h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi MaW!

I just bought "Natural witchcraft" by Marion Green. ISTR that you thought she was a bona fide wiccan, not a generator of plastic coffee table books. Do I remember aright, or have I bought a trivial read destined for the bin?

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

Marion Green... oh yes, she's the author of 'A Witch Alone'. I've not read any of her work myself, but she generally comes well-recommended by people I largely trust the opinions of. I don't think you've bought a waste of space, but don't expect anything massively intellectual. She does appear to have a sound understanding of the basics though - and more importantly, would appear to be able to express that understanding in text.

I can't say anything more about her though, as I've not read any of her work so am only in a position to comment based on second-hand knowledge, which is not a good position to debate from. I suggest you try reading it and see what you think.

If you fancy something really intellectual, I can do nothing but recommend Ronald Hutton's excellent 'The Triumph of the Moon' which is a history of modern Pagan Witchcraft that does a wonderful job of disproving the 'old religion' myths. Not a guide to Paganism or Witchcraft or Wicca, but an examination of how they came about in their modern forms. Fascinating, at least to a geeky like me

As for books about Wicca or Witchcraft, I would recommend from my own experience the books of Scott Cunningham, Rae Beth, and Janet and Stewart Farrar. All have their shortcomings, but they are (or were) all experienced witches with well-thought-out views on the subject, even though all come from different angles - Cunningham as a solitary Wiccan, Beth as a hedge width and the Farrars as Alexandrian coven leaders.

Thanks, MaW. I bought the book by coincidence: it was in a bargain book shop which I happened to wander past.... I bought it to learn more of Wicca, and I didn't want to give credence to something that was not considered at least reasonable by practitioners such as yourself. As you well know, there's far too much disinformation around about paganism in general, and Wicca in particular.

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

True. One of the bits of disinformation is that I'm not a Wiccan... but then under my definitions, most of the people who write books about Wicca aren't Wiccans either - my view of Wicca is that it's a coven-based religion. It *is* possible to be a Wiccan outside a coven, but I would argue that this is most likely when someone trained inside a coven retires from it.

But many people would disagree with me. And that's fine, because it's not my path, and I don't know enough about it to claim to be definitive. I doubt there are more than a double handful of people who could. Everyone's got biases and old hatchets and other such things buried under their altar cloths.

Sorry, I thought a hedge-witch was a Wiccan.



I like the imagery. Surreptitious and a little bit sinister!

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

Well, 'skeletons in the cupboard' is so overused...