First read in 1994 -- one of the first books on The Craft I ever bought, and remains the one I use the most. ( )

My first truly helpful read in the area of neo-paganism, read around the time of its first publication. A good introduction to a still poorly-understood community of worship. ( )

This is one of the classics of its genre; highly influential its a must read to understand much of what has been written since it was first published. The original is clearly of its time and much influenced by feminist theories, it also contains many historical inaccuracies - some of the more obvious errors, more extreme political opinions and all round fluffy-bunny approaches have been toned down by the authors modifications in the 10th and 20th anniversary editions so do check which you are reading.
Your opinion on this book is going to be severely coloured by preconceptions going into it - look for an empowering spirituality there it is, looking for religion or for dangerous hocus-pocus you can find either of those too. This is not a clear-headed persuasive argument but it offers practical advice as well as heartfelt opinion.
I do recommend reading this book but with a critical eye as well as an emotional reaction. Enjoy it, be inspired & read around the subject before deciding about it.

While I felt that almost every chapter was incomplete somehow, the book was inspiring and made me hunger for more in my personal practice. More passion, more goddess, more earth, more spontanteity in ritual, just as she describes! ( )

exercises and meditations are excellent for a beginner. "history" is completely revisionist and upholds murray and others' errors. the good points are really good, the bad points are really bad. the 4 stars are just for the exercises - the historical errors bring the overall rating down to 1.5 but the exercises deserve far better than that. ( )