I own this book, there are parts of it I like, such as the Seax-Wiccan Psalm, which I think is beautiful. But the author who wrote the book concerns me deeply, and the inspiration behind the prayers cause me worries too. For those who do not know, the author was Wiccan, but has converted to Catholicism. That in and of itself doesn't bother me in the least. Our paths go where they go and sometimes that causes our faith to shift and change. However, what concerns me is that on his website, he says he's not Wiccan because Wiccans engage in homosexual orgies and animal sacrifices. This troubles me.

The three reasons it concerns me is, number one, if animal sacrifices were going on in his Coven (something we all know is very against Wiccan principles), what are the motivations behind these prayers? Were they created of a place where the faith included decidedly un-Wiccan ideals? If so, I know I do not want to be repeating prayers written by an author who was part of a questionable Coven that performed animal sacrifices and required ritualistic orgies.

The other option is number two, that he is exaggerating (or possibly flat out lying) about the practices of his Coven in order to fit with his new belief that Wiccans are sinners. If the situation is the latter, then again it concerns me that the author is deceitful and of questionable moral value and yet he is instructing us on how to properly attune to The Divine. As a Wiccan, we learn that it is imperative we work to improve ourselves before working to influence others, and if the second case is the situation, then he does not come from a place where he can be of help in attuning to The Divine.

My third issue is that this author speaks out against Wiccans and Pagans, yet he recently gave his publisher permission to publish and distribute his book in paperback. If he is against Wicca and Witchcraft and believes it is a sinful practice, why would he agree to allowing his written works on Wicca and Witchcraft to be republished? Obviously, he believes Wicca is sinful, but he is still willing to make money from it despite his personal convictions being what they are. Although I don't agree with him personally, I would have more respect for an author who does not distribute works against his base ideals and morality than I do one who continues to publish works about something he believes to be sinful.

The issues that concern me about this book are the purity of the subject matter and the inspiration behind it. I think some of the prayers are very beautiful and very heartfelt, but I do not want to participate in repeating a prayer that was not written out of sincerity, and I certainly do not want to repeat the Wiccan prayers of a person who may or may not have practiced ritualistic animal sacrifice, something that is against a core ideal of Wicca.

It is unfortunate too, because if you put all of this aside, I would have said that the book was a wonderful book for beginners, especially children, to practice using prayer to communicate with The Divine. I think this book would have also filled a void felt by many Christian Wiccans who sometimes feel detached from their old faith. Since this book is set up much like a Christian prayer book, it could have served very nicely for that group of Wiccans.

Unfortunately, I can't get past the motivations of the author and I worry for what the inspiration behind these prayers were. Despite the name "Wiccan Prayer Book," I think these prayers came from a decidedly un-Wiccan place. I would say that anybody interested in this book should seek out the Seax-Wiccan Psalm, and then collect prayers online, or create them yourself. If there's anything that this book shows us is that when you rely on the words of somebody else to practice your faith, goodness only knows where it came from and what the motivations for it were. At best the motivations behind this is pandering to a cause the author doesn't believe in simply to make money.

I'm sorry, but I cannot and do not recommend this book. The issue is not about if he is Christian or Wiccan, as there is nothing wrong about being Christian or Catholic. My issue is that he wrote the book from a perspective of falsehood or wrote it from a place that does not hold Wiccan ideals which means it's claim to be a Wiccan Prayer Book is false.

To read more about the author, visit his website: http://www.geocities.com/mark71565/mark.html

To read of the damage he's doing, see this:
http://www.petitiononline.com/q845102/petition.html

This book was Christian prayers with God and Jesus replaced with the word Goddess. This book is despicable!