First, I would like to state that the reason I'm defending these author's isn't for the fact that I work their material but it's for the fact that they're getting a bad rep for no reason on this site. Also, how can you knock someone's work if you've never read their material in the first place and that's what leads me to believe that a lot of people are being mislead on some useful information.
Silver Ravenwolf, is hated on this site for what reason I don't know. Looking through the forums it would seem like a lot of people on this site would be into her work. I've read her material, though it doesn't fit along the lines of any set tradition and is loosely based on wicca at best, some of her material is reliable though. From what I gather her writing style on the subject is based on her personal experience alone and what works for her. The only way you could judge her is by working her methods and seeing the results for yourself. All any author does in the occult is give you the basic formula to whatever it is your looking for and it's up to you, the magician to take that knowledge and run with it making whatever modifications necessary to make it work. Some of her info may be wrong on traditions and such but that doesn't change the fact that some of her material works for the average practicing magician.
Silvia Brown (lol my Favorite)
I don't even know where to start on this because she isn't a witch and has never claimed to be one. My mother reads her books because she is all into the day time t.v. kind of thing and I have had the opportunity to read her work as well because of my mother. The only positive thing I have to say about this author is that she does have a clue on how to establish a relationship with your Holy Guardian Angel. You know, from the Golden Dawn, Abramelin, that sort of thing. She does provide a lot of info on meditation and if you were to judge her work on this alone and say it's not worth a damn then you would be saying the same thing about any other occult author out there that talks about meditation and visualization. Some of her meditations can be compared to Konstantino's work and I have yet to see anyone knocking that author on this site.
What is magick? Silvia Brown does touch people's lives with her "magick" whether it be some form of hypnosis or the ability to create an environment to cold read people. The fact is whatever her process is it doesn't matter. She has the ability to change people's lives and make them believe whatever it is that she wants them to believe so that they keep forking over money to her. It takes talent to read people and isn't easy by no means to do. It takes a lot of self discovery to have that kind of gift and that gift is to read people and bend them to your will. By my terms that's the work of a dark magician, and her jedi powers haven't failed her yet because she is sitting on a fortune.
Magick is magick, and if you can use it to create change in this world for personal gain then good for you. I don't support these authors because they don't fit in my particular beliefs and their style is to dry for me but some of their work should not be discredited. You should judge these people if you've personally worked their material or read it.
Silver Ravenwolf isn't very well liked because of her fluffy outlook on magick. I haven't read any of her books; however, I've read some amazingly bad reviews on her.
Silvia Brown isn't much different. She's a fake psychic who makes a living tricking people into thinking her way. I have absolutely no respect for her or her books.
If you have never read her books by an author than you have no right to comment on thier work and make a oppinion. Would you leap off a building because someone said it was a good idea. How do you know shes ( I hate use this ridiculous and patheticly childish term) fluffy? Because someone else said so? Im not defendin this aurhor or puting her down because I have not read her books.
I have read books by an author with amazi g reviews and it was horrible and ive read books with horrible reviews and it was great. You shohld just keep an open mind andyour own oppionion.
I never intended to put down Silver Ravenwolf. I simply stated that she hasn't recovered very many good reviews. As for Sivia Brown, I have read some of her work, hence the statement about her.
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.
Re: Authors to Avoid By: ConjureLady_ / Knowledgeable
Post # 9 Sep 21, 2013
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.
