Judika Illes

I ordered this book on a recommendation. I haven't read it, I've done a shallow dive, happy to see some favorites. First up, this is an extensive and thick volume. I had in mind that it would be a nice reference book, and oh, yes, it certainly is! What I wasn't expecting is that it is for spiritual practice, not just a list of entities. Entities are introduced as potential spirit guides/helpers. I've seen a few other comments that suggest that you can't just say Oh, well that one sounds good, I think I'll ask that one into my life to help me. More research is necessary as some of these entities are powerful and not to be messed with lightly. I totally agree! Gorgeous book. Exhaustive material. Amazing. Was hoping to be able to contact the author with a question. As with saints, there are entities related to a vocation or issue, like a patron saint for farmers, doctors, veterinarians, or saints for the deaf, for ease of childbirth, for mental anguish. I looked, did not see ONE for authors/writers/journalists/publishers. :(… (más)

-mashes up distinct religions/traditions into contextless ritual suggestions, including those of closed traditions
-makes frequent generic claims like "today is auspicious for X" without explaining where or why
-includes a bibliography, but it contains questionable websites (surely there was some newer, more reliable source than an archive.org link to a geocities page)
-doesn't indicate which sources were used for particular claims, preventing interested readers from efficiently following up
-apparently didn't find anything for some dates and just made things up from popular media or generic trends (e.g. Severus Snape's birthday became a day for potions; a random day in January focuses on magical safety travel tips since it's often snowy in the Northern Hemisphere)
-makes historically inaccurate or, at best, very stretched claims like mid-February dates being associated with Valentine's Day themes for thousands of years (that's on the very first page, by the way) or that we don't know anything about St. Valentine besides his name and burial date… (más)

This book is an excellent source of information about witchcraft through the ages. However, I DNF’d it and rated it 3 stars because the author continually speaks down to the reader as if everyone who comes to this book comes to it from a place of mistrust and negative bias.

Dear Author, please stop telling me how you think I feel about witchcraft and just give me the information straight. I’m a witch, myself, and started reading this simply to brush up on my own knowledge. You don’t need to tell me to “stop rolling my eyes” about such-and-such information.… (más)