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153 of 158 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A sympathetic and scholarly history of Wicca, September 8, 2000
The world still awaits a truly comprehensive history of Neopaganism. Margo Adler's estimable DRAWING DOWN THE MOON is perhaps the closest approach to date. With THE TRIUMPH OF THE MOON, British historian Ronald Hutton has raised the bar for future efforts both in terms of depth of research and genuine insight. Though his book focuses on the antecedents and development of British Wicca, it contains a wealth of material to any reader interested in Neopaganism. Hutton is something of a bête noire for many Wiccans and other Neopagans after his iconoclastic PAGAN RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT BRITISH ISLES, particularly for his corrosive attacks on Robert Graves and THE WHITE GODDESS (however deserved they may have been). Hutton's work is, nevertheless, grounded in substantial research (as befits a widely-published historian) and a generally non-judgmental tone. Hutton continues his no-stone-unturned approach in this new book, but departs from simple history to offer rationales for the viability of Neopaganism as a religious path, even given its apparent twentieth-century origins. For many Neopagans outside of traditionalist Wicca, the book's focus on Neopagan Witchcraft (and in particular on Gerald Gardner and Alex Sanders) may render its iconoclasm old news. Hutton's research only buttresses the deconstruction of Wicca begun in the '70s. Hutton's gift, though, is to go beyond the first order deconstruction and find unexpected bits of information amidst an impressive array of personal papers and museum holdings. For example, most informed readers will already be aware that "Old" Dorothy Clutterbuck, Gardner's supposed initiatrix, was shown to be a real person, after years of argument to the contrary. Hutton demonstrates, however--and rather conclusively to my mind--that "Old Dorothy" could not have been the person who initiated Gardner and he points emphatically to another woman who may have been hiding behind a smokescreen of Gardner's creation. Similarly, Hutton is not afraid to take on the now-taken-for-granted notion advanced by Aidan Kelly that the ritual nudity and scourging involved in Gardnerian Wicca were simply manifestations of Gardner's personal sexual kinks. Hutton ransacks Gardner's personal collection of pornography to refute this--and offers suggestions as to the real roots of these practices. The book is of greatest interest to the general (read, "non-Wiccan") Neopagan reader in two regards. First, Hutton clearly demonstrates that the cultural roots of the Pagan revival lie embedded in the Romantic movement, particularly in Romantic Era poetry. The real forebears of the movement are seen to be, not Leland or Crowley (though both are examined and acknowledged), but poets like Keats, Shelley and Swinburne, who first identified the feminine divine with Nature and who repopularized the use of classical Pagan deities like Diana and Pan, often against critical resistance. The way in which Hutton tracks the passage of these motifs from literature into religion is fascinating. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, THE TRIUMPH OF THE MOON represents a scholarly book by an apparently non-Pagan historian (unlike Adler) who is willing to see past the herd of sacred cows he is slaughtering to point out the transcendent values of Neopaganism--Wiccan or otherwise. He is careful throughout the book never to reach categorical judgements against some deeply-held beliefs, even where the evidence might strongly point in that direction. And, in the final pages of the book, Hutton sets aside the persona of the dispassionate researcher to advocate for pagan witchcraft as "a full-blown, independent religion," one "which deliberately draws upon ancient images and ideas for comtemporary needs," a protean faith which "takes ideas from many sources and applies them in many--and often constantly altering--ways." Hutton hinted at this favorable sentiment in PAGAN RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT BRITISH ISLES and it is to his credit that he is willing to expand upon it here. Even speaking as an initiate in one of the traditions critically examined in the book ("1734" Witchcraft), I recommend it highly.
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50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hutton's latest, April 5, 2000
Hutton, for those who haven't read his work, is a British historian whose previous major work has been several works on Charles II through the Glorious Revolution; as well as The pagan religions of the ancient British Isles (about the documentable religions and religious practices of pre-Christian Britain), The rise and fall of merry England: the ritual year, 1400-1700 (a history of festivals and holidays in Britain), and Stations of the Sun (the ritual year in Britain and its history). Essentially the latter two look at the same overall field of evidence from two different angles, triangulating on the fact that the most ancient festivals and holidays that are claimed to stretch back to the ancient pagan past, can (virtually) all be documented to have developed in the late medieval and post-medieval world. If you can't see the pattern here, his interest seems to have been trying to back-track elements of modern pagan tradition and mythology. It should be noted that at no time does he ever stray from his essential (and frequently stated) premise - that modern paganism is a perfectly valid modern religious format. It is from this foundation that he finally takes the leap in his Triumph of the Moon, wherein he examines the history of modern paganism and places it into its place in a larger counter-cultural tradition stretching back at least to the Romantic period (if you've seen his article on the Great Neolithic Goddess Cult that appeared in Antiquity several years ago, you may have some idea of where the path this has taken). He discusses what he sees as the essential elements of Language (what do we mean by "paganism"), Goddess, God, Stucture (basically Freemasonic), High Magic, Low Magic, Folklore (Golden Bough and Frazer's followers), Witchcraft (such as Murray and Leland), and the Matrix of post-Victorian England in which all of these "Macrocosmic" elements were brought together and influenced by the works of Aleister Crowley, Dion Fortune and Robert Graves. His short biographies of these three range from the balanced and thoughtful (Crowley) to the somewhat more aggressive (Graves). From this birthplace, he examines the history of Gardner and his genealogy, re-examining the same old information with the perspective of (at least what looks like) objectivity - noting the different emergent groups that appear (and rather than simply assuming that they are "Gardnerian offshoots" noting the influences when they are there, but also examining their individual histories). He also notes and describes the earlier scholarly works that have preceded him into this field, from Aiden Kelly and Margot Adler to Tanya Luhrmann and others -- as well as their influences and the influences of their material on neo-Paganism as a whole. His conclusion presents a snapshot of pagan witchcraft at the end of the 20th century in Britain. I make that specific, since covens are still a little more the norm in Britain than they are here in the US. Very nice work, all in all. He does not, in my opinion, lose his objectivity for the most part - and when he does it's to lean more towards the feelings of the people he's studied. For example, his treatment of the Neolithic Mother Goddess, in this work, while clearly showing the implausibility, does not exclude its possibility. In short, if you are truly interested in the history of neo-Paganism, read it. It's worth it - you may not always agree with him (I know I don't), but he will give you a fresh perspective.
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42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent historical perspective, August 29, 2003
Hutton has written a book that truly needed to be written, unlike the vast majority of texts on the history of modern pagan witchcraft, for and against. In essence, Hutton isn't for or against; he's an historian. This approach may well annoy those looking for support for their beliefs, of course, but for those interested in a dispassionate account, this is the book to buy. Hutton really starts with the eighteenth century, with Masonry, "cunning men", and other magic-workers of various kinds. He discusses these folks as sources for the later witchcraft revival, and gives his sources scrupulously. He then moves on to the nineteenth-century "occult revival", which is only rather sketchily handled, and to Gardner and the whole complex from which he arose. Next, Hutton discusses Gardner in considerable detail, considering the whole "Dorothy Clutterbuck" problem and the whole complex of the first Wiccan covens. It seems not unlikely that this discussion will infuriate those who don't want to think of Gardner as a spiritual ancestor for their modern practices. At the same time, it's likely to tick off those would-be "debunkers" who want a lurid account of Gardner the evil sex-maniac. Overall, I found that Gardner came off rather sympathetically, which surprised me. For me, the best thing about the book is the discussion of the extension of Wicca past Gardner's own influence. For example, I tend to associate the rise of Neopaganism with liberal politics, given the strong affiliations with the rise of feminism, ecological activism, and a kind of back-to-the-earth approach to collapsing the modern military-industrial dominance of (especially) American economics and politics. But Hutton demonstrates that in the first half of the century, in England, Wicca was very much a right-wing movement, not entirely divorced from movements like Baden-Powell's Boy Scouts and the Kibbo Kift. The transition from right to left, concurrent with the switch from one side of the Atlantic to the other, is fascinating, and deftly handled by Hutton. I suppose the book is somewhat dense, if you're not used to mildly academic prose, but by academic standards it's pretty breezy reading. The book is quite accessible, as it is carefully indexed and Hutton makes clear what he's doing and why. If you are interested in a fairly direct, straightforward history of Neopagan witchcraft, this is a great book. You will hate this book if: 1) You are absolutely certain that Wicca is a surviving ancient pagan religion, continuing underground despite centuries of oppression; or 2) You are absolutely certain that Wicca is a load of nonsense, made up by some foolish sex-crazed women, which offers no spiritual rewards to anyone with half a brain. You will love this book if: 1) You are willing to read some rather dense, careful historical prose, in a mildly academic style; and 2) You would genuinely like to know a good deal about the ins and outs of the origins of the modern pagan witchcraft revival, and how it has developed over the last century.
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