Scott Cunningham's Book

it has come to my intention that my local bookstore has a section for books of spells, wicca, witchcraft, etc. among those i spotted Scott Cunninghams Book of Shawdows And i was if this was a good investment also if there ar eany other books or authors i should look for

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well Scott Cunningham is a reputable pagan author so any book of his is worth a read in my opinion. I own his Book of Shadows, quite liked it, but it was published after his death when someone found an unfinished manuscript. [which is cool because there are some handwritten notes scanned into the book] as one of your first books i would pick something else, but as a Cunningham fan or someone in their first years that hasn't really found a field of interest i'd recommend it. i can't remember if it was this one or his other unfinished script 'Magical Sampler' but anyone who has read previous books of his might get a sense of deja vu since it's unfinished so they do use a lot of quotes [practically copy paste] from his other books. if you just want a spell book that gives a brief explanation of various types of spell craft, i would go with Earth Magic myself.

Nekoshema is right, Cunningham is a big authors. He is also one of the authors that pretty much every Wiccan tradition will have on their pre-initiation reading list. My tradition has, Living Wicca, Wicca in the Kitchen, and Wicca: A guide for the solitary practitioner, on ours as they are great introductory books.

If you're looking for really awesome magickal references, I would also suggest Drawing down the moon by Margot Adler, Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft, Aradia: Gospel of the Witches, A Witch's Bible (By the Farrars), and The Spiral Dance by Starhawk (I'd suggest getting a newer addition as it is quite a bit different).

Best of luck in your book search!

Scott Cunningham isn't a bad author and for a long while his books were all we had to go on to practice Wicca if we weren't training in a coven. However, there are now better books out there. I'd suggest:

"Wicca" by Thea Sabin

"Wicca: A Year and a Day" by Timothy Roderick

"The Elements of Ritual" by Deborah Lipp

"The Witch's Bible" by Janet and Stewart Farrar

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