Book Description In
this book, the beautiful Fiona Horne reveals the intimate secrets and know-how of her spiritual calling, including the daily
business of being a modern Witch at home, work, and play.
Describing itself as "A Hip Guide
to Modern Witchcraft," this uninhibited offering from Australian witch, rock diva, model and media personality Horne is pure
pop entertainment, reading more like a feature in a fashion magazine than an account of the present-day practice of Wicca.
Steeped in girlfriend-to-girlfriend attitude and style,
Horne's funky and relentlessly positive prose ("[Eve] was, in fact, a benevolent and switched-on sister....") is liable to
infuriate practiced occultists while proving irresistible to young people fascinated by or even just curious about witchcraft.
Part memoir and part manual, the book offers snapshots
of just about every part of a modern witch's practice, from casting spells and observing Wiccan sabbaths to setting up an
altar and practicing "skyclad" (or nude) not to mention how to make magic with, for and during sex.
Although this guidebook can safely be characterized
as a lighthearted romp through the practice of witchcraft, it does contain some useful and well-organized reference material,
such as a glossary of "magickal" herbs, a calendar of the witch's year and a full complement of easy-to-follow spells for
love, money and so forth.
Spotlight Reviews
62 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
An excellent book for young NON-FLUFF-BUNNY witches, March 14, 2001
I have been practicing the Craft for over ten years
and have seen book after cookie-cutter-style book come out. In their fierce attempts to be nauseatingly politically correct
while highly marketable, they have left out any hint of spirituality and simply rely on rediculous spells and superficial
rituals. I'm sad to say that books on Wicca and modern Witchcraft have become a cliche!
Having nearly given up all hope, I was pleasantly surprised at the content of Fiona Horne's book, "Witch".
It dives in to topics that would make uptight fundies (fundamentalists) hold on to their hats and run; (even Wicca has it's
fundies) topics that frankly, I've been wishing to read about! With chapters like "Witches' Brithches: Withcy Style and When
to Take Your Clothes Off!", "Bitchcraft: Hexing, Psychic Attack and Protection", "Cosmetic Conjurings: Making Your Own Witchy
Cosmetics", "Bed, Knobs and Broomsticks: Magickal Sex", "Flying High: Magickal Drugs", and "Cyber-Sorcery: Making Magick with
Your Computer", Fiona Horne clearly demonstrates how very hip and daring she is. She truly has her finger on the pulse of
the twenty-somethings of the witchy world.
But don't let all those fun chapter titles fool you. Horne really knows her stuff and throughout the book,
lays a clear, ethical and solid foundation. Her writing style is easy, fun and often times quite funny. Horne writes in a
way that enables the reader to feel as though they are having a lively conversation with her. Her explanation of things is
direct and completey void of any mental-masturbatory dribble. The book is easy to read (I ripped through all 358 pages in
two days) and the graphics throughout and section of color photographs in the middle of the book are well thought-out, nicely
designed and appropriately augment the text.
Fioan Horne, from Australia, is also a jounrnalist, rock singer (Sister Sledge, The Mothers, and most recently,
Def FX), and TV and radio personality. Because she is from "down under", she gives correspondences for both hemispheres -
something 99% of books on Wicca neglect to do. I would recommend this book to any open-minded student of Wicca from the age
of 18 to 118.
4 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Should we see her as a true wiccan?, March 23, 2003
Dont get me wrong, i thought the book was kinda "cute",
but any true wiccan would look for something better than this. Some of the book was interesting till it flowed in to boring
subjects of "hear that, did that..same old, same old". The thing that i want to know is, if she is an ex-Playboy playmate,
does anybody take her as a serious wiccan after doing something in Playboy?
First off forgive my grammar mistakes because I was
never the best with English and Compositition.
I found this book to be really good and I found myself able to connect
with her because she comes from a Catholic background has well. She is one of the few witches that actually goes into talking
about Jesus and not just how the Wiccans were wronged by early Christians. She gives a good detailed account on correspondances
and even talks about Hexing, something that no other book I have found so far as done aside to say its wrong. She also goes
more into mixing drugs and magick and even offers some examples on why you shouldn't do it and talks about groups that use
drugs and why.
She also goes briefly into Magickal sex and tuned my interest into wanting to look more into it. While
some people might consider her a bit flacky for how she writes her books I find it easier to understand then some other books
where it was harder for me to understand what they were saying. The book is well written and makes me feel comfortable about
my choice in sect of the Wiccan Religion.
Ms. Horne gives us an introduction
to witchcraft that is fun to read and full of useful information. Her magic is a little Wicca-flavored, but it's not overpoweringly
Wiccan, and thus can be applied by non-Wiccans as well. She approaches one of the major ethical issues of magic by offering
her opinions on cursing (she disagrees with the practice for some very compelling reasons), but also provides some curses
and lets the reader make his or her own decision--a decision many Witch/Wiccan authors don't seem to trust their readers with.
She also provides some recipes dor herbal shampoos and other cosmetics--these aren't necessarily related to Wicca or witchcraft,
but they're interesting nonetheless, and fun.
While I disagree with some of her methods (invoking deities willy-nilly in spells), I would definitely recommend
this book to someone looking for a good introduction to witchcraft, especially if they, like me, are not Wiccan. Of course,
as with any introductory text, I would recommend going beyond it and reading other books, but Horne's book is a good place
to start.
Click the "X" at the top-right corner of this window to close it and return to previous page .
An excellent book for young NON-FLUFF-BUNNY witches, March 14, 2001
Should we see her as a true wiccan?, March 23, 2003