Craft of the Untamed

I received my copy of Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold's new book "Craft of the Untamed" today. This isn't a formal review, as I have not had time to do more than skim through it so far, but I would like to make an early register of my excitement and approval. In clear and unpretentious language Nicholaj discusses a series of topics central to Traditional Witchcraft and manages to provide much illumination. The book has a foreword by Shani Oates and several chapters have sample workings that should be useful to practitioners, possibly even be inspiring. The author conveys the sense of both dark and light in the Craft without any exagerrated diabolism, but also without shirking the discussion of the darker and wilder side of our art. It is handsomely produced and I have only two complaints. Firstly, some of the illustrations by Audrey Melo have been badly scanned and the pixels can be clearly seen, in one occasion, rather more visible than the actual drawing. This is a great shame as the drawings are rather good and stand up well with other works, including Hans Baldung Grien. My other grumble is that the book is quite short - I'd have liked more of it as it is obviously a superior work and maybe even one that helps set the standard. I don't mean that I feel short-changed, just that I feel greedy for more! Craft of the Untamed can be ordered here: http://www.mandrake.uk.net/ndmf.htm I don't think anybody buying it will be disappointed and with at least two more important books recently published Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold has become something of a force to be reckoned with. I may write more on this once I have actually read it properly! Stuart