A Thanks To An Internet Traveler

I wanted to give a thank you to someone who gave me a nice little tip after they stumbled onto my blog by accident.  And also to share the tip with others.  

 

Yes, I live in the age of technology, currently running a blog... and did not consider the potential usefulness of a Kindle...I don't own one right now, but it seems like a very good idea and I might have to look into getting one after all.  (Yes you heard me Luna, after all the talk of "books should be books, and smell like books and feel like books..." I get it, super useful, you're right. LOL)

Well that's all for now.  Thanks again Kat. 

The First Book

The first book on wicca I read, I read with the intent of getting the absolute basics so I would know what my friends believed.  I didn't want to end up saying or doing something that would offend them, or make a nuisance of myself by asking them questions they had probably answered hundreds of times from other people.  So it wasn't in my mind to find a book that had every theoretical nuance of wicca.  So the book I got was:

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft by Denise Zimmermann


Say what you will about it; franchised, water down, fluffy, etc...  It was at least helpful on the basics, and as the title suggests, it was easy to understand.  It has some basic logical information; safety tips, common themes, and some very good advice "read more books on wicca".  Reviews I have seen on it seem to hit about 50-50 with wiccans hating/liking it.  I'll put it this way, if that was the book a friend of mine picked up just to understand what I believe, I would be ok with that because it is simple and complimentary.  It's in no way the end all be all book, I don't think any book is.  Maybe I just like this book because it was the first little stepping stone for me.  

There was only one downside to reading this book, all those questions I didn't want to bug Willow with.  Now I wanted to learn more, and to learn more, I had to start bugging him with questions.  Luckily, he doesn't seem mind. And I'm very grateful.

My Brother & The Book

My brother got me the The Wicca Cook Book last christmas.  Even though Luna had given me wicca stuff, and my husband had bought me my first set of tarot cards; this gift affected me in a different way.  Mostly because, my brother, doesn't seem to have an opinion one way or the other about what I believe.  He studied lots of religions, trying many of them out, until he decided that organized religion doesn't work for him.  This includes wicca, though he never practiced it, I'm not even sure if it's one that he even read about.  I had pretty much assumed that he probably thought I was silly, and waiting for me to say "well you're right, atheism it is then".  Until he gave me this gift.  It came out of the blue, and even though he and I don't talk about religion, it really made me realize that he sees what I am doing as serious to me. 

He confessed later that he saw it in a bookstore and thought maybe it was a beginners spell book of some kind, and before wrapping it realized it was an actual cookbook.  He said, "At first I was thought, I wanted to get her more than just a cookbook, but then I thought...ehe she eats food and stuff."  


The Wicca Cookbook: Recipes, Ritual, and Lore by Jamie Martinez Wood

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I enjoy this book, in addition to recipes it has information about the Sabbats.  What makes it more than just a cookbook is the additional information that goes with the recipes; instead of being set up like most cookbooks(appetizers, deserts, etc...)it is set up in order of the Sabbat the recipe is associated with. Most of the recipes seem simple to make.  It's an enjoyable cookbook.

A similar experience came at New Years when my friend Bette gave me a book she happened to see in a store. It's a coffee table book, a compilation of witch lore and history pieced together in an artistic manner.
Witches: A Book of Magic and Wisdom by Lori Eisenkraft-Palazzola

These experiences were important to me because they both came from people who accept me as a wiccan, don't really show an interest in it, and I imagined thought I was being naive in my studies and beliefs.   These experiences showed me never to underestimate the power in small gestures; to them it was a small act, they saw a book they thought I might like and got it for me.  Those small acts, gave me the feeling of being not only accepted, but taken seriously.