Fire Child: The Life & Magic of Maxine Sanders 'Witch Queen' [Paperback]

Maxine Sanders (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1869928784 | ISBN-13: 978-1869928780 | Publication Date: November 23, 2007

One of the world's most influential and respected witches, Maxine first caught worldwide public attention while married to the celebrated - and controversial - 'King of the Witches', Alex Sanders. A highly respected Priestess of the Sacred Mysteries, in her role of teacher she has encouraged, enabled and inspired students of the Priesthood to take on the conscious mantle of their spiritual potential. In this long awaited autobiography Maxine reflects on her life and magical experiences spanning Modern Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, Gods and Goddesses, Seasonal rituals, Sabbats, Ceremonial magic, Cabbala and The Sacred Magic of the Angels. This is a unique, poignant and often humorous memoir of an extraordinary life, by a rare, courageous and inspiring woman.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is one of the most important books ever published on modern paganism: a full and candid autobiography by one of its most influential, and charismatic figures." - Professor Ronald Hutton author of The Triumph of the Moon

Product Details

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: Mandrake (November 23, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1869928784
• ISBN-13: 978-1869928780
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,516,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Foundational, February 29, 2008

By 

GroveGuardian "EyeStars" (Southwest) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Fire Child: The Life & Magic of Maxine Sanders 'Witch Queen' (Paperback)

Fire Child is one of those books that are necessary to an understanding of fondational things. In this book the reader can catch a glimpse of Wicca in the early days of the Alexandrian and Gardnerian period. Much has been written about Gerald Gardner, but comparatively little on Alex Sanders. Fire Child helps to correct this oversight, and brings to light two important figures - Maxine and Alex.

I think the book is an important contribution, and is a good study to add to a history of the rise & fall of Wicca. Old Timer's in the Craft will most likely enjoy the memories stirred by Fire Child, and newbies can catch a glimpse of Wicca before it became diluted and heavily customized by a new generation of practitioners.

The Craft community has recently lost several of its elders, such as Doreen Valiente and Stewart Farrar. Others have long ago left the Craft for a variety of personal reasons. As Maxine notes near the end of the book, the growth of numbers in Wicca has not kept up with the lineage trained & available teachers, which has left much in the hands of the "self-initiated" who turned to an eclectic gathering of what is available in print. It is encouraging to read in Fire Child that some elders are still with us, and that Maxine remains a witch, and still believes in the old magic.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars After the Witch Queen Steps Down: Maxine Sanders' "Fire Child", February 16, 2008

By 

Chas S. Clifton "Pagan Studies editor" (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fire Child: The Life & Magic of Maxine Sanders 'Witch Queen' (Paperback)

In the 1960s, when Pagan Witchcraft started to gain widespread media attention, Maxine Sanders (b. 1948?) was one of its visible faces. A tall willowy young woman with bleached blonde hair, she was married in 1965 to Alex Sanders (1926-1988) for whom the Alexandrian tradition is named.

He was older, charming, verbal - she was photographed, he was recorded. That's her on the cover of my early hardback edition of Stewart Farrar's 1971 book What Witches Do, long hair flowing, eyes downcast towards the chalice.

Now she talks -- in print as opposed to classes and lectures -- in a valuable autobiography, Fire Child: The Life & Magic of Maxine Sanders, 'Witch Queen'
The book is not what it could have been. Material is not always straight-forwardly organized, punctuation is erratic and unclear, and words usedly mistakenly ("taught" for "taut," that sort of thing). I fault the publisher.


Still, this is an important book. Sanders gave her life to the Craft in a way that few have, and she admits she paid a price: two failed marriages (Sanders, in the end, preferred men), financial hardship in the early years, breast cancer, and, most of all, the hardship of being always on-call in her role as priestess.

"Marriage with Alex had been rather like a working relationship. Unconsciously, we sacrificed the more personal and sharing aspects of a normal marriage."

To read Fire Child is follow a trail of ups and initiations, rituals and happenings, magical politics, festivals and and visions.

Yet it is also a frank admission of the dangers of magickal religion. Coming from a background of intense, small-group work, she is prone to opinions such as these:

"The modern Craft is a victim of its own success. Its tremendous growth since the heady days of the 1960s has outstripped the availability of experienced and reputable teachers, who in former days would themselves have served an arduous apprenticeship before being judged worthy to passon the tradition - and then only to a few."

(And she admits that even in her own group that rule was not always followed.)

Witchcraft is so often perceived as a young person's religion that it is good to read a mature priestess's thoughts. Maxine Sander has gone through the fires - media celebrity, high-profile religious leadership, magic, suffering. Her book is valuable - "full and candid," to quote Ronald Hutton's cover blurb. I recommend it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Magical Journey Through Time, January 13, 2008

By 

Tom and Laura (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fire Child: The Life & Magic of Maxine Sanders 'Witch Queen' (Paperback)

Professor Ronald Hutton's statement [on [...]] that "[t]his is one of the most important books ever published on modern paganism" is easily corroborated, even by the uninitiated: as disclosed at page two, the copyright of this very well written and highly readable book is jointly held by Mandrake (one of the leading Publishers in the subject area) and the author herself, Maxine Sanders.

We believe it is rare for a reputable Publisher (such as Mandrake) to share copyright except when the material is considered of great significance to the subject area and competition for the publishing rights is keen.

That should be enough to compel anyone with a genuine interest and natural curiosity to schedule the space to curl up with this great book - an amazing story of one very gifted person's journey through life that, for her, is not remotely over.

This autobiography is clearly not a memoir and Maxine Sanders is definitely no wilting lily.

The trials and tribulations, the joy and sadness, the pain and elation are all courageously and objectively shared with wit, humour and valuable insights on the human condition.

It was both a genuine pleasure and real privilege for us to read this book.

Unlike Professor Ronald Hutton, whose valued opinion appears to yield out of Maxine Sanders' role as a teacher, ours is from direct experience as clients of Maxine Sanders over some thirteen years - more than enough time for even the most naïve to figure out the "real thing".

Over the years, we have consulted Maxine on a wide range of business as well as personal matters. In our experience, her timely and valued insights - oddly enough in the range of probability, never wrong, which is amazing by any reasonable standard and a huge credit to her Craft - would not have surfaced through any other medium, in every sense of that word on this or any other plane.

We highly recommend this book, as well as a visit to Maxine's website [ ...].

Tom and Laura, London.