[.uk] Llewellyn's 2007 Wicca Almanac: A Guide to Pagan Living ... (ISBN 0738703354)

Book Description:
Let's face it: it's difficult to be a Pagan. Not only is Wicca a minority faith, but it's rooted in the Earth, and most people today live in cities where soil, wild plants and animals are often in short supply. How can you honor the land when it's limited to flower pots, tiny backyards and parks that are a half-hour away? You'll find the answers in our unique daily guide to Pagan living, Llewellyn's 2007 Wicca Almanac. Running from Spring Equinox 2007-Spring Equinox 2008, its calendar/almanac section has all the information you need so you can perform magic on any day. It includes the lunar phase and moon sign as well as the color and planetary correspondences. Instructions for how to use this information in your magic are included too. But that's not all! You also need to know the exact dates for Pagan holidays, and they're clearly listed so you can plan ahead to celebrate the wheel of the year. All of this information should be enough for any Wiccan almanac, but it's not enough for Llewellyn. We wanted you to have more - lots more! And this year we offer more than ever before. Important Articles You Can Use In the pages of this book you will find 24 articles that range from irreverent and fun to clever and creative. These articles, written by respected Pagan authors, have a single link: you're going to find each one of them useful in your life. What to do when you're nature-minded but urban Seven methods you can use to reduce stress Special ways to use the Wicca Wide Web Wiccan do-it-yourself tips and how-tos Travel suggestions and advice for PagansBesides being great reading for cold nights or the warm days later in the year, the articles in this edition will help you connect with the sacred through nature, dance and urban culture in your home, as a solitary practitioner and with your neighbors. It will really help you to experience your beliefs in a deeply personal way every day. It will help give life to your practices. Names You Know and Trust Llewellyn's 2007 Wicca Almanac is not the opinion of one person.Many hundreds of years ago, when Paganism was the spiritual system of the people, they would get together for holidays and celebrations where they would share ideas and experiences with each other. It was part of Pagan life. Today, when many Wiccans are solitaries or only share their beliefs with a few trusted friends, such collective activities are rather rare. This almanac can stand in for much of that experience. It quite literally completes the experience of Wicca for many thousands of people. Bring back that sharing experience! Let these experts share their ideas with you. Wicca is not a faith with practices, beliefs and ideas locked in stone. It grows and evolves just as you grow and evolve. This almanac will not only give you information for timing your celebrations and magic, but it will complete your Wiccan walk for the year, triggering new ideas and direction in your heart, soul and spirit. You owe it to yourself to get Llewellyn's 2007 Wicca Almanac.

Bland in Word and Art:
From reading this year's almanac, I get the feeling that Llewellyn decided that they'd like to reach the largest base of customers possible, and that in order to achieve this end, they would require the article authors to pen the most generic and mundane articles possible. Seriously, I suffered through the book from end to end, and for the most part, I'd say there's nothing new here, and most of these articles could just as easily, with minimal tweaking, appear in any mainstream magazine. As for the art and design, what happened Llewellyn? I believe the original art works were possibly interesting, though admittedly not my preference. Looks like Llewellyn decided to do a black/white photocopy on them a few dozen times, you know, just to make sure they look good and faded, scratchy, etchy and then pasted them into the design. The actual calendar section contains no art, no design, nothing. How inspiring? Sorry, authors and artists, as I am sure you all did a fine job. I think you ended up being portrayed poorly by your publisher, unfortunately. As for the mention on this being a good source of Wicca information, I wouldn't suggest that would be the case of any almanac. Better to pick up a good Wicca 101 type book. As for the highlights, I loved the article "By the Book" by Link who offered a very witty look at finding one's first information on the pagan path. Okay, maybe it's worth getting the book just for this one article. Jason Pitzl-Waters' "Blog the Gods" surprised me with a truly interesting history on the pagan blog scene and some interesting blogs to check out. I loved seeing the mention on the formation of The Witches' Voice (aka WitchVox), and I'll be checking out the blogs. And "The Meddling Media" by Diana Rajchel was another article that kept my interest from beginning to end. Worth reading for the "fnords" alone (lots of those in my review, I'm sure). Lastly, offered in a different section than the above articles, Aar Tiana's "Magical Hemp" was probably the only working-with-magic article that I felt stepped beyond a very general idea and fuzzy description. If you've been thinking about switching almanacs, this might be a good year to try something new. Yet, I did enjoy at least a few articles and I'm glad to support the work of all of these authors and artists.

2007 Wicca Alamanac: A Guide to Pagan Living:
Enjoy the articles -- gives an understanding of the Wiccan beliefs