12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fiona Horne's Witchcraft Disinformation, May 18, 2005
This review is from: Pop! Goes The Witch: The Disinformation Guide to 21st Century Witchcraft (Disinformation Guides) (Paperback)
After a horrible performance in Sci Fi's Mad Mad House, it would seem obvious that readers would stay away from books by Fiona Horne. What the reader quickly discovers is that Fiona Horne did not write "Pop!", or at least the entire thing. Instead she called upon a variety of well known authors to contribute essays including Phyllis Currot, Christopher Penczak, Ray Buckland, and Iya Ta'Shia and David "Avocado" Wolf who co-stared in Mad Mad House.
From beginning to end, Fiona presents essays from a variety of authors on a variety of topics. Chapter one provides essays dispelling myths about Wiccans, the history of Wicca, and the differences between Wicca and Satanism. The first Chapter is always important because it sets a tone for the rest of the book. "Pop!" starts out great and doesn't quite.
The next two chapters deal with magick and healing. Essays in these sections also include topics such as spells, divination, totem spirits, and the philosophy of healing. There are also a few articles that accurately describe the daily life of a modern Witch. I thought Fiona's article, "How Spells Work", was interesting and gave a number of helpful spells, but never really told how spells work.
Next we enter what I think is the most interesting section of the book. Among other things, the reader learns the religious rights of Wiccans, paganism in pop culture, and the similarities and differences between Witchcraft and a number of other religions. A particularly interesting article titled "Invoking Buffy", introduced an interesting idea of using pop icons as god-forms. A group of interesting articles discusses the similarities between Wicca and Christianity, Voodoo, Aboriginal magick, and Bali magick.
The next section, "Gender Bending", discusses Wicca's view on sexuality and love. Included in this chapter are topics such as how to deal with lovers who are not Wiccan, homosexuality, sex magick, and males in Witchcraft. An interesting article by Christopher Penczak, "Coming Out of Two Closets", describes the life and path of a gay Witch.
The last parts of "Pop!" include an interviews with Ly De Angeles and Wendy Rule as well as "The Meaning of Witchcraft to Me" by Ray Buckland. The final section includes an index of traditions, websites, recommended reading, and glossary. More than any other contributor, I thought Phyllis Currot's articles were very informative, well researched, and well written. I think Fiona picked a great bunch of contributors and successfully achieved an accurate 21st century guide to Witchcraft. Highly recommended!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lots of interesting material here, September 24, 2004
This review is from: Pop! Goes The Witch: The Disinformation Guide to 21st Century Witchcraft (Disinformation Guides) (Paperback)
This is the sort of book I would choose for someone who already knows a little bit about the Craft and wants to find out more. What we find here is an enormous collection of different voices, thoughts, experiences, facts, and possibilities, which someone totally new might find intimidating. But in this extraordinary variety, hopefully nearly everyone will find something to catch their attention and interest.
This is more of an anthology of lots of different author's work, rather than a sustained exploration of Fiona Horne's own ideas. I must admit I found a little bit disappointing. How much of the work was Fiona's? So it would seem, very little. Surely Fiona could have told us more about what life is like for someone in the public eye who practices a strange minority religion, and what possibilities for the future of the craft in popular culture exist. I ended up wanting to know more about the other contributors. I suppose that is good for the community as a whole, but at the same time it was not quite what I expected.
But overall, and after my second look, I was happy with it. I hope Fiona continues to write, to make music, and to empower new young witches by presenting herself as an example of an empowered young witch.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pop! Goes the Witch, April 13, 2005
This review is from: Pop! Goes The Witch: The Disinformation Guide to 21st Century Witchcraft (Disinformation Guides) (Paperback)
This work serves as an excellent introduction to the world of modern
wicca. It is 307 pages packed full of every thing you could want
to know about witchcraft in the 21st century and then some. I found
this work easy to understand and it provides valuable insight into
the workings of modern day covens as well as the path of the lone
practitioner.I found the indexes of wiccan and pagan traditions very informative and the
listing of web sites and other resources very concise. I would recommend this
book to anyone interested in learning about modern witchcraft and it is a
must for the serious student of the occult.
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