5 Worst Witch Books Ever (Possibly)

No. 5: Celtic Magic by DJ Conway

Despite it’s awfulness, there will always be a soft spot in my heart for DJ Conway’s Celtic Magic. It was my first Witch-book as an adult, and I’m here today because of it. I found so much of it captivating as a young person, but time has not been kind to this piece of fluff from 1990.

Celtic Magic does contain the names of some real Celtic deities, but the book only nominally deals with actual Celtic culture and beliefs. It’s really just a Wicca 101 book with a few nods to Celtic deities thrown in for fun. Some of her deity information is accurate, and some of it is simply wishful thinking. I wish Cernunnos had been worshipped everywhere in the Celtic world, but his name only appears once in the historical record and most of his iconography is limited to Gaul.

And oh the history in this book! Conway has some lovely information about Druids in Celtic Magic, it’s just not accurate information. The Wicca 101 tone of the book means that Conway’s Celts celebrated holidays like the Spring Equinox, which we know they did not.

Despite this book’s general awfulness I still love it. Maybe it’s because I always wanted to date the young lady on the cover.