Customer Reviews

Ann Moura's New History of Witchcraft

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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I received this book from 7th House Publishing to review and opening the book, I recognized the material right away. A closer look at the book cover clearly states that this book includes two previously published books by Ann Moura - "Dancing Shadows" and "Origins of Modern Witchcraft".

I know the book "Origins of Modern Witchcraft" as I had received that book from another publisher and had read through it but could not bring myself at that time to review it. The history had been loaded down with so much "other" material that it was difficult to wade through all the "other" stuff to get at the meat and potatoes.

This version, however, has eliminated all the "other" stuff, presents a history as per Ms. Moura and includes additional material from the book "Dancing Shadows".

The two books appear to be woven together to tell a story about witchcraft and it's origins as presented by the research by Ms. Moura. Much of this focuses on the Indus area and how her research suggests that the practices of modern witchcraft stem from this area.

I like the elimination of all the "other" material that distracted from the original concept of the work. I like the inclusion of better graphics, some nicely printed on glossy paper, I like the time line, the index and the larger typeface. Overall, the presentation of this material is much better, focusing on history.

I will say that Ms. Moura has done a remarkable research job, and states her claims clearly with lots of material to suggest her research is accurate. She calls upon experts in the field, rather than other pagan author references, and lays out her research well.

Ms. Moura presents another view of the origins of witchcraft, and her work warrants a closer look. If you overlooked these books before because of all the "other" trappings included in the original works, this new volume may appeal to you. It is well worth it just to look through the history that Ms. Moura presents. Interesting reading and nicely presented. boudica

Amazing is the information included in this book. I wonder what the potential audience would think if they read this book not knowing that witchcraft was the spiritual philosophy being documented?! Television is presenting documentaries that vaguely refer to the depth of East Indian history...but nothing like what Ann Moura is presenting!!! Her work is referenced which adds to the over all believability! So read this book if you want to learn another view point about "Our" Western history, a very interesting viewpoint!

Although i am a fan of Ann Moura books and i always liked her work, i was not expecting such an elaborate & contemporarty look on the history of old religion. Especially the similarities found between Garden of Eden and the region of Sind (Kashmir area) deserves to be read!

My main concern is that, typical of most modern Witches, Moura seems to exhibit a strong anti-Indo European bias in ALL of her books. It's almost like an overly simplistic formula: Dravidians/Harappans = Good, Indo-Europeans = Bad. When are people going to get over this?