Elemental Witch: Fire, Air, Water, Earth: Discover Your Natural Affinity

The title is what caught my eye. We all have an element that attracts us. It is very "user friendly." It has some beginner stuff, but the info is interesting. The author also states that this book is not "the know all, be all" on the subject, which to me was refreshing to see. The chapters are set up with info on different Gods/Goddesses, herbs, some spells, floor washes and info on creatures. It has a little Santeria, Voodun, Native American, Roman, Celtic, etc. If you want to find out more about your element, this may be a book worth getting.

I really enjoyed reading this book. You can read it fairly quickly and still get a lot of information from it. Although I recommend this book, it unfortunately has a few problems. As with most Llewellyn publications, it could use a good editor. It is, overall, well written, but a few of the sentences are akward. Another problem it shares with the vast majority of llewellyn books is the lack of footnotes. This can be quite frustrating to some of us who would like to verify some of the more outlandish statements. For instance, the author writes that sylphs are "thought to be the offspring of the Sidhe". I have never heard this before and it seems rather unlikely and I would like to know the source of this information. Another problem with the book is in the Gods of the elements sections. I feel that it relies too heavily on non-western deities. I found the information interesting but not practical as I don't think it is ethical to use the deities of Native American and African peoples because of the crimes European Americans have commited against them. But if you don't feel the same way, of course, this issue won't be a problem for you. There are also a lot of inaccuracies in these sections. Sedna is called a "Native American" goddess, when in fact she is Inuit--whose people live all over the far north, not just america. Another mistake is when the author says that in Ireland "Brighid's snake appearing from its mound" is a cousin of the american groundhog weather prediction traditon. The problem is that this custom is from Scottland, not Ireland--the Emerald Isle seperated form Europe quite early and has no indigenous snakes. You may accuse me of nit-picking but I do think that it is time for pagan literature to grow up and stop spreading misinformation. If the mythological sections contain so many mistakes how do I have trust in the magical information the book provides? I feel that this should not be a person's first book on witchcraft because not all the elemental correspondences are the ones that are most widely used. The season correspondences the author lists are very different from the traditonal. To the authors credit she does tell you to use the correspondences that you feel comfortable with. So while I don't recommend this book to absolute beginners, I do think this book has a lot to offer, especailly in trying to figure out which elements you resonate with. It also provides good ideas for incorporating the elements in your practice. I really did enjoy reading this book, and I hope that one day Llewellyn and other Pagan friendly publishers will start providing better editors for their authors.

The practice of the Witch relies on sources of energy for the workings. A good witch can draw upon the elemental energies for her use and knows the properties well and how to use them best. Ms. Sullivan's book examines closely the properties of each of the four elements and gives a good rounded education in their history, associations and applications. The book is broken down into each element and then breaks it own further into the path of each element, the magics and then Deity associations. There is lore, spells, recipes and herbal and stone associations. What is nice about this book is that is does offer information on all four elements, and gives the beginning practitioner a well rounded education. And while you may find you have a preference for one or two elements, this book will give you a good look at working with all four. This is a nice book, easy to read and understand and provides the basics for anyone looking at the practice of witchcraft using the four elements as focus. boudica