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Book: Buckland's Complete Guide to Witchcraft
Overall Opinion: Super-duper.
Buckland's Complete Guide to Witchcraft is wonderful in many ways. From explaining the vast history of the Craft to providing small rituals and ceremonies for everything like the eight Sabbats, to Coven Initiaion, to Handfasting, Ray Buckland certainly does provide a little bit of everything. Although Buckland himself was a student of Gerald Gardner, (who is considered the father of Witchcraft in the 21st Century,) and the founder of the Seax-Wicca tradition, he does not adhere to any particular tradition in the book; while he does give examples of ceremonies from the Seax-Wicca tradition, he also emphasizes the importance of one changing and adapting ceremonies to fit the Coven or solo Witch. He compares religion as a road through life to death and the afterlife- while each road is different, they all lead to the same place.
In later chapters, Buckland also describes many kinds of Magick to the reader. After explaining Candle Magick, Colour Magick, various forms of Divination and Sympathetic Magick, he provides a small example of a ceremony that would be involved with each one. He also provides step-by-step instructions to making your own Athame, robes, and wand, along with questions to answer and activities to perform after each chapter. There are also examples of various Runic aplphabets, their individual histories, and instructions on choosing your Craft Name. At the end of each chapter, there are questions concerning the subject, along with activites one can perform (Like finding your birth number, designing your altar, or writing a ceremony,) as well as a book list that delves more deeply into the subject of the chapter.
Overall, Buckland's Complete Guide to Witchcraft is a wonderful and quite vital read for anyone interested in the Craft, as well as interesting and informative to people who might jsut be curious.