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sarabearian's review against another edition
Want to cast a spell? This is your book! "The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells" certainly stands up to its name. If you love magic and Wicca, you will truly enjoy this book. Drawing on many different magical traditions, Illes puts together a book on the topics of wealth, love, success, and even curses. From Hoodoo to historical grimoire magic, you will be amazed. Happy spell casting! - Colleen M.
l1brarygirl's review against another edition
Marked as DNF so it doesn't count in my stats - skimmed for content
lauradoesnothing's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
4.0
I'm pretty impressed with this overall - the spells are organised into the categories you'd expect, and while they're mostly presented with little context or guidance, the first hundred or so pages are dedicated to some of the core principles, tools and techniques of magic which is pretty useful. Even if you're not new to all this, it's handy to have the information easily accessible.
The book is 20 years old, so fair warning that it does play fast and loose with historical accuracy and there's some casual cultural appropriation that wouldn't fly today, but with the focus being on the spells themselves the commentary is brief and you don't have to suffer through more than a few brief mentions towards the beginning. That said, it's no more cringey than any other occult book I've read, and at least Illes actually addresses the concept of hexes rather than reciting the same tired old "REAL witches would NEVER" line.
The book is 20 years old, so fair warning that it does play fast and loose with historical accuracy and there's some casual cultural appropriation that wouldn't fly today, but with the focus being on the spells themselves the commentary is brief and you don't have to suffer through more than a few brief mentions towards the beginning. That said, it's no more cringey than any other occult book I've read, and at least Illes actually addresses the concept of hexes rather than reciting the same tired old "REAL witches would NEVER" line.
dreamgalaxies's review against another edition
4.0
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Very thorough! Wish it had a bit more context on cultural stuff instead of just every spell the author could find personally.
Very thorough! Wish it had a bit more context on cultural stuff instead of just every spell the author could find personally.
murve's review against another edition
informative
3.0
There is a lot of content in here, but none of it feels very elaborate or useful.
zombi's review against another edition
5.0
tons of stuff in this book. seriously. and all categorized by type. I like that it's not religion-specific, either!