Customer Reviews

All One Wicca: A Study in The Universal Eclectic Tradition of Wicca (Revised and Expanded)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I ordered this book on March 24th, at the request of my priestess, we each picked a single book geared toward eclectics, and I picked this one, and boy did I get lucky.
The author described Wicca in no nonsense terms, the exercises are excellent, and even though she stated that she was not writing about magick, the elemental visualizations are incredibly helpful to that end. The earth visualization alone is worth it to every theurgist who has ever just found it impossible to teach someone how to ground..the visualizations are all like that...sneaking magick technique in by the back door.
The dictionary of terms used in Paganism was awesome, as was the extensive collection of data on the gods. (and ALL this book said about 'Watchtowers' is that they are Enochian and that she didn't think people unfamilar with Enochian Magick should invoke them (RIGHT ON! Down with Dabblers!) seriously, though, I looked and looked for anything else about watchtowers and could not find it, anywhere... )
That actually sums the whole thing up, really, the author regularly draws a line, she says this thing is Wicca, this thing is not Wicca, and here is how I think this thing got into Wicca. For someone like me, this was important. I mean, I'm coming into Wicca from a die-hard Jewish family and CM, so being told, oh, Lilith is a sweet Semetic goddess with an undeserved bad reputation doesn't do it for me-When she talked about the things I know about, she got them right. I assume she got the other stuff right, too, which is more than I can say for other authors.
I cannot begin to fathom how many books I've read that I felt were insulting to my intelligence, heritage or culture, or said that people believed things that I know they don't. She just didn't go there, at all, she stuck to Wicca, and the few times she wandered a little she said so.
When our circle got together to review books I was the only one who wasn't complaining, so clearly, this book's a cut above a lot out there.
I think what got into my head the most was the underground nature of this book. Here is is, from a person clearly used to working in groups, in real life, and it seems, well, grittier and realer than everything else I've read. I mean, she described the law of return with a story of a friend getting mugged. This is not barbie doll Wicca, but for me, barbie-doll Wicca's the LAST thing I need.
For me, this has been an excellent book for transistioning from Ceremonial Magick to Wicca. It laid it down plain and straight, no wrapping paper, no fluffy unicorns and none of that "real Wiccans have clean houses/don't eat meat/obey their parents/don't drive cars at all times" stuff.
It's marketed as a sort of 101 book, but I disagree. It's definately a level up, and if I was a neophyte, it probably would've thrown me for a loop. I'd recommend it especially to those people who are shopping for traditions of Wicca, and have enough knowledge to tell types apart. She was careful to say where something was from her tradition or Wicca in general, but if you want, oh, Alexandrian Wicca, this is NOT it. In fact, I suspect most of the Hard Gard crowd would HATE this book, which I think shows that eclectics are just as good as noneclectics when it comes to skill, brains and know how.

I've read through the reviews of this book, and it appears that many people have missed something crucial to understanding how and why this book was written.

This book was published to go hand in hand with the studies of the Coven Of The Far Flung Net (the tradition of Universal Eclectic Wicca, taught online). It was not published to stand alone.

If you're interested in starting study with UEW, then this will help you along the way.

If you don't mind your wicca being taught in a tradition, this book is for you.
It is a bit wordy, and the author seems to wander a bit, and it's not as good as her other book, which I'm reading now, but this book seems unique because Kaatryn MacMorgan is teaching as a teacher of a specific gorup, not just wicca in general.
This makes the book, to me, more practical, because its the only one I can think of where the author is teaching a specific branch of wicca instead of wicca in general.

off course, I read this book as part of a teaching circle I'm in that is not Universalist Eclectic Wicca, so it can be used to learn wicca in general, but that's not what its designed for.
I would like to see other traditions invest in having textbooks, though. In mine, we read things like Cunningham and Ravenwolf and then are told to ignore certain parts or where they are wrong. I would like it better if my tradition had a book like this one, and maybe all the traditions should- I mean, if we could compare the first degree of each tradition in a textbook form, we'd be able to make better decisions, wouldn't we?

My copy of this book just arrived. I spent about 15 hours reading it, cover to cover, and aside from a few errors in typesetting, it is the best book on Wicca yet available.
It has the most complete glossary, great rituals and at over 400 pages is one of the most concise, clear, and in-depth books on Wicca I've read yet.
As a teacher, my problems with the book were ALL technical, and as a High Priest, none of them were in the theology.

I love that Amazon provides a forum for reader reviews, and I usually place a great deal of value on them. Having read the other reviews of this book, though, I'd have to say that many people seem to have missed point, and in some cases seem to be giving an unnecessarily low rating for spurious reasons.

As some other reviewers have pointed out, this is--more or less--the textbook for the UEW Tradition of Wicca. Most people are familiar with the Gardnerian and Alexandrian traditions, and understand that what applies to one tradition may not apply to another. That doesn't mean that one Tradition is Wicca and another is not, it simply means that the two Traditions have differing beliefs. That's par for the course for Wicca, as well as for many other Pagan and Neo-pagan religions.

One reviewer has suggested that Wicca is "all about the magic," so she doesn't regard this book as about Wicca. You can practice magic and not be a Wiccan; in fact, you can practice magic and be an atheist if you choose. Magic is a practice, while Wicca is a religion. Some religions either don't believe in magic, believe it comes from the devil, or regard magic as "miracles" from their god. In the religion of most Wiccans, UEWiccans included, magic can also come from the individual practitioner. However, magic is not a "requirement" for a Wiccan the way mass is a "requirement" for Catholics. It is a practice, certainly a common practice among Wiccans, but the fact that this book addresses the religion as opposed to particular practices is precisely what makes it (and the tradition) appropriate for solitary practitioners.

As a solitaire, you might have your own personal way of working magic, and your own understanding of how magic works. MacMorgan's point here is that developing a unique understanding of your religion and the way you practice it is part and parcel of being solitary. She then shares those beliefs that members of UEW hold in common. UEWies may practice their religion differently from one another, but they are bound by a set of Creeds and some common understanding.

That addressed, this book is not for everyone. If you want a book of spells and rituals, this book is not for you. If you don't like traditions in general, and many don't, you probably won't like this book, either. However, there IS an off chance that this book will provide you a sort of alternative, more open, more flexible view of what a tradition of Wicca is. If you're looking for a tradition that fits you, you may find this book very helpful. Even if you ultimately decide UEW isn't for you--because this information is presented here in a logical, easy-to-understand manner, the book may help you to know what to look for in other traditions. After reading this book you may understand better what issues matter to you in a tradition, what things you want to look for and what questions to ask. In addition, this is a good book for eclectics who may be interested in figuring out a way to ethically and logically apply eclecticism in a way that is consistent and meaningful.

There's a lot of good information in this book. If you're a beginner and want a good overview of Wicca, without the trappings of a particular tradition, I would recommend Scott Cunningham's _Wicca for the Solitary Practitioner_ first. But if you've gone beyond that and now want to investigate how to develop your personal practice, you won't go wrong with this book.

"A Study in the Universal Eclectic Wicca tradition." It seems that some reviewers missed the whole thing. This is not, and does not claim to be, a primer on general Wicca. It is the textbook for the UEW tradition, and other study is obviously involved. If you are at all interested in the basics of a tradition that is essentially geared toward the solitary practitioner this book is definitely for you. If you already have the basics I suggest Wicca 333 instead.

This text needs quite a bit of study to fully appreciate. What it has that others do not, frankly, is a grasp of what Wicca is as a religion and an ethical system. How many times have you read secondary sources that gave a mere chapter to religion, a few paragraphs to ethics, badly thought out (or not at all) and carried right along to explain ritual and magick with depth and relish? The author rightly assigns metaphysics a separate category within the study of Wicca.

Throughout the text, emphasis is on research, scholarship, and the need for academic accountability. Only with a solid grounding in theory, and a clear understanding of Wicca's lineage, can we elevate our faith to a valid system of belief, and use it as a basis for an ethical way of life.

The thing many people don't realize is this is a specific text book for a specific trad, Universal Eclectic Wicca. Beyond that, it is a great into book. Very good scholarship and metaphysical insight. If you're looking for some NON-fluffy bunny writing on Wicca, check this book out.

Imagine a website where solitary Wiccans can visit and learn from others as well as share their own experiences. That's ALL ONE WICCA and you can learn about it in this book which is a compilation of material available at the time of publication (2001). MacMorgan writes that the project, began in 1993, has materialized into a publication and a website which she provides (along with many other sites).

MacMorgan writes `Wicca is a religion based on the indigenous beliefs of the ancient peoples of Europe...[that] has a long tangled history with roots in the British spiritualist movements of the late nineteenth century.' Furthermore, `Wicca is a modern creation, a religion of an information culture, requiring that its members be gifted with the skill of telling myth from history and fact from metaphor....The dedicant, the initiate and the scholar know Wicca to be modern, while acknowledging the power and appeal of the stories claiming it as the oldest faith known to man.' [humankind].

This is a religious book and therefore not very spiritual. It has been compiled by a committee, albeit an eclectic and electronic one, motivated to set standards for Wicca. I believe spirituality is very personal and cannot be reached by the consensus of the group. If you are seeking a spiritual guide, you would be better served with THE HEDGE WITCH by Rae Beth, or WITCH ALONE by Marian Greene, or Scott Cunningham's book on the SOLITARY PRACTITIONER.

This book does contain a `Grimoire' that includes much (agreed upon?) technical detail about Alters and Alter Cloths, Herbalism, Candles, Corn Dollies, Crystals and Minerals, etc. If you are looking for technical detail approved by a consensus, this may be the book for you. Also, the copy of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, which guarantee witches freedoms not readily available in past times may prove useful.

Kaatryn MacMorgan really helped me define and answer questions about my spirituality. If you are looking for 1 book to answer your questions with an open mind and relate it to what you hold in your heart, this is it. Before you try to define yourself within any tradition or choose a religion or path give this a read.