Customer Reviews

Not In Kansas Anymore: Dark Arts, Sex Spells, Money Magic, and Other Things Your Neighbors Aren't Telling You (Plus)

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

 

 

This book is entertaining, witty, informative, and thought-provoking. It's also a bit distracting--no less than three times, I checked the cover to look for Sarah Vowel's byline. The same tongue-in-cheek style and keen insight that make Vowel's books so enjoyable characterize Wicker's writing. Once I settled down into the subtle differences between these two outstanding authors, I was able to focus on the book and enjoy it.

I've always found it interesting that one group can look at another group and snicker at how silly they are. That ancient tribe that smears animal entrails on their arms? Yeah, they are backwards and weird. But we are somehow blind to how silly many of our own beliefs are. And even more startling is how unaware most of us are about the beliefs of people who may be living right next door.

The subtitle "Dark arts, sex spells, money magic, and other things your neighbors aren't telling you" gives the reader a clue about what the book holds. Wicker takes us along on her research for the book, chronicling one interesting encounter after another. She begins by bringing us along to the Vampire and Victims Ball. The attendees are mostly people who believe they are actually vampires.

Through Wicker's eyes, we meet people who are obviously deluded (what else would you call folks who actually think they are vampires, elves, or werewolves?). Wicker doesn't take cheap shots at these people, but lets them speak for themselves and lets us hear what they have to say. Each of them has fairly complicated "background" to justify, explain, and "make real" their delusions. This would all be an Alice in Wonderland experience, except these aren't metaphorical characters. They are real people.

What may prove especially valuable to the astute reader is comparing the delusions of the "obviously odd" people to the beliefs that are accepted as truth among many mainstream religions. It's a healthy exercise for anyone to broaden his or her horizons a bit and ask some fundamental questions. Wicker asks a few of her own, and shares some lessons she learned during her adventure of researching this book. She doesn't claim to be right or have a patent on the truth. She merely claims to listen to what people say and to reflect upon it. Any reader who does the same would benefit.

Following the main part of this book is a four-part "plus" section:

1. A Note from the Author. She provides some personal thoughts on magic in America.
2. Do You Believe in Magic? This 20-question quiz may produce results that surprise you.
3. The Stats. Are you normal? Compare your beliefs to the statistics and see.
4. Power Foods. You may recognize some of these food myths, cherish some, and simply laugh at others.

The title is obviously a reference to the Wizard of Oz. Recall that Dorothy and Toto left "normal" Kansas and had their adventure in a magical land. But I have spent the last decade in Kansas and know magic and delusion are very much alive here. That explains the "18th century mentality" behind certain Kansas laws. We're not totally backwards here, though, and every culture has its oddities. Actually, Kansas is a mix of very advanced and very backward--but isn't every locality?

I think Wicker does us a favor by pointing out that superstitions and counter-reality beliefs abound. Such things aren't necessarily bad on the larger scale of things, and she points that out as well. But realizing that our own cherished notions may not be infallible can help us understand more about ourselves and others we encounter every day.


A note on the writing: form is important, as it dictates readability. Fortunately, this book scored very well on substance and on form. This book actually uses Standard Written English (SWE). This was a refreshing change from the Pidgin English that so many of today's authors slop onto our reading palettes. The care taken in writing this book shows that the author and publisher actually cared about the reader. That's a huge plus.

I had read Ms. Wicker's book on Lilly Dale and couldn't wait to read this book. Her insights into Lilly Dale gave me the idea that she might delve a little further into the world of magic than a surface scratch and some mumbo jumbo.

While I found some of the material in this book interesting, I found that much of this book explored the "Ricky Lake" kind of characters that daytime TV would go for. And I was disappointed by these explorations into drama and sensationalism that made this read more like a supermarket tabloid expose than a book that seriously looks at today's modern magical community and practices.

The book opens with "Vampire and Victims Ball" where the attendees discuss their need to be blood suckers or the victims of blood suckers. There was no tie to magic here; there is no reason to include this in the book, other than to point out that some of your neighbors may have social and psychological issues.

There are some discussions with Cat Yronwode that are interesting, touching on the magical community and it's diversities, yet Ms. Wicker seems sometimes to not take Cat's practices seriously or her husband's. As a matter of fact, when confronted by some of the more obscure practices she explores, Ms. Wicker seems to be very tongue in cheek in how she writes about them.

I found her experience with the rootworker Kioni to be the closest she may have come to a real practitioner of magics. And it does seem that of all the experiences she has in this book, this is one that makes the biggest impression on her. She seems to come away from that experience with the most confusion about what it is that magic and spirits and the magical community are all about. But she does not explore it much further than to find that she is confused but still steadfast in her own personal beliefs.

I do give her credit for being open minded enough to want to examine the magical community and to delve into the folk magic and hoodoo that is out there. While my own impression of the side trips she took into some fringe groups are not my choice to explore, she does come away with some ideas as to how and why these fringe groups exist.

I do notice that witches and Wiccans are briefly mentioned but not explored to their fullest. I also noted that she used fluffy terms when she mentioned Wicca. It seems that there are some ideas and misconceptions that she could have explored but found the fringe groups much more interesting.

Overall, I was disappointed with this book, not because Ms. Wicker isn't a good writer with an open mind, but because it comes across like journalistic sensationalism out to sell a book. It read more like a National Enquirer story than a story for the New York Times. I had hoped for better.

If you ever decide you want to explore witchcraft and Wicca, Ms. Wicker, drop me a line and we can leave the sensational journalism at the door and have a nice chat over some coffee and some chocolate bat's wing cookies. We are not exactly who you think we are. Boudica

Well, before the regular readers of my online reviews think I have gone bananas for even considering a reading and review of a book about this sort of subject, please allow me to explain and attempt to justify my decision to take on this project. I have spent my entire intellectual life studying human beings and their behavior both as individuals and within a social context. This study has been personal, of course, in the sense that I have always been intellectually attracted to individuals who seem to live outside what would ordinarily be considered the "norm" or the "ordinary." I find such people very interesting as well as challenging and such individuals have always appeared to be rather comfortable around me because, I guess, I tend not to judge them or try to force them into arbitrary categories. I have argued this matter over the years in a series of essays called "The Psychiatric Game."

On the other hand, a great deal of my study has been traditionally academic. My college studies were primarily in philosophy and the social sciences, from politics to psychology to human history. Generally speaking, I doubt there is much out there in the "real" world that I have not seen, read about, or heard about sometime during the past sixty-plus years. This does not mean, however, that there is nothing new to learn about, particularly when it comes to the details about some aspects of what many of us refer to as the "human condition." That's why, I have always argued, the study of human beings is far more complex that the study of nuclear physics, molecular chemistry, or microbiology. While the social sciences have often been considered the so-called "soft" sciences, this is not true; indeed, the complexities involved in the study of human beings far exceed that of the so-called "hard" sciences, such as physics, chemistry, and biology.

And so we come (finally!) to my brief review of Christine Wicker's "Not in Kansas Anymore," a book about the dark arts, sex spells, money magic, voodoo, vampires, and a lot more "sinister" things. Wicker is a journalist and former religion reporter and not an "academic." Her book is about her own "personal" investigation into the subject and does not pretend to be an academic inquiry into the "darker sides" of human experience. Wicker is not just writing about some arcane subject from an "objective" point of view; she actually "lived" within the subject and reports what she saw, felt, heard, tasted, smelled, and thought. Take what one will from her experiences with witches, voodoo priests, self-proclaimed vampires, and so forth, one can't deny her "subjective" analyses of the encounters she experienced. One can, of course, choose to ignore what she reports or claim that it doesn't really matter or that it is simply a narrative about a "fringe" element which exists in our society but doesn't have any real influence. You'd be dead wrong on the latter two points.

Let's consider a few statistics that Wicker gives us in an appendix: Number of doctors who've had what they consider miracle cures - 55%; Number of Americans who report otherworldly experiences while near death - 34 to 40%; Number of eighteen- to twenty-year-olds who believe in ghosts - 54%; Number of American adults who believe in angels - 75%; Number who believe in psychic and spiritual healing - 54%. She also provides statistics regarding belief in witches, haunted houses, and astrology. The numbers are too impressive to simply dismiss as some aberration. So the subject Wicker takes on in her book does matter to a lot of people and they are obviously not a "fringe" group in our society.

According to the author, "magic" has been part of the American story since the early settlers first came to the continent. Furthermore, "magic" is still here and is around us all the time. Most of us just don't think about our own "magical" thoughts and ideas; we are too familiar with them; they are too much a common property of our lives; we tend to accept them as "normal." For instance, virtually all religions -- and that includes Evangelical Christianity, Catholicism, Judaism, and other major denominations, as well as religions considered by the mainstream to be more "cultic" -- have some element of what can be considered "magic" within their belief system. This statement, of course, may elicit a resounding denial from practitioners of mainstream American religions, but that is only because they won't use the term "magical" to refer to any of their beliefs.

Wicker forces us, however, to confront this issue. Consider this from the author: "Some Pentecostal preachers are so familiar with evil spirits that they have names for them and a hierarchy of rankings. Sightings of the Holy Mother Mary are rising all over the world." Christianity is founded upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; Catholics believe that the wafer of bread and the wine at the communion service are "actually" turned into the body and blood of Christ. Now to be sure, they don't call these events "magical." As well, the "coming-in of the Holy Spirit" and the "speaking in tongues" of some forms of Christianity are not considered "magical" by those believers in them, yet it is hard to tell the difference between those types of activities and the "magic" allegedly performed by practitioners of Wicca or some other "occult" belief. Jewish and Islamic "mysticism" also provides many examples of this phenomenon. One person's "magic" appears to be another person's "miracle" or "mystical experience."

Basically, what Wicker provides for us in "Not in Kansas Anymore" is a personal tour of some "underground" systems of religious or spiritual beliefs existing right now in our "enlightened" country. From seemingly ordinary people who consider themselves to be elves or vampires (and attend conventions!) to voodoo temples, witches' covens, and pagan rituals in urban America, this is an investigation into a part of our society which apparently is much larger than generally assumed. But there is more here than merely that. The reader will also learn some of the history behind these modern-day practices. And, believe me, there is a rich history here to be told.

While I do recommend this book to all readers, especially those interested in religious, spiritual, and philosophical matters, I do want to issue this warning. Some of what Wicker writes about will upset certain people. Parts of her narrative will strike a lot of people as being "odd" or "quirky." Many people, I am sure, will simply dismiss some of what she relates as being "irrelevant." But there is one thing I can say for sure: Wicker's book will force all readers to do some "rethinking" of their own beliefs about the world we live in and possible worlds in which we could live. Moreover, the serious reader may have to decide his or her own status in either place. "Magic" has always been a part of the human story; it's just that we humans have not always called it "magic."

If you consistently sleep through your alarm clock, never have your romantic feelings reciprocated, and suffer from a general lack of stimulation in your life, it may not be god that you've offended; bad magic and the beings that conjure it could be affecting your life. Although many of us are hesitant to accept the possibility of magic as a force in our lives, national bestseller Christine Wicker, author of "Not in Kansas Anymore," shows us exactly how much magical power permeates society and the individuals that comprise it. From anything as common as hoping for reciprocal love to something as strange as deriving life power by drinking your friends' blood, you may have much to learn from magical communities and magic itself. And in this book you will learn exactly what that may entail for you. Through her use of commonplace magical findings, chronological structure, and frequent anecdotes with a taste of the shocking, Wicker very successfully transforms the mind of the reader from being a skeptic into finding some form of belief in the power we call magic.

The reader of this book most likely approaches the text with much skepticism, and it is for this reason that Wicker so brilliantly begins by showing her audience the magical forces that they readily accept in their own lives. One of Wicker's first examples of magic being a part of mundane life is on page 23 when she shows us that magic can be found "at the car repair shop when the engine stops pinging as soon as the mechanic appears and begins to ping again only when you pull out onto the street. It's in the beauty salons when hair that spikes about your head like a scarecrow's coiffure turns supple and silky on the day of the appointment." Everyday people, people that don't necessarily self-identify as "magical," drive cars that need repairs and have hair that seems unmanageable. And we all arrive to our appointments wondering why the problem was fixed for that particular hour, knowing that it will return the moment we leave the side of the professionals. These examples, however, are only the beginning of other oddities in life that have magical roots, Wicker notes. "Money magic is the most pervasive of all. Of course it would be, since money itself is the ultimate magic, a piece of paper that can do everything" (24). She also comments on the tendency of people to ascribe human traits to inanimate objects, such as the can opener that "never works for me," the machine that only works when kicked, or the computer that only works for one user. In many ways, Wicker shows us, we all believe in magical powers and even consider these forces active and powerful in our lives. By showing her audience how their lives are affected by magic, as simple and magic-less though they may appear, Wicker has already hooked her readers into listening to the rest of what she has to say.

After believing that there may be something more to the magical claims of Wicker, this ingenious author keeps the captivation of her audience by using a chronological, journalistic approach with the rest of her writing. The very nature of magic makes it indefinable and certainly unable to be categorized, and to have done so may have proven the failure of Wicker's work. However, she matches the subject of her book to the way in which it is written; just as magic is fluid and not compartmentalized into categories, the flow of the book is chronological and doesn't have an explicit organization. The book is loosely organized into three parts that are then even further distinguished into chapters. But the reader will note that these organizational labels are merely that; they do nothing other than to loosely define a chronological, fluid journey. To the reader that craves a systematic approach to most things in life, or to anyone with controlling impulses of any type, this form of writing can initially be very frustrating. The formulaic reader may wonder where to go for specific information on magical cultures. In search of a specific magical group of people, such as Hoodoo workers, for example, the reader has no way of finding the single section that relates Hoodoo origins, the evolution of its practice and beliefs, and the present day Hoodoo population. Instead, Wicker takes the reader on a much more intimate journey through the lives of the very people that believe in the various magical traditions, such as Hoodoo. Eventually, this leads even the systematic reader to accept on a much more personal level some of the things that Wicker is showing the audience. If the magical knowledge were reduced to the cold facts, no one would give the magical traditions or the people that believe in them any consideration or credibility. But as fellow explorers along the pathway to greater understanding of mystical phenomena, Wicker's audience is made receptive to her message through her use of chronological storytelling. It is through this very technique of relating the events to us as stories of real lives rather than as facts that ultimately transforms the reader and makes "Not in Kansas Anymore" a powerful book.

Perhaps Wicker's most effective way of reaching her audience is through stories, as human beings enjoy nothing better than hearing good ones. In "Not in Kansas Anymore" the reader is acquainted with multiple people, all of whom have their various tales to tell. Fortunately, however, their stories are anything but typical or mundane and can evoke within the reader anything from sympathy to bewilderment and sheer disgust. One of the first anecdotes that Wicker gives us likely does just that. "Her mouth was open, and blood was dripping into it. The crowd stared, as open-mouthed as Tracy but for a different reason. The bartender grimaced as Tracy's hands came up like claws grabbing Jeff's arm. Pulling it to her lips, she began to suck" (8). If blood drinking doesn't disturb your sense of propriety, Wicker has much more in store. From a man who collects the dirt of Zora Neale Hurston's grave to communicate with her dead spirit to another man that does magic to make his male neighbor fall in love with him and attempt to kiss him despite his morning breath, Wicker throws all things unconventional into the eyes of the reader and, in the politest way possible, forces them to stare at it. We all have an insatiable appetite for stories, just as we all love a little spiciness to a tale. Wicker brilliantly integrates both into her frequent use of anecdotes as relational methods of telling her story of magic in America.

Wicker doesn't promise to cure your romantic life's ills, nor does she necessarily give you the solutions to your other problems. In fact, she cannot even make you believe that your life has magical elements at all. But through her demonstration of everyday magical things, her use of hand-in-hand storytelling, and her employment of unorthodox stories, Wicker effectively changes the mind of her readers through this book. She shows us that "we aren't here only for confusion and disillusionment. We aren't born merely for death. We are here also for transcendence...to wander through the shifting corridors of meaning, and to follow them wherever they take us" (263). My path of transcendence led me to "Not in Kansas Anymore," and I hope that yours does, too.

If you consistently sleep through your alarm clock, never have your romantic feelings reciprocated, and suffer from a general lack of stimulation in your life, it may not be God that you've offended; bad magic and the beings that conjure it could be affecting your life. Although many of us are hesitant to accept the possibility of magic as a force in our lives, national bestseller Christine Wicker, author of Not in Kansas Anymore, shows us exactly how much magical power permeates society and affects the individuals that comprise it. From anything as common as hoping for reciprocal love to something as strange as deriving life power by drinking your friends' blood, you may have much to learn from magical communities and magic itself. And in this book you will learn exactly what that may entail for you. Through her use of commonplace magical findings, chronological structure, and frequent anecdotes of high shock value, Wicker very successfully transforms the mind of the reader from skepticism into belief in the power we call magic, and for this reason do I highly recommend this incredible book.

The reader of this book most likely approaches the text with much leeriness, and it is for this reason that Wicker so brilliantly begins by showing her audience the magical forces that are commonplace in their own lives. One of Wicker's first examples of magic being a part of mundane life is on page 23 when she shows us that magic can be found "at the car repair shop when the engine stops pinging as soon as the mechanic appears and begins to ping again only when you pull out onto the street. It's in the beauty salons when hair that spikes about your head like a scarecrow's coiffure turns supple and silky on the day of the appointment." Everyday people, those who don't necessarily self-identify as "magical," drive cars that need repairs and have hair that seems unmanageable. And we all arrive to our appointments wondering why the problem was fixed for that particular hour, knowing that it will return the moment we leave the side of the professionals. These examples, however, are only the beginning of other oddities in life that have magical roots, Wicker notes. "Money magic is the most pervasive of all. Of course it would be, since money itself is the ultimate magic, a piece of paper that can do everything" (24). She also comments on the tendency of people to ascribe human traits to inanimate objects, such as the can opener that "never works for me," the machine that only operates when kicked, or the computer that only functions for one user. In many ways, Wicker shows us, we all believe in magical powers and consider these forces active and powerful in our lives. By showing her audience how their lives are affected by magic, as simple and magic-less though they may appear, Wicker has already hooked her readers into listening to the rest of what she has to say. She has already begun the process of transforming the reader's mind.

After believing that there may be something more to the magical claims of Wicker, this ingenious author keeps the captivation of her audience by using a chronological, journalistic approach with the rest of her writing. The very nature of magic makes it indefinable and certainly unable to be categorized, and to have done so may have proven the failure of Wicker's work. However, she matches the subject of her book to the way in which it is written; just as magic is fluid and not compartmentalized into categories, the flow of the book is chronological and doesn't have an explicit organization. The book is loosely organized into three parts that are then even further distinguished into chapters. But the reader will note that these organizational labels are merely that; they do nothing other than to loosely define a chronological, fluid journey. To the reader that craves a systematic approach to most things in life, or to anyone with controlling impulses of any type, this form of writing can initially be very frustrating. The formulaic reader may wonder where to go for specific information on magical cultures. For example, the reader in search of a specific magical group of people, such as Hoodoo workers, has no way of finding the single section that relates Hoodoo origins, the evolution of its practice and beliefs, and the present day Hoodoo population. Instead, Wicker takes the reader on a much more intimate journey through the lives of the very people that believe in the various magical traditions, such as Hoodoo. Eventually, this leads even the systematic reader to accept on a much more personal level some of the things that Wicker is showing the audience. If the magical knowledge were reduced to the cold facts, no one would give the magical traditions or the people that believe in them any consideration or credibility. But as fellow explorers along the pathway to greater understanding of mystical phenomena, Wicker's audience is made receptive to her message through her use of chronological storytelling. It is through this very technique of relating the events to us as stories of real lives rather than as facts that ultimately transforms the reader and makes Not in Kansas Anymore a powerful book.

Perhaps Wicker's most effective way of reaching her audience is through frequent and shocking anecdotes, as human beings enjoy nothing better than hearing fantastical stories. In Not in Kansas Anymore the reader is acquainted with multiple people, all of whom have their various tales to tell. Their stories, however, are anything but typical or mundane and can evoke within the reader anything from sympathy to bewilderment and sheer disgust. One of the first anecdotes that Wicker gives us likely does just that. "Her mouth was open, and blood was dripping into it. The crowd stared, as open-mouthed as Tracy but for a different reason. The bartender grimaced as Tracy's hands came up like claws grabbing Jeff's arm. Pulling it to her lips, she began to suck" (8). If blood drinking doesn't disturb your sense of propriety, Wicker has much more in store. From a man who collects the dirt of Zora Neale Hurston's grave to communicate with her dead spirit to another man that does magic to make his male neighbor fall in love with him and attempt to kiss him (despite his morning breath), Wicker throws all things unconventional into the eyes of the reader and, in the politest way possible, forces them to stare at it. We all have an insatiable appetite for stories, and spicy, shocking ones seem to be twice as good. Wicker brilliantly integrates these spicy stories as a relational method of telling her tale of magic in America. And through this anecdotal process, the reader is transformed into a believer of magic.

Wicker doesn't promise to cure your romantic life's ills, nor does she necessarily give you the solutions to your other life problems. In fact, she cannot even make you believe that your life has magical elements at all. But through her demonstration of commonplace magical things, her use of chronological storytelling, and her unorthodox anecdotes, Wicker effectively changes the mind of her readers. She shows us that "we aren't here only for confusion and disillusionment. We aren't born merely for death. We are here also for transcendence...to wander through the shifting corridors of meaning, and to follow them wherever they take us" (263). My path of transcendence led me to the wonderful book Not in Kansas Anymore, and I hope that yours does, too.

Works Cited
Wicker, Christine. Not in Kansas Anymore. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2005.

I read this book with great expectations of a "real" book on the topics in the title of the book, and was very disappointed to see it was not that at all.

It appears to be more of a sort of log of this journalist writing about her journey learning about the subjects and doing interviews regarding the topics in a semi-fiction sort of style.

The title appears to be misleading and sensationalistic in order to sell the book. I'm sorry I didn't have the opportunity to review this prior to purchase. I hope the other Christine Wicker book on Lily Dale I ordered isn't more of the same.

Some are hits, and some are misses. This one is definitely a miss.

Herself a nonbeliever, Wicker makes a sincere attempt to understand her subjects. She even takes part in a few magic rituals. Though she doesn't experience magic in the classic ways it's understood (some undeniably magical happening as proof of the supernatural), she undergoes a transformation with each experience - and, in that sense at least, experiences magic. The experiences change her and make her more confident, and give her, I think, a deeper appreciation for people with beliefs outside the mainstream. Wicker has written a book that is a lot more thoughtful. well-researched (the sources/bibliography section is long and wonderful), and less than sensational than her title leads you to believe.

Christine Wicker set out to investigate alternative magical religious practices in the United States. Noting that the popularity of magical belief is growing, and turning up in unlikely places, Wicker's book seeks to understand how and why magic is turning up in unlikely places. The result, Not in Kansas Anymore, is part travelogue, part personal reflection, and part religious study. Wicker takes us through Voodoo, Wicca, Vampirism, and other magical traditions currently practiced in the United States. The point of this book is not so much to come to any great conclusion about magical religions as it is to experience the journey. And for Wicker, it is indeed a journey. This book is infused with much of Wicker's personal reflections. As an experienced religious journalist (that is, journalist who covers religious topics) Wicker is used to treading in the realm of the spiritual, and she has been forced to think about her own place in the larger spiritual-paranormal world. Clearly, she's open-minded, and her own interactions with magical religious traditions are an important component of the book. Thus, we see plenty of personal interjection, when Wicker explicitly considers her own experiences and beliefs. She finds some of the traditions she observes more appealing than others, and she feels more spiritual energy surrounding some than others. Ultimately, while I found this book engaging enough, I was disappointed too. I was hoping that the book would be more argument-driven, and I found that that combination of personal reflection and journalistic reporting detracted from one another. I'd rather have read two books on each of the above topics, rather than trying to digest both in one book. Each could use more development.

In 'Not in Kansas Anymore' author Christine Wicker takes the reader on a personal exploration of the history of witchcraft and occult practices and the various ways those roots are manifesting in contemporary American culture. This is not a textbook study, it's more a really riveting conversation with someone who had a lot of great experiences in the field firsthand. The tone is very gripping and as a reader I discovered I was learning an awful lot and having a very entertaining time doing so. Quite well done and perhaps the most glowing praise I can give is that it prompted me to buy Ms. Wicker's previous book, 'Lily Dale'.

The book description makes it sound as if the book is meant to discuss modern day examples of witchcraft etc., and I had been expecting something more like an anthropological exposition than an introspective monologue by the author. Although Wicker presents several interesting ideas, she cuts short most detailed portrayals of the people she interviewed and their beliefs in favor of her own gestalt and frankly, she's a bit of a dud. She spends too much time sharing her own viewpoint and passively ridiculing her subject. Her analysis is worth little because it is guided by a multitude of assumptions, some of which appear to be off base.

The topic that receives the best treatment is Hoodoo, but there are other books out there where one can read about this particular set of beliefs and other related systems of magic. Instead of this book, I would recommend reading Mules and Men (P.S.), Charms, Spells, and Formulas or Santeria Experience.