What is a good Wiccan book for those who want to learn more about it?

Some Good Web sites:

http://wicca.timerift.net/

http://www.wiccanglade.com/wiccanrede.html

http://www.religioustolerance.org/paganism.htm

http://www.religioustolerance.org/wic_faq.htm

http://www.witchvox.com/

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/76/story_7665_1.htm...

Some Good books to Read:

Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner

By Scott Cunningham

http://www.amazon.com/Wicca-Solitary-Practitioner-...

Earth Power: Techniques of Natural Magic

By Scott Cunningham

http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Power-Techniques-Llewe...

Truth about Witchcraft Today

By Scott Cunningham

http://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-Witchcraft-Today...

Hmm... This is a rather hard question to answer. There really isn't *one* book that can give you an overview of what Wicca is because there are so many traditions within Wicca. Every book puts a different slant on it. I agree with the http://wicca.timerift.net/

website. That is a good place to get some accurate information about history and an overview of the religion.

If you read through that website, I would also recommend Ronald Hutton's Triumph of the Moon. It is a book on the history. I suggest this because while it does not define what Wicca is so much, it provides a very clear and accurate picture of where Wicca started and how it has come to be what it is today. *If* you have that information, I feel comfortable making a couple of other suggestions. One would be to go ahead and read Scott Cunningham's Wicca: Guide for the Solitary Practitioner. It is very simplistic and truth be told, it is not one of my favorite books. But, it is one of the most common first books for new people and it is the source for what a lot of Wiccans believe. A second recommendation is one I never thought I would make here. I'm going to put a lot of disclaimers on it, but it's Stewart Farrar's What Witches Do. A lot of people do not like this book. But I do, and I'm suggesting it for a couple of reasons. It is extremely different from the Cunningham book. The book started before Farrar was initiated, it began as an interview and through the book Farrar makes the journey from observer to genuinely curious, to initiate of Alex Sanders (Alexandrian Tradition). I am suggesting this not because I think it is the greatest book out there, it is not. But because you are not interested in converting, you might find the context interesting. It's also very well written in my opinion. Also the book is very focused coven practice rather than solitary practice (as so many books are now). Anyway, like I said - a suggestion I wouldn't normally make - but it might be an interesting contrast to the other common books. There are a good number of things in the book that are not common practice (within Wicca as a whole), so that's something to keep in mind too.

The book I'd recommend depends on which tradition you're interested in.

The traditions are as different as, oh, the Jesuits are from Westboro Baptist.

I actually think the best ecumenical resource is the FAQ at http://wicca.timerift.net/

Edit: The problem with Scott Cunningham's Wicca (and Living Wicca) is that the material is grossly oversimplified. It's a good beginner's book, but it doesn't really have a good context for a non-Wiccan. Triumph of the Moon (Hutton) is good for history, and Drawing Down the Moon (Adler) is good for the broad social context, but there is no good intro to Wicca for non-Wiccans out there.

Wicca is a widespread faith approximately 70 years old. Any historic e book that announces to be Wiccan is a fraud. And it extremely is a faith, it is not approximately spells. Vodou is an Afro-Carribean; a syncretic faith combining Christianity & the tribal faith of slaves. you will not locate historic books on that, the two. Kulam is a curse (in Asia) and that i don't understand what the others are-- yet that could usually be individuals magic. and individuals magic & Witchcraft weren't issues people usually wrote down. "Black magic books" and "Spell books" are exceedingly present day innovations. until eventually a pair hundred years in the past, the standard guy or woman could not even study & write, paper became quite high priced and e book printing became the two all carried out via hand or, as quickly as we had the printing press, very tedious & time ingesting. people could not burst off and purchase a sparkling magazine at Borders. There are some known grimoires from like the middle a protracted time (I heard of one that is going as a methods returned via fact the 13 century yet maximum are from like the fifteenth onward). yet those at the instant are not likely spell books; they are ceremonial magic coaching classes-- like coaching classes. Ceremonial magic is very complicated, you would be extra efficient off to locate a instructor.

Truth about Witchcraft Today by Scott Cunningham, (if it is still in print) is a good starting point to explain wicca to non-wiccans.

Wicca Beliefs & Practices by Cantrel

Scott Cunningham's "Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner" is always a good book to get started with.

Well "Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner" is generally regarded as good, however it's much more of a practical guide.

If you're looking for pure information about beliefs and practices, I'd suggest you just go to http://wicca.timerift.net/ and look through the 101/FAQ section.

Scott Cunningham's book on solitary Wicca is a good place to start, but a very bad place to stop. It's a grossly oversimplified version of Wicca.

I would recommend a good book on traditional Wicca, by Doreen Valiente, Vivianne Crowley, Janet and Stewart Farrar, Nigel Jackson, or Raymond Buckland.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wicca, New Edition: A Comprehensive Guide to

the Old Religion in the Modern World

by Vivianne Crowley

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0007169620/

Witchcraft for Tomorrow

by Doreen Valiente

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0709052448/

An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present

by Doreen Valiente

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0919345778/

A Witches' Bible: The Complete Witches Handbook

by Stewart and Janet Farrar

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0919345921/

The Call of the Horned Piper

by Nigel Aldcroft Jackson

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1898307091/

Masks of Misrule: The Horned God

& His Cult in Europe

by Nigel Jackson

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1898307679/

Witchcraft: A Tradition Renewed

by Doreen Valiente, Evan John Jones

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0919345611/

Buckland's Complete Book Of Witchcraft

by Raymond Buckland

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0875420508/

Some authors to look at:

Scott Cunningham

Raymond Buckland

Mike Nichols

Margot Adler

Doreen Valiente