The Modern Witch's Guide to Happiness

by Luna Bailey

[Jo]

1.5 Stars.

I've been steering more towards a path focused on self-love and -care in my own practice, so I bought The Modern Witch's Guide to Happiness by Luna Bailey after seeing it a number of times on Instagram. With the subtitle of Self-Care Rituals, Mystic Guidance and Magick Spells to Harness Your Power, it seemed right up my street. Unfortunately, it was really disappointing.

The Modern Witch's Guide to Happiness is a very beautiful book; it's a gorgeous hardback, very eye-catching, and a quick flip through in a book shop would reveal beautiful photographs alongside text formatted in a way that looks similar to a magazine. It's really no wonder people would pick it up. But when it comes down to reading it, it leaves very much to be desired. There's very little substance to it.

Firstly, this book has nothing to do with self-care or happiness. It would be better titled The Modern Guide to Witchcraft, but that title's taken. It's a witchcraft 101 book, going over the basics of the usual; crystals, tarot, lunar magic, altars, astrology, nature, and so on. So it's misleading, really. Absolutely nothing like the kind of book I was expecting. Secondly, as a witchcraft 101 book, it's really surface level. While it covers a number of different aspects of witchcraft, it barely scratches the surface of any. It would probably look great to someone who knows very little about witchcraft and wants to learn, but there are so many better books that go into much more depth - without being overwhelming, if that's what the beginner witch fears. And the misinformation, or lack of enough information, is staggering. For examples, one of the methods Bailey suggests for cleansing crystals is water. That's it. No mention of how water is damaging to some crystals, and you should look that up beforehand. Just put all your crystals in water. And that's just one example. It's not wrong, but it's not correct either. It's failing it's readers.

I do have to give it some credit, though. For me, Astrology is quite complicated, and I really struggle to get my head around it. But The Modern Witch's Guide to Happiness is the first book I've read that explains the basics of astrology in a way that I'm able to get a handle on. Maybe that's because it only scratches the surface, but I understand the Houses more now, and what signs and planets in those houses mean. So things finally clicked for me there, and I feel I've got a better grasp on the subject to delve in again to other books.

But I'm not sure that redeems the book. I don't think it's good enough when your consider how very basic it is, and how you're getting very little information for the money you spent on it. Sure, it'll look beautiful on a bookcase, or on a coffee table, and it's gorgeous pages make it a wonderful prop for aesthetic Instagram photos. But as a book imparting solid information, it fails miserably.