Book Of Shadows: A Modern Woman's Journey Into The Wisdom Of Witchcraft And The Magic Of The Goddess

Natural Health, March, 1999 by Uma C. Parikh

BOOK OF SHADOWS: A MODERN WOMAN'S JOURNEY INTO THE WISDOM OF WITCHCRAFT AND THE MAGIC OF THE GODDESS By Phyllis Curott; Broadway Books, 1998; $25.

We've all seen them in the movies, offering up poisoned apples and showing Dorothy the way back to Kansas. But in the real world witches are part of an ancient religion based on goddess worship called Wicca. In Book of Shadows, Wiccan high priestess Phyllis Curott, a graduate of Brown University and New York University Law School, tells the tale of her first year as part of a coven in New York City. Something of a witch-in-training, she is seeking to regain a sixth sense she'd once turned to in times of question--an "inner eye" that had foreseen her joining the coven--an intuition not much different from the rest of ours, just more trusted, and therefore more reliable.

As they do for many of us, work and worry had estranged her from this deeper part of herself, and after law school, with the stress of a new job with an ex-lover, "the premonitions, dreams, and insights stopped." In this book we learn how the coven brings her back in touch with her intuition and restores her confidence so she can manage the difficulties of her job with ease (including the inappropriate advances of her ex-lover).

Maybe because my college roommate arrived at school with tiny bottles filled with things like dragon's blood, I especially liked Curott's descriptions of rituals. In one ceremony, a coven elder is healed of lymphoma by women calling down energy from Hygeia, the ancient Greek goddess of health. When it finally reaches the elder, "she dreamed she'd been hit by a beam of light that filled her with energy"

According to Curott, goddess worship dates back to the Upper Paleolithic Age, and her book is a troubling reminder that women are still "seeking a spiritual home, a place where we would be respected and welcomed, where our souls would be healed and empowered." Sometimes when Curott was reeling and feeling, I was skimming, but on the whole, she presents her journey through the shadows vividly. She even tells us how to assemble magic potions for finding love and dispelling evil (they're made from plant essences). I can't wait to try one of them.