This book had great drawings. Although this is a good reference book, I just could not put my mind to it.

Exquisite artwork, and not a cloying watered down version of what the witch's tradition is to make it seem more PC. Said watering down usually occurs via denying sexuality as a powerful tool for the intellect or trivializing the power of radical acceptance (which I use here in reference to the diving into "evil" and "ugliness" to see what truly lies at the heart of such concepts). I appreciate that. There's a reason witches were viewed as being dangerous, as they embody the healer who is guided by the marriage of her intuition and intellect. The synthetic creative brilliance that distills the essence of "becoming" with which the book is crafted is a testament to the original practice, as much as the content is.

Read this on my work downtime, now consider myself a Dianic proofreader-witch & hereby disavow the virgin birth as a false usurpation of the feminine power to give life.

Fun, concise little history of the witch archetype (as a construction of male fear of womyn and our SEXUAL POWAR).

There was a chapter on love potions that I glossed, some of the poetry was eh. Book also has beautiful illustrations.

Recommend to anyone interested in witches. Excuse me while I go perform nocturnal rites with my winged consorts.

Beautiful pictures-

A must have for any bookshelf. A truly gorgeous book!

This book is just beautiful.

I didn't know that Eric Jong was sympathetic to wicca. I could have guessed based on her other novels. This was kind like finding out the Stevie Nicks was a witch.

I was transported to childhood or a place of childlikeness when I started turning the pages. I can't remember whether this was a book meant for children or if in fact the design of the book was to evoke exactly that feeling I mentioned above.

The graphics and colors are just absolutely gorgeous.


Mike

This book is more of a coffee table book than anything. It compares Hollywood witchcraft to Wicca with lots of art and bad poetry. Some of the information is accurate but some is based on outdated information.

Ces femmes qui connaissaient bien les plantes, ces guérisseuses, ces sages-femmes menaçaient le pouvoir masculin de l'Etat et particulièrement celui de l'Eglise. D'où la chasse aux sorcières qui les rendaient responsables des maux qui affectaient l'époque. Une intéressante étude des sorcières à la fois historique et rituelle.

So, I robbed the library of all Erica Jong, well, her prose and poems at least! Till now, this book has captivated me most. The poems are amazing, and the illustrations are incredible, and I don't think the one could be the same without the other!

This is more or less what I would consider a "coffee table" book. There's nothing particularly in-depth here, although there are some interesting little snippets of text, and some very enchanting artwork. There's quite a bit of poetry, too. However, much of the poetry is mediocre, at best. Overall: enjoyable, but not spectacular.

I have been wanting to read "Witches" ever since I first spied the beautiful poem "Love Magick" which was printed in a 'Pagan Africa' magazine years ago. I finally purchased the kindle version of this book, and found Jong's writing to be evocative and beautiful and most of the artwork featured was delightfully dark and luscious.

There were many things I enjoyed about this book, but there was too much focus on Neo-Paganism, and Wicca for my own tastes. I would have preferred a deeper interrogation into folklore and the witches of fairy tales. If this was one of the first books on witchcraft I read, I would have probably been blown away.

There are many darkly and beautiful references to poison plants, the Sabbat, and familiars. The poetry is delightful, and the entire book is poetic. A minor issue I had was the image of Bittersweet Nightshade which accompanied the poem about Belladonna. It always gets my goat when I see these two plants being confused for each other.

Overall I would recommend this book above many others simply as introduction to ideas regarding witchcraft and the modern permutations of it.

Not at all about the actual practice of witchcraft but more about the mythology surrounding it. Illustrations are beautiful.