Earth Magic, revised edition

By Marion Weinstein

ISBN 7890733008 Earth Magic Productions

This Dianic book includes not only the goddesses but also a couple of gods, making the title a little misleading. This is a newly revised and expanded version that has already had three previous editions. The publicity sheet described it as a personal metaphysical compendium: Part diary, part recipe book of spells and other magical work, part theological text. Marion Weinstein is one of the few witches to have her own radio show which has gone out weekly over the past several years and she has drawn on the feedback from listeners in the formulation of her book. There are so many blessings, poems and thank-yous in the front that some people I shan't name could make a book just out of these. The text is interesting and informative, though I was surprised how little information it contained about the deities. Still, the basic point of the entire book is that we all must make our own way in the world. The choices are ours and we should not follow any religion blindly, mistaking acquiescence for faith. She explains her own beliefs without any attempt at pressing them on the reader. There are chapters on the basic principles of earth magic, words of power, alignments and deities, magical tools, the coven, the meanings of the holidays, various kinds of ritual magic and some thoughts on serving the community. That was good to see. We tend to be a little self-serving sometimes. The second part of the book goes onto more advanced work on aspects of self, working magic through a visualized castle. Magic is looked at and into in greater detail. In the third and final section, there are interesting chapters on morphogenetic fields -an aspect of the `new physics' that allows for energies that have not hitherto been acknowledged by science. There is also a very welcome chapter on ethics and choices. Something so many books tend to conveniently forget. This book is well worth a read.