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Books to Avoid

Silver Ravenwolf, To Ride a Silver Broomstick or anything else by her
There is nothing in this book that can't be read in a hundred other books on Wicca, and it is all presented sophomorically. Her grasp of history is atrocious, and while she preaches tolerance on one hand she also repeatedly and blatantly insults Christianity. Her books are heavily padded with spells yet offers very little in the way of magical theory. For more details, check out Why We Despise Silver Ravenwolf.

Fiona Horne, anything by her She targets teens, she commercializes Wicca, and she's an admitted atheist- a pretty strange representative for a religion. Her latest publicity stunt is Sci-Fi's Mad Mad World reality series. Why is she our newest targeted author? Click here to find out Who is Fiona Horne? by Juliaki.

Barbara G. Walker, The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets
At first glance this book appears to be a work of academia, which is where part of the danger lies. In fact, this is 1000 pages of attempting to define every goddess as an aspect of the Great Goddess or Triple Goddess, every saint as a stolen pagan deity, every god as a Sacrificial King and/or patriarchy's attempt to masculine a goddess, and every biblical woman as a deliberately misrepresented matriarchal leader. Its entire motive is to promote Goddess spirituality and give men a few kicks while its at it. Walker depends heavily on painfully outdated and even discredited source materials such as works by Frazer and Graves. There may be some actual information in this book, but its so peppered with nonsense that it becomes impossible to distinguish what might actually be legitimate information.

Laurie Cabot, Power of the Witch
The self-professed "Official Witch of Salem" (despite the fact that there are hundreds of witches in Salem), this woman is just begging for attention. She wanders Salem, Massachusetts on a day-to-day basis in a long black robe, which she claims is traditional Wiccan garb, back from before the Burning Times. She's another big believer in quick fix magic (all you need for a good parking space is to visualize it before you enter the lot). Oh, and did I mention she named her Tradition after herself? Where Ravenwolf has exploited Wicca for money, Cabot has exploited it for attention.

For more of Cabot's antics, check out the following news article from June 18, 2004:

Police claim Salem's official witch put a hex on them as the result of a custody dispute.

Video David Boeri Reports On Hex NewsCenter 5's David Boeri reported that it started with a child custody dispute, a judge's warrant for a child's return and the arrest of the daughter of Laurie Cabot, the official witch of Salem. When Cabot didn't open the door for police, they entered on their own.

"I'm talking to them and they are, like, doing their business, and, you know, 'I got a warrant,' you know? I said, 'Stop, you are not paying attention. Look me in the eye,'" said Cabot. "I didn't say for life. I said, 'Look me in the eye. You are cursed.' I meant it. They were nervous."

Cabot, who's said she has spent her career as a "Dale Carnegie of Witches," was coming off as the Wicked Witch of the East Friday, appearing in a Salem newspaper with the headlines: "Hex and the City: Witch Curses Salem Cops."

"I don't do curses. I say it is a curse when you do bad things," said Cabot.

The police, whose station was still upright Friday, may know the laws of the commonwealth, Cabot said, but they don't know the universal law of witches.

"We call it the 'Threefold Law.' Whatever you do comes back threefold. You curse yourself by doing things against human kind," she said.

Police said they were only doing their jobs, but did not comment Friday.

No criminal charges were filed in the case.¹

Sorry Ms. Cabot, but when police enter a home with a valid warrant, it is not a crime "against human kind". It's their bloody job.