DISCLAIMER: This is a review of an uncorrected proof of THE HEARTH WITCH’S COMPENDIUM. It was received for free with no expectation of a review. The review may not reflect the final version of the book.

Over the past two decades, the Llewellyn publishing house has amassed a reputation for producing an inordinate amount of trend-following (and sometimes ill-researched) beginner witchcraft and New Age spirituality books. While the company has been trying to clean up its image for the last two or three years, they are somewhat reasonable for flooding the market with mediocre encyclopedias, compendiums, and similar collections of spells and folklore. As such, when Llewellyn introduces yet another witchcraft reference guide into the world, the book needs to work hard to stand out against its peers.

The HEARTH WITCH’S COMPENDIUM, thankfully, tries to be a refreshing take on the tired genre. The book can be divided roughly into three sections: food and drink, home life, and herbs/essential oils. Where most published spell collections focus on things like making charms or burning colored candles, the COMPENDIUM incorporates everything from wine-making to everyday soap into the titular hearth witches’ lifestyle. Anna Franklin’s evident expertise makes for a very well-rounded read, especially in sections like the aforementioned wine-making chapter. Self-sufficiency is the name of the game, although Franklin is more than happy to include interesting historical or scientific trivia to go along with the various recipes themselves.

However, there are a few noteworthy problems with THE COMPENDIUM’s writing style and organization. Since Franklin believes eliminating harmful products from one’s life is inherently magical, there are entire chapters so focused on practicality that they end up ignoring magic entirely. For example, there are nearly 150 pages between when essential oils are introduced to when their magical uses and correspondences are explained. Meanwhile, almost all the recipes are very short and easy to misinterpret. It’s a classic mistake that happens when an author includes only the basic information that they personally need without considering that the reader might not be at the same skill level as the them.  

As an author, Anna Franklin is one of dozens that started out during the witchcraft publishing boom of the 90s. Her reputation is typical of her demographic: most of her books aren’t noteworthy enough to recommend as must-read, but they’re not worth avoiding either. Her books tend to follow trends, and her most well-known are her Sabbat books and tarot decks. The COMPENDIUM feels like more of the same fodder, as it’s overtly trying to appeal to the organic living crowd. Exactly how much the reader will like it corresponds directly to how much they like being told repeatedly that chemicals are bad. The HEARTH WITCH’S COMPENDIUM won’t change that image of her, but it’s worth a look as a solid introduction to natural living with a magical twist.

When influential elders of the pagan and witchcraft community start to drift from the orthodoxies they helped establish, their published works tend to go a little squirrely. Neo-pagan writers can’t republish the same information repeatedly, while older witches tend to push overtly dated practices as universal beliefs. It often leads to a distinct disconnect to their writings and modern witchcraft/paganism. The more ambitious the title, the greater possibly of the book turning poorly.

In addition to aiming to be the definitive book on occult trance-prophecy and possession, LIFTING THE VEIL had a lot to live up to with two Wiccan icons at the helm. True to reputation, at first it looked like Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone would be the rare exceptions that grow better with age.

Part I of LIFTING THE VEIL details the history of trance-prophecy/mediumship from ancient times until modern day. Bone and Farrar blend together academic, historical, and spiritual resources to craft a complete image of three distinct types of trance practice: Wiccan/ceremonial Drawing Down the Moon, reconstructive Norse spaework, and Vodoun/Santeria possession. Neither author is compelled to create false equivalencies between the similar practices—a rarity in most mainstream Wiccan-oriented books. The prevalence of fraud is also explored in a serious and thought-provoking manner from a spiritualist perspective, another topic that is often ignored by other published authors. The research isn’t perfect, of course, but that’s only to be expected with non-academic writing. The fact that an effort was made at all is quite admirable. Aside from some questionable tangents regarding pseudoscience and psychology, the first third of the book is a solid read for any occult reader.

Unfortunately, the book unravels in Part II. The second section is dedicated to explaining the “four keys” behind the methodology of trancework. Said methodology evolved out of the authors’ own personal experiences and workshops, and it shows. It’s no surprise that LIFTING THE VEIL has a distinctly Wiccan slant, but beyond that it’s difficult to identify the audience Bone and Farrar were aiming for. Between the rampant UPG and baseline assumptions about both Wiccan and non-Wiccan beliefs, the advice and theology strays too far from the norm for a beginner to follow. Advanced Wiccans or ecstatic shamans interested in trancework might like it, assuming they haven’t found another system that already works well for them. Even then, there’s no proper transition between the heavily researched and the heavily personal, further complicated by the authors’ predisposition to speak of spiritual matters in absolutes.

Part III discusses rituals, exercises, and processions relating to trancework, and it’s a vast improvement to Part II. Rather than give step-by-step guides, the authors opt to analyze the historical backgrounds and psychological effects of the various techniques presented. There are also transcripts of deity possessions of various individuals included at the end. Advanced Wiccans might like the re-evaluation of some of their oldest traditions and the subsequent advice about injecting trancework into them. Everything is well organized and easy to reference in comparison to the previous two sections. Unfortunately, the subjects covered outside of structured rituals are lackluster, especially since the authors tend to repeat themselves throughout the entire book. Right when the book started to become interesting again, it ended.

While LIFTING THE VEIL is one of the better works on trancework currently available, it also leaves much to be desired. If the topic interests you, the book’s worth a read, but it’s hardly a must-buy for an aspiring occultist either.

“In dreams I walk with you...talk to you...you're mine all the time. We're together in dreams...But just before the dawn, I awake and find you gone. .It's too bad it only...happens in my dreams...” ~ Roy Orbison (In Dreams)

Liam Grady and Cameron Danu have been dreaming about each other for years and know more about each other than anyone else. It has interfered with their waking hours because no man can ever imagine another man who could measure up to their lover who only meets him when he is asleep. What they are not aware of is that the person they are in love with in their dreams is not just a fantasy, but a real flesh and blood person.

Liam and Cameron have never met in “real life” because Cameron lives in another city. When he gets a new job and moves to Asheville, NC, where Liam lives, that's when they first get glimpses of each other from across a crowded room in a club. Both are so freaked out, they don't connect at the time. Liam accepts the possibility of his dream lover being a real person before Cameron does. After talking with his aunt, Dianne and her Wiccan priest, Nosha, Liam learns he's a dream walker, a person able to “walk” into other people's dreams and interact with them. With this knowledge, Liam is anxious to see if Cameron is, indeed, the man he's loved for years. He finds Cameron at work, intending to get to know more about him. Unfortunately, Cameron's mind can't so easily accept that the man he's always thought of as just a fantasy is now standing right in front of him. Liam interprets Cameron's reticence as rejection and goes into a tail spin. He starts drinking to stop from dreaming about Cameron, thinking somehow he's been forcing himself upon the other man and hurting him by doing so.  

After a month of drinking, Liam's aunt comes to Cameron, begging him to try to convince Liam that he doesn't hate him and, if he doesn't want to be Liam's real life lover, to at least be his friend so he will stop drinking. Cameron is upset when he finds out his hesitation to be with him is the reason for Liam's drastic behavior and he goes to Liam and gets him back on the right track. Convinced they are going to be okay, they decide to start dating and are surprised that just like in their dreams it seems comfortable, even natural to be together. Their honeymoon doesn’t last very long before Liam and eventually Cameron are the victims of psychic attacks that leave them physically wounded.

The premise of this story, i.e., lovers meeting first in the dream world then getting together in the real world, is an interesting twist. Liam and Cameron are interesting characters with distinct personalities and strikingly different tastes, Liam, although a dream walker, is a conservative dresser and owns a bookstore; while Cameron is anything but conservative having multiple tattoos and piercings; but in their hearts, they are soul mates. If you like learning about Wiccan customs, dream walking, and dreams becoming real, you may enjoy this story. Thanks, Tempeste, for making Liam and Cam's dreams come true.

    This series of YA mini novels contains 15 books in total.  They mainly follow the story of Morgan, a 16-year-old American girl who discovers that she is a blood witch (witch by birth) and possesses an unusual amount of power.  Through the series, the reader journeys with Morgan as she discovers her power and the dark past of her ancestors.  Their past quickly becomes her nightmare as she is targeted by a dangerous and powerful coven of witches, intent on using her power even at the expense of her life.
    

    Thrilling stuff for any young adult, right?  For the most part, it is.  Tiernan’s style of writing is typical of most YA novels.  It’s told from the perspective of teenagers, so it definitely has a young, modern voice that is easy to read and follow.  It also has many elements that are practically essential in YA novels: first loves, true loves, love triangles and a whole lot of misunderstandings that are blown way out of proportion.  I found that many of the more trivial plot points (best friends falling out over a boy, aforementioned love triangles, etc.) were forced at times.  Perhaps I was too sensible as a teenager, but I hardly remember any of my friends or I being so damn stupid.  If you prefer more action and less teenage angst, than you may find some of the books in this series tedious.  
    

    One of the more frustrating aspects of the books was the sheer amount of recapping.  I’m aware that many series writers do this simply to remind the reader of what happened in the last book, especially if the books had been published with a good year or two in between.  I personally hate it.  I, along with most readers, am capable of recalling the gist of the previous book as well as characters without any help.  That is if the writer has done their job in the first place and made the characters and environments vivid and memorable—Tiernan accomplishes this.  If something is essential, then the writer should mention it, but in the Sweep series I was dragged through paragraph after paragraph of recounting characters, what they look like, what Morgan’s relationship is with said character, as well as places too.  Tiernan went as far as to remind the reader of why Morgan named her car, Das Boot in almost every single book.
    

    This becomes most apparent in the final book of the series, Night’s Child.  Here, the voice of the story is changed to third-person—as opposed the first-person POV from the previous books—and we find Morgan all grown up with a family of her own.  At first I was so intrigued by this bold move, I was itching to read it.  Not to mention it is the longest book in the series.  What I found was a substantial amount of story retelling.  Tiernan manages to weave the recapping in with her characters’ dialogue, which of course led to a lot of monologues that I skimmed through as fast as I could as they tended to drag down the pace of the book.  
    

    In spite of all of this, I really did enjoy the series.  The character development spanned decades and there was a great deal of imaginative Witch lore weaved throughout.  Not only that, but Tiernan clearly put a plethora of research and effort into creating her stories.  Her knowledge of Wiccan practises was used with a great deal of respect, even though she is not a Wiccan herself.  On top of that, she dropped in a number of British characters and does a faithful job at writing their dialogue.  As an American who has lived in Britain for 13 years, I know that this must have involved a lot of care and attention to detail.  She didn’t use any half-assed research, even down to her invented quotes from ‘historical’ books on witchcraft, which were well-executed.
    

    I would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys books from writers like J.L. Smith, Kelley Armstrong or even Stephanie Meyer.  But what makes Tiernan stand out was her enthusiasm for history, anscestry and how our family's past makes us who we are.        
  

  (found on Pinterest)

Hit this link to download the zip file to check out this little gem. Nine pages for your BoS, courtesy of Sandgroan over on deviantart.com, as well as some other interesting bits on their page. Definitely worth a look.