REVIEW: The Signs and Symbols Sourcebook

[Queen of the Dead]

Hi! Sorry if I'm not writing enough/being detailed enough. This is my first review. And this book isn't strictly witchcraft, but it seems suspiciously Pagan-centric. Just to give a little background information, the author is Adele Nozedar, who belongs to The Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids.

REMINDER: This is my opinion.

Overall Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

Positive: It's very extensive with many symbols and signs as it promises, with little bias against other religions. Almost and maybe all the religions I know of are at least mentioned and elaborated upon. The documented meaning of each sign makes sense for the most part. I like the herbal/vegetation correspondences in the beginning and the simple symbols. Honestly I don't like that much about this book because the negatives ruined it for me.

Negative: There is inaccurate information (ex. "Hecate is the Queen of the Underworld" Called the Domovoi deities.) and in the deity section, only a few Slavic/Norse/Hindu/Egyptian deities are mentioned. The only mentioned Japanese deity is Amaterasu. Some very important Greek deities (yes, I'm biased on this one) are mentioned, but never expanded upon. Hades, Dionysus, Hestia, and Pan are among these. Roman names are used interchangeably, which is kind of annoying. The illustrations look like clip art and sometimes the same symbol is shown multiple times in different styles. Some symbols are not illustrated at all. Consistency is a major issue, and the language used is a bit... unprofessional. (ex. "The Capricorn sigil is an unusual squiggle" "sexy foodstuff")

Summary: Mostly helpful at the beginning, but inaccurate and inconsistent as it wears on. A bit silly. I wouldn't recommend it at all, but I also wouldn't say 'don't buy it.'

Thoughts?

[Xiao Rong]

One point on which I'm curious ... you say lodestone doesn't need to be electrically charged to be an important mineral? Aren't lodestones naturally magnetic? So it makes sense that it needs an electrical charge to be important ...

[Queen of the Dead]

What I mean is that you could hold it as a charm without an electric charge, which would then give it purpose. Or do lodestones naturally have an electric charge? Because if so, that was still an unneeded piece of information.

[Xiao Rong]

Yes, lodestones are naturally occurring magnets, although magnets will lose charge if it gets electrically shocked, heated up, or even dropped on the floor. Lodestones were historically considered magical, precisely because of its strange and poorly understood ability to attract certain metals ... So it makes sense to me that so long as lodestones are magnetic, they can be powerful magically/energetically, but if they lose all charge they just become a hunk of rock.

[Queen of the Dead]

Alright, sorry. I'll change it. If you spot any more inaccuracies, please tell me. c:

[Xiao Rong]

No problem, just curious. Thanks for the review; it's always helpful to have more resources in the book review section!