The Goddess is in the Details by Deborah Blake

A lot of people have been attracted to witchcraft, either from popular literature (TV series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or from the many Wiccan books published, like "Teen Witch" by Silver Ravenwolf. But Wicca, real Wicca, is more than spellcasting and calling on a Goddess instead of a God, or a Goddess *and* a God in addition to just a God. Wicca is a religion, and a way of life.

You don't need to eschew your house in the city, leave modern life behind, and move to a log cabin in the woods where you will have to heat it with firewood and eat only food you've hunted, gathered or harvested yourself. It might be a little harder to be tied to nature's cycles when you live in a town or city, but it's still possible to do so.

Deborah Blake gives six sections on how to be a better Wiccan, going from the Everyday things to the Inner Witch, the Outer Witch, Social Witch, Practicing Witch and Natural Witch. At each step, she discusses small steps that any Wiccan can take every day to be a better, deeper, more thoughtful child of the God and Goddess. Each step is small, and fairly easy, from stopping repeating bad statements about yourself to yourself, to how to deal, sanely and rationally, with others when they find out about your religion to maintaining a clean and healthy home without resorting to cleaners that are bad for the earth on which we live.

A whole chapter is devoted to the issue of Hatred. Many people will hate Wiccans simply because of who and what they are, but it's best not to deal in hatred in return, no matter how tempting it is. Do Wiccans want to be like the people who hate them? Can they afford to be, emotionally and spiritually? Or can they be better than those who hate and fear them?

Other topics include Sex and the single pagan, relationships with Non-Pagans, and raising Pagan children, among others and the many pagan holidays, along with working both as a single witch and with a coven, and the pros and cons of both.

This is a wonderful book for Wiccans, though it's not the basics. Not quite advanced stuff, either, but things that are important for Wiccans to think about. Things that will deepen your faith and make you a better witch.

From Covening to solitary work, and with a lot of discussion of the stereotypes and how not to fit them, or fall victim to them, this book is one than any Wiccan will find interesting and thought-provoking. Each chapter is like a meditation with a short paragraph at the end as to how to apply it to your own life.

I highly recommend this book to any interested Wiccans and Pagans out there. It's the kind of book that makes you think about your life and beliefs, and allows you to greatly change your life with simple exercises that will make a world of difference.