Halloween! [Paperback]

 

 

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I loved this book mainly because I love Halloween! I have
read many of Silver Ravenwolf's books, and they are all very
good. I have recommended this to a few of my hard-core
Christian friends and relatives to prove that Halloween and
witches are not evil, and they all enjoyed the book as well.

The book is separated into 7 chapters, covering a pretty impressive variety of Halloween lore, beleifs and activities.

The first 3 chapters explore the history of halloween, the customs surrounding it, and the superstitions associated with it. These chapters are interesting, but show a slant toward the mainstream halloween more than the pagan holiday of Samhain. Many parts of this are highly speculative as she tries to associate just about every piece of history with witchcraft. The history in these chapters may not be completely reliable, but it's a fairly interesting read.

Chapter four is all about divinations. This chapter somehow manages to find a bizarre balance between taking divination seriously and writing it off as a bunch of party games. The only method she goes into any great detail on is casting runes, and actually suggests making them out of pumkin seeds. This is also a chapter where she spends alot of time dwelling on apples. She has alot to say about apples in this book. More than pumpkins. There was one think about this chapter that bothered me, mostly because it seemed to have either have been written out of ignorance, or to avoid offending a certain minority of people. It was in regards to communicating with the dead: "never try to contact anyone who had a history of abuse, criminal behavior, or mental dysfunction. The only exception here would be an Alzheimer's Patient, who will retain his or her original faculties after death." How does she know this? Did she contact dead people who had every diagnosable mental illness and finally conclude that Alzheimer's was the only one that went away after death? I'm not going to go into the various mental illness and explain why that was absurd, if you're curious about how alzheimer's compares to other mental illnesses, then you can look into it, but the bottom line seems to be she didn't want her readers to think she was telling them they couldn't contact their grandfather who suffered mental lapses before he died. She should have just said to avoid contacting people who were dangerous. On the issue of contacting the dead at all, that would be a matter of personal conviction and I hope the readers are mature enough to evaluate the consequences before taking action to do so, whether it works or not.

Chapter 5 contains several pretty simple recipes, some of which overlap with decorating ideas. Most involve apples or pumpkins. They mostly strike me as treats for a children's party, but might be handy for someone who has no halloween recipes of their own.

Chapter six is magick spells. They are your basic bunch of Silver Ravenwolf spells: A bit of rhyme, some magickal ingredients, invoking angels, mostly for love, prosperity, and protection.

Chater seven focuses on Halloween as a time to honour the dead. There's a lot of the same kind of stuff as there was in the divination section. It included a funeral ceremony, which I was expecting, and sevel ways to honour the dead.

What this book was missing:

This book didn't feel very wiccan to me. It was more about the "acting out" portion of halloween than anything personal and spiritual, it offered no suggestions on how to celebrate the holiday as a wiccan. It basically just meshed it incomprehensibly with how the Christians view the holiday. I can't say that was what I was looking for in this book at all.

This is a very good book for those who need to learn more about the various Sabbats. I hope Silver will write aout some of the others as well. As always Silver does her research well and this book is no different, she offers plenty of information about the history of the Craft and the holiday itself. Is it slanted in "our direction"? Probably a bit, but that's okay, we deserve a small break.

The has seven chapters, is filled with lots of "fun stuff", great recipes, and interesting tidbits of information. she does her best to dispell misconceptions about the Craft, although I doubt that this book will be read by "those folks." It will be read by thousands of young folks and people who have open minds and are seeking information. They won't be disappointed! Silver RavenWolf is one of our strongest writers and a true advocate for women and spiritual activism. I am a friend and a fan of Silver's and I consider her contributions to this world to be of real importance. She gets people to think, to act, and to be the best that they can be!

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4.0 out of 5 stars Great look at the feastival!
I thought this was a great book - especially for someone just learning about this like me. The writing is easy to get into (in some cases a bit too cutsy I'm afraid but I looked... Read more

Published on Nov 26 2003 by merrymousies

4.0 out of 5 stars Just Good Fun
When I purchased this book, I didn't expect it to be a scholarly work. I've run into too many "fluffy" books by Llewellyn (publisher), and while I've never read any of... Read more

Published on Nov 9 2003 by Garden Kitty

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun and Useful
I understand why a lot of readers were disappointed with this book...it's not what I'd call a serious study of Samhain. Read more

Published on Oct 10 2003

4.0 out of 5 stars Cute Book!!
it has LOTS of recipes and information as well. a must have for your "coffee book table" collection.

Published on Sep 18 2003 by Amanda Wright

3.0 out of 5 stars Put This Book on Your Coffee Table Now!
Silver Ravenwolf's "Halloween" book is a very fun and light approach to the holiday, a must for any pagan family wanting to have some holiday fun together. Read more

Published on Sep 2 2003 by roxx33

1.0 out of 5 stars A big disappointment!
Surprisingly, there aren't a lot of books written on Samhain in comparison to the other sabbats. So, I was pretty excited when I found this book. Read more

Published on July 25 2003 by Adrienne Dinnall

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite books!
This book is so fun! There are tons of facts and good recipes. By far one of my favorite books in my collection.

Published on July 22 2003

4.0 out of 5 stars Halloween
I found this helpful and fun for that time of year. Most of the information I was familiar with, but it was fun for my step daughter.

Published on Feb 13 2003 by Brandi Bechtel

4.0 out of 5 stars Halloween
I found this helpful and fun for that time of year. Most of the information I was familiar with, but it was fun for my step daughter.

Published on Feb 13 2003 by Brandi Bechtel

5.0 out of 5 stars Has the best celebration techniques
This book is full of ritual, and celebratory information for the novice or experienced witch. It has helped me two years running to have the best Samhain rituals. Read more

Published on Nov 11 2002

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