No book is perfect, and there are several flaws to McCoy's work, but all and all, this is a fine book. The premise is the witch working with the faery, an excellent idea, and a valuable collection to any collector of books on witchcraft, wicca, and faerylore. The introduction is wonderful, and the source list is valuable. The book also includes a dictionary of some 200 plus faery creatures. If I have a complaint, it's that McCoy does not write enough on the German, French, and Bohemian experience, where faery creatures existed as surely as they existed in Ireland, Scotland, and England. McCoy's background is basically Celtic, as with many in the witchcraft community. Love the book, its premise, but I sure would have liked more on the French, Italian, and German folklore. A must for collectors.
Most of this book is well written, however, i do not think it is organized well enough. Half the book is on the dictionary of 230 faeries. I must say that everything BEFORE the dictionary. Most of the ways to contact the faeries are 'Contact unknown' or 'Contact not advised.' Edain mccoy is also not clear on how to contact the fae. She just says 'cast the circle and invoke them' Well edain, thats great but what do you do now? The lore of the faeries in the dictionary was good.
Her perspective of the fae is also different, she sees them mostly as dangerous creatures, but not all are like this, they are more wild and playful than actually dangerous. You won't be needing this book as much as you THINK you would. But it is still a good reference to keep on the shelf. I especially liked the part of how she taught to create an energy fae to help tasks. The meditation, just as Ted Andrews are too 'forcing' She should teach to let the fae take charge while in astral plane instead of force them to speak and smile. Although this book was better than Ted Andrews _Enchantment of the faerie realm_ i still give it a very low rating. It hasn't helped me that much, and i dont think it will be much of a help for you also. Try Sirona knight's _Faery Magick_ instead.
