Author: Ed Fitch
Trade Paperback, 160 pages
Publisher: Llewellyn
Publication date: March 1989
ISBN: 0875422306
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The Crystal Well is one of the better known small Pagan magazines from the 1960s. It started as small mimeographed newsletter and grew into a good-sized magazine published on a quarterly schedule, a schedule it often managed to meet. Back in the sixties, Pagan books were few and very far between, so small press magazines like this one served to keep Pagans in touch with each other and allowed them to exchange ideas.
As you might expect from the newness of the Pagan movement in North America and the lack of Pagan books, rituals were one of the most popular features in Crystal Well. Magical Rites from the Crystal Well collects some of the best rituals from Crystal Well. There are seasonal rituals, pathworkings, magickal rituals, and rites of passage. Most of these are beautiful, poetic examples of what Pagan rituals can be.
This book certainly is not a must-have, especially given the ugly cover on the 1989 edition. (The cover of the 1984 edition was much nicer.) A few of the rituals have even appeared elsewhere; for example, in A Grimoire of Shadows. If you want to see examples of Pagan thought and ritual from the 1960s, however, this book is an excellent place to start.
Reviewed by Randall
Additional Books by Ed Fitch
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