As many publishers, authors, and publicists will tell you, I don’t crank out my book reviews that quickly. Stacks of books pile up while I slowly work my way through review copies and advance readers. There’s just a limit to how quick I can read and write, you know? One day, while scanning my heap of books to read I noticed two books of a similar theme: Sacred Smoke: Clear Away Negative Energies and Purify Body, Mind, and Spiritby Amy Blackthorn and Sacred Herb Bundles for Energy Cleansing: Your Guide to a Powerful Healing Practice to Purify, Bless, and Inspireby Kiera Fogg. I said to myself, self, why not read them both a write a review comparing them to each other? And here we are.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/sacred-smoke-225x300.jpg\")
Let’s start with some core basics. Sacred Smokeby Amy Blackthorn came out in October 2019, has 192 pages in black and white with pretty line drawings that retails for $14.95. Sacred Herb Bundles for Energy Cleansingby Kiera Fogg came out June 2019, has 128 glossy, full color pages that retails for $21.99.<\/p>\n
Who are the authors? Amy Blackthorn (who I interviewed<\/a> in 2018) comes from a background of herbalism, horticulture, and green witchcraft. She owns Blackthorn Hoodoo Blends, which sells teas inspired by traditional Hoodoo practices. Kiera Fogg’s background is in healing crystals and energy work. She owns Little Box of Rocks, a company that sells healing crystals.<\/p>\n So, which book wins? Neither. Or both. Despite their surface similarities, both authors created wonderful books that pull on their individual strengths. In a perfect world, if you had the money and interest, you would buy both. As it is, I would suggest Fogg’s Sacred Herb Bundles for Energy Cleansingfor those looking for more of a new age how-to, and Blackthorn’s Sacred Smokefor a more witchcraft oriented approach.<\/p>\n You can learn more about Sacred Smokehere<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can learn more about Sacred Herb Bundles for Energy Cleansinghere<\/a>.<\/p>\n Shop your local indie bookstore. You can buy Sacred Smoke here!<\/a> <--- This is an affiliate link to IndieBound, which supports independent bookstores throughout the United States. If you use this link to purchase the book, I will make a small commission at no additional cost to you.\n\nShop your local indie bookstore. You can buy Sacred Herb Bundles for Energy Cleansing here!<\/a> <--- This is an affiliate link to IndieBound, which supports independent bookstores throughout the United States. If you use this link to purchase the book, I will make a small commission at no additional cost to you.\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When life hands you TWO books about smoke cleansing, what’s a blogger to do? Make them duel!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/sacred-herb-258x300.jpg\")
Both books are well written. Both have some overlapping content. However, I feel the authors’ backgrounds are reflected in their books. Blackthorn’s book, Sacred Smoke, has more technical information that branches out in more directions. Specific ideas for utilizing smoke for witchcraft, self-care, magical practices, and spiritual practices. Fogg’s book, Sacred Herb Bundles for Energy Cleansing, has a much more generalized new age use vibe about it. Nothing wrong with that, heck, it’s pretty much how I roll. It also has to be mentioned that Fogg’s book has a very curated visual look to it. Her work is made for Instagram.<\/p>\n