Let’s discuss this absolutely massive tome – Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft by Raymond Buckland.
To jump in, this book was a struggle for me. I made it about… 50 pages in? I just could not get into this book, and mostly because, it just didn’t speak to me. This book is at the top of most recommendation lists for new witches. And I wouldn’t say it’s a bad recommendation. I think this is a good book for some, but not all.
It’s well-written and holds a lot of information. A lot. It’s a bit dense on information. Buckland starts with going in on Wicca and a good overview of that religion and how it relates to Witchcraft. It was well-cited, and held a lot of references to go back to for a few good history lessons.
But I couldn’t get past the history lesson chapter, which is one of the first. I didn’t feel good about jumping ahead to any of the other parts, as it was all very Wicca-based. And there’s nothing wrong with Wicca, if that’s something that calls to you, something that you follow, or something that interests you. But for myself, where I am currently at, Wicca and other religions don’t play a role in my craft strongly. While I could have jumped ahead, I felt that book was very much formatted to follow a formula of reading through each chapter in a particular order (the way the chapters were ordered, in fact), which made it feel like cheating to skip ahead.
I like to read about other’s point of views however, and do value this book as something that was a good lesson on reading on other’s beliefs with respect.
I think that if you are interested in Wicca, or are currently Wiccan and would like to start a deeper dive, this book is right up your alley. Buckland is a great guide to beginning through the journey of Wicca. The book itself holds good information for the history, practice, and role of Wicca in witchcraft.
All of this is based on the few pages I was able to force myself through. Taking all this into account, I think this book is a good recommendation for witches that are beginner stepping towards intermediate, or those very interested in learning more about Wicca. Overall, I’ll give it a 5/10, mostly because it was very dense to sit through and read. If you want to pick it, I would highly recommend buying and studying like a textbook, by breaking into chunks and annotating. This book I did borrow from my local library (yay local libraries!) and wish I had more time to sit and dissect it, but it would’ve been a project all by itself. If you have the time and energy to sit with this tome, I think you’ll find a lot of great information to start researching and making a great list of information to look into for yourself.
Rating: Advanced Beginner Friendly
Grade: 5/10 – dense, packed with a lot information, additional readings and historical accounts, great starting place for intense studying of Wicca and witchcraft, would not recommend for a casual reader unless highly interested in Wicca
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