Customer Reviews

Truth or Dare: Encounters with Power, Authority, and Mystery

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I wouldn't recommend this book as a manual for absolute beginners - that's what her other book, The Spiral Dance, was for. However, if you are somewhat well-versed in the practice of the Craft, and are looking for ideas for group work, this is a fabulous book. Written by a master of coven work, Truth or Dare takes bold, assertive steps in showing the reader how to form consciousness-raising groups, lead meditations, and organize spiritual groups, and is full of feminist poetry (with a beautiful retelling of the descent of Innana), trance work, stories of spiritual/political activism, and plenty of inspiration for your own work. Again, to get the most out of this book, it's best to be at least at the intermediate level. And, if you're looking to start a group, but don't quite know how, this is a great book to start with.

This book is an excellent resource for group facilitation -- it's been invaluable to me in the groups I work with. There is a wealth of information on group dynamics, dealing with conflict, structure and group agreements, interspersed with Middle Eastern myth and some beautiful poetry. As you might expect, Starhawk has included many exercises and questions to work through with your group -- helping you build the kind of group that will be nourishing and effective. This is a book I find in the library of many successful priestesses -- it makes a great companion to Amber K's "Covencraft" and Judy Harrow's "Wicca Covens." Still, if I had to have only one of the three, it would be this book, hands down.

This book is astoundingly insightful. Starhawk uses the knowledge she has gained from years as a therapist, activist and Witch to describe the tools and processes by which we can all free ourselves from the Self-Hater. The Self-Hater is that part of your psyche that does our oppressors' job for them. With the tools (rituals, meditations, etc) provided here we finally have a coherent and workable system for exorcising the demons that 5,000 years of androcratic tyranny. Goddess Bless Starhawk!

Starhawk is a genuine vestige of the true spirit of positive revolution which inspired all humanity from survivors of war/atrocity to the sixties peace movement. She is bold in her stance to keep the great and often misunderstood mystery religion of female spirituality (including witchcraft) alive and kicking in these times of neo-dark ages. Truth or Dare should have been a bestseller due to its academic account of history from pre-civilization to Sumer in Mesopomotamia. This book offers comfort for those who are faced with the conscious decision to care about, fight against, and remain insightful of impending global and other societal disasters. Starhawk offers great encouragement with her method of "liberation psychology". This book will always have a place on my shelf while I remain on my healing journey of self care and care of the world.

This breathtaking book is essential reading for anyone interested in dismantling the patriarchy, healing the earth, linking radical politics with spirituality and liberating themselves from domination. It is an empowering text that will inspire you to change your life and to change your world.

Truth or Dare is about the roles we play that society places us in. This is constraining to men as it is to women. There are journal writing exercises and rituals designed to help you break from the roles that are given to us and take on powerful roles of our choosing. It is a very challenging and interesting process.

If you aren't into self-examination, this book isn't for you. However, if you are into discovering what makes you tick, and discovering how to make powerful changes in yourself, this book is for you. Like most Craft books, unless you're willing to do the exercises, it won't do you any good. This is not a good first book on Wicca. Spiral Dance is, in fact if I ran a coven it would be on my must-read-to-join list. This book is also not helpful for people who haven't done a lot of group work, because it asks you to examine your place within your coven/circle etc.

So in conclusion, if you aren't sure you want to really make changes in your life or spend a lot of time working on your spiritual path, this book will sit on your shelf and collect dust. However, if you are ready to do some real magick on yourself, this book is a powerful tool for change.

Starhawk (born Miriam Simos in 1951) is an American writer and anarchist activist, well-known for her work in Wicca (e.g., the "Reclaiming" Collective in San Francisco) and ecofeminism. She is a columnist for Beliefnet.com and "On Faith" (the Newsweek/Washington Post online forum). She has also written books such as The Spiral Dance (A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess, Rituals: Invocations, Exercises, Magic), Dreaming the Dark, Truth or Dare: Encounters with Power, Authority, and Mystery, The Fifth Sacred Thing, Walking to Mercury, etc.

Here are some quotations from the book:

"I call myself a Witch even though I am fully aware that the word often produces fear. Until we confront the fears and stereotypes evoked by the word, we cannot contact the powers that are also embedded there." (Pg. 8)
"We do not say, as do some fashionable New Age philosophies, that we create our own reality. Such an idea can only conceivably make sense for white, upper-middle-class Americans, and then only some of the time." (Pg. 24)
"The Goddesses and Gods are real forces: if you call them, they will come and rearrange the patterns of your life." (Pg. 106)
"Many years ago, in a pessimistic mood, I formulated what I call Starhawk's Three Laws of Small Groups: 1. In any small group in which people are involved sexually, sooner or later there will be problems. 2. In any small group in which people are involved, sooner or later they will be involved sexually. 3. Small groups tend to break up. Today, in a happier era, I can add a Fourth Law: 4. If a group can survive one breakup, subsequent conflicts between lovers will be less threatening. When the group has survived several affairs, members of the group will feel very safe, and bonds of trust will deepen." (Pg. 153)
"But a time came---no one knows how or why---when in some places the people turned away from the Goddess. Men ruled over women, and over other men... they took the old magic and twisted it to give them power over others." (Pg. 310)
"As a woman, a Jew, a white-skinned person, an out-of-the-broom-closet Witch, a bisexual, a highly educated person who has experienced varying economic circumstances, I feel I know something about both prejudice and privilege." (Pg. 320)

this is a really good book for covens and people that want to make a difference in the world. it emphasises on teamwork. it showes how each one of us needs to change the world. it can become dull,but still a good read.

Despite this woman's verbosity, the crux of the matter is that this woman's methods DO NOT WORK. I was rather impressed by the literary quality of her writings, (at the beginning, but they seem to get worse and worse as time goes on), but looking back at some of the most famous rituals this woman has made, they have all been a complete failure!
One of the most famous ones, was the time when she gathered a mob in order to stop the construction of a nuclear plant over the San Andres fault, and got arrested over it, then she organized another ritual, in jail! yet despite the number of people she involved in it, the plant was constructed, and its still there!(Now another question is, Is it ethical to teach the rudiments of ritual magick to inmates?)
In this book, she talks about what she calls structures of power over, in which a group, or individual tries to force you to act according to their interests,(which she condemns) and presents a number of techniques to help the reader deal with this situation,and exersice what she calls "power from within" yet I have just learned I have been under psychic attack by this woman and her group, who have been "bullying" me for a number of years!(They basically admited to it).I have no idea why they are doing that! It appears to me this woman says one thing but acts in a very different way!
I believe every person should be free to practice any religion they choose to practice, neither my grandmother(she was also a witch) or me need Ms. Starhawks permission to practice the occult arts,particularly since we DO NOT PRACTICED FOR PROFIT and have done it in the privacy of our own homes. My experience with Ms Starhawk and her books, groups, etc, has not been one of spiritual or mental growth but rather the opposite! If this happened to me, it could happen to anyone!

Truth or Dare is more of a prejudicial feminist hate piece about men than it is about Wicca or paganism. For example, chapter 2 provides us with feminist revisionist history, with a catch. Starhawk goes on about how ancient men were conscripted into armies and dehumanized or killed, and then concludes with "and that's how women have been oppressed by patriarchy. I read that chapter conclusion and said "huh?" what did I just read. There is nothing in the chapter to support her prejudicial conclusion, in fact the reverse is supported. Every chapter seems to out-prejudice the preceding one. The text is deceptive. It seems to be positive but has an undercurrent of misandry. After each chapter I found that I was angry at the misandry I had read and would take a week to cool down before trying to read the next chapter. After 5 or 6 chapters I figured out that I really didn't like it on a deep emotional basis and stopped reading. Men hating feminist pagans all love it because it supports and encourages their misandry.