41 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's OK, but look elsewhere, March 14, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: American Folk Magick (Paperback)
The title of this review ought to say it all. Silver Ravenwolf (i.e., Jenine Trayer)has, in her own way, attempted to tackle the subject of Pow-Wow and hexerei. She does the practice a grave injustice with her incessant wiccanizing. "Ravenwolf" has had timerity to wiccanize such elements as the biblical Psalms and traditional Christian prayers, throwing in for good measure New Agey concepts such as chakras, etc.
In spite of her having been taught by a Pow-Wow, Preston Zerbe, she displays little respect for the art. For those who don't have their heads in the sand, it is a well know fact that the wiccan religion (as practiced today) is a mere 50 or 60 years old (and that's being generous).
Through out the text Trayer makes stellar comments where she laments that Pow-Wows no longer acknowledge or utilise the "Rede" or "Law of Three". These are thoroughly modern concepts only found in wicca. Within the book she attempts to show Pow-Wow as merely a Christian cover for American witchcraft. Now, hexerei is witchcraft. Witchcraft is a practice, not a religion. As a practice, it can be worked within any religious context. However, Trayer wants everyone to believe that Pow-Wow is "actually" a bastardized form of Wicca (which she obviously believes predates Pow-Wow and other traditional magical practices).
While witchcraft can be worked within any religious context, Trayer does Pow-Wow a disservice by trying to make it so generic that it will fit anyone's fancy or fantasy, thereby removing it from its cultural roots. "In the name of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost" is 'corrected' by Trayer as "In the names of Maiden, Mother and Crone". Prayers to Isis find their way in the text, too.
New Age wiccan writers such as Trayer are jeopardizing the survival of true traditional witchcraft practices such as hexerei with their lousy 'scholarship' and historical revisionism. Witchcraft is, indeed, pre-Christian in the sense that *every* art of civilization predates Christ. Witchcraft is as much a skill or art as fire-making, cooking, blacksmithing, basket-weaving, etc. Just because house building, for example, predates the advent of Jesus doesn't make it a "pagan" craft. Thowing out, minimizing, or tokenizing the Christianity within Pow-Wow subtracts form the cultural organic whole of the practice instead of adding to it. Llewellyn Publications and its authors are quite guilty of this manner of cultural rape. It's too bad there can't be laws against this manner of reprehensible 'scholarship' and its publishers.
For a truely decent book on Pow-Wow see Karl Herr's book *Hex and Spellwork*. Also, get a copy of Lee Gandee's *Strange Experience: an autobiography of a hexenmeister*. These texts, plus the traditional Pow-Wow books *Long Lost Friend*, *Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses*, and *Albertus Magnus Egyptian Secrets* are invaluable to the study.
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26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An accurate presentation of traditional american hexcraft!, June 9, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: American Folk Magick (Paperback)
I first ran into this book when it was called "Hexcraft." As a hereditary, traditional pow-wow, I was imediately suspicious of what looked like another shallow attempt to graze on the fertile field of occult literature. To my surprise, Silver treats the subject with respect and actually does know what she is talking about with regard to pow-wow and how it works. I think that many traditionals wince a bit with her attempt to remove the christian trappings and make it palatable to the wicca crowd, but even we know the tradition adopted these trappings to avoid the conflict that surely would have resulted from keeping the "old names". The magic works regardless of in whose name you invoke. After all, most of us have never had a quarrel with Jesus, only the organization that rose up as a religion about him rather than as the religion of Jesus. I also wish Silver would have addressed the spirit-world aspect of pow-wow in greater depth, but maybe that's for another book. Speaking of books, get yourself a copy of "The Long Lost Friend" to get a sense of more traditional pow-wow incantations. Well done Silver, you've done a nice job presenting our sacred art.
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great resource!, February 2, 1999
This review is from: American Folk Magick (Paperback)
In the past, Silver RavenWolf would write her books in general context, trying not to let her traditional teachings overshadow her writing so that her readers may find their own paths to walk on. While this was perfect for beginners, many began to wonder whether or not Silver was capable of teaching her tradition. This book proved she could. She did an excellent job at teaching the ancient art of Pow-Wow, adaptable to both Wiccans and other religions. I'd recommand this book to thoose looking into both folk magick and alternative/faith healing.
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