Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1154188 in Books
• Published on: 1998-09-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Synopsis
Focusing on the importance of symbols and covering a broad range of topics drawn from antique and modern sources, this book provides an alphabetical guide to the occult, from alchemy and ancient animal drawings to seven, unicorns, vishnu and yellow.

Customer Reviews

This should not have 'witch' in the title!
I feel that this is a hastily compiled list of symbols, many of which do not relate to witches. Much of the sparse information is inaccurate or incomplete (i.e. the entry for pentagram). Many symbols that would be of relevance to witches are conspicuous by their absence. A more fitting title would have been 'A Modern and Cheaply Produced Book of a Very Few Symbols'!

I found it to be disappointing and not what I expected.
As this is a "Book of Symbols" I assumed that the symbols would all be visually shown; however, very few symbols were actually printed, most just had written information, so you would have to do more research if you were looking for the actual (visual) symbols. I found some descriptions of symbols incomplete. One example of this is the paragraph on Anchient Animal Drawings - there was no mention of their use in magickal purposes or to bring luck when hunting. In some cases the author gives details of where these symbols can be found, but not what they actually mean. The title and blurb suggested to me that the book would contain a wealth of symbols which could be used in magick, but I was disappointed when I actually read it. Some common symbols were not included and others contained inaccurate information. Although I realise that it would be impossible to contain every single symbol ever used in the world, I think many important ones were missed out. The book wasn't all bad, however. It did contain some interesting information and could be useful for research purposes; but I don't think it fulfilled its purpose. I wouldn't recommend it if, like me, you are looking for symbols to use in magick.

Don't be fooled by the pretty cover...
A great disappointment. Apparently the author is 'a practising witch and best selling-author', but this book was either heavily edited before publishing, or unthinkingly compiled and shamefully under-illustrated when you consider it's alleged subject matter. This slapdash collection seems to have been written primarily for inquisitive Christians, as a large part of it focuses on what symbols, animals etc. mean to the Christian faith and how they relate to the Christian God. Even those passages that refer in some way to paganism are not by any means exhaustive, and the writing is disjointed and thoughtless, and in some cases, almost hysterically misses the point.

For example, the author takes a measly 6 lines in the explanation of the pentacle, but pads out the book with 6 pages about French symbolist poets, and entries on the 'Hosts of God', the 'Second Coming', 'Propaganda' and other such subjects that, although interesting in themselves, have, in this reviewer's opinion, very little to do with witches, modern or otherwise, or symbols. If that's your sort of thing, then you may be happy to kill an hour or two with the trivia in this book, but if you're actually looking for a modern witch's book of symbols, I'd advise you not to waste your money.

In short, it looks like another attempt to jump on the Wiccan Books Bandwagon, and does not deserve the price tag it comes with. You'd be much better off buying Patricia Telesco's 'Folkways' or Pauline Campanelli's 'Ancient Ways'.