Witching Culture

Witching Culture
Author: Sabina Magliocco
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2010-11-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0812202708

Taking the reader into the heart of one of the fastest-growing religious movements in North America, Sabina Magliocco reveals how the disciplines of anthropology and folklore were fundamental to the early development of Neo-Paganism and the revival of witchcraft. Magliocco examines the roots that this religious movement has in a Western spiritual tradition of mysticism disavowed by the Enlightenment. She explores, too, how modern Pagans and Witches are imaginatively reclaiming discarded practices and beliefs to create religions more in keeping with their personal experience of the world as sacred and filled with meaning. Neo-Pagan religions focus on experience, rather than belief, and many contemporary practitioners have had mystical experiences. They seek a context that normalizes them and creates in them new spiritual dimensions that involve change in ordinary consciousness. Magliocco analyzes magical practices and rituals of Neo-Paganism as art forms that reanimate the cosmos and stimulate the imagination of its practitioners. She discusses rituals that are put together using materials from a variety of cultural and historical sources, and examines the cultural politics surrounding the movement—how the Neo-Pagan movement creates identity by contrasting itself against the dominant culture and how it can be understood in the context of early twenty-first-century identity politics. Witching Culture is the first ethnography of this religious movement to focus specifically on the role of anthropology and folklore in its formation, on experiences that are central to its practice, and on what it reveals about identity and belief in twenty-first-century North America.

Neo-pagan Sacred Art and Altars

Neo-pagan Sacred Art and Altars
Author: Sabina Magliocco
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
Total Pages: 108
Release: 2001
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9781578063918

Mystic meanings behind the flourishing art of modern-day pagans and witches

Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft

Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft
Author: Raymond Buckland
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide
Total Pages: 344
Release: 1986
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 0875420508

"This complete self-study course in modern Wicca is a treasured classic - an essential and trusted guide that belongs in every witch's library."---Back cover

The Once and Future Witches

The Once and Future Witches
Author: Alix E. Harrow
Publisher: Redhook
Total Pages: 528
Release: 2020-10-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0316422037

"A gorgeous and thrilling paean to the ferocious power of women. The characters live, bleed, and roar. "―Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by NPR Books • Barnes and Noble • BookPage In the late 1800s, three sisters use witchcraft to change the course of history in this powerful novel of magic, family, and the suffragette movement. In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box. But when the Eastwood sisters―James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna―join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote―and perhaps not even to live―the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive. There's no such thing as witches. But there will be. An homage to the indomitable power and persistence of women, The Once and Future Witches reimagines stories of revolution, motherhood, and women's suffrage—the lost ways are calling. Praise for The Once and Future Witches: "A glorious escape into a world where witchcraft has dwindled to a memory of women's magic, and three wild, sundered sisters hold the key to bring it back...A tale that will sweep you away."―Yangsze Choo, New York Times bestselling author "This book is an amazing bit of spellcraft and resistance so needed in our times, and a reminder that secret words and ways can never be truly and properly lost, as long as there are tongues to speak them and ears to listen."―P. Djèlí Clark, author The Black God's Drum For more from Alix E. Harrow, check out The Ten Thousand Doors of January.

Witching Culture

Witching Culture
Author: Sabina Magliocco
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2004
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 9780812218794

Magliocco impressively corrals the diverse writings and experiences of U.S. neo-pagans into this highly readable and deeply researched ethnographic study. . . . Highly recommended.--Choice

Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves

Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves
Author: Sarah M. Pike
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2001-01-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0520220862

This book incorporates the author's personal experience and scholarly work concerning ritual, sacred space, self-identity, and narrative.

Witchcraft Medicine

Witchcraft Medicine
Author: Claudia Müller-Ebeling
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 518
Release: 2003-10-01
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 159477661X

An in-depth investigation of traditional European folk medicine and the healing arts of witches • Explores the outlawed “alternative” medicine of witches suppressed by the state and the Church and how these plants can be used today • Reveals that female shamanic medicine can be found in cultures all over the world • Illustrated with color and black-and-white art reproductions dating back to the 16th century Witch medicine is wild medicine. It does more than make one healthy, it creates lust and knowledge, ecstasy and mythological insight. In Witchcraft Medicine the authors take the reader on a journey that examines the women who mix the potions and become the healers; the legacy of Hecate; the demonization of nature’s healing powers and sensuousness; the sorceress as shaman; and the plants associated with witches and devils. They explore important seasonal festivals and the plants associated with them, such as wolf’s claw and calendula as herbs of the solstice and alder as an herb of the time of the dead--Samhain or Halloween. They also look at the history of forbidden medicine from the Inquisition to current drug laws, with an eye toward how the sacred plants of our forebears can be used once again.

A Community of Witches

A Community of Witches
Author: Helen A. Berger
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
Total Pages: 188
Release: 1999
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 9781570032462

A Community of Witches explores the beliefs and practices of Neo-Paganism and Witchcraft - generally known to scholars and practitioners as Wicca. While the words "magic," "witchcraft," and "paganism" evoke images of the distant past and remote cultures, this book shows that Wicca has emerged as part of a new religious movement that reflects the era in which it developed. Imported to the United States in the late 1960s from the United Kingdom, the religion absorbed into its basic fabric the social concerns of the time: feminism, environmentalism, self-development, alternative spirituality, and mistrust of authority.

Witch School First Degree

Witch School First Degree
Author: Don Lewis-Highcorrell
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2014-11-08
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 0738718114

The three-volume Witch School teaching series will prepare you for initiation into all three degrees of Correllian Wicca, one of the largest and fastest-growing Wiccan traditions in the world. As an additional bonus, WitchSchool.com offers many optional interactive features to enhance your textbook learning experience. Become a Witch Set foot on the Witch's path and embark on a journey that will transform you at the deepest levels of your being. The twelve lessons of the Witch School's First Degree, designed to be completed in the traditional "year and a day" format, introduce Wicca as a spiritual path and teach you the essentials of becoming a Witch. Each lesson has six sections: the lesson itself, magical exercises, God or Goddess lore, a spell, a glossary, and study questions. You'll build a solid foundation for your Wiccan practice by mastering the following Craft tools and techniques: Magic Cosmology Personal Power The Altar The Airts The Circle of Art Invocation Garb Symbols, Omens, and Divination Basic Energy Work Herbs, Oils, and Incense Stones and Crystals Completion of the twelve lessons in this book makes you eligible for initiation into the First Degree of Correllian Nativist Wicca.

Introduction to Pagan Studies

Introduction to Pagan Studies
Author: Barbara Jane Davy
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2007
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 9780759108196

Pagan Studies is maturing and moving beyond the context of new religious movements to situate itself in within of the study of world religions. Introduction to Pagan Studies is the first and only text designed to introduce the study of contemporary Paganism as a world religion. It examines the intellectual, religious, and social spheres of Paganism through common categories in the study of religion, which includes beliefs, practices, theology, ritual, history, and role of texts and scriptures. The text is accessible to readers of all backgrounds and religions and assumes no prior knowledge of Paganism. This text will also serve as a general introduction to Pagan Studies for non-specialist scholars of religion, as well as be of interest to scholars in the related disciplines of Anthropology, Sociology and Cultural Studies, and to students taking courses in Religious Studies, Pagan Studies, Nature Religion, New Religious Movements, and Religion in America. The book will also be useful to non-academic practitioners of Paganism interested in current scholarship.