Dorothy MorrisonCritiques

This was a friendly, chatty book with a VERY positive view of menopause. I don't know if I can see it as quite the reason to celebrate that Morrison presents, but she did have a lot of useful exercises. I enjoyed the writing, and I have to confess I look forward to menopause with less trepidation than before.

This is part history/social studies on Yuletide celebrations, part Wiccan rituals, and part festive decorating, cooking guide.

The Winter celebrations "history" did lean very Christian/Western Europe. The author begins by saying that Winter celebrations, solstice, is celebrated the world over, but then didn't really have much discussion not based on Western Europe and Egypt. Traditions from various places around the world are brought in a bit with the Days of December section and Holidays around the world section, but probably should have been more in the initial section.

Some points of the book are a little... obvious? Like the beginning of a chapter discussing forgetting a gift and suggesting a gift card *then* went on to suggest crafty gifts, but some of those would take a fair amount of time, effort for salvaging last minute forgetfulness. So, I think the editing could be a little better and turned it around to be like: here are some crafty gifts, then end with- if you have run out of time and energy, there's always gift cards which are *fine*.

Anyway, overall, I enjoyed the book and would consider pulling it out next Yuletide season. It's not great, it could have been better. However, I enjoyed it. I'm not Wiccan but I'm considering purchasing to get me into the spirit for Winters and give ideas for crafts and treats.½

Lots of useful information on using various herbs in and around the home. A bit too heavy on rhyming spells for every work, but information seems useful. Skimmed.

A very useful reference for the beginner in the Craft.

A wonderful, practical book full of creative ideas for evening the score and getting revenge. Highly recommended.

I was deeply disappointed by this book. There are misspellings, inconsistent use of type, and reversed or incorrect words. The bulk of the book is recipes and make-your-own-tradition ideas that still partake heavily of Christian symbolism and practice. The author's sources are academically and intellectually dubious, and out of date. For example, she cites (and misspells the name of) an encyclopedia of mythology in its 1968 edition. The historical information cited is often inaccurate. The attitude toward Christians and practitioners of other religions alike is smarmy and patronizing. Egregiously stupid errors include a statement to the effect that the early Christians inserted the word "Son" in the name of their new holiday because it would make people think of the "Sun" god. Duh-uhhhh--these people weren't speaking English, and "son" and "sun" are not homophones in any languages spoken in that region then or now. This one of the most poorly written non-fiction works I've ever read, and there was no reason it couldn't have been good. One star is too high a rating.

Tired of people always telling you to "mind the Wiccan Rede" and honor the law of three? Well, this book might help you figure out what it is you really are doing when it comes to magic. Not all magic is white or black, there are many shades of gray. And for those who have a tendency to act as the hand of karma, knowing what you are doing just might be a good idea!

Utterly Wicked takes through several different spells, conjures, and recipes that will help you protect your home and family, advance in your career and just figure out what the **** is going on in your love life. Definitely not for the fluffy bunny white light tree hugger.

Riding on the skirts of Morrison's Utterly Wicked, this fictional tale of Tess Logan and her trials and triumphs with magic and the deadly occult will take you on one wild ride. Morrison usually delves into the occult and magic from a nonfiction view point, but I think this book applies her other works into a scenario that many can identify with, at least when it comes to love and success. I enjoyed the book immensely and am looking forward to future novels from Morrison.

A hundred year old curse reaches out from the grave to ensnare Tess Logan in a tragic cycle of love, lust, betrayal and murder in Lucinda's Web. A bitter rivalry for affection led to the laying of spells whose power reignites when Tess moves opposite a cemetery, and then meets Luke Benson. As the curse strengthens, Tess's friends are drawn into it's web with each having a part to play in the unfolding drama. Unless they can solve the century old mystery and destroy the charmed objects they are all at risk of forfeiting their lives to the past.

The main thrust of Lucinda's Web is interesting and well thought out. As a practicing Wiccan Priestess, author Dorothy Morrison uses her knowledge of the occult to include magic, hoodoo, reincarnation, possession and more to develop a creative story. After a somewhat slow start there is plenty of tension as the curse tightens and the ending has a chilling twist but I think that the plot was almost overwhelmed by Morrison's technique of using several of her characters to tell the story, in both first and third person points of view. The transitions were not always easy to follow and for me, the story often felt disjointed and crowded.
Morrison's characters are all very strong personalities. Tess smokes like a chimney, drinks copious amounts of coffee, swears like a sailor and has the temperament of a cut snake, all unusual traits I would have thought for a Wiccan witch and her tendency to take offense at almost everything annoyed me. An aggressive tone is present in many of the other characters as well, even in the most benign of interactions there are a lot of exclamation marks, capital letters and italics used. I struggled to relate to any of the cast which affected my enthusiasm for the story.

There are not currently a lot of reviews for the book but it has earned high praise from other readers. While I think the book had a strong concept and the writing was of a good standard, unfortunately Lucinda's Web didn't really work for me. I picked it up and put it down several times over a few days and had I not been committed to reviewing it, I'm not sure I would have finished.½

This is a terrific beginners book but not what I expected when I ordered it off Amazon. It is well written and gives wonderful advice for beginners but definitely not what you would expect from a Book of Shadows. More of an introductory book to the craft, I would not suggest this as an advanced book or even a good reference even though it does contain certain good qualities.

This book crosses a belief in natural spirituality with handicrafts to make items to be used in this spiritual practice. All of the photographs are black and white and the directions are basic.

Interesting book that looks at the origins of the Yule celebration (as well as other ‘winter holiday’ celebrations,) different cultural variations over the years and the meanings behind the rituals, origins of some of our modern-day practices. Also has sections for rituals, recipes, potions, decorations, etc. and another chapter on how to make your own Yule celebration uniquely yours, gives ideas on how to start new traditions of your own, etc. Although a lot of this is “nothing new,” to me, I did glean some interesting information and quite enjoyed the book; will be keeping it on my reference shelf and will have to plan to dig it out again next year, probably in November, to allow for a bit more planning time for some of the neat ideas included.

I’ve actually been working my way through this one for a couple of months and finally finished it. I did find a few useful potions and herbal combinations and scribbled a few things into my journal, but parts of this book struck me as just sort of silly, especially some of the incantations where the author forced the lines to rhyme. I got the giggles a few times reading those! Mostly I write my own spells anyway for the little bit of ritual/spellwork I do and it’s more the “spirit” of the thing that counts, IMO, not making things rhyme! I’m keeping this on my bookshelf, but it probably won’t be one of those books I refer to regularly.

The Craft - A Witch's Book of Shadows by Dorothy Morrison
My review
rating: 4 of 5 starsThis book was packed with great information. One of the things I really liked about the book was that she spoke in a very clear, and entertaining way. The information was given in a readable yet informative way.

I found much that I could use from this book, especially much of the verse used for spells and invocations. The poetry was beautifully written.

The main downside of the book is that it is obvious from a specific traditions point of view. This is fine, but for a beginner it might be worrying to have to memorize the Rede, or to always use a wand instead of an athame. Morrison writes with authority, but leaves little room for those who do not follow her particular tradition's rules and methods.

While a beginner would find much useful in this book, for a true beginner I would recommend Cunningham, Starhawk, or Ravenwolf first. For someone with a lot of experience, this book will build on what is already known and is great at supplemental material.

I love the way Morrison writes about Wicca, but this book was geared more for the novice.
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This was a great book. The material was a bit dark, but after reading so many "white witch" books, it was a welcome change from reading about good magic. While I don't foresee myself ever using this book to curse or hex, the information contained in the volume is written well, in an easy and conversational tone, as well as useful for more than just what the title suggests.

I highly recommend this book, if for no other reason than the home protection, energy transitioning, and cemetery information she provides. She also added recipe for powders, incense, etc. and has several listings in the back of the book on where to obtain supplies, something that many books sorely lack.

After reading this book, I plan on buying her backlist. It as simply that good of a book.

Lovely book on sun magick. Again, not one I'd read cover to cover but it is excellent as a reference guide and for those who are new to spellwork.

Lovely book on moon magick. Again, not one I'd read cover to cover but it is excellent as a reference guide and for those who are new to spellwork.

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