Ok, so the other night I was listening to a new (to me) podcast called, New World Witchery. On one of the podcasts they were talking about witchcraft & media, namely what books, TV shows, movies have a bit of the Craft in them disguised by the fake stuff. When they were talking about books, the mentioned the Elements Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells and how there are a lot of good spells in there, ranging from old, out of date hexes to general everyday spells. This book is for most spell workers, not necessarily those who practice the Wicca religion, as there are spells included that go against their Threefold Law. The author, Judika Illes, gathered spells from all over, from different religions of the world, different cultures, etc.This book does contain hexes, love spells, curses and there is a disclaimer at the beginning of the book explaining that some of the spells should not be used without proper knowledge of the ingredients used, your intent & the outcome of doing some workings. Yes, some of you Wiccans will have issue with this book, but it's sourced from many other religions that don't follow Gardner's law of 3. There's a bit of Hoodoo, Voodoo, Pennsylvania Dutch, Powaqa, Pagan, Neo-Pagan, Santeria, Christian magic contained in this book. There's herbal magic, animal magic, food magic, magic baths, aromatherapy, etc.
When I was out the other day looking for it, but at the time I couldn't afford the price, as I was on a budget to get other things, as well. So, I purchased the sister book, Elements Encyclopedia of 1,000 Spells, which contains other spells not in the larger book as well as some from it. Now, my belief in spell books is that if you can find a few spells in it that work, than you got your money's worth. Also, a general rule of thumb when purchasing spell books is to remember that most of them don't tell you to visualize your intent or the final outcome to aid in the power of the spell. Most spells don't require using an altar to do it and you can use whatever supplies you have on hand to make due if there's a spell you really need to do. In this book, there are no magical correspondences or telling you what day of the week to perform the spell. Most other cultures don't need to wait til the moon was right, or the proper day of the week to do a working, they just do it, to borrow from Nike.I am currently still reading this book and I do find it fascinating to read. I get to learn about how others from around the world do things, new things I never before considered doing. So far, it is a good read. And hey, if some spells don't work for me & some do, I got something out of it. Tomorrow, I'll be getting the bigger book to add to my library.
Blessings,
~Rowan
)O(
