{"id":6631,"date":"2012-05-01T01:10:54","date_gmt":"2012-05-01T06:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=6829"},"modified":"2012-04-14T14:58:59","modified_gmt":"2012-04-14T19:58:59","slug":"book-review-spells-for-self-improvement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2012\/05\/01\/book-review-spells-for-self-improvement\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Spells for Self-improvement"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Spells for Self-improvement\u00a0\u00a0 Using Magic for Personal Success<\/strong><\/p>\n

by\u00a0 Lauren White<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a9\u00a0 2000\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Andrews McMeel Publishing<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

ISBN:\u00a0 0-7407-0552-0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

102 pages<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Hardcover\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 $9.95 (U.S.)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As you would rightly expect upon seeing this book for the first time (it is about 5 inches square), it is extremely basic and written with tongue firmly planted in cheek.\u00a0 For all of that, there is still a certain amount of wisdom contained within the amusing writing.\u00a0 Basics are provided in terms of color uses and some flowers and herbs, and the reader is reminded that witchCRAFT is just that \u2013 a craft \u2013 and takes patience and practice to perfect.<\/p>\n

Regular readers of my reviews know that I have often bemoaned the preponderance of \u201c101\u201d books on the market.\u00a0 Well, this is not a \u201c101\u201d book \u2013 it is a \u201cpre-101\u201d book.\u00a0 It is capable of being used even by children, in some instances.\u00a0 It gives a very broad overview of the sorts of things which anyone can do to improve\u00a0 their life, as is indicated in the subtitle \u201cUsing Magic for Personal Success.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spells are all very short and simple yet, based on years of experience, they should be fairly effective.\u00a0 Of course the one disadvantage of this book, because of the size of it, is that there is minimal explanation of the reasoning behind the spells.\u00a0 The correspondences of the items chosen are explained in extremely basic terms, but that is a good thing, as far too many authors go into great depths and thus confuse their readers.<\/p>\n

Each spell provides a level of difficulty, length of time for results, and reliability (all rated from one to three).\u00a0 While I wouldn’t use this particular system, it works for the author, and it should work for the user.<\/p>\n

For the experienced practitioner, this book is unnecessary.\u00a0 For the individual hoping to learn what makes magic work, it is not helpful.\u00a0 But for the person looking for some quick inspiration and guidance, it is quite valuable.\u00a0 Browse through it and simply enjoy what is offered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spells for Self-improvement\u00a0\u00a0 Using Magic for Personal Success by\u00a0 Lauren White \u00a9\u00a0 2000\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Andrews McMeel Publishing ISBN:\u00a0 0-7407-0552-0 102 pages Hardcover\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 $9.95 (U.S.) As you would rightly expect upon seeing this book for the first time (it is about 5 inches square), it is extremely basic and written with tongue firmly planted in cheek.\u00a0 For all of that, there is still a certain amount of wisdom contained within the amusing writing.\u00a0 Basics are provided in terms of color uses and some flowers and herbs, and the reader is reminded that witchCRAFT is just that \u2013 a craft \u2013 and takes patience and practice to perfect. Regular readers of my reviews know that I have often bemoaned the preponderance of \u201c101\u201d books on the market.\u00a0 Well, this is not a \u201c101\u201d book \u2013 it is a \u201cpre-101\u201d book.\u00a0 It is capable of being used even by children, in some instances.\u00a0 It gives a very broad overview of the sorts of things which anyone can do to improve\u00a0 their life, as is indicated in the subtitle \u201cUsing Magic for Personal Success.\u201d The spells are all very short and simple yet, based on years of experience, they should be fairly effective.\u00a0 Of course the one disadvantage of this book, because of the size of it, is that there is minimal explanation of the reasoning behind the spells.\u00a0 The correspondences of the items chosen are explained in extremely basic terms, but that is a good thing, as far too many authors go into great depths and thus confuse their readers. Each spell provides a level of difficulty, length of time for results, and reliability (all rated from one to three).\u00a0 While I wouldn’t use this particular system, it works for the author, and it should work for the user. For the experienced practitioner, this book is unnecessary.\u00a0 For the individual hoping to learn what makes magic work, it is not helpful.\u00a0 But for the person looking for some quick inspiration and guidance, it is quite valuable.\u00a0 Browse through it and simply enjoy what is offered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6631\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}