I know I ask a lot of questions, but I can't figure out which book on Wicca would be the best to buy. I haven't bought any others, so this would be the first book in my collection. I'm a beginner, so does anyone have a beginner's Wicca book that they could recommend?

I hear about Scott Cunningam's books a lot, as well as Silver Ravenwolf, but then I hear really bad things about Ravenwolf, so I'm not sure which to buy, or if I should get a completely different one.

.. help? :)

My advice is to get a whole bunch of different books and see which ones speak to you. People do say bad things about Ravenwolf, and I hear all kinds of criticism about Starhawk's The Spiral Dance, but I think she makes some good points. It just goes to show you find fundamentalists, people who insist their way is the only way, in every religion.

Remember, if you find the Goddess anywhere you will find Her in your own heart. So no book, no other person, can trump that little guiding voice of the Lady inside you. Always listen to Her over what others say.

And also, the Goddess is Mother Earth, Mother Nature. The more time you spend outdoors the better. Learn from the ants and the spiders and the birds and animals and trees and stones and wind and water. Sleep outside without a tent (use bug spray, until you get good at the mosquito repellant spell) from time to time. Just sit and watch and listen. Watch the clouds and the stars. There is great wisdom in all these things, far more than any book made by human hands.

Blessings of the Lady of Life,

Alder

P.S. I'm serious about the mosquito spell. It isn't hard. You just ground and center, and draw up earth energy in a globe around you with the intention of letting mosquitos know they should look for food elsewhere.