the high art of the female sex … No woman likes to see the red rimmed eyes of the living proof that her own failure to lure a man is possible." (p. 19) pretty much states the entire philosophy of the love magic sections geared towards women. Essentially there is no thought process about someone who does not need “a man" or women who want to be with other women in their sexual lives. No instead, a woman is high art is how good she can capture or catch a man. It’s so offensive that I can’t even go into all of the reasons why it’s offensive.
6. Bullshit Ideals About Spells
-> Visualization
"Always bear in mind that the key to magic is the ability to conjure in the mind’s eye perfect images…" (p. 97)
This author over emphasizes the need to have “mental" or visualization powers in order to perform spellwork. In fact, she says it multiple times that without visualization one could not cast spells. And that is entirely bullshit. Not everyone performs spells with visualization. And in fact this shames and erases those who are not capable of putting together visualizations, because not everyone thinks the same way or has the same mental capabilities. It’s totally a distortion of what other types of practices are doing.
It must be such a crazy thing to think that one might not need one’s mind to cast one’s spells.
-> Have to use “virgin" tools
This is probably one of the most annoying parts of this book related to witchcraft. One does not need virgin tools, one does not need to be rid of “vibrations" (whatever the fuck that is, I love buzz words in books to make things seem more mystical) within tools, one does not need to fucking hand craft their tools from the most pure products. It’s absolutely ridiculous that this author expects that people should spend money (because it will cost money) and time to craft something just to do one of their fucking spells. Now, I will give that in certain traditions, this is a normal thing. However, none of the spells in this book are of a particular tradition and as such do not need these virgin fucking tools.
Oh, and author, I’ve used potatoes in spells before. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a “potato vibration."
-> Church and Graveyard Desecration
One of the biggest things in this book that gets a lot of reviewers mad, based on what I can see here, is the fact that the methodology for gathering coffin nails is entirely bullshit and disgusting. And I agree with that. Not only are there other ethical ways of getting coffin nails, the ceremony to get a coffin nails is not get drunk with your friends and make sure to hide out from the law. That’s probably the most fucked up part about this. Now maybe some people will not agree with me, but you always pay a fucking price when you take from something. Since no exchange happened in her little description, essentially you’re not just taking the nails, you’re stealing them like any other fucking grave robber.
As for the Church Desecration, wherein someone puts a spell down in an altar. I am personally not as offended by utilizing a church to perform a spell as other are (such as the use of items from a church or items which have been consecrated in a certain way from a religious leader). I am, however, not okay with it being placed where churches conduct the most of their business. In some churches, Specifically the Orthodox church, the altar is set back behind a kind of a gate. Women (or rather, those with uteruses) are not to cross that threshold because it would desecrate the holiness of that space. Since the author is targeting the audience to be a woman, I would find this to be quite fucking offensive. Desecrating a holy space without a care or without understanding of that space is ignorant and petty, all for the sake of a rape spell. Please fucking tell me another joke.
—-
All in all my review is thusly, don’t waste your time with this book. Perhaps her second installment (which I do have and I do plan to review) will be a bit better. But I don’t have much in the regards of high hopes for it to be completely honest.
Thanks.
The format of the book follows something to the effect of random story from the author’s life (most of these I find highly unlikely having even occurred) and then a spell that may or may not have anything to do with that story. So essentially to get to the spells of this book (reading it cover to cover) one has to wade through the bullshit that the author spouts about their ‘friends’ or the “people that they know" which is really fucking irrelevant to what this book is supposed to be about. This is a spellbook, not a memoir to name dropping (not that any names were actually dropped). If we completely exclude all of the author’s rambling story telling bullshit, the book would, in total, be about 20 pages instead of the 237 page book that it is. Talk about filler content in order to up the page count to get more money, batman.
Second, allow me to say that out of all the books I’ve reviewed, this book has probably the best folk-ish spells I’ve seen in a long time for a spell book. This is not a spellbook which has a lot of ritualistic spells within it. However, without a resource page (though thank you very much for the index which lists where the spells are by page number), I can’t tell if these spells come from anywhere but the author’s head (which in of itself is not bad, but the fact she constantly refers to random cultures or places that she “read these spells from" makes it extremely bad because she’s trying to validate through someone else without actually backing up her validation).
The formatting of the spells also leaves much to be desired, mostly because of the way the bullshit filler content attempts to validate the spell’s purpose. Sometimes some of the instructions are actually with the bullshit filler content, and other times it’s not. Sometimes the tools or materials are clearly listed in front of the spell and most of the time they aren’t. Basically there’s no consistent style for each individual spell to kind of adhere to, which makes it hard to follow in places without having to go through the bullshit filler.
Thirdly, my review attempts to be as gender friendly as possible. The author has made it quite clear she lives in the gender binary constructs (including all the normal socially accepted gender roles for those genders). Where I say women, I am personally including anyone who calls themselves a woman. Same with men. There are no other genders which are present in the context of this book - which is something that I wanted to largely address outside of my main counter points. Why? Because there’s such a serious problem with gender binary bullshit within paganism and witchcraft. Many practices completely exclude the other forms of gender associations, for the sake of having two “easy" boxes to shove people into.
However, when I’m quoting directly from the book, the author is not being inclusive with their terms. The author doesn’t even recognize the possibility of different genders. It’s like they don’t even fucking exist.
I’m not sure how best to show the differences in uses. Please note while you’re reading that I, what I am saying, includes everyone which is why I often switch between they/their pronouns and discuss people as people.
—-
I’m going to cover some major points that are wrong with this book in this review, that I feel should be explicitly stressed. However, this is not the end all to this book’s inherent problems. Almost the entire book is filled with problematic language and thoughts which tend to dehumanize, oppress, or otherwise make fun of other folk’s business. So in essence, there’s a lot of things that I am not covering in my sections here for purposes of simplifying this review.
1. Rape Spells and Pretentious Ethics (Speaking With Both Sides of the Mouth)
One of my most hated types of spells are sexual dominance spells which basically are spells that do not allow for (sexual) consent from another party. As we all know, without a willingly given and happily given non-pressured answer YES, sex with that party is against their will otherwise known as rape. This book’s entire “love magic" section [both women’s and men’s sections] I could and do argue are all rape spells.
Ethically, I have a problem with supplying people the spells that I greatly dislike and find horrifying. But this is not a problem here for this author. In fact, even though she doesn’t like this one spell in her “Black Magic" [Racist connotations because obviously anything Black is Bad; MLKJr take the explanation away], she insists that someone who is new would never be able to perform it or in another spell section, she trusts that people won’t go around breaking up marriages for the hell of it. But here’s the spell, all served up on a fresh silver platter.
This little attempt at getting around the ethical problem by pushing the ethical problem onto the reader amuses me. But it is a poor excuse for bad ethics. If you are against something being practiced, why would you publish the exact HOW TO GUIDE to performing it? It doesn’t make sense to me on any level. On my blog, I am extremely against publishing rape spells, so I don’t. But here, she doesn’t have no problem with that and does some poor shitty excuses for why she is publishing them.
Anyone could do all of these spells listed in this book [minus maybe.. ONE] because they are simple and don’t have a lot of required context with them. Why would anyone possibly think that someone new could not cast these spells? Is there something magical she put on the book itself to prevent it from falling into newbie hands? Did she set it up to fail by having some kind of cut off point within the spells themselves to prevent people from casting them?
No.
Nope.
And No Way.
Instead she runs off into the sunset with her million dollar ideas about how people live their lives (obviously flying around in planes all day to go track down lovers) and has no hang ups about any of the material she’s published. Unless you’re a man.
2. Blatant Racism (From Phrasing to Slurs)
As I mentioned there is a hell of a lot of racism within this book. I started out counting how many times a racial slur was being used, when I got into the teens, I stopped counting. This book promotes some fucked up shit.
Within the first couple of pages she uses the rhetoric that black = bad and continues this rhetoric throughout the book, but not only that she also starts referring to cultural spirits as devils or demons. That when someone of that culture does a ritual or does something of that nature which has some level of magical involvement, it’s suddenly “a demon summoning." And there is a hell of a lot of negative associations with demons and devils. And a lot of folk practices and cultural practices have been wiped out because of things like mislabeling them as demonic and creating a state of fear of them within that culture. It’s part of how oppressions happened forcing folk practices to become Christianized and ultimately attempting them to be more Western. This is not limited to Afro-Caribbean practices either. This includes “Oriental" practices as well, which if we know anything about racial issues we know this term comes from Edward Said.
But one of probably the worst parts of the racism is the oversexualization of the Rroma, Sinti, and other tribes of Europe talking about how they successfully snag lovers via bewitchment and then bring them to their knees. This hypersexualization of the Rroma, Sinti, and other tribes has been a long standing mechanism in order to stereotype and further oppress these tribes. And wouldn’t you know, almost the majority of these exotic love-sex spells are attributed to this group via a slur.
Good job author. Really. No really. Good Job.
3. Sexism - Women
This book pretends to be written by a feminist, except she’s really not anywhere near what feminism is actually about. A lot of what this book writes about women (as in her little stories that may or may not have anything to do with the actual spell content) tends to be very demeaning and sexist. It’s almost offensive that this author thinks that she’s a feminist with as much internalized misogyny which is in this book.
But not only that it encourages some behavior that should be clearly addressed, like stalking. As someone who has had stalkers in the past, I can assure you that stalking should never be glamorized. It’s not pretty and it’s not a means to an end in order to cast your rape spell on someone.
This book predominately is about women putting rape spells on men.
But more importantly, the book endeavours to portray women as weak so that they must resort to “crafty, sneaky snares" in the game of love in order to win “her man’s heart." This book is full of things like, "[i]t’s only natural, therefore, that when two people are in love, the woman is, usually, the one that’s at a disadvantage." (p.22) The author includes in her stories about women how women have spy networks set up to check up on their partners. Clearly the author does not know what the fuck a meaningful relationship is like - which has both trust and communication as heavy parts of the relationship. No instead, we’ll make sure to pretend that women are sneaky using a network of “spies" in order to check up on their men because their men can’t be trusted.
The author takes a moment to shame women who want divorces from their husbands for whatever reason including to leave a bad situation at home. This is probably one of the most offensive things that I’ve found in this book for me as a woman myself. People should not be forced to stay in a bad situation. Never. Never. NEVER. People (especially women) should not be shamed for wanting to get out of a marriage, in general, regardless of what the reasons are behind that.
Including some commentary on female sexuality, this author goes out of her way to shame women who have a lot of sex and those who do not want to have any sex at all, all in the same breath. It’s got to the point for me in this book that I could not tell if the author actually found shame in her own sexuality or if she legitimately thought it was just everyone else that was fucked up.
4. Sexism - Men
This author is seriously against men, she almost says as much in the section about men, “My first emotional reaction about the idea of including this next chapter was entirely negative. I felt, as I’m sure you must, that it’s a bit of a dangerous intruder. Here I’ve been arming us women with powers that can put men just exactly where we want them - under our spell, subject to our will - and now I’m about to enlighten men so that they can have the very same power over us!" (p. 95) The fact that she had heartburn over writing a section geared toward men, tells me a lot about what the author’s personal feelings about men are like beyond what she paints as a “real" portrayal of men. Even as she attempts to say that men aren’t objects, that they are entirely human beings, I’m not buying it. The last 94 pages were about objectifying men.
A lot of what the material she writes about of men, is something like stereotypical things (how to get a man’s heart you go through his stomach) and other business that just isn’t okay.
This author makes men out to be emotionless, inexpressive, and almost robot like. There is no actual understanding that men are human beings (despite her saying that exactly) and that they should have their own feelings recognized as such. Men are beings, according to this author, who “only marry in moments of supreme weakness, or if a girl’s father is willing to make them vice president in the family firm." (p. 46) Basically one of the shallowest representations of what men or rather people are like, in general.
More importantly from a witchcraft point of view, she completely erases men as witches. No, she constantly refers to men who practice any kind of magic as something OTHER than witches within this book. Now while she recognizes that there are male practitioners, the fact that she does not call them what they call themselves is offensive and erasing. Men (of all kinds) have the right to call themselves witches just as much as any other person.
5. Heteronormative
Throughout this book there is only one mention of homosexuality. And it is in the negative, a pejorative kind of thing. All of the coupling spells are based on Man and Woman or Woman and man. It’s never about the idea that sexualities could include other kinds of business. She also doesn’t like Poly-relationships either.
"In truth, catching a man is the high art of the female sex … No woman likes to see the red rimmed eyes of the living proof that her own failure to lure a man is possible." (p. 19) pretty much states the entire philosophy of the love magic sections geared towards women. Essentially there is no thought process about someone who does not need “a man" or women who want to be with other women in their sexual lives. No instead, a woman is high art is how good she can capture or catch a man. It’s so offensive that I can’t even go into all of the reasons why it’s offensive.
6. Bullshit Ideals About Spells
-> Visualization
"Always bear in mind that the key to magic is the ability to conjure in the mind’s eye perfect images…" (p. 97)
This author over emphasizes the need to have “mental" or visualization powers in order to perform spellwork. In fact, she says it multiple times that without visualization one could not cast spells. And that is entirely bullshit. Not everyone performs spells with visualization. And in fact this shames and erases those who are not capable of putting together visualizations, because not everyone thinks the same way or has the same mental capabilities. It’s totally a distortion of what other types of practices are doing.
It must be such a crazy thing to think that one might not need one’s mind to cast one’s spells.
-> Have to use “virgin" tools
This is probably one of the most annoying parts of this book related to witchcraft. One does not need virgin tools, one does not need to be rid of “vibrations" (whatever the fuck that is, I love buzz words in books to make things seem more mystical) within tools, one does not need to fucking hand craft their tools from the most pure products. It’s absolutely ridiculous that this author expects that people should spend money (because it will cost money) and time to craft something just to do one of their fucking spells. Now, I will give that in certain traditions, this is a normal thing. However, none of the spells in this book are of a particular tradition and as such do not need these virgin fucking tools.
Oh, and author, I’ve used potatoes in spells before. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a “potato vibration."
-> Church and Graveyard Desecration
One of the biggest things in this book that gets a lot of reviewers mad, based on what I can see here, is the fact that the methodology for gathering coffin nails is entirely bullshit and disgusting. And I agree with that. Not only are there other ethical ways of getting coffin nails, the ceremony to get a coffin nails is not get drunk with your friends and make sure to hide out from the law. That’s probably the most fucked up part about this. Now maybe some people will not agree with me, but you always pay a fucking price when you take from something. Since no exchange happened in her little description, essentially you’re not just taking the nails, you’re stealing them like any other fucking grave robber.
As for the Church Desecration, wherein someone puts a spell down in an altar. I am personally not as offended by utilizing a church to perform a spell as other are (such as the use of items from a church or items which have been consecrated in a certain way from a religious leader). I am, however, not okay with it being placed where churches conduct the most of their business. In some churches, Specifically the Orthodox church, the altar is set back behind a kind of a gate. Women (or rather, those with uteruses) are not to cross that threshold because it would desecrate the holiness of that space. Since the author is targeting the audience to be a woman, I would find this to be quite fucking offensive. Desecrating a holy space without a care or without understanding of that space is ignorant and petty, all for the sake of a rape spell. Please fucking tell me another joke.
—-
All in all my review is thusly, don’t waste your time with this book. Perhaps her second installment (which I do have and I do plan to review) will be a bit better. But I don’t have much in the regards of high hopes for it to be completely honest.
Thanks.
July 17, 2012
I don't mind books on alternate points of view, different spiritual traditions, etc. Whereas I may disagree with them, I find little harm in trying to understand where other people are "coming from," if you will.
Then along come offerings like this one; published, it seems, for a single purpose: annoying the hell out of me. To reiterate; I'm fascinated by other spiritual traditions, and even more fascinated by the elements thereof that attract others to them. In the case of this title, those elements are crystal clear: the promise of wealth, power, and sex.
Rather mundane, worldly pursuits, meseemeth... ~D
Then along come offerings like this one; published, it seems, for a single purpose: annoying the hell out of me. To reiterate; I'm fascinated by other spiritual traditions, and even more fascinated by the elements thereof that attract others to them. In the case of this title, those elements are crystal clear: the promise of wealth, power, and sex.
Rather mundane, worldly pursuits, meseemeth... ~D
July 20, 2019
Racist, antisemitic, sexist hogwash.
January 23, 2010
For what it is, this book is good. This is the book that piqued my interest in the occult as a child. My best friend's aunt had it lying in a trunk by her bed, and we were snooping, as 7 year old girls are fond of doing.
No, this isn't Wiccan material and it's frustrating to see Wiccans down-voting this book simply because they can't accept that there are other forms of witchcraft and beliefs that differ from theirs.
As a matter of fact, the author makes a note in a later volume about how much she despises Wiccans because they act like that have a monopoly on spellcraft/witchcraft.
I digress. This book predominantly contains spells concerning love and revenge. Most of them remind me of something you would see in Brujeria. Aside from its obvious material, it's also an interesting look into feminism during the seventies, though even I have to admit that she's a particularly er... should we say MILITANT feminist?
Overall, an interesting read. Reminded me a bit of Kathryn Paulsen's study in Witchcraft.
No, this isn't Wiccan material and it's frustrating to see Wiccans down-voting this book simply because they can't accept that there are other forms of witchcraft and beliefs that differ from theirs.
As a matter of fact, the author makes a note in a later volume about how much she despises Wiccans because they act like that have a monopoly on spellcraft/witchcraft.
I digress. This book predominantly contains spells concerning love and revenge. Most of them remind me of something you would see in Brujeria. Aside from its obvious material, it's also an interesting look into feminism during the seventies, though even I have to admit that she's a particularly er... should we say MILITANT feminist?
Overall, an interesting read. Reminded me a bit of Kathryn Paulsen's study in Witchcraft.
July 9, 2020
I couldn’t even get to the twenties before permanently closing this book. The spells are non-consensual and involve ingestion of fingernails, dirt, etc to a non-consenting man in the name of “love”. This book told me to put my fingernails, hair, orange peels, and dirt into a Betty Crocker’s spice cake and feed it to my crush. Who in their right mind would do that? I literally made an account on this website to leave a shit review because this book is absolute shit. There’s blatant sexism, and racism within the first FEW PAGES. That’s in-fucking-sane. Don’t waste your money on this book. Don’t waste even ten minutes reading this book, because you will never get those ten minutes back. Learn from my mistakes.
April 6, 2014
Not sure which of these pieces of trash advocated digging up coffin nails at a cemetery, but I can't think of anyone, Wiccan, Witch, Pagan, or otherwise who would think this was an OK practise. Ought to be taken with a grain of salt the size of Rushmore. And certainly *not* a book for a beginner, who may not know any better!
November 8, 2013
Absurd. Dated. An embarrassment to witchcraft. A feminist's nightmare.
September 10, 2014
This is 246 pages of pure crap. I wouldn't recommend this or any other book by this author to anyone.
May 21, 2013
This book is a beginners introduction to witchcraft. It is NOT intended for Wiccan practitioners, however; it includes a lot of information that the apprentice and/or solitary practitioner could benefit from.
I have had this book and The Modern Witch's Spellbook: Book II for so many years they are both falling apart. The book centers around Love Spells, which are frowned upon by most practicing witches, but there are other useful divinations, amulets/talismans, spells for men, and information concerning the practice of black magic.
Excerpt:
"The evening of January 21, however, should be spent by yourself, since this is Saint Agne's night. Take two pins and two of your own hairs. Bind one hair about each pin and lay these beneath your pillow. As you go to sleep, whisper:
Sweet St. Agnes, let me see
My husband-to-be this night.
You will dream of the man you'll marry."
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February 12, 2017
Originally published in 1971...this book is outdated and not based on any Wiccan philosophy at all, it is apparently, just based on 'witchcraft." I didn't like the author's style of writing or the content. Digging up graves to get coffin nails, is purely disrespectful in most any pagan circle. If she had dug up my ancestors or recent family graves, I'd kick her ass for being so damn disrespectful to the dead. Then she goes on to suggest take a great deal of brandy with you, to pamper yourself and soon enough, everyone will feel like they are at a picnic...Bitch, wtf are you talking about? A drunken get-together of friends to dig up graves, hoisting coffins up and then proceeding to steal the nails...yeah, sounds like a great time. Normally, I am not so hostile in my reviews but this lady writes with such stupidity that I can't fathom what the hell she was thinking when she wrote this stupid book. Yes, witchcraft can be vastly different from wicca, that's not what bothers me about this book. It's her complete lack of respect for others, living AND dead that pisses me off. Naturally, there is no bibliography or sources sited. You may be able to glean some ideas for random spellwork from this book but take this whole book with a grain of salt.
July 20, 2018
I’m not a practitioner, however this book was loaned to me from the personal collection of someone in a coven.
As a novice to witchcraft, what I liked is that I found this book easy to digest as one would expect when you designate something as “modern.”
The title is misleading as this book is less focused on spell-giving and primarily more focused on the author’s storytelling as a witch.
Her experiences (revolving around helping single women with spells and magic) were compelling, especially the Hate Magic and Black Magic chapters.
Overall, I was entertained.
As a novice to witchcraft, what I liked is that I found this book easy to digest as one would expect when you designate something as “modern.”
The title is misleading as this book is less focused on spell-giving and primarily more focused on the author’s storytelling as a witch.
Her experiences (revolving around helping single women with spells and magic) were compelling, especially the Hate Magic and Black Magic chapters.
Overall, I was entertained.
December 26, 2024
I'm only 1 chapter in and I'm turned off and plan on throwing this book in the garbage. There is no mention of free will or the moral slippery slope of performing a spell that would negate somones free will, as in "love spells". She also suggests putting nail clippings and the like in someone's food in order to "snag" them. I'm sorry but that's disgusting. And if they doesn't work? what next? GSB? Don't read. I bought this book a very long time ago and never got around to reading it, no loss. It's garbage.
June 5, 2017
This book is very awesome for those beginning witchcraft. I give it 5 stars in my book. Ilitarly couldn't put it down plus I'm a quick reader.
April 3, 2008
I can't believe that this was my first spell book! I say that because I later became a wiccan, which is a religion with strict morals about how and why you should do spells. This book is so much more honest about witchcraft. You do spells cuz you want something! Like a relationship, revenge, hot sex, money, a job, whatever! And there are no admonishments about spreading love and light. If someone stomps on your heart, get even! There is nothing about the "3 fold law" or karma. The book offers tools to make stuff happen or to protect yourself and your sanity. Now, do the spells work? Many of them seem to have elements of traditional magic, such as use of candles, herbs, chants, etc. And, in my recollection, I was able to break up a relationship using some of her techniques. But I get a twinge of guilt when I think about it, something the author doesn't mention. She portrays all of her magick as being entirely justified.
Anyway, if you want magick without all the religion and spirituality attached, this book might be a good start. Still, use of your own ethical system is highly advised!
Anyway, if you want magick without all the religion and spirituality attached, this book might be a good start. Still, use of your own ethical system is highly advised!
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July 12, 2008Another "not for the Wicca 101 crowd" book. But for those that want a little wickedness in your witchery, this might be for you. You won't learn any effective spell casting techniques with this book. The author is either hiding this "knowledge" from you or she really wanted to pass this off as real magic. Either way, a honest beginner will get little out of this text. But the stories behind the spells are sometimes entertaining. The spell and story involving coffin nails was my favorite. It'll have you defiling graves like a pro in no time.
March 14, 2008
i gave this a 4 cos it was interesting just to read the mechanics of these "spells". i even tried one back in the day and uh... yeh. jack shit happened. still was cool to read the ingredients of some of this shit. eye of newt lmao.
March 5, 2015
This book deals with Witchcraft as a skill set, rather than a religion.. She i think was even rather anti-witchcraft as religion..
This book was one of my Baby Witchcraft books, also from the Madisonville KY Public Library...
This book was one of my Baby Witchcraft books, also from the Madisonville KY Public Library...
November 28, 2007
This is a good book for the untrained. It has subtle humor that will sneak up on you with out notice.
September 19, 2011
A book of spells interspersed with anecdotes and the author's own experiences living as a witch in the 1970's. This book is pure witchcraft and not for Wiccans who adhere to the 'harm none' rule.
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