Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft (Llewellyn's Practical Magick)

An excellent basic witchcraft book, fondly know Gardnerians and Alexandrians as Uncle Bucky's Big Blue Book. It gives a great perspective from the viewpoint of a man who grew up around the craft, and Romani culture. He met and got to know Gerald Gardner. And he is largely responsible for not only the visible emergence of British Traditional Wicca in the U.S. but later in life a more progressive emergence of ways to merge some of those ideas with modern Paganism. I have come to respect him and this book a lot more in my old age. Hindsight is always 20/20.

A funny little relic of history. Has a lot of good stuff for the bare-bones of Wicca and Witchcraft while also being wildly outdated in some aspects. All to be expected.
I enjoyed reading it and now have a solid foundation to continue studying on.

A great 101 book. The textbook presentation works well, along with the questions at the end of every chapter. Buckland gives you a little bit of everything, and some suggestions on how to continue your studies if you like a particular field. The only criticism I have would be that he perpetuates what I call the "Wicca Myth." He does it while he tells you that the sources supporting it have been called into question. Odd.

This book is one of the 'beginner' books often found in Pagan collections. It's not a bad book- there's plenty of good info in it, but more recent books have much more refined information in it. Great for people coming out of strict religions- lots of rules. For those of us who aren't terribly fond of 'thou shalts', the book is more limited in its scope, but it's still a decent snapshot of How Things Were (and aren't any more) in Wicca.

I did not enjoy this book. That is to say that perhaps it is because I am not practicing under any specific tradition, I found the writing very limiting (i.e. "you MUST do this or you MUST do that").

I am aware that traditions do require certain things to make them thus - but this is definitely not the way I practice.

A rather famous book and it has become a classic among books over Wicca and witchcraft since it was first published. It covers a lot of material to say the least. Perhaps the only big true downside to this is its very age. The historical viewpoints on the origins of Wicca and the general viewpoint over all has changed a fair amount as it has spread and grown. Because of the change this book is perhaps not the best book for a beginner to read right off the bat. Regardless though its still a fairly good book which covers a wide verity of topics in a kind of workbook style.

This is a good book for those interested in witchcraft and beginners to get an over view of wicca. you will come away with an understanding of wicca and should be able to decide if you want to learn more about it or start practicing