Lisa Chamberlain

I was hoping for something more grounded in historical references and linguistic studies. In fairness, I could have noted the subtitle: "A Guide to Reading Runes in Divination, Rune Magic, and the Meanings of Elder Futhark Runes." Even though I'm not into such mysticism, I rated it based on that purpose. The book reviews the origins of the runes and "rune casting," describes how to interpret runes and then explores the meaning of each of the runes in the Elder Futhark. Compared to several show more more scholarly sources I've encountered recently, I found the basic rune meanings provided here to be very similar. The author takes it a step further by providing "magical uses" for each. If, like me, you don't believe in magic, you could still use runes as a lens for thinking about situations in different ways. show less

A beginning note: while I am a witch, I am not Wiccan; I picked up this book on the recommendation of a friend who is, only hoping to find some things of interest and possibly spellwork I'd like to use or adapt for myself. I was and am aware that the Wiccan angle to it does not suit me personally and didn't expect it to do so.

While there are a number of easy-to-get-into spells in this (and easily adapted, if you're comfortable doing so) they are many of them not necessarily what I would show more suggest for a beginning witch. They can also get somewhat repetitive, and/or feel wasteful.

There is a heavy emphasis on 'positivity' taken to a degree that it can feel almost toxic in some places, entirely aside from the Wiccan boundaries never to cause or think harm to another, with the exhortation to not allow your thoughts to turn towards negative feelings, memories, wishes, etc. - among many other things listed as 'do not think of/focus on [x]' in such a way that it pretty much guarantees your mind to turn in that direction if you are referencing the spell.

It also encourages or instructs freewriting so frequently that as I read I was almost tempted to count how often it came up, just out of curiosity. Personally freewriting does not work for me as anything other than a frustration, certainly not as a method of focusing for spellwork. Doesn't make it bad advice (if a bit overemphasised here), but it was supremely unhelpful for me. show less

I enjoyed this brief introduction to kitchen witchcraft. Though I do agree with some other reviews that advanced practitioners may find it to be very basic, I'm new to the craft and I found this book full of helpful little insights to ease yourself into incorporating more magick in the kitchen. The correspondence charts and spell ideas are very helpful, and I liked how the author had many different perspectives on how to bring magick into the kitchen through many different ways. Big kudos to show more Lisa Chamberlain for being very aware of the differences between classes- she talks about organic and fresh foods having higher vibrational frequencies, but is quick to say what works best is what you have access to. She even takes the time to give ideas for what those of us with tiny studio apartments can do to make a difference in our spaces. Overall a decent read, if I need a beginner's look into a different topic she has written a book on, I do think I would pick it up. show less

I enjoyed this brief introduction to kitchen witchcraft. Though I do agree with some other reviews that advanced practitioners may find it to be very basic, I'm new to the craft and I found this book full of helpful little insights to ease yourself into incorporating more magick in the kitchen. The correspondence charts and spell ideas are very helpful, and I liked how the author had many different perspectives on how to bring magick into the kitchen through many different ways. Big kudos to show more Lisa Chamberlain for being very aware of the differences between classes- she talks about organic and fresh foods having higher vibrational frequencies, but is quick to say what works best is what you have access to. She even takes the time to give ideas for what those of us with tiny studio apartments can do to make a difference in our spaces. Overall a decent read, if I need a beginner's look into a different topic she has written a book on, I do think I would pick it up. show less