Buckland - Bucklands Complete Book of Witchcraft

BUCKLANDS
COMPLETE BOOK
OF WITCHCRAFT

More Praise for Bucklands Complete Book of Witchcraft

The Big Blue Book has earned the status of a true classic in the world of Witch-craft and Wicca. I use both words because Ray Buckland covers both the Craft and the religion with total comprehensiveness. The book evolved out of a successful correspondence course and remains a self-study course and a valid text of the art and science of practical magick.

Carl Llewellyn Weschcke
Publisher

Raymond Bucklands Complete Book of Witchcraft is probably one of the clearest, direct presentations of all there is to Witchcraft. It is well done... in many ways, it takes the mystery out of an ancient belief, and Buckland is to be commended for having put it all together so well.

Hans Holzer
Writer/Producer

If you want to start your own circle, this book will tell you how to begin and indicates paths to progress thereafter; if youre already established and find yourself facing the training of newcomers, this book will remind you of all the things youve either forgotten or take so much for granted that it doesnt occur to you to mention them. Heartily recommended.

Kindred Spirits
Australia

This book was one of the first to guide me on the path of my Craft. Detailed yet non-threatening, educational yet funI spent hours pouring over this book in my early days and still refer to it now sometimes for a refresher! I highly recommend this book as an important introduction to the Craft in this modern age.

Fiona Horne
Author of WitchA Magickal Journey
and Television/Radio Host

Ray Buckland gives an integrated view of essential Witchcraft, synthesized by his very extensive knowledge and illuminated by the genial breadth of his own wisdom. Thus we have here not only an ample course on how to be a Witch but also, incidentally, a sane and joyful exposition of life and how to live it.

Melita Denning and Osborne Phillips
Authors of Llewellyns Practical Guide series

A master-work by one of the great Elders of the Craft. Raymond Buckland has presented a rich treasure-trove of Wiccan lore. It is a legacy that will provide magic, beauty, and wisdom to future generations of those who seek the ancient paths of the Old Religion.

Ed Fitch
Author of Magical Rites from the Crystal Well

About the Author

Raymond Buckland came to the United States from England in 1962. He had written television comedy scripts for ITVs The Army Game series and a pilot, Sly Digs, for BBC-TV. He was also personal scriptwriter for the popular British comedian Ted Lune. In the past thirty years he has had over thirty books publishedfiction and nonfictionby such publishers as Ace Books, Warner Books, Prentice Hall, Samuel Weiser, Inner Traditions International, Galde Press, Citadel,Visible Ink Press, and Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., with more than a million copies in print and translations in twelve foreign languages. He has also written newspaper and magazine articles and five screenplays. Two of his books are each in their thirtieth printing. His Gypsy Witchcraft and Magic received the 1999 Visionary Award for nonfiction.

Considered an authority on the occult and the supernatural, Raymond Buckland served as technical advisor for the Orson Welles movie Necromancy (later retitled The Witching) and has also worked as an advisor for a stage production of Macbeth with William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist.He is of Romany (Gypsy) descent and, as such, is an authority on the Gypsies, four of his books dealing with that subject. He has lectured at colleges and universities across the country, including Pennsylvania State University, University of Western Illinois, University of North Dakota, New York State University, Kent State (Ohio), and San Diego City College. He has been the subject of articles in such newspapers and magazines as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily (and Sunday) News, NationalObserver, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Look Magazine, Cosmopolitan, True, and many others.

Raymond Buckland has appeared on numerous radio and television talk programs, including The Dick Cavett Show, Tom Snyders Tomorrow Show, Not For Women Only (with Barbara Walters), The Virginia Graham Show, The Dennis Wholley Show, and the Sally JessyRaphael Show. He has been seen on BBC-TV England, RAI-TV Italy, and CBC-TV Canada. He has appeared extensively on stage in England and played small character parts in movies in America.

He has taught courses at New York State University, Hofstra University, New Hampshire Technical College, and for the Hampton (Virginia) City Council, and been a featured speaker at the Tidewater Writers Conference and other writers workshops. He is listed in a number of reference works including Contemporary Authors, Whos Who In America,Men ofAchievement, and International Authors and Writers Whos Who. Today he lives on a small farm in north-central Ohio.

Many of Llewellyns authors have websites with additional information and resources. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.llewellyn.com.

BUCKLANDS
COMPLETE BOOK
OF WITCHCRAFT

RAYMOND
BUCKLAND

SECOND EDITION, REVISED & EXPANDED

2002
Llewellyn Publications
St. Paul,Minnesota 55164-0383 U.S.A.

Bucklands Complete Book of Witchcraft 1986 & 2002 by Raymond Buckland. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including Internet usage,without written permission from Llewellyn Publications except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
As the purchaser of this e-book, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. The text may not be otherwise reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or recorded on any other storage device in any form or by any means.
Any unauthorized usage of the text without express written permission of the publisher is a violation of the authors copyright and is illegal and punishable by law.

SECOND EDITION, REVISED & EXPANDED
Second printing, 2002

First edition, thirty-one printings
First e-book edition 2010
E-book ISBN: 9780738717722

Book design by Becky Zins and Kimberly Nightingale
Cover design by Lisa Novak
Editing by Kimberly Nightingal
Herbal safety review by Melissa Mierv
Interior illustrations 2002 Lauren Foster-MacLeod pages 14, 32, 34, 49, 50, 68, 69, 85, 113, 114, 162, 164, 166, 212, 213, 214,223, 225, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 270, 274, and 290
Interior illustrations Raymond Buckland pages 2, 23, 28, 33, 42, 43, 44, 45 (all runes pages 52, 53, 54, and 55), 82, 126, 146, 151, 159, 223 (illustrations 1 and 2) 227, 248, 250, 251, 252, 254, 258, 259, 260, 287, and all music scores in appendix C
Interior illustrations by the Llewellyn Art Department pages 35, 87, 226, and 256.

Illustration from the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck, known also as the Rider Tarot and the Waite Tarot, page 161, reproduced by permission of U.S. Games Systems, Inc. Further reproduction prohibited. The Rider-Waite Tarot Deck is a registered trademark of U.S. Games Systems, Inc. Photo of the Mesopotamian tablets, page 176, reproduced by permission of Mansell Collection/Timepix. Photographs of the athame, page 44, and the boleen, page 188, provided courtesy of Monte Plaisance, proprieter of the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft in New Orleans, Louisiana. All other photos courtesy of Raymond Buckland.