Harmony Nice: Wicca - a modern guide to witchcraft and magic

It is time for an other book review. This time I will be taking a look at Harmony Nice's book from 2018 by the title of Wicca - a modern guide to witchcraft and magic. Harmony Nice is an influencer, a youtuber, who makes videos about fashion and Wicca. She is also active on other social media, such as Instagram. She wrote this book after being asked to do so by a publisher Orion Springs (which is not an occult or pagan publisher).

So that is that, now let's get into the book itself.

What did I like about the book?

• Nice has a very positive tone to her writing. Reading the book made me feel like I was listening to her happily telling me about how happy she is to have found Wicca. 
• Although some parts are very floofy and lofty in their description of things, she gives very good practical advice for example on how to celebrate sabbats. There is some very down-to-earth advice to be found in the book.
• Easy to read. This book is very easy to read and it took me only a few hours to do so. There is no difficult language, although at times I felt like it was almost too simplified. But that might be editing.
• The book is beautifully layouted, but that unfortunately adds little to the content. It does look good on Instagram, though.
• Ethics. Nice discusses the Wiccan Rede and ethics in casting spells etc. at some length and returns to these points in other parts of the book. 

What problems do I find with the book?

First off, what is going on in this book in regards to editing? There is no clear structure, and the chapters seem almost at times to be randomly placed in the book. For example, there are two chapters on the moon in completely different parts of the book... I am not certain, but I am willing to think that this might be the fault of editing less so than of the author. But I have never published a book (yet) so I cannot say for sure.

The content is however where I find most issue. Let me summarize:

• A book with the main title Wicca, should be about Wicca. If the second chapter is about divination I will not be able to think it is seriously written. I do however think that this is a symptom of the author's youth and of the fact that divination is a huge part of her own life.
• Nice gets that basics of Wicca right (except for it's history, I'll return to that soon), but mentions belief in deity very briefly. For a book about a religion I feel that it is a huge red flag if deity is mentioned in passing. She does list gods and goddesses of different pantheons, but that has little to do with actual worship, or with the core beliefs of religion.
• Not giving credit where credit is due. Nice cites Lady Gwen Thompson's poem known as the Long Rede while saying that the original author is unknown. A common misconception which is easily rectified through a simple google search.
• The history of Wicca. This point really bugs me. Wicca is a modern religion created in the middle of the 20th Century by Gerald Gardner based off of Margaret Murray's Witch cult-theory which had been definitively debunked by the 1970s. Yet Nice writes that Wicca is centuries old and was "popularized" by Gardner in the 1950s. In the 21st Century we cannot go on propagating this kind of misinformation if we as Wiccans are to be taken seriously. However. This might have something to do with the sources she has read. She cites Scott Cunningham extensively but almost no other authors. Which leads me to the next point.
• Sources. Scott Cunningham is almost her exclusive source. Cunningham's Living Wicca is one of the most popular books written by any Wiccan author still being sold, but it is dated. It is a book that has gotten many a beginner into Wicca, and it still does. But we need newer, better books, more modern ones. That is why I believe so many new, badly written books are surfacing: there is a demand, but the good books drown in the sea of instagram-worthy bestsellers without any substance. 
• Vague language such as "it is believed" and "it is thought". For example when talking about the Gardenerian tradition, Nice writes that "there is thought to be a system of hierarchy ...". This is something that could easily be fact-checked. In many instances she writes about certain things as if they were uncertain. I think this speaks mostly of her inexperience and the fact that she might not (my guess) have read that many books on Wicca yet. But we are all there at the beginning. As we grow and learn we learn more things. And most of us are happy learning the bare basics and that is fine too. However, if you pass your uncertain knowledge on as fact, do not be surprised if someone corrects you. Especially for solitary practitioners of Wicca, gaining quality knowledge about their religion can be a very demanding process (this is also why we need good books about the subject).

From what I have understood from her own comments she was approached by the publishers about writing a book about Wicca and received a fairly short time frame for doing so. This might explain some of the issues I have with the book. However, I think that any serious publisher would fact check the books they are publishing (unless of course they are looking to make a lot of money quickly, which I fear might be the case here).

Harmony Nice has been a Wiccan for a few years as she wrote this book. The lack of experience shows. I believe however that this is a place where she can grow, and that she can produce quality content once she gains more experience in the Craft.

I read this book mostly as Nice's own story about her personal journey into Wicca, but as it is made out as an instructional book about the religion this does create some problems. For example, writing about Wicca and having divination so soon in the book makes it look like divination is an integral part of Wicca. Yes, some, maybe even most Wiccans, use divination, but it is not an integral part of being a Wiccan. And divination is not exclusively Wiccan, but a tool used in many traditions.

Do I recommend it?
I think it is a book that could get many newcomers interested in Wicca. Like Silver RavenWolf's Teen Witch drew me into Wicca as a teen, I believe this book might function as a starting point for so called "baby witches" (by the Goddess do I hate that term).

I hope that if future editions to this book are made, some facts might be corrected and more sources added, or at least a list of recommended reading. In fact, I do hope that in a few years we might see a new, more informed, book by Harmony Nice.

For advanced readers this book has almost nothing to give, but for the person interested in learning about Wicca, and who follows Harmony Nice, I might even recommend this, especially if you can get it from a library or second hand. However, there are better books out there, and Teen Witch is still, despite RavenWolf's many faults as an author, a much better book than this.

~Stella

Book Review: Living Wicca by Scott Cunningham

Cunningham, Scott: Living Wicca - a Further Guide to the Solitary Practitioner. 2018 (12th printing), original copyright 1993. Llewellyn Publications. ISBN: 978-0-87542-184-1

Living Wicca was the second ever book I read on the subject of Wicca. The year was 2004 and I was 15 or had just turned 16. I had been introduced to Wicca earlier in the year, and been lent the book Teen Witch by Silver Ravewolf (I might discuss that one  at some point) which I read cover to cover. In my eagerness to learn more about this religion that held such a calling for me, I entered the library with as much courage as I could muster. I was scared that if I asked for books about Wicca my parents, who did not approve, would find out. But despite that fear, and the fear of being reprimanded by older women, I went and I asked.

The librarian who helped me found one book that she could get me. It was located in Oulu - which felt like the opposite end of the country - and asked if I was willing to pay the reservation fee for them to mail the book between our cities. I happily paid my weeks allowance (I did not have a huge allowance), and waited for Living Wicca by Scott Cunningham to arrive. Once it did, I fashioned a faux cover from colored paper for it and read it at night under the covers by the light of a flashlight. That is how secretive I had to be. I also made coded notes from the book that I still have to this day.

That was the backstory of my relationship to this book. I eventually read more books, and now own quite a few Wiccan titles myself. I purchased Living Wicca for myself late last year, but did not get around to reading it until recently. Here I will give my thoughts of the book.


Living Wicca - a Further Guide to the Solitary Practitioner

Living Wicca is dedicated by Scott Cunningham "to solitary practitioners everywhere". After the success of his book Wicca: A Guide to the Solitary Practitioner he worked on bringing about further instructions to solitary Craft practitioners. Wicca was emerging as a religion and demand for information was growing, especially information for Wiccans practicing alone.

Living Wicca consists of three main parts. Part one deals with learning, of how to teach yourself and learn without a coven or teacher to guide you. Cunningham states that every book is a teacher in itself, and urges the practitioner to read everything. He does however stress, that one should always be critical and not accept everything one reads, as books just as well as the people who wrote them, can be in the wrong. This part of the book also deals with the questions of taking magical names, of self-initiation, Wiccan mysteries and Wicca in everyday life.

Life itself can be seen as a ritual to the Goddess and God.

- Cunningham, p. 35                        

Part two of the book deals with different practices of the Craft. The first thing that Cunningham tackles here is prayer. I truly enjoyed this chapter as Cunningham talks of prayer almost like a conversation with the Gods. Some Wiccans I have spoken with have great trouble relating to prayer because of the subservient stance Christian practitioners have to it. I think this is simply a stigma that needs to be broken, and Cunningham tackles the subject in a very down-to-earth manner. 

This part also deals with some parts of rituals, such as circle castings, and invocations to the Goddess and the God, as well as a chapter on magic and why the Circle is needed.

The moon illuminates the earth

With wondrous silver rays;

Illuminate me through the night

And through the sun-lit days.

- Evening prayer, Cunningham, p. 53

The third part, and indeed half the book, centers around how to create your own Wiccan tradition. Cunningham breaks down the process into a comprehensible and easy to grasp method, giving concrete advice on what to include and how to write your own material. With a firm starting point in the basics of Wiccan beliefs, morals and practices, he provides a framework upon which one can create a working Wiccan tradition. Each chapter within this part of the book contains a comprehensive list of suggested further reading (I have myself taken many clues from here).

He deals in deity concepts, tools of the Craft, ritual design and different ceremonies, and symbols, to name just a few. Here he also writes about teaching, weather one should teach, when and whom, as well as what ethics govern teaching. At the end of the book there is a glossary of terms, and then a bibliography. 

My thoughts

I always enjoy reading Cunningham's works. His language is easy to read and there is good flow to it. Beacuse I had read the book before I new what it was about, but as 15 years have gone by my memory was rusty. Re-reading it, however, felt like coming back home to a warm meal after a long day out in the cold. 

Cunningham writes in a manner reminiscent of an uncle teaching a child in the gentlest of manners. He is not judgmental in any way, but he is firm when he for example states that certain things have to be a part of your new tradition for it to be counted as Wicca, but leaves the possibility to the reader to formulate their own beliefs upon the previously existing framework. 

Wicca is a religion that teaches specific beliefs. We should be fully familiar with them if we're to practice this religion. It may take time for you to completely accept some of these beliefs. Study, think, pray and experiment. Wiccan beliefs are the heart of Wicca.

Cunningham, p. 114

I really like this approach, and maybe it stuck out to me because I have heard so much of the "you can take whatever beliefs you want into Wicca" that I have grown sick of it. Yes, you can include a lot in your Wiccan practice and beliefs, but without the core principles of Wicca, it ceases to exist and becomes something else. This is something that irritates me extremely in a book I am soon going to review, but I will take that discussion then.

What I really enjoyed is that Cunningham has included so much suggested reading. I especially enjoyed the suggested reading in the third part of the book, as he sometimes not only lists books, but even the relevant pages. I feel like he has been very thorough in his research and made an effort to make the study of the Craft as easy as possible for the (new) practitioner. 

Cunningham has a very positive tone throughout his writings. He on one hand encourages the student to read as much as possible, from as many sources as possible, and on the other encourages the student to just go out there and do it, to not think too much, but rather just start practicing. 

In conclusion I would say that I like this book very much, and I would recommend it to both beginners and more advanced practitioners of Wicca. It is an easy read with good information, and with merely 168 pages it is amazing how much good information is in it. I would however suggest for the beginner that at list a slight grasp of what Wicca is about is needed before reading this book. If looking for one, I can recommend Wicca: A Guide to the Solitary Practitioner. 

If you have read this book, or if you have questions, leave your comments down below.

Blessed Be!

~Stella