The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Complete A-Z ... (ISBN 0007192932)

Disappointed:
Contrary to the tone of this review, I must first clarify that if you already have an extensive library and need a central reference book to help guide your informational searches, this book will hold a very valuable place for you. It may perhaps even be essential in such a case. The book is great if you need a memory boost, thinking you remember something vaguely, you will find the lost thought and some guidance that will help you look further. But do not look further within this book, because although the book covered a great breadth of material, I found each topic addressed in the book grossly shallow in coverage. As such, I would say this book is a great starting point, but in no way a beginners book, making it a bit paradoxical. A few examples: (1.) The book repeatedly, in the Creative Arts section, attempted to summarize the plot, meaning and cultural effects of major media productions in two or three paragraphs. I might add that this continued for one hundred pages in alphabetical order by media type. Amidst droves of recent comic books, tv shows and movies, there are a welcome but slim 14 pages on dances and processions. (2.) The Calendar of revelry and sacred days is loosely ordered into January through December order, however the reader must scan the entire history of each day to find the date because it is so haphazardly placed in each description. Sometimes reference to date is completely omitted. (3.) In the botanicals, the author seems to assume our only contact with the plant will be in a jar in a magick shop. Perhaps this is just showing my bias as an herbal gardening hobbyist. More relevantly, perhaps, many of the descriptions spend at least a third of their words on the history of the Christian attempts to eradicate loyalty to the herbs, detailing Catholic dogma and legendry of ancient centuries. In my opinion, this is hardly relevant. So, my recommendation is that you buy this one in person, so you can get a chance to peruse the contents before making your decision. Or do like I did, and take it out from the library for a few weeks. Just take a moment to see if it feels right for you.

Has it's shortcomings, but decent enough:
The problem with this book is that like many other occultic writings, it assumes Margaret Murray was a legitamate scholar of medieval history. However, it does give an accurate portrayal of modern New Age beliefs about witchcraft, and it covers some accurate information about magical beliefs in other cultures, so it gets 3 stars for that.

just great:
awsome like all of her other witchcraft books.must have for anyone interested in the occult and wicca

Wonderful Witches Companion:
"The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: the complete a-z for the entire magical world," is the constant companion to this Green Witch, ever at the ready on the side of my desk. I like the spirit of this work. It has a distinctive playful spirit that makes learning about witchcraft fun and upbeat yet like all of Judika Illes work it is very informative and carefully researched. When we want a dry read there are plenty of other places to go looking. I especially appreciate the creativity Judika Illes put forth in her arrangement of the Table of Contents. While not your traditional A-Z, it is true to its title since Illes arranges the book alphabetically using topics rather than individual words. For example "Animals" begins the tome on page 34 which runs from pages 34-106 and then "Books of Magic and Witchcraft" begins at page 107 followed by "Botanicals" on page 147 and so forth until we hit the final chapter at page 848, "Wormwood and Garlic Dangers and Protection." This is a book written by a witch for other witches and true to that concept it does not follow hard and fast rules you might find in an encyclopedia written for a different audience. As a moderator for a yahoo group I have also found this encyclopedia to be a very useful teaching tool for study and it is informative to a large number of different practices as well as paths. For those in need of quick information there is a very reliable and accessible alphabetical Index, running from pages 866-886. For follow up, sourcing and general information there is also a generous Bibliography from pages 856-865 which concludes with a listing of Internet Sources. As a fellow witch and creative thinker I highly recommend "The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft."

Good for religious use:
As a scholar in religious studies, I certainly would not recommend this to anyone as a piece of scholarly research. However, for a religious history (read not-necessarily-secular history), it's fantastic. That sounds more negative than it is. I enjoyed reading it, as a Witch, and it gave me a sense of religious history, but the scholar in me knows that it doesn't necessarily accord with history that secular historians write - our default history, if you will. Then again, neither does any religious history I've ever read. Read it, enjoy it, but... don't take it too literally.