Llewellyn's Witches' 2005 Calendar

Rating:
Summary: A Yearly Tradition
Review: This is a wonderful calendar of knowledge, history, and folklore. Every year, the Llewellyn Witches' Calendar has new and interesting things.

You'll start off with learning about Janus, the ancient Roman god that January is named after. Then you learn about the pagan tradition of blessing doorways. Each monthly calendar is filled with quotes, phases of the moon, planetary motion, Wiccan holidays, and more. The artwork is consistently beautiful, especially the August drawing of the Japanese star shrine.

Beautiful and informative, this calendar is one you'll not quickly toss when the year is done, and makes a wonderful gift.

Rating:
Summary: Witchy Time Keeper
Review: This is an excellent calendar, in fact, the calendars of this series are of the highest caliber year after year. I make it a practice to always have one near my desk. This calendar helps witches keep track of the stages of the moon, esbats and sabbats as well as holidays important to us. The art is gorgeous and inspirational. The articles are an excellent bonus. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Wiccan Calendar from Llewellyn for 2005
Review: With each new year, I enjoy getting a copy of the newest Witches' Calendar from Llewellyn Publications. And, as if often the case, the 2005 calendar has even more information than the previous yearly calendars. Like its predecessors, the 2005 calendar lists all eight of the Wiccan/Pagan holidays (Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lammas, Mabon, Samhain and Yule) as well as all significant Christian holidays (including observed Orthodox holidays), Jewish holidays, Muslim holidays, U.S. holidays and Mexican holidays. Other listed holidays include Earth Day, International Astrology Day, Chinese New Year and the beginning & ending of Daylight Savings Time. It also lists all significant moon phases (new, waxing quarter, full and waning quarter), significant planetary movements between the twelve constellations of the zodiac (including whether the movement is retrograde) and the color of the day. Birthdays and decease dates for significant people in Pagan history are also listed, as well as other significant Pagan dates. A new feature in the 2005 calendar is a table in the back that lists the visible times for the five planets that can be seen without a telescope: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

As usual, each month is beautifully decorated with appropriate artwork and accompanied with interesting articles that are usually written by well-known Wiccan/Pagan authors. This year's monthly articles (and their authors) are as follows:
Jan.: "Winter" by Raven Grimassi.
Feb.: "Imbolc" by Gerina Dunwich.
Mar.: "Ostara" by Abby Willowroot.
Apr.: "Spring" by Ellen Dugan.
May.: "Beltane" by Elizabeth Barrette.
Jun.: "Litha" by Danny Pharr.
Jul.: "Summer" by Barbara Ardinger.
Aug.: "Lammas" by Lynne Sturtevant.
sep.: "Mabon" by Cerridwen Isis Shea.
Oct.: "Samhain" by Arthur Rowan.
Nov.: "Autumn" by James Kambos.
Dec.: "Yule" by Christopher Penczak (an interesting article focusing on the stress that so often accompanies this holiday season and methods for dealing with it).

Other insightful articles contained at the back of the calendar include:
* "Honoring Our Ancestors" by Yasmine Galenorn.
* "Elementals" by Deborrah Lipp.
* "Altars for Everyone" by Magenta Griffith.
* "The Body as Sacred Space" by Dianne Sylvan.
* "The Witch's First-Aid Kit" by K. D. Spitzer.
* "Countering Curses" by Janina Renée.
* "Solitary or Group Practice?" by Nina Lee Braden.
* "Yemaya, Ocean Lady" by Denise Dumars.

Overall, I rate "Llewellyn's Witches' Calendar 2005" with 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it.