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The Common Sense Spell Book. A Book Review

Common Sense tea

The Common Sense Spell Book

By Debbie Dawson

140 Pages, Avalible in Paper and Ebook

Bookdepostory Amazon Xlibris Publishing

This book was written by a fellow Kiwi Witch, who lives in Christchurch, in the South Island of New Zealand, you know the place there was a couple few large earthquakes a couple few years back.  Anways, I have never meet Debbie in person for any length of time, I think we ran into one another at a festival maybe, but we have however spoken online and argued on line to, as to you.

Now the reason I mention that Debbie is a Kiwi Witch is because the book is very distinctly Kiwi Witchcraft in character and Kiwi Witchcraft in understanding of magic in general, and this was quite a surprise for me, because I had no idea that it was a thing, well I did, I am one after all, but I had not had it pointed out in such a way.  You know how when you are in the thick of it you often can’t see, a bit like how we can’t hear our accent.  So there is such a thing as Kiwi Witchcraft, and Paganism, and I suspect there will be a post on that at some stage. But for today this is a review of Debbie, a Kiwi Witch’s book.

Kiwis for the most part are very practical people, and it would follow that Kiwi Witches are also this way, on the whole.  And I can say that this book is very strongly Kiwi because the beliefs practices and understanding of how spells and magic works is very close to my beliefs and understandings.  But then given we are both of a similar age and both had access to the same source material, that was available in New Zealand, it is not that surprising.

Debbie writes in a very practical way with some no nonsense practical advice.  The book I believe is aimed at a person who has already read several introductory books and has a handle on seasons and what they mean and are now interested in some spell work to further their understanding.  Or for someone who has already had an unsuccessful bash at spell casting and is left wondering where it all went wrong, or why it didn’t work at all.

This book will help you to understand the sometimes complexities and other time simpleness of spells along with how, why and why not something worked or didn’t work, as well as some excellent penny dropping moments.

For those who are experienced in spell work, I would say that you probably know more of what this book contains, however as a reference book, to go over as you decided on what type of spell work will be suitable, or indeed if you really need to be doing spell work, this book would be an excellent resource.

If you are looking for a book full of spells, and or exotic kiwi spells then move along because this book is more about creating your own rather than following somebody else’s recipe.

My only disagreement with this book, and it’s not really a disagreement but more something that I would of emphasised more if I had written a book like this, I would of emphasised not to manifest in negatives.  I’m not talking about cursing, Debbie does a excellent job of covering that but more about how you phrase things.  Often words like don’t, won’t have or will not, actually draw what it is that you don’t want towards you, because you are naming it.   Once when I was teaching about shielding, I forgot to emphasis this well enough, and my students ended up with nightmares.  When I inquired they had all been using negative type phrasing, eg I will not have nightmares tonight, or similar, which in turn brought on the nightmares, as they had named them, which in turn draws that which you name towards to, or so the story goes.

Common Sense

Overall this book is something I would have devoured 20 years ago when I was first starting out, especially as I began looking for something that would take me that step further down the magical track.   I did enjoy reading it, and did get useful information and food for thought.  It reminded me of how much of a Kiwi Witch I really am, and has me thinking about what it is about Kiwi Witchcraft that makes it, Kiwi Witchcraft. It will also be a interesting insight for those who are interested into the Kiwi Witches mind, so to speak. .  It will be a book that I will use as a resource when I am considering any spell work as it has all the types and styles and why-fors, and it is often good to delve into a book like this when considering any kind of spell work, helps to get the creativeness of spell work going.   It is also going to be a book that I recommended to fellow Kiwi Pagans who are looking to take that step further.  There are not very many books written by Kiwi Pagans, and this I believe is the first written by a Kiwi Witch, and it’s a good one.. yay!

So I give this book, 4 cups of tea out of 5 and a healthy doses of practical Kiwiana.

 

Crossposed at Another Witches Blog 

Last modified on
Kia Ora and Welcome, to my little corner of the interwebs, I’m Polly, a Tea Drinking, Urban Witch and Textile Artist.  This is where I write about being a practicing Witch in New Zealand, all the way  down here in the Southern Hemisphere, where the seasons are opposite to that of the Northern Hemisphere and we cast our circles in an anti-clock wise direction as our sun and moon tracks north, not south.  That’s right we do a lot of things about face in the Southern Hemisphere, but I will tell you one thing, *whispers* your moon I noticed, when I was visiting Canada a couple years back, your moon its upside down.. just so you know. *winks* Here you will find musings on seasons, magic, sewing,  the sacred and tea,  as well as various reviews written about books, cards, and podcasts.  I hope you enjoy.  *sips tea*

Comments

  • J'Karrah
    J'Karrah Tuesday, 04 March 2014

    Bought the Kindle version! I'm always on the lookout for new material to add to my website's suggested reading list and always happy to support a brother or sister Witch when I can, especially when it's something that sounds so interesting. I love learning about different regional takes on magic, Witchcraft and local traditions and it's nice to have something that isn't from an American or European perspective.

  • Jamie
    Jamie Wednesday, 05 March 2014

    Mistress Polly,

    Thanks for clueing us in about another fascinating bit of Kiwiana! I hope it sells well.

    You write from long experience, so I'm sure that you'd know what a book of this type should include.

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