The Wiccan Mysteries
by Raven Grimassi
(Llewellyn; 2001) 293 pages

Lest anyone thing I’m always hard on Wiccan books, here is a real gem! I was truly delighted to see this compilation of the Mysteries of the Craft laid out under one cover in a very lucid and respectable manner. If you don’t have this in your collection, go and obtain a copy.

If I had to choose only THREE Wiccan books (thus far produced) that I would want to own, I would have to say “What Witches Do” by Stew Farrar is one; Dorene Valiente’s “Witchcraft For Tomorrow” is the second; and finally THIS book by Raven Grimassi as the third and final choice.

Mr. Grimassi does a fine job of culling the various Mysteries of the Craft beginning with the Roots of Witchcraft and the Principles and Beliefs. Here he tackles what are the core beliefs and roots of modern day Witchcraft. Redundant perhaps for some but to not include it in such a theoretical text would be inexcusable. While I found the “Sacred Wiccan Texts” to be something of a misnomer since much of the Craft was/is oral, still his rendition of the core elements such as the Charge of the Goddess from Farrar, to the Witch’s Creed as put forth by Valiente to the Invocation of the Horned God by Sheba. Each ends with Grimassi’s commentary which he offers to help Newbies and Initiates alike make better understanding for use later.

The Wiccan Deities chaptere was well done and here again is the first time I bumped into how he shows the differences between the Stag-Horned God, the Bull-Horned God and the Goat-Horned God. This I had heard from various sources but never before pictured artistically and since I’m quite visually oriented, this definitely made an impact on me.

The book also covers such subjects as Planes of Existence, Wiccan Rites, Magical Arts, the Celts and Their Mysteries. Women’s & Men’s Mysteries all the way to Living the Mysteries. Whole books could be written about each subject in great depth however for the sake of brevity, I felt that Mr. Grimassi did a splendid job glossing over each in only a few paragraphs each. Enogh to whet the young Witch’s appetite for me I’d speculate.

I was both schocked and surprised by Llewellyn spending the money to put in an index to this manual. That is something that ALL Llewellyn books sorely need. I found the index to be useful especially at times when referring to a previous subject while reading thru the manual. The bibliography is moot as it holds the redundant Wiccan authors that appear in almost all Llewellyn books on the subject.

All in all, I found the fourteen dollars and ninety-five cent price tag to be a bit much but the publisher seems to think spending fiften dollars for a book nothing. Well for this one it’s palatable. Why? Because if you wanted to do nothing but study the Greater and Lesser Mysteries of the Craft, you’d have to buy a ton of books to get what’s been compiled and offered in this book. I rate this manual a solid 5 out of 5 stars. Add this one to your collection.