Books

• Raymond Buckland
  • Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft (Llewellyn's Practical Magick) Buckland was a student of Gardner and the founder of Seax Wicca. Complete Witchcraft has very little information on the spiritual side of Wicca, but it is a fair if somewhat dated reference for the practical side.
• Scott Cunningham
  • Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner
  • Living Wicca: A Further Guide of the Solitary Practitioner Cunningham was in some ways the quintessential white-light fluffbunny Wiccan, but his books are sound as far as they go, and set a good moral base. Not a bad starting place for the beginning Wiccan.
• Gus diZerega
  • Pagans & Christians: The Personal Spiritual Experience In some ways an excellent, thought-provoking read, this book is unfortunately not the valuable interfaith dialogue it sets out to be.
• Janet and Stewart Farrar
  • A Witches' Bible: The Complete Witches' Handbook Originally published as two books, Eight Sabbats for Witches and The Witches' Way, this is an excellent introduction to Wicca. Unfortunately it's an old enough book that they still refer to Wicca as "the Old religion," and worse, they claim it's Celtic, a claim that has never had any reasonable basis in historical fact. But these are only mildly grating in an otherwise useful work.
• Gerald B. Gardner
  • Witchcraft Today Gerald Gardner was the father of Wicca, and Witchcraft Today is the book that introduced it to the world. The history has long since been discredited, but the book remains a valuable reference.
  • The Meaning of Witchcraft "The meaning of witchcraft is to be found, not in strange religious theories about God and Satan, but in the deepest levels of the human mind, the collective unconscious, and the earliest developments of human society. It is the deepness of the roots that has preserved the tree."
• Ronald Hutton
  • The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft For anyone interested in the true history of Wicca, with detailed evidence and explanation behind every argument.
• Aldo Leopold
  • Sand County Almanac Leopold held that nothing that disturbs the balance of nature is right. He was not a Pagan, but this book is really a must-read for Pagans.
• Deborah Lipp
  • The Elements of Ritual: Air, Fire, Water & Earth in the Wiccan Circle Both practical and academic information on the four elements
  • The Way of Four: Create Elemental Balance in Your Life Explains the reasons behind ritual actions and provides examples to help create your own
• Lilith McLelland
  • Out of the Shadows: Myths and Truths of Modern Wicca A no-nonsense but open-minded look at Wicca.
• Ellen Cannon Reed
  • The Heart of Wicca: Wise Words from a Crone on the Path A heartfelt book on Reed's Wiccan path, written in the hope that readers might find deeper spiritual meaning in Wicca rather than just the outward shows.
• Starhawk
  • Spiral Dance, The - 20th Anniversary : A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Goddess: 20th Anniversary Edition Many Wiccans swear by this book. Unfortuantely her history is very poor, and I am less interested than she in blaming everything on patriarchy. But it's still a fascinating read that covers a lot of ground. It's important to note that Starhawk doesn't consider herself Wiccan, but rather a Witch and a follower of Goddess spirituality.
• Michael York
  • Pagan Theology: Paganism As a World Religion "York endeavors to demonstrate that paganism in its many varieties has an underlying unity."—Library Journal