Most embarrassing book purchase

[OwlSerpent]

We need these awful books, they're good to compare against haha like a control group.

[Bamfiz]

The very first witchcraft book I bought with my own money when I was around 13 was a used copy of Solitary Witch: The Ultimate Book of Shadows for the New Generation by Silver RavenWolf. As a 13 year old I did not bother trying to look up reviews, even though I should have at least done that much, but simply got the largest thickest book on witchcraft I could find because I wanted the bang for my buck. Also as a youngin' I was under the terribly naive impression that if it's printed it can't possibly be wrong, my teacher fact checks my essays so I would assume a publisher would do so as well. I remember pulling literally an all nighter reading and hanging on every word using a flashlight. Even more embarrassing was when I finished reading nonstop for the many hours it took to finish I did one of the spells for acne in the book. 

 

I stopped looking into witchcraft for a bit shoved it to the back of my closet and a few years later got back into it, pulled it out started reading it again but this time as I was reading I was a lot more critical and didn't get far until I thought to myself, "This is shit." and tossed it in the trash. Give it SEVERAL years later I had since moved out of my parents house and was on my own for college. I came back to my parents house to visit and figured I would grab some more things from my old room to take back with me and I open my closet door and there it is. Very confused by this I ask my mom and she said she saw it in the trash awhile back so put it in my room again. Apparently I just didn't notice at all and am not as apt as I thought I was with the location of things in my own living space. I threw it away again and my parents moved so I assume it's gone for good but dang it took a lot longer than it should have to lose ownership of that book.

 

Even now this has been the only time I've mentioned it to anyone that I had it much less actually tried using it. But hey we all start somewhere, live and let learn.

[Sagefire]

Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner - Scott Cunningham........................... One of the first books I bought. But I guess I really wasn't meant to have the book, it got lost after a month of so. Never really missed it. I guess I could pretty much put any book on wicca I have here, I always blush and get embarrassed when someone finds one of mine and asks about it.. I think I have Kate Wests - Real Witche's Handbook too, but looking back I have no idea why she called it that. The whole book is about wicca.. I think the Finnish title actually translates to "The Wiccan Handbook" instead of a witches.

I bought that piece of crap as well.  Lots of cutesy fluff, no substance.

[Kathen]

I’ve recently been subjecting myself to a string of embarrassing book purchases. Not because they are bad or embarrass me based upon content, but because I have to figure out how to hide them now.

 

I’ve always been very frugal. I’ve always done what was best for the family....but I’ve recently purchased something like $650 worth of books...somewhat impulsively.

 

Let this be a testament to context. You’re embarrassed by your choice of content...but I may literally DIE when my wife finds out. At least a Silver Ravenwolf paperback won’t get you stabbed by an angry Virgo in her third trimester.

 

Remember me fondly when I’m gone.

[Sagefire]

It's so difficult to buy books on line because I can't examine them the way I would like, and chain bookstores rarely carry much that I want, or I already have what they do.  Where I am there are 'real' witchcraft shops.

[FancyShadowCat]

We need these awful books, they're good to compare against haha like a control group.

As someone new, I have half valued a book by robin artisson specifically for showing me what I did not agree with. I have lleywellen book on the four elements and I also don’t much care for that one, but it did help lead me to an understanding of the elements as forces much more primal and intuitive than what that book would illustrate.

The embarrassing books are honestly helpful. Though it’s a tad annoying that I could’ve spent that money on a good book.

[Sagefire]

I fell into the Llewellyn trap years ago when I was a teen studying Wicca.  In many ways I am thankful because it was Wicca the ultimately brought me to where I am now.  I often describe those books as 'Gateway Magick'.  It makes you hungry for more.

[Onyx]

Gateway Magick, yes I agree, we all start somewhere.

[WitchVillage]

I have read, and continue to read, all kinds of fluffy stuff. Most recently DJ Conway's Elemental Magick. I found it to be really, really poor. Yet I read this kind of thing because sometimes there's something in there that clicks, and which I find of use. Plus they're really easy reads, I can pile through something like that in a couple of sittings.

[3rdxacharm]

Ah yes, Bucklands big blue book. I was about 18 and so excited to have SOMETHING. It gave me the courage (ignorance) to create and actually perform a few spells. One such spell I have no doubt manifested 25 years later in the crap-storm that was my last marriage!!  Young and dumb caught up with me!   

 

I remember even then having an aversion to all the "dog and pony show" requirements, but I also believe it gave me something to grow on.  

[Selaara]

I had both of these. I can't even say I'm embarrassed though. The only books I'm really embarrassed that I read were the Twilight books. (It was a rough summer, ok? I was living at my mom's and I needed something - anything - to distract me from the badness of my life, and the badness of those books did the trick.) All the wicca books I bought and read were just layers of information. I kept what worked for me and let go of the rest so I could search for more.

Wow. SB, my post could literally be your word for word. I two have both of those books and read the entire Twilight series in a single weekend just to shut up a classmate of mine in college. She was obsessed with them and never stopped talking about it. So I got them on thur and read all four over the weekend. (I am a fast reader lol) when I told her I didn't really care for it(me being polite, since I absolutely hated it. Lol) she didn't believe I could possibly gave read them that fast. I gave her a point by point rundown of why I didn't like it and she never talked to me about it again. It was totally worth it to be able to break it down for her, she never mentioned it again for the rest of the semester. I had a couple others thank me as they were sick of hearing it as well. Lol.

 

I recently found the SRW book when I was moving a bookshelf. I laughed because I had forgotten I even had it still. It never resonated with me.

[NorwegianWitch]

No titles, but back in the late 80s and early 90s when witchcraft was becoming more popular and mainstream I ended up buying a few books that were downright idiotic.  Many wanted to take advantage of the trend and so they did. I recall that a few Wicca books ended up in flames, only thing they were worth to me.