The studious witch

Proverbially for us the teacher comes along when we are ready. Whether this be a person, a website or a book, witches are people who drink in their learning. Hopefully thoughtfully & critically!
I had a rather odd choice of books to start with: the first was Laurie Cabot's Power of the Witch. I still can't use her 'counting down to alpha' thing, which is also taught by Christopher Penczak. I then went straight on to Marian Green, but developed most of my own witchcraft from the wonderful Phyllis Curott.
Nowadays I don't tend to read much about witchcraft. People always decry the lack of advanced books, but in a sense they are impossible things, because once you take off you water wings as a witch, you go on on your own. I'm finding I'm reading the sources of witchcraft; the magical tradition, folklore, etc. I would stress the importance of not being too snobby about certain authors: I have even heard it said that the definition of a fluffbunny is that you believe everything in a book with a crescent moon on the spine! I do quite like Silver Ravenwolf, the most fluffy-bashed author, if she'd just tone down the relentless positivity.
What should be avoided is historical claims with no evidence to support them. It should be perfectly respectable in the magical community to say, 'I made this up & look what happened...', but we are not quick enough to question people who unthinkingly or mendaciously repeat rubbish.
The pictures are of Birmingham's previous and present Central Libraries. The next one is being built as we speak. The present one is 1970s ziggurat architecture, still with orange carpets & little natural light. Hopefully the colour pictures show how it swears at every other building surrounding it. There was a campaign to list it, which fortunately failed. The new one is...odd. What's the betting there'll be another new one in 30 years?
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