Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft (Llewellyn's Practical Magick)

Lovely book

Very good book 📕😘

Overall I liked Buckland's information about Wicca in this book, however, I think he should have stopped there. Unfortunately what spoils it for me is the pseudo science and especially the pseudo history. I have several history degrees (in the topic area of early modern and medieval witchcraft) and some of the conclusions he comes to are just massive leaps. For example, suggesting that there is undeniable historical evidence to suggest that witches practiced naked, due to the many woodcuts and illustrations of such which abounded at the time. These images were, in fact, created by Christians in order to illustrate the depravity of those who participated in Devil worship; they were not illustrations of real Esbats and Sabbats.In addition to this, suggesting that grimoires were passed down throughout the medieval and early modern periods is also tenuous, given that the population was largely illiterate. Another historical gripe is suggesting that those who were persecuted for witchcraft were actually witches. They were not, they were Christians. A very very small amount of them may have practiced witchcraft, however, this has been widely demonstrated by historians to be based upon Christian superstitious practices, and not worship of older Gods. It is unlikely that the majority of the persecuted population even knew about Paganism or 'Old Gods'; again, most of them were illiterate and had never travelled outside of their own villages.What also doesn't help Buckland's case is lauding people like Uri Geller, who has been widely proven to be a fraud and an illusionist, not someone with magical energetic powers.Take this book with a pinch of salt and look at Wicca for what it is, a fairly new religion which takes inspiration from older, pre-Christian Pagan beliefs. Don't get sucked in by pseudo history and people trying to make it more than it is. If you're interested in the actual history of Paganism, especially in Britain, then read something by an actual historian, such as "Pagan Britain" by Ronald Hutton.

An absolute classic, even non-Wiccans are given a valuable insight into Mr Buckland's practices. Lots included, even blueprints/measurements for making your own altar.Highly recommended, and set out with questions at the end of each chapter in order to help you develop your skills and understanding.Bravo to Big Blue!

This book is amazing for beginners and I would highly recommend if you are starting out and not sure where to start. It has everything you need to know and handy questions at the end of each lesson (chapter) to test your knowledge.

I’m not a Wiccan but in regard to Witchcraft I like to learn from many sources. This book has a lot of useful information a practitioner or beginner can use. More than many of the books I’ve encountered. But just so you know it is a Wiccan-Witchcraft book even though the title just says Witchcraft.

As a newcomer to the craft, I was looking for a good book to introduce me to Witchcraft. After reading all of the reviews here I decided to go with 'Big Blue' and I'm very glad I did. The book is excellent, covers the basics of a wide variety of topics and I honestly couldn't put it down. Buckland talks about a number of things that i never associated with the craft such as numerology, astrology, palm reading, meditation etc that I found absolutely fascinating! The book itself is quite large and very easy to read, no fancy, unintelligible language and each chapter is followed by examination questions to test yourself with which I thought was a great addition! It is clear that Bucklan has done his research as he references a number of books which I thought was very helpful. I honestly cannot recommend this book enough.

This is a book that is going to take me a long time to work through, it is already proving to be an invaluable reference tool. A friend recommended this many months ago, I wish I had been in a position to buy it earlier.