Authors to Avoid

I'd say that, from the book of hers I read called "True Magick", I'd generally avoid the author 'Amber K'. I thought the book put forward too many opinions as being "objective facts" and the "what you *have* to do", which it wasn't. If the author was a bit more honest in saying "This is just what I think..." or "You can do things other ways too but this is how I found it to work", then the book would've been a bit better.

I've also not long recieved an email from an occult book seller in a nearby town who's moving back to Australia soon, warning me not to purchase J.F.C Fuller's "The Secret Wisdom of the Qabalah", also sending along a .pdf file containing a list of constructive criticisms on the book, not that I've read it myself.

I've got a few works by Konstantinos as well, most of them seem to be "OK", but "Vampires: Their Occult Truth" (I haven't purchased Werewolves yet, and probably won't) is a fairly terrible book. It details soom decent history on how people potentially thought bodies were coming back to life many years ago (bloated bellies and the like), but for the most part, it's assuming and opinionated without any real supportive evidence, aside from the ideas about Psychic Vampires.

Those are the only works I can think of right off the top of my head; I might be able to recall more if I wasn't full of antibiotics right now. ha

These are just my opinions anyway, by all means, anybody can still feel free to check out the authors and any of their works; different people are bound to feel different ways.

I have read silver raven wolf, I own both to ride a silver broomstick and to stir a witches cauldron. both are generalizations of the wiccan path and heavily influenced by silver ravenwolf's personal experiences and beliefs. Nothing wrong with either if you agree with things the way she does.

I personally find her to be contradictory in some of what she says. She has expressed in interviews that she follows the rede and the three fold, yet in the same interview she helped her daughter curse the captain of the cheerleading squad for what amounted to, in my mind, a disagreement between the girls. (no I have no idea what article it was in, I read it 10 years ago.)

I don't think she should be despised on placed on a 'never read' list, however I do believe she needs to be placed on the 'don't read until you understand magick' list as I don't think she is suitable for beginners.

Silvia Brown? really? I don't even see her as being included in a list of authors to read or not read for the subject of magick. She is a self professed psychic. Psychic ability and magick are two different things to me. I have seen her on several television shows and have never read her work as it is of no interest to me. I am not a psychic nor am I interested in that field.

You have to realize that most of these lists and suggestions come from and individuals personal beliefs, practices and understandings. Yes it is possible that decent information is being dismissed based on prejudice, however we as humans do that daily, so I don't see why it is such a big issue. People suggest what has worked for them, everything on this site comes from personal experience and belief, many of these experiences and beliefs are shared, which lends something to the credibility. However it is all subjective, those who disagree will continue to do so regardless of the number of people swearing to the 'truth' of the issue.

magick is a personal practice, one must learn all they can about it and practice it to begin to understand it. We as a community can't agree on what the basics are, how could anyone expect us to agree on authors?

I posted this because under a lot of people's profiles these two authors are under the not to read list. I took it upon myself to do them some justice on this site, even though I don't agree with them. Lol yeah I think Silvia Brown is a joke, but her meditations are workable. She works solely with her HGA in her books and her meditations for this would be accurate. Either way I couldn't help myself for posting this.Lol.

This is irritating me. Sylvia Brown*. Thank you very much, please continue.

Let's make sure we are very clear on something here...

$ilver RavenWolf is not just despised on this site.
She is mocked, spoken against and despised in the vast majority of the Pagan community. Meaning, people who go to circle, who go to Pride fests, who are active within their physical community, who are adults and authors DO NOT LIKE HER WORK.

And here's why:

Her (specifically her earlier works that I had the unfortunate pleasure of reading when I was a kid) are full of crap.

Her "history" is sometimes misleading and other times flat out exaggerated.

She encourages children to lie and hide from their parents.

She accuses parents who don't agree with her that she cares more about their children than they do.

She is exceedingly Anti-Christian in a community that has been working to show tolerance in order to gain tolerance.

She speak about "What a Witch is" with authority that she does not have.

Her credentials are shotty at best.

She speak of Wicca without any authority to do so (as many authors do)

So all that combined may look like is has little to do with magic itself or isn't that big of a deal, right? Wrong. Her books are geared specifically towards children whose developmental stage is at a point where they are most likely to latch onto the information and hold it tightly.

This is targeted manipulation. If you know your target audience are angsty teens who are looking for a way to be "special" or who are looking for someone they can relate to, you just found a woman who write specifically to do that, so now, you can write about anything, make a buck and call it good.

I have read her books, as have many others. You can absolutely google her reviews to get a better understanding as to why she is disliked by more than just SoM users.

And here's one review for your reading pleasure, which is pretty much the general opinion of her work.

http://wicca.cnbeyer.com/ravenwolf.shtml

There are plenty more reviews out there that speak against her, and I assure you, they are not all SoM users.

ahhhhh, if you are something of a freelance "witch", that is, you work on your own, you might think Silver Ravenwolf is too easy. She writes too easy, her spells are too easy, on and on and on.

But let me tell you what, she's great when you have no energy from sickness, from blight, from depression, especially depression. If I had to go through all the steps of normal witchyness, I couldn't do it.

The fact is, spells large and small can work, and they can work in the face of bad witch.

Do not think the "Kitchen Witch" is fluffy. She/he is not.

Remember she's working for a very commercial market, so her stuff seems light weight.

She doesn't encourage children to lie to their parents. But, hey, I never "cameout" to my parents either.

As for the cheerleader thing, I believed it involved gossip, and how her daughter put it down.

"Then we've got the double sneak-attack - working only with angels. Angels, angels everywhere and Mom or Dad won't even care. Sure, because everyone likes angels"
Silver Ravenwolf, Teen Witch, (Llewellyn Publications) page 232.

"Call 1-800-the-moon to place your order. Or bug, bother and pester your neighborhood bookstore until they can't stand it any more. Oh, and for the adults that don't like that statement? Maybe you don't care about their future, but I do."

The above is an actual passage from one of her books. While I have read it, I cannot remember the exact book it came from.

What does that basically say? It tells kids that any adult who doesn't agree to their wishes regarding the occult doesn't care about them. But don't fret, Silver cares. She cares so much she'll show you how to get around those little nuances.

It's a psychological game.

I apologize if it seemed I was attacking. I just get so annoyed with hearing so many people making decisions without looking in to it and making upvthier own mind.

I ha e read some of D.j. Conway work but I'm at odds with it and not sure if I like all what he writes and have also seen some others criticize his work as well. Couriouse what some others think

DJ Conway is an author I would not recommend. At least if one is interested in Norse magickal workings and concepts. Her book "Norse Magic" was atrocious and outright offensive. Not only was it short and full of inaccurate information, it seemed geared towards Wiccans who wanted to incorporate Norse deities into their spellwork- but she claimed it was traditional. For instance, she had several spells in the book involving the use of a cauldron and wands and those are things you will never see in Norse magickal workings because there was not "spellwork" in Norse magick. She also claims that Freyr and Freyja are the main deities in the Northern pantheon.. which is cringeworthy. She may be okay in regards to Wiccan or other subjects, but look to a different author if you're interested in the Norse.

For myself, I never tell someone NOT to read a book.

But I will tell them whether the author is one that I would personally recommend and if not then why I would not recommend them. I will also then provide information about authors that I think are more reliable.

There are always things one can learn from any book that might be of value. But when someone is just starting out it is difficult to know what is accurate and what is not, so being discriminating about what one is reading is more difficult than it becomes when you have a number of years of practice under your belt.

In addition, unless one is wealthy most of us have to make decisions about where we can afford to spend our money. That being the case, one would want to spend that money on books that are going to do the most to advance your knowledge and skills. Spending it on a book that has unreliable information means that you may not be able to afford the book that is more accurate and helpful in the long run.

There are some authors out there who quite literally are writing because that's how they make money...but without care for the information they are providing or the impact it might have on someone's actual practice. Some of these authors will invent information to fill a book, knowing full well that information is not accurate. Some will lie about their credentials and claim to be things they are not. These are the sorts of people whose writings I don't recommend as good resources to others. But that's a lot different than telling someone NOT to read a particular author.