I quite fancied both of them. I had done a post on air magick previously, even though I'd never really personally worked with air magick too much, I really just thought of various items and practices that rely on the use of air, and thought, wouldn't it be neat to work this into a practice?
Each chapter in both books focuses on one of the elements, with DJ including Spirit, which I also found helpful. Tammy's setup is as follows: each chapter gives an explanation on what kind of personality traits, interests, skills, and positive and negative attributes a Water Witch/Fire Witch etc might have. She then continues with elemental lore, including aspects of nature and creatures that align with each element (i.e. Crossroads for Earth, Birds/Bees/Butterflies for Air, etc.), including explanations and myths. The next section for the same element includes practical uses, using the element in different states of being (i.e. sea, snow, ice, rain, wells, etc for water), some useful items and recipes associated with the element, and finally, correspondences.
DJ structures her chapters slightly differently. She begins each elemental chapter detailing how the element relates to us, and a little bit of lore. She briefly touches on correspondences, and then transitions right into a detailed list of elementals, spiritual beings and mystical creatures associated with the element. The final part of each chapter consists of a guided meditation (that you can record onto a CD if you wish) and spell recipes.
If I had to compare the two, I have to say, I really truly enjoyed Tammy's book. DJ's was good, and I liked all the detailed exploration of a wide range of different elemental beings, but I felt like Tammy's writing offered more varied information, instead of just focusing on beings and spells. Tammy gave more imagery that gives you an aesthetic sense of the element, while still touching on a practical side. I really enjoyed her writing and insight.
For future reading, Sullivan's Pagan Anger Magick: Positive Transformations from Negative Energies looks particularly interesting. Not many Pagans would want to come close to exploring that area, since anger is so unpredictable.
There are most certainly some books by DJ Conway that I very much want to read. I've read By Oak and Ash and Thorn, and Celtic Magick. I'd like to read Moon Magick, Norse Magick, Magickal Mermaids and Water Creatures, the Ancient Art of Faery Magick, A Witch's Travel Guide to Astral Realms, and a whole bunch of others.
Anyway. READ THESE BOOKS! They're awesome. (I actually paused writing this and started reading a Witch's Travel Guide to Astral Realms already on Google Books! It's neat. Read it.)
<3 Sapphire Orchid <3
