Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #204229 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Customer Reviews

Cute But Inaccurate
One of the neat things about Magick is that with the power of the imagination and the knowledge of how to direct energy, you can make any system work. It doesn't matter if much of what you're using as a system is the product of an undereducated "expert"--with the will and the way, Magick can happen.
And that is very fortunate for Miss Conway as if the preceding weren't true then this book would be worth not one penny. The two stars are for the fact that the ritual framework is not bad--I can see a beginner who doesn't know any better take control over more things in their life by following some of the spell instructions in this book. Other than that, this is a VERY poorly researched and almost comical look at authentic "Celtic Magic".
Firstly, I really disagree with the whole "including a self-initiation into a different religion without expressly telling the reader what it is" thing. She gives a modern Wiccan self-initiation without informing the reader of what Wicca REALLY is or without mentioning the fact that you don't need to initiate yourself into any particular faith in order to practice Celtic Magick. I find this sneaky and irresponsible.
Secondly, she doesn't give enough kudos to the Golden Dawn and other High Magickal traditions and groups for providing her with much of the material for her ritual framework and Tables of Correspondence. The whole Four Elements ritual "template" of modern Wicca derives directly from High Magickal and Ceremonial traditions and has nothing whatsoever to do with actual Celtic history/practice. Her Table for the God(s)/dess(es) in the back is a (rather poor) ripoff of Kabbalistic/Golden Dawn associations for the Celtic deities on the Tree Of Life and has nothing to do with genuine Celtic belief apart from deity names. If you're going to take from a source, be sure to cite it and admit it.
Overall, this book is not to be taken seriously for it's history, scholarship or descriptions of Celtic Magick. It should have been titled "Wiccan Self-Initiation and Magick With Celtic Deity Names" instead of "Celtic Magic". The only value in this book lies with the instructions on casting for a rank beginner and even for that there are better sources.

GOOD BEGINNERS
This books is great for basic knowledge for beginners. However, if you're are like me and like to read about all types of heritages, e.g. celtic, norse, germanic. Don't bother with these books. Conway has a Norse Magic book that is nearly verbatim to the Celtic Magic... Wan't too happy about that...

contradictory and unclear but usefull
this book has alot of tables that are usefull but it is not very clear on the trinities between certain dieties. She begins telling you that negitive magick is not good but goes on to give you information on curse and that type... I have read another one of her books and found that she puts her own spinn on history and does not approach writing with a proffessionalism that most readers require. The only reason to by this book is for its tables on dieties and magick... not a good book all together