This 384-page almanac is chocked full of articles with daily info on moon phases and other needed info. I like the listing of the days instead of trying to cram all the info into a calendar form. The articles or chapters, are all well written and can be read within a half hour for most so it is easy to pick this book up, pick a spot within the book and just read. You don't need to start on page 1 and probably shouldn't! I'm now going to look for 2006 just to read all the articles.
This is my 13th volume in the Llewellyn's Magical Almanac series. So that's lucky, right?
Llewellyn's did something different this year. Instead of breaking the articles by season... they have broken them into the four elements. A radical but obvious way to organize magical information! My impressions:
Earth Magic:
Great articles include a look at Powerful Objects and Ritual Tools, Fulgurite: Crystalized Lightning (very interesting), Herbcraft, Labyrinths, and Kitchen Witchcraft.
Air Magic:
A Pagen look at subjects like Color Magic, Incants and Song, Living Together in Magic and how to act within groups, and a great article I really enjoyed was how to bring Air magic into your life without incense and smudgesticks (for us "non-smokers").
Fire Magic:
How to light up your magical life with Candles, Deity Magic, Children and Ritual, How to make your own Magic Wands and Staffs, Creating Sigils (signs of magic), and the Stars.
Water Magic:
Brewing up articles on Relationships and Emotions, Love Magic, Potions, Brews and Oils, Magical Baths, Being Spiritally Social, Empathy, Dealing with Loss, and Moon Lore.
I was really happily surprised by this approach of seperating articles by element. The Almanac Section naturally gives you day by day info on Holidays, Moon Phases, Color of the Day, Incense of the Day and many holiday recipes.
The Llewellyn's Magical Almanac has been a great reference for me for almost 15 years. I would advise anyone who is either novice or pro to keep these nifty almanacs and build your own magical encylopedia set!
