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Yeah, I am going to rant about To Stir a Magick Cauldron again, so if you aren't interested, pass this one by.
I will bet you didn't know that Pow Wow is the only form of American Witchcraft. Oh, yeah, all those other traditions that grew up in the 60s and 70s, no, they don't count. And Native American magic? Yeah right! If it isn't certified by SRW, it isn't Witchcraft (tm).
There is a little anecdote in chapter six about how SRW had a student point out to her that Black Forest Traditional magick is unbalanced because they never draw energy up from the earth (in fact, the student who pointed it out had to develop her own method of doing this). Now, the very first thing that I learned to do energy work-wise was draw energy from the earth. It never occurred to me that you could learn to ground and NOT do it (because that is a part of grounding to me). I looked back to the beginning of the book where she was describing what grounding is, and sure enough, no mention of drawing up earth energy.
The circle variants in chapter five are only visualization variants. She makes no mention of other methods of energy detection. And while we are on the subject, she encourages people to just rework the invocations she provides (for healing, protection, etc) rather than suggesting that they write their own, and familiarize themselves with the working at hand.
The next is just something that is rather petty, but it bugs me none the less. It is the casual cursing. I am not someone who is so anal that I can't stand to listen to people swear (though, I will say something if it is something that comes out of your mouth every second word), but I think that when you are writing a book, you should endeaver to make yourself sound a little less trashy. Call me a snob, that is what I think :oP
Also, for a "Traditionally Trained" Witch, she certainly is anti-scourging. To the point that I don't think she has ever studied it or bothered to learn the purpose it has in traditional Wiccan rituals. She rants on for half a page about how it is only used by people who like to beat up and dominate others.
Another minor squicking point with me is the poetry. She really needs to take a class on meter and rhythm. Her invocations end like you are running into a brick wall. It goes ok for the first while, and then the last stanza starts like all the others but ends on the second line with (and this is with nearly ALL of them) 'So be it', whether it rhymes with the rest of the words or not.
And last, but certainly not least, I want to say that NOT EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN IS A WICCAN MYSTERY!!!!! Every section of this book ends with 'And that is another Wiccan Mystery'. Being polite when you are at someone else's house, and having manners when dealing with people is NOT a mystery. *headdesk* I think this book is going to give me an aneurysm.
Bah! I need a cup of coffee :oP
--Phae
I will bet you didn't know that Pow Wow is the only form of American Witchcraft. Oh, yeah, all those other traditions that grew up in the 60s and 70s, no, they don't count. And Native American magic? Yeah right! If it isn't certified by SRW, it isn't Witchcraft (tm).
There is a little anecdote in chapter six about how SRW had a student point out to her that Black Forest Traditional magick is unbalanced because they never draw energy up from the earth (in fact, the student who pointed it out had to develop her own method of doing this). Now, the very first thing that I learned to do energy work-wise was draw energy from the earth. It never occurred to me that you could learn to ground and NOT do it (because that is a part of grounding to me). I looked back to the beginning of the book where she was describing what grounding is, and sure enough, no mention of drawing up earth energy.
The circle variants in chapter five are only visualization variants. She makes no mention of other methods of energy detection. And while we are on the subject, she encourages people to just rework the invocations she provides (for healing, protection, etc) rather than suggesting that they write their own, and familiarize themselves with the working at hand.
The next is just something that is rather petty, but it bugs me none the less. It is the casual cursing. I am not someone who is so anal that I can't stand to listen to people swear (though, I will say something if it is something that comes out of your mouth every second word), but I think that when you are writing a book, you should endeaver to make yourself sound a little less trashy. Call me a snob, that is what I think :oP
Also, for a "Traditionally Trained" Witch, she certainly is anti-scourging. To the point that I don't think she has ever studied it or bothered to learn the purpose it has in traditional Wiccan rituals. She rants on for half a page about how it is only used by people who like to beat up and dominate others.
Another minor squicking point with me is the poetry. She really needs to take a class on meter and rhythm. Her invocations end like you are running into a brick wall. It goes ok for the first while, and then the last stanza starts like all the others but ends on the second line with (and this is with nearly ALL of them) 'So be it', whether it rhymes with the rest of the words or not.
And last, but certainly not least, I want to say that NOT EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN IS A WICCAN MYSTERY!!!!! Every section of this book ends with 'And that is another Wiccan Mystery'. Being polite when you are at someone else's house, and having manners when dealing with people is NOT a mystery. *headdesk* I think this book is going to give me an aneurysm.
Bah! I need a cup of coffee :oP
--Phae
