Crone's Book of Magical Words
Valerie Worth
ISBN 1-56718-825-7
1971
Llewellyn Publications
$7.95
Valerie Worth was a writer of children
s poetry and fiction. She received the Poetry Award for Excellence
in Poetry for Children. She also enjoyed astronomy, meditation and
gardening. In 1994 she passed on to the other world.
“Words that Run
Before my pace
And carry me
Beyond this place,
Please the eyes
That greet thee next,
And work my will
Within thy text.” (pg. 59 'For the
Efficacy of an Important Letter”
Imagine yourself wrapped in a cozy
blanket, warm in front of a fire, warm cup of tea and outside the
leaves are turning twelve shades of red. The perfect time to sink
into the Crone's Book of Magical Words.
The poems weave spells that stir the
old magic inside the reader. Spells, recipes and incantations dance
upon the tongue in the most pleasurable of ways.
However, as her husband George Bahlke
notes, some of the charms are not meant to be practiced, only read.
For example, “ To Afflict Another's Garden,”. He claims she
would be distressed to think that these words would bring harm to
another.
The author believed that words had
'emotional control' over the shaping of reality. Spells or poems or
to assist with aspects of life that as she puts are 'too simple and
too complex'(preface X1) for another type of approach.
Her words are timeless. They capture a
rustic simplicity. The reader can easily imagine our predecessors
using the same words to affect change in their lives. The purpose of
the spells as simple as addressing day to day needs or more complex.
A reader of any level would find the charm in her words. Although I
do imagine that it would take someone on an intermediate level to
turn them into ritual.
This book is not a hard read and I
finished it in about an hour, but it is the type of book that draws
you back. Depending on your personal belief system some may or may
not want to incorporate the poetry into ritual. However I believe
this work can be enjoyed for the poetry alone. While it doesn't
incorporate history, the reader gets an idea for how magic may have
been used by our ancestors. For entertainment purposes this would
make a great Samhain gift. While it may not be a top shelf read, it
definitely deserves to be among my selections I would want my kids to
choose from, in. In fact it is something my thirteen year old would
definitely enjoy reading now.
Many of the authors works would be
categorized as Children s and young adult. These include:
All the Small Poems and Fourteen more
Animal Poems
At Christmastime
Curlicues, the fortunes of two pug dogs
Fox Hill
Gypsy Gold
Imp and Biscuit
More Small Poems
Peacock and other poems
Practicing Translation in Renaissance
France
Small Poems
Still More Small Poems
Gypsy Gold
However her other Pagan themed books
can be found included in the following list:
Her obitiuary was listed with the New
York times:
Happy Reading,
Nicole AKA BookShelf
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