Magickal Weddings Pagan Handfasting Traditions for Your Sacred Union

I was a little weary when this came into review because there are so many books out there like Wicca for Dummies that I was afraid this book would be like that.

Boy was I surprised. This book is very informative. It walks you through everything without being condescending. First you go through a brief history of handfasting and the legalities of it. Then you are given help in choosing your date. There are many ways to choose it, there is astrology, a solar wheel, a break down of the days of the week, the dates for the new moon and full moon through 2009, and a way to choose the time.

But the beauty of this book is even though it is about handfasting it doesn’t leave you in the dark for everything else. There is a chapter about planning and it hits on the topics every bride has to deal with; colors, attire, contracts (and provides you with a sample), budgets, invitations (provides you with several ideas), food, well you get the idea everything. You are then lead into a step by step walk through of the ceremony. In the ceremony there are several things that are used such as brooms and candles. In the next chapter you will be walked through how to pick the colors and the meaning behind each item. Later in the book you are provide with vows, as well as other chants. And believe it or not there are also recipes in here.

This book actually helped me out a little recently and will probably continue to over the next couple of weeks. I have a close friend that is getting married and is terribly stressed. She was having a hard time making some choices and has tons of magazines and books all over the place. Well I let her look through this book and it did indeed help her some. The way everything is in one place instead of in 4 different books really helped. Also how the colors, dates, incense smells, etc. are broke down into the meaning behind them helped her out. Instead of saying I can’t choose between this color or that she was able to look at the meaning and see if she wanted her wedding to represent friendship, honesty, harmony, etc. or a combination. I wouldn’t recommend this book to everyone, it really depends on your beliefs. But if you are looking for a non-traditional or unique wedding there are some good tips in here even if you do not want the actual handfasting ceremony.