Circle, Coven, & Grove: A Year of Magical Practice

by Deborah Blake, Patti Wigington (Foreword)

Green, Celtic, Alexandrian, Eclectic . . . every circle, coven, and grove of Witches is as unique as the magick they practice. No matter what kind of Witch you are, High Priestess Deborah Blake's guide to group practice has something for you.

An instruction manual, workbook, and Book of Shadows all rolled into one, Circle, Coven & Grove is an ideal tool for busy Witches, new groups, new leaders, groups sharing leadership, and Wiccans seeking inspiration for crafting rituals. Blake provides original-yet easy to modify-group rituals for New Moons, Full Moons, and Sabbats for a full Wheel of the Year. There are seasonal spells, blessings, and rituals for celebrating holidays, increasing energy, giving thanks, healing, and more. Blake also discusses circle etiquette and the dos and don'ts of establishing a group or becoming a group leader.

Genres: Paganism, Wicca, Nonfiction, Witchcraft, Spirituality, Witches, Religion

220 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2007

About the author

Deborah is the author of over a dozen non-fiction books on modern witchcraft and a tarot and oracle decks from Llewellyn. Her fiction includes the Baba Yaga series, The Broken Rider series, and the Veiled Magic series, and her cozy mysteries The Catskill Pet Rescue series (mostly from Berkley) as well as a few stand-alone novels.

Deborah lives in a 130 year old farmhouse in upstate NY with multiple cats. She believes in magic, laughter, chocolate, and wine. The order may change depending on the day.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh, it's so tempting to give this book only one star. But I don't find it dismally completely bad. It was coherent sentence structure and proper grammar, and it's organized into months and holidays properly, whcih may be the only three things keeping it from that.

I picked this book up because I own and expand yearly on my collection of books which talk about the sabbats. And this one is broken down by months, with a ritual and a spell or activity in each. This book is about how to run a circle two to three times a month, for holidays and new and full moons, but it's only truly helpful in my opinion if you live where there is absolutley no pagan community to draw on anywhere (including the internet).

I started skimming somewhere around page eighty or ninty and never stopped. I'm amazing at how brazenly the author very much has things written in her preamble that anything that feels right (an' harms none) is perfectly acceptable, but then words the rest of her book for doing things only this specific way.

I'll definitely be adding this one up to my bookswap.

[Bunnie Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not a Wiccan, but I’m using this book as a source of inspiration for rituals and spells and it is very useful. Very inspiring 4.75 stars

[Lilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deborah Blake does a remarkable job of helping out budding covens with her new book Circle, Coven & Grove: A Year of Magickal Practice. Within this book, she gives us the Wiccan basics, group practice essentials, circle etiquette, ritual elements, correspondences for spellwork, and not to mention a full year’s worth of esbat and sabbat rituals!

The fantastic appendices are full of brilliant information on New & Full Moon dates through 2009, study group topics, suggested further reading, index of runes, index of magickal work and a superb glossary.

This is a great buy if you are just starting out in a coven (circle or grove) or any type of eclectic pagan study group. Thoroughly enjoyable! This book will make the trial and error period so much easier.

[Stupid Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little bit of useful advice for people who are starting a circle, but mostly this is just the author's story of how her grove came together. Not super useful. Not super boring if you see it for a decent price. The rest of the book felt like generalized filler for yearly practice. I'm not likely to keep delving into Deborah Blake books because her work so far that I've read has been way too "beginner" oriented for my level of practice. I think she's not bad for people who are new to witchcraft tho.

[Royal Montgomery · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book even though I don't have a coven or a grove. It does have a lot of good ritual ideas and I really liked the concepts of casting the circle hand to hand or heart to heart - I would definitely do that in the future with a group to also include a chant of "we cast the circle hand to hand" because I think that would be really powerful. The silent ritual was also really compelling as was the triune Goddess ritual for Samhain. My caveat for this book was I felt it was very heavy-handed on the Rede and the "Threefold Law" to the point of becoming preachy.

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another working book. Written for a group situation, but easily tweaked for the individual. Breaks down into a month-by-month, focusing on the full moons and main Sabbats/Esbats.

[Claudia Loureiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is filled with nice information about different rituals that can be done throughout the year. It is useful for those starting out. As the author stated, this is not the definitive work and these rituals can be adjusted to what feels right for you or your group. I am pleased I picked this book up and it has inspired me to do more.

Some of the rituals in the book are based upon others that may or may not have occurred, as such, it would be good to read what is suggested for the month and adapt to what is actually happening in the month.

[Destiny Bridwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. I love that this book was designed for groups but still able to be used by solitary witches as well. I do enjoy like that the books is broke up in to chapter for each month of the year. If you get the book you can start at the month you get it or receive it. I found each chapter helpful in its own way.

[Patricia Morgunn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wicca basics

I was hoping this would have more in depth information on each months associations. If your just starting out Wicca is a good place to start. Too similar to the other boards of Wiccan. sources out their. Not for the advanced practitioner.

[JadersCorner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arc netgalley review

This book hold its own, the author knew their information and delivered it with quality. I’ve read this author before and have never found her book to be always packed full of knowledge. I highly recommend this author and this book.

New revised edition ****

[Rachel “Koala” Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

This book provides a good comprehensive overview and would definitely help a beginner of Wicca. There are some great correspondence lists as well as rituals and chants.

[Sophia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t even bother moving past the first chapter. Way too basic for me.

[Nora Peevy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Circle, Coven, and Grove by Deborah Blake is the first coven witchcraft book I have read. Her book is written in a conversational and entertaining style, which makes learning fun. And surprisingly, all of the rituals and work included in each chapter are easily adapted to solitary witches' needs as well. The book follows a year of rituals, discusses circle etiquette, how to set up a group of your own, and also includes a very comprehensive suggested reading list worth checking out. This book is recommended for any witch or those looking for a good research book on the subject of witchcraft.

[Hannah Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish this title said beginner or starting out somewhere. This book covers a broad range of topics with great information if you are someone new to practicing witch craft so for that i will give it 5 stars because I do believe that it who this book is targeted for. If i was a beginner just starting out I think I would have found this book helpful in clearing up a lot of confusions and plan to recommend it to people who as for book recommendations on these subjects.

[Christine Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book!! great spells and ideas for a group or just one. Can be read just as a great read or as I use it, I monthly workbook , reading and completing each month along with the book. Great ideas, easy and fun spells. No witches collections should be complete without this book.

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Deborah Blake's books and I always learn something new even if they are targeting the beginners. There's a lot to learn and it's a good reference.
An excellent and informative book
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book consisted of intros for each month, and full-regalia rituals for New and Full moons.

[Stupid Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

Barely any content that actually teaches what the book claims to teach.
Useless unless you know nothing of modern pagan groups or witchcraft.