Customer Reviews

Light from the Shadows: A Mythos of Modern Traditional Witchcraft

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

 

 

I note that further down a reviewer suggest that people from the UK will not like this book as it "reveals too much", well as a reviewer from the UK I actually didn't find this to be true. There is little that is stated definitively here, rather things are 'alluded to', which is the way it should be.

The problem is always going to be that traditional witchcraft includes so many and varied traditions, with teachings that are greatly at odds with each other, that any attempt to provide a definitive book on the subject is likely to be beset with problems. However, despite the inherent problems of writing an overview of such a diverse subject, this is a good & solid book that tackles the subject well. It is a worthy addition for anyone wanting an overview of modern traditional witchcraft.

This book is excellent and the authors knowledge of traditional witchcraft is without question. The book gives a glimpse into witchcraft as it was practised before wicca and still is. Many witches in the UK will disapprove of this book as its quite revealing, but not too revealing. If your interested in wicca and want to know about the craft before the 1950's, read this book. It contains some subjects which some wiccans may not have come across before, i leave you to find out for yourself!

This is one of the better books on Witchcraft I've had the pleasure of reading in some time. Fully footnoted and annotated it also offers a comprehensive bibliography that draws on non-standard authors - which is rare in the publishing world of Wicca. There is much meat and potatoes in this book although if you're looking for a how-to-do-it approach, you'll have to look elsewhere. GWYN's approach is more of informational and background material much of which covers how traditional Craft workers do things in merry old England.

Some of the sources GWYN draws from include authors of articles found in past issues of Mike Howard's English magazine, The Cauldron. Still the sources are both eminent and scholarly and she (I'm presuming GWYN is a 'she' - the book does NOT offer anything about the author's background) uses them to validate her points.

One of the best chapters is the 12th which is on "Making Traditional Magick". (Interestingly enough, for a traditionalist, she hops onto the modern bandwagon of spelling Magic with a "k" which is just irritating to the rest of us who use the traditional spelling) In this chapter, GWYN discusses a wide variety of folk practices including one of the most abhorred by modern Wiccans, Necromancy.

An interesting note from chapter 12 is that there allegedly was a magazine published in 1791 called "The Conjurer's Magazine" and it had articles on ceremonial magic, astrology and alchemy. Now this would be an interesting find to come across in our modern day if one could discover an issue or more of such an old magazine. GWYN also mentions the home-grown grimoires with titles like "The Devil's Plantation", 'The Secret Granary" and "The Book of Cain" all of which would be hunted by modern practitioners. These grimoires according to GWYN were books owned by "cunning folk" who were mainly country practitioners like modern rural Witches and southern Hoodoo Conjurers.

In other chapters, GWYN pulls in a LOT of information on the more traditional aspects and roles of the Goddess, the Horned God, the Crossroads and it's functions in the Craft PLUS she even goes so far as to mention what types of tools are used and how they differ from the more Americanized Wiccan traditions.

I have to give this book four stars and would've given it five stars had it offered a background on the author.

It says its about traditional witchcraft or Old Craft, but, in truth, it is more about pre-Gardnerian witchcraft (and a lot to do with those of the Cochrane tradition, from what I can gather). I guess that's where the "modern" comes in?
To me, Traditional Witchcraft refers to those who practice a craft passed down in a family from generation to generation and I doubt there are many who could write on that particular subject with proven authority. Unless, of course someone is referring to a Traditional Witch of the Wicca Path, in which case they are talking about an initiate of an Alexandrian or Gardnerian tradition.

I did like the book to some extent, as it amalgamated a lot of what I had read about those outside the Gardnerian and/or Alexandrian strains. I am not keeping it as there is no information that I cannot source from elsewhere.

Have to say that I found the bibliography a little lacking. When I wanted to double check some of what was written, the bibliography gave me nowhere to go.