Published in 2002 by New Page Books
[Disclaimer: This review is solely my opinion. Comments, thoughts, and disagreements are welcome in the comments!]
About the Book
Oh my … Where to begin … I came across a bunch of witchcraft books for free, so I thought it would be fun to read this one. Glad I didn't pay money for it. In many ways this is a typical Witchcraft 101 book (information on the ethics, the gods, the Wheel of the Year, and of course, spells), but with a "cyber" twist. Keep in mind that the authors define "cyber" very loosely, to include not only the computer and the Internet, but also things like toasters, and even toilets. The reason why I was interested in it was because I am very curious about how to integrate the reality of technology in our lives with Witchcraft, which is (debatably) a throwback to "ancient" ways. This … was not the book.
The Good
Well, the authors did set out to try to "innovate" and "evolve" Witchcraft with the times, and … well, it's certainly innovative. I guess it was a good goal, just the execution was awful. I guess they had some basic information about Witchcraft for beginners but, really, there are so many other books that can do that too … (can you tell I hated this book?)
The Bad
Blegh, where do I even start? Okay, to be fair, it was published in 2002, so it's very dated (they still refer to floppy disks!). So I won't fault the book for changes that they couldn't have foreseen – although its outdated-ness is still certainly a drawback (and it's highly due for an update, though not from these authors … ) A lot of it was just too hokey to take seriously, like raising power to put energy into clicking the "send button" or whatever, or a spell to literally flush away negativity down the toilet ... also some things that are just downright weird – like the deity associations with modern technology (e.g. Zeus is a great "stock-market God").
By far my biggest beef with them is how little they take into account the environment, despite all of their elemental associations with Earth. They advise you, for example, to call in the spirits of Air in a circle by blasting the air conditioner (regardless of time of year!) or the spirits of Water by running your bathtub (whether you need it or not!) Just because you have appliances doesn't mean you should run them unnecessarily all the time just for the sake of doing a "cyber" spell …
The Verdict
Well, it was certainly good for a laugh! All the references to floppy desks and the hilarious misuse of the term "cyber" were pretty entertaining … But yeah – this is a great guide on how NOT to write a book on witchcraft …
0.25 out of 5 stars
