Rating: 
Summary: Surprising
Review: Although this could be listed as just another "Wicca 101" book, I found it surpringly refreshing. As a solitary longing for community, I enjoyed the personal accounts and interviews with others. If you're looking for spells you won't find them in here. Instead the spell fluff you'll find exercises (some basic and others preparing you for the journey) to enhance your experience of the God and the Goddess. This book is marketed towards "younger" (college or just out of high school) but I feel that it could be of worth to anyone looking at Wicca as their path.
Rating:
Summary: Surprising
Review: Although this could be listed as just another "Wicca 101" book, I found it surpringly refreshing. As a solitary longing for community, I enjoyed the personal accounts and interviews with others. If you're looking for spells you won't find them in here. Instead the spell fluff you'll find exercises (some basic and others preparing you for the journey) to enhance your experience of the God and the Goddess. This book is marketed towards "younger" (college or just out of high school) but I feel that it could be of worth to anyone looking at Wicca as their path.
Rating:
Summary: First book I read on the subject, and I don't regret it
Review: Great book, overall. Not too fluffy for young adults, not too heavy for teens. Simultaniously hopeful and down-to-earth. Deals not only with the basics of the craft, but also inportant issues, like ethics, and dealing with family. Presents a guide to spells and rituals, and shows you how to design them yourself. Jennefer hunter sounds like someone I could sit down and talk to over coffee...she doesn't talk down to you. Highly recommended.
*then go read starhawk, of course*
Rating: 
Summary: Great beginner's book!
Review: I went to college with Jen, so I must admit to some bias. But I think she really did a wonderful job with this book. What I think makes this book special is that it is really not a book on how to do things but a book about actually having done them. In other words, you can find hundreds of books giving instructions on how to cast a circle, summon quarters, cast spells, etc... But most don't get in to the reasons for doing these things and the circumstances around them. How to deal with the secrecy if you are surrounded by people who don't understand or approve. How it feels to be in certain situations and how do you deal with them.And Jen's style of writing is interesting and entertaining as much as informative. She makes you think, but does not bore you. In reading this book I was reminded of how genuine Jen is. She does not put on a persona here (no Mama Silver, or Lady Fluff Bunny of the Sacred Order of the Crescent Moon who you shall obeyed). No, this is just Jen talking about something that she knows well and cares about very deeply. Reading this book reminded me very much of conversations we had in college. And of course some of the incidents she relates are, for me, very nostalgic. And they are all real, that I can attest to. (The night the Jehovah's Witnesses came knocking at the door on Samhain as we were setting up for the ritual was a lot funnier than Jen let on in the book). I would not hesitate to recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I've been a practising Witch for over 5 years now, and I've hada number of new Wiccans whom I've met over the Internet ask me tosuggest books - this is the first one that I suggest! This is NOT a how-to book. What this book provides is a starting point. It makes you question what you believe, and how strongly you believe it. It says "this is your potential - now find a way to get there". This book is wonderful to read, and written with intelligence. I read it after 4 years of practise, and it gave me insights into the Craft that I haven't gotten elsewhere. Scott Cunningham is still one of my favourites, especially for beginners, but Jennifer Hunter's 21st Century Wicca is so much better to start out with. It's a breath of fresh air, and nowhere in the book does she say "this is the way that you do such-and-such". She guides you into finding a way to do ritual, meditation, and worship in a way that suits you best... There are no preset rituals in the book, which I understand is a turnoff for a lot of new Wiccans, but the problem I found with printed rituals is that I had a hard time, in the beginning, composing my own rituals, because I never really learned to do it myself... Now, that's not so hard.
Rating: 
Summary: Avoid niche books!
Review: If you are looking for good introductory or practical practice, skip this work. If you want to read a sometimes interesting story about one person's journey, this is not bad. I just don't see it as a "must-have."
Rating:
Summary: Superb! A MUST-HAVE addition to your Wiccan library
Review: More so than any book on the Craft since Starhawk's _The_Spiral_Dance_, Jennifer Hunter has eloquently expressed the joy, love, and inspiration that come with finding the Goddess. Skip all those books of pre-written spells and rituals; Jennifer helps you understand the true *spirit* of Wicca deep in your heart. I happened upon _21st_Century_Wicca_ last monrh while searching for a different book, but bought it based on existing reader reviews. Ten minutes' reading convinced me I had a real find! I was already designing my self-dedication ritual, but improved it dramatically based on Jennifer's writing. She helped me *feel* Wicca on an intuitive level and thus take my dedication from ho-hum to wonderful, from an act merely of rote to an act of true love. Jennifer writes with an appealingly informal and very personal style. I felt as if she were there with me while I read: nurturing and guiding me, sharing of herself with me, loving me. The approach of naming some of the people she interviewed, and sprinkling their quotes throughout the text, works especially well. Writing this book was clearly an act of magic and of love; I felt the presence of the Goddess in Jennifer's work.
Rating:
Summary: Better to know the 'whys' then the 'hows'
Review: So many Wiccan books today show you 'How" to do things, cast circles, how to hold a ritual, how to call a corner. In this book, Ms. Hunter has given us the 'whys'. Why do we call the corners? Why do we cast cirlces? Not only does she giver her thoughts and feelings, but other people who have been involved in Wicca too. She also gives little exercises throughout the book that are fun and easy to do. I think another thing left out in most books today is the situation of "comming out of the brrom closet", or telling those you love you are Wiccan. While that subject is still met with some prejudice in todays society, Ms. Hunter offers past accounts as well as suggestions on how to approach it. Very wonderful. I suggest this book to anyone who asks me on recommnended books for a beginer and will continue to do so.
Rating:
Summary: Highly Informational
Review: This is a really good book. I am very suprised at how good of a writer Jennifer Hunter is. When I first ordered this book, I was just going by it's title and when I got it, I was dissapointed because it looked like another stupid beginner's book with the same old information as every other one. It got put to the side and then I packed up my room because we were redoing it. 6 months later I unpacked it and have been reading it and I am astonished at how good it is and mad at myself for not giving it a chance. I especially like the chapters on Magic and Everyday Magic (living as a Witch.) The book is divided into three parts, Maiden, Mother and Crone. Chapters include: Energy Work, Diety, Magic, Sabbats, Ritual, Magical Tools and Altars, Initiation, The Other Side, Commmunity, Relationships, Teenage Trip and College Life and more. There are quotes from real witches scattered throughout the book and she provides exercises too. The exercises are fun! I most definitely recommend this book to beginners but even if you aren't a beginner, this book is very informational. As the preface says:
"I wrote this book because I felt that most of the books on Wicca were giving us too much of what we didn't need: flowery rituals, tables of correspondances, complicated spells -- and yet, virtually no information about the reasons behind all that." How true! Hunter does a superb job of fulfilling her goal.
Rating:
Summary: Nice Book for Beginners
Review: Well written, and nicely put together. A good book for beginners. I particularly enjoyed the interviews with other pagans and the way their thoughts and experiences were woven into the book. I think this would be a good book not only for beginners, but also for anyone who is simply interested in educating themselves about what the craft is about. Well done!
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