An account of the birth (at least in the public mind) of the modern craft. Lady Doreen was there for key moments--without her finesse, the Charge of the Goddess would likely be an obscure and arcane document, used only by Gardnerian & related Wiccan traditions. She took much of Gardner's material and transformed it from awkward, ponderous prose, to liturgical poetry.

She reminds us that the last witchcraft trial in England took place in 1944, at the Old Bailey. One Helen Duncan, a spiritualist medium, was found guilty under the Witchcraft Act of 1735 and sentenced to 9 months in jail. It was not until June of 1951 that this law was abolished. That July, a newspaper carried a frontpage story, CALLING ALL COVENS, describing a forthcoming witches' gathering, opened by Gerald B. Gardner.

She traces the forerunners of the Craft: Charles Godfrey Leland, Margaret Murray, Robert Graves, Dion Fortune, and Aleister Crowley. From this she moves on to Gerald Gardner, and how he came to publicize the Craft. This is followed by a chapter about what it was like working with Old Gerald and one regarding what the intense publicity Gerald generated was like. She writes chapters about John Brakespeare, Robert Cochrane, and Alex Sanders and their traditions.

She points out that during this time period, witchcraft was male dominated, certainly not feminist. Women were allowed to hold fancy titles, like Witch Queen, but stil expected to obey the high priest. Her chapter on Feminist Witchcraft tells of Starhawk meeting up with Zuzanna Budapest, considers women's moon mysteries, and the place of homosexuality in the Craft.

She concludes the book by observing that the emergence of the Craft in modern times must be fulfilling a deep need.

Lady Doreen is a good writer and the material is interesting. Many of the founders of traditions the "inherited" were real characters, and she sprinkles a generous number of anecdotes throughout the book.

The book has a reasonably good bibliography for anybody who wishes to do further research. Serious research into the history of the Craft would also include reading Aidan Kelly's Crafting the Art of Magic, a critical exploration of Gardner's Witchcraft.

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This book gives a realistic view on all the fuss going on in England at 1950. Valiente writes about the situation with Scire (Gerald Gardner)and Dafoe. Also she mentions Robert Cochrane, Sybil Leek, Alex Sanders and gives a great perspective on how insiders and outsiders behave at the beginning of what has become: the rebirth of La Vecchia Religione, The Old Religion. An important fact is that Tradtional Witchcraft, is not the same as Wicca! Traditionals don't have a hierarchy.

I have never read this book (it is out of print and exceedingly hard to find). I have been told it is excellent-- a very good history lesson.

I principally wrote to clarify a minor error in another review by Elderwolf. Ms. Valiente would not have been referred to as "Lady Doreen." The British do not call their priests and priestesses "Lady" and "Lord". This is a peculiarly American thing, which started with people involved with the Society for Creative Anachronism. In England, where you have real Lords and Ladies, it is considered extremely "dodgy". That being said, I fully agree with Elderwol'fs assessment of her immense and invaluable contribution to modern Witchraft.

Another wonderful work by Doreen Valiente! This "ABC of Witchcraft" is an encyclopedic read which provides hundreds of brief explanations of various mysteries of witchcraft. The book is one long chapter of different subjects in alphabetical order, and the short but clearly well-researched articles are usually a very informative introduction to varying curiousities. Some included topics are Faeries, Vampires, and Werewolves (to name three that I found most interesting). By writing on these topics from a witch's point of view, Valiente succeeds in dispelling more widely accepted explanations for the mysteries by providing an interpretation not distorted by the Judeo-Christian spectacle through which much of the modern world is viewed, therefore muddling the history and shadowing the truth of such mysteries. This is a nice supplement to any witch's book collection, and a great thing about it is that you don't have to read it all the way through so you can pick it up or put it down whenever you want. However, it should be noted that this is not a guidebook for beginners, though the title may suggest otherwise.

In 1975 I was a student in Michigan when it came to me: "Witchcraft has gotten a lot of bad press". I went to the college library and there I found "An ABC of Withcraft Past and Present" by Doreen Valiente. I felt as though I had come home. Until I opened that book, I thought that no one saw the Universe as I did. What a wonderful surprise! The book is concise and complete, written for anyone who wants to know what withcraft is all about. It gives information without requiring the reader to buy into everything that is presented. I will be forever grateful for the life of Doreen Valiente. Her books have truly set me on a beautiful path.

This is a wonderful book, ridding the curious reader of all negative ssterrotypes of "Orgiastic Satanism" ,"Perversion, and "Cannibalism". Valiente tells it like it is (and was). Doreen covers all the nescessary history of the ancient religion called "Wicca" when Politically-correct,new-age-type stuff is added to it. This book talks about Duirwyyd (Druid) connections with wicca, the adoration of trees,Phallic worship, and the "Eastern links with European witchcraft' section is very informative and surprising.

There isnt a bad word i can really think of about Doreen. Her books are informative and very, very useful. However, there are some things i agree and some things that i dont. But, with the book Natural Magic is from the heart of this great and very well missed author who went to Summerland not to long ago. I miss her, cause i know that there wont be another like her. I highly recommend this book on your shelf!.

I aquired this book used years ago, and I devoured it in one sitting, and find myself referring back to it often.

We lost a treasure when Doreen Valiente crossed over. But her legacy is very evident in books like this. If you can get your hands on anything by this woman, do it. No nonesense and written with a lively, witty style. A treasure.

The number of books on witchcraft these days can be staggering. This incredible quantity of choices can leave an individual feeling overwhelmed and uncertain of where to begin. Unfortunately, the relatively new individual is often not even aware of their option to read "Witchcraft for Tomorrow" by Doreen Valiente. This is unfortunate, as this book offers a wonderful basis for understanding witchcraft as an individual continues to study and gain personal experience.

Whereas many authors spend the majority of the time describing how to work with the various techniques within witchcraft, Valiente attempts to describe the nature, purpose, and historical contexts of these techniques. For example, rather than giving extensive instructions on how to cast a circle, this author describes the occult significance that many have attributed to the circle as well as how the circle appears in various pre-Christian religious practices. In this way, she confers an understanding of the nature of the circle and its uses upon the reader. Then, in the "Book of Shadows" section, the reader is instructed how to cast a circle effectively equipped with that understanding.

The author's discussion of history of ancient pagan religion as it affects modern witchcraft is particularly noteworthy. I commend Valiente for refraining from both insisting that witches have always done things as they are done today and accusing those like Gardner from inventing modern witchcraft from whole cloth. Instead, Valiente carefully suggests historical sources of various elements from which modern witchcraft may have formed. In doing so, she draws from many varied sources, such as Hinduism, Celtic religious practices, and Greek philosophy. Often, she will draw parallels between two sources. In this way, the reader is given a potential idea of how modern witchcraft may have developed and grown as a result of the mingling of religious ideals over time.

Even in her "Book of Shadows" section, Valiente chooses to remain someone open-ended, non-dogmatic, and even vague in her instruction. She gives rather basic and general rites, possibly out of both a love for simplicity and a desire to encourage the reader to personalize the craft workings through the process of developing it into formal practice.

One notable example of her non-dogmatic approach occurs as she discusses the quarters during the process of circle casting. In this discussion, Valiente mentions the elements as they correspond to the cardinal directions. She refers to the correspondences that she specifies as, "In Britain, a time-honored attribution." By giving a concise indication of the geography of this tradition indicates that she would expect the elemental correspondences to be attributed differently in other geographical locations. In fact, she goes so far as to suggest a system by which the reader can determine appropriate attributions for a given locale.

Valiente's mostly non-dogmatic approach and desire to provide a basic understanding of the underlying concepts in witchcraft makes for a rather informative book. Anyone who wishes to move beyond the process of learning basic instructions of how to perform various rites should consider adding "Witchcraft for Tomorrow" to one's library.

I rather enjoyed Witchcraft for Tomorrow. Lady Doreen presents a form of the Craft true to its Wiccan roots, but does so without violating her oaths. "This book is simply intended to aid those who want to worship the Old Gods and make magic in the old ways. The desire to do this has become so widespread that I feel it should no longer be denied." She offers her book as a starting point, even for those who must self-initiate.

The book consists of two sections, The first is divided into eleven chapters: The Old Gods (watch out for some material here that is no longer taken seriously by scholars), Witch Ethics, Witch Festivals, Witch Signs and Symbols, The Magic Circle, Witch Tools, Methods of Witch Divination, Witches' Attire, The Witches' Alphabets, The Working Site, and Witchcraft and Sex Magic.

The second section is Liber Umbrarum, A Book of Shadows. Herein will be found Casting the Circle; The Rite of Self-Initiation; The Full Moon Esbat Rite; The Sabbat Rite; Initiation into the Coven; The Coven Spell; The Seven Pointed Star; The Runes of Andred; The Spell of the Cord; Invocation of the Moon Goddess; Invocation of the Horned God; and Chants and Dances.

The book includes a broad spectrum bibliography and and a useful index. Although other authors have published material directly from traditional Books of Shadows, Lady Doreen's book presents material taht may be useufl to the solitary practitioner as well as the coven. Although this book requires more thought than a Cunningham book, I find it more solidly grounded in Wiccan tradition. Well worth the extra brain work.

Valiente is an author anyone seriously interested in Wicca should read. She presents Wicca as it was before being watered down and muddied by the likes of Ravenwolf, Dunwich, Conway, and McCoy. The only flaw I would point out in _Witchcraft For Tomorrow_ is from a historical basis. Valiente relies heavily on the theories and views presented by Margaret Murray. While I hesitate to use the term "disproven" in relation to those theories and views, they are certainly no longer taken seriously by scholars in the field. Read it for a Traditional view of Wicca as created by Gerald Gardner. For an accurate historical perspective, try _Triumph of the Moon_ by Ronald Hutton.

It does not content any original chants, prayers, divination, and powerful names like we use here in the Philippines...We have been in the actual practice of the Craft since tha Spanish colonization....

If you are looking for a "how to" book on spellwork, this book will disappoint. However, if you are interested in purusing another chapter in the unfolding history of "old school Wicca", you might find something of interest.

Evan Jones gives a good account of what he and his fellow coveners did under the direction of Robert Cochrane in the 1960's. The book is geared for group work and maintains the male/female, hierarchical system of Gardnerian Wicca.

Personally, I prefer Valiente's books on modern Craft history; but this text does possess some merit if one is looking to expand their knowledge on how a coven can be run.

Lots of garbage masquerades as "traditional" witchcraft. Much of the quality material can be traced back to Gardnerian roots. This book is a rare gem--a reliable and modern source for non-Gardnerian British Craft material. Doreen Valiente, an important figure in Wicca, wrote with Evan Jones about the practice of the Craft after Robert Cochrane's style.

While this book does not hold many "spell recipes" or "ritual scripts," it provides enough information to "produce" rituals in this style & to organize a coven. This begs the question, however, of whether or not the Craft may be handed down through books or not.

The Goddess knows Her own, and to Herself She will call them. Within these pages lie material that may be of great use to those so called. Five stars for laying out a tradition rarely written about and making it available to those called to "tradition," but not to the "Gardnerian" way of doing things.