Deborah Lipp

Whether you want this book depends on what you want. If you're a practicing witch who really wants to dig in to the classic approach to ritual structure, by God(ddess), this is the book for you. If you're not a witch but you're intrigued by what I just said, you coudl give it a skim. If you're not deep into witchcraft already, this will probably read as dense, esoteric nonsense.

This will be a five-star book for the beginner or casual witch who isn't sure they really understand the rituals show more they read about online. show less

When I started this book, I thought it would be about interpreting tarot cards in combination, rather like reading Lenormand cards. The cover art, which shows the figures in the Knight of Cups and Strength reaching out to each other, reinforced that impression. It turns out the book is about, well, interacting with the tarot, and that can mean several different things. So the chapters on looking for patterns in the cards, how the cards are affected by the spread, and how they interact with show more each other were the types of things I was expecting. But Lipp also talks about using tarot in combination with other disciplines like astrology and the Kabbalah, becoming more psychic, interacting with querents, playing games with the tarot, and learning the grammar of tarot. Each chapter ends with homework and exercises, to put its lessons into practice right away. There is an appendix of basic card meanings, but the author assumes you already have some experience with the tarot. Bonus: the techniques Lipp discusses also work with other oracles, which is good because there's usually not much out there beyond the book that comes with an oracle deck or stones or whatever.

I especially liked the chapters on patterns, layouts, the interactions between/among cards, and language. That's half the book, and I liked the other half too, just not as much. So yes, I'm recommending the book. show less

This turned out to be rather informative and fun. The book is full of quizzes in different areas that are backed up by insightful paragraphs. The chapter break downs and the lifestyle (work, love, relationships, clothing, etc) break downs are all well done.

As a side perk, at least to me, each chapter ends with superscript and bibliography notes.

The would-be reader of this book might have a better idea of what it's about if the subtitle read A Guidebook to the Study of Advanced Wicca. In essence, this is a study guide, not an actual instruction manual as most of the Wicca 101 books are.

Lipp's book is divided into three main sections: "The Evolution of Modern Witchcraft," "History of Western Occultism," and "Wiccan Practice." In each chapter, Lipp chooses a subject and talks about it briefly. She also discusses several books for each show more subject with the intent that the reader find these books to learn more about the topic. So instead of trying to cram an entire detailed course in advanced Wicca into a single volume, she gives the reader a good start in building an advanced Wicca library.

At the most basic level, I enjoyed getting a lot of reading suggestions that looked so interesting. And the further I got into Lipp's book, the more I appreciated her approach. While she doesn't hide where she stands on these issues, she encourages readers to think for themselves and draw their own conclusions. This is a quick read, and because I enjoy Lipp's writing, I was a bit disappointed that she kept her discussions so short, but that's about all the disappointment I had with this book. show less