Nocturnal Witchcraft is set up like the rest of Llewellyn's do it yourself, become a witch, books. Instead of being YAFBP book this one is geared more towards those that have strayed from the light. It talks about drawing power from the night and his own particular ideas about how to maintain the overall feel of traditional witchcraft/wicca. A foundation of basic wiccan principles is helpful.
Gothic Grimoire is the companion volume and is set up as a BOS with additional information about nocturnal pathworking. It is difficult to use without prior knowledge of either Nocturnal Witchcraft, or real time personal experience of several years of multi-path, in the trenches, work.
Niether book is for beginners. Niether book contains much in the way of the basics beginners need and in fact the Grimoire would leave the typical beginner totally lost. These are books I recommend to people that have completed study with the following books:
The Witches' Bible, Janet and Stewart Farrar
~or~
Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft, Raymond Buckland
~and~
To Ride a Silver Broomstick, Silver RavenWolf
~or~
Wicca: A Guide for the Soliary Practitioner, Scott Cunningham
~and~
Living Wicca, Scott Cunningham
~and~
Witchcraft for Tommorow, Doreen Valiente
Any of those sets of books, if approached studiously, would provide enough of a foundation to take full advantage of the contents of Nocturnal Witchcraft. Obviously it is a very abbreviated list, and there are possible substitutions, I merely post them as a suggestion.
