Wicca 404: Advanced Goddess Thealogy [Paperback]

Esra Free (Author), Cosmic Goddess Coven (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 19, 2007

magic, magick, witchcraft, witchcraft theology, wicca, wiccan, thealogy, goddess, goddess theology, goddess magick, goddess religion, wicca religion, wicca 101, pagan, paganism, neopagan, neo-pagan, neopaganism, neo-paganism, serious wicca, real witchcraf

Editorial Reviews

Review

A much-needed book right now... Free sounds a call for us to "get serious" about true study in our faith, for internal consistency to our system of belief. It's a call worth answering. -- Blackhawk, Dragon's Weave Wicca Blog(www.dragonsweave.com), September 1, 2006

Ersa Free may not speak for all Wiccans, and some may not fully agree with her, but she seems to be one of the few Wiccan authors to really look deep into theology and her perspective is well thought out and makes a lot of sense. If a writer was going to convince me to become a witch it would be her. -- Jared Blackburn, Lulu.com Book Review

I recommend Wicca 404 to anyone who wants to deepen their connection to the Goddess, and for anyone who has already mastered the basics and is looking for more... The writing is mature and intelligent; a few times I had to just put it down and really THINK on some of the points--not because the content was beyond my reach, but because I couldn't get over how "deep" her thought process dove! -- Laureldarkmoon, www.goldentreewands.com

From the Back Cover

Our ancient ancestors did not share our modern understanding of cosmology, as evidenced by the tendency of pretty much every pre-science religion on Earth, pagan or otherwise, to locate this one tiny planet at the center of physical reality, where it surely appears to be to earthbound humans observing the circular movements of stars in the night sky, rather than where we now objectively know it to reside - on the insignificant edge of a minor galaxy nowhere near the center of anything.

Any religion that hopes to maintain its relevance in the age of quantum physics and the Hubbell Space Telescope must be able to offer meaningful spiritual insight into the real grandeur of our universe, on the smallest and largest scales, as it is revealed by modern science, as well as of the Earth's place in that grand universe, and of Humanity's role - not only in the life of the Earth, but also in that of the real physical Heavens the Earth inhabits, and of everything existing between Heaven and Earth as well. Such a religion must be flexible enough to incorporate new discoveries about Humanity, the Earth and the universe into its beliefs without surrendering its credibility, to welcome new scientific discoveries as puzzle pieces to be fit into a continuing revelation of an infinite spiritual truth.

I believe that Wicca is the one religion on Earth most uniquely equipped to face this challenge of modernity, for, in spite of even well-intentioned misrepresentations, Wicca is not now, nor has it ever been, solely an "Earth Religion." Wicca is a religion that is centered in and reveres Nature - whether that Nature be expressed in the teeming life and wind and water of our planet's biosphere, in the nuclear processes that energize our sun, or in the swirling push and pull of gravity that spins our, and every other, galaxy into being.

Wicca acknowledges that there is only one Nature, and it is everywhere...

Product Details

• Paperback: 104 pages
• Publisher: LULU (March 19, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1430317728
• ISBN-13: 978-1430317722
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #876,396 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Religion & Spirituality > Earth-Based Religions > Witchcraft
  • #49 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Religion & Spirituality > Earth-Based Religions > Wicca

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth the read, September 20, 2007

By 

D. Marshall "A Reviewer" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wicca 404: Advanced Goddess Thealogy (Paperback)

Over and over again, I've seen books advertised as "advanced" when they are really just rehasments of Wicca 101 whose topics the author simply views from a different angle. Wicca 404 is an advanced book and I don't recommend it for new students. Get well-grounded in basic Wicca before reading this work because there are many places in this work that the author makes sweeping statements about Wicca and Wiccans, which aren't necessarily true. A reader needs to have a solid foundation in order to see where this occurs and to realize the statement isn't necessarily true.
That said, the author is a woman after my own heart. She sees Wicca becoming more and more trivalized and diluted by authors simply out to make a buck off the religion and don't care that what they are publishing is crap. As an HPS who has also seen this and is saddened by it, I truly appreciate and applaud Ms. Free for her hard work and dedication to the faith. Clearly, she has great insights and articulates them well in her work and that is why I've given this book 5 stars. Despite my crictisms of the book below, I highly recommend it to anyone who considers themselves very well grounded in the basics. It is worthy of a place on your bookshelf.
Now for the criticisms, given the title of the work I was expecting feminist leanings inside, but not to the degree I found them.
Chapter 6-"The God Problem" nearly caused my head to explode. Basically, the author states that the Earth as been in a state of what she refers to as "animus possessed" to the point that even the Pagan Deities have become corrupted and tainted to the point that working with Them is virutally impossible so, while we should acknowledge that the Great God of Wicca exists, we shouldn't make any real attempts to work with Him or get to know Him. Hog-wash! That, to me, is a cop-out to avoid the hard work that it may take to get to know Him in all His forms other than what are commonly found in our cultures. Admittedly, I had a hard time working with the Horned One when I first stepped on this path, but with persistance and hardwork I got passed the concepts of God commonly found today and got to know the Horned One in many of His forms. He wants to be known and to let us know He is more that Adonai, Jesus or Allah. He wants to be known "in His fullness" just as much as the Goddess wants to be known in Hers. If the author doesn't feel comfortable working with the God then she shouldn't, but she makes a terrible error in telling others not to do so as well.
This stance also becomes rather confusing when Ms. Free states in the Introduction that her view of Wiccan Thealogy is based on experience, testing, observation, and was developed by "siphoning out what worked and jettisoning the rest". This leads me to ask how one can observe/experience life then completely jettison the masculine aspect of the Divine and still have anything that contains a realistic view of life as we know it, and it's processes.
In Chapters 2 and 3 she also gives the reader the impression that Wicca and Wiccans, wholesale, take a pantheist view of the Divine with no aspect being seen as transcendent only "hard to known in Her complete fullness". Personally, I'm a Wiccan who is an panentheist.
Finally, the last chapter about the Wiccan Rede, while very well written, could have been longer and more indepth.
That said, and to her credit, Ms. Free does use the phrase "My Wicca" numerous times in the Introduction, and the reader needs to take that phrase to heart because this is, very much, Ms. Free's interpretation of Wicca.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An earnest effort, but..., February 23, 2008

By 

MSJ "Midnight Reader" (Down South) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wicca 404: Advanced Goddess Thealogy (Paperback)

Let me start with the good: Ms. Free is right on in her criticism of the dearth of advanced Wiccan theology books available (or as she terms it, thealogy). I share her frustration with the fixation of publishers who seem bent on promoting a spell-a-day mentality with little attention paid to the deeper aspects of Wiccan spirituality. There are far too many books out there that claim to explore the more advanced aspects of Wicca, but are in reality just a re-hashing of the same old very basic material. After while, it leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. I also happen to agree with the author's opinion that Wicca must be relevant to today's world, the world of the year 2008, not just an escapist exercise of romanticizing the past. So, big kudos to Ms. Free for addressing both of these very important issues. Also, I did not find, contrary to a few statements by other reviewers, that this book is particularly hard to read.

And that is about where my love affair with this book ends. The problem is that although the authors states at the beginning of the book that this is her understanding of how things work, the actual material itself comes across as an authoritative source of how all Wiccans perceive Deity and the metaphysical workings of the universe. There are far, far too few statements such as: "I believe..." "In MY coven, we believe that..." "This is MY understanding of the Goddess/God..." "It is MY belief that..." As one reviewer has already stated, you need to apply a substantial ego-filter to this book. And even then, you may find, as I did, that you are in serious disagreement with much of the metaphysical conclusions reached by Ms. Free.

Were I in a teaching situation in a coven, I might present this book as ONE view of the spiritual workings of Wicca, but certainly not the only view, and certainly not as an authoritative voice for all Wiccans. I cannot recommend this book for a solitary neophyte, who might mistakenly think that this is how *all* Wiccans perceive things.

Still, I give this book 2 stars for the earnest effort. It is a big step in the right direction, one that I will hope will spur other Elders in the community to truly address the deeper issues. A person just beginning to explore Wicca may find the leap from a monotheistic, patriarchal religious tradition to Paganism bewildering at times. As it stands, Wicca is creating its own spiritual void by leaving newcomers to the religion without meaningful spiritual guidance.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required Reading for Every Serious Wiccan, May 16, 2007

By 

Shawna Graywolf (St. Paul, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wicca 404: Advanced Goddess Thealogy (Paperback)

I bought this book on a whim, because it's cheap (I had another pricier book in my cart, and just wanted to reach the $25 free shipping threshold,) and because I liked the "spacey" cover. Admittedly, I had the shallowest of motives and no real expectations. Imagine my surprise when this small book by what was to me an unknown author entirely transformed my understanding of the Wiccan religion, my personal relationship with the Goddess, and the direction and meaning of my spiritual path.

For Esra Free, the Wiccan religion is not a fashion statement, a New Age spiritual fad, or some kind of psycho-social "safe haven" for teenaged misfits from Traditional religions or mainstream culture (which, you have to admit, is how the Media usually portrays us to the larger society). Free's experience of Wicca is richly and wildly beyond all that, in equal parts intellectually stimulating and emotionally profound, simultaneously grounded in the Earth and inclusive (literally) of the stars. This is Wicca as real religion for real people, theologically on par with every other World Faith, yet still deeply personal and powerfully eclectic. In what amounts to a very few words (the book is only 104 pages long!), Free manages to reconcile Theology (TheAlogy, actually, being the feminine form of the word as used in Wicca 404), science, magick, and perhaps most importantly, to my mind, anyway, the real "nuts and bolts" of life's meaning, of why we're here and what we're supposed to be doing with our lives, not just as Wiccans, but as human beings. In the thealogy of Wicca 404, the Earth is physically and spiritually alive (Gaia), with Her own path to walk and spiritual evolution to pursue - a task in which She needs our help. We are integral to Her spiritual success, just as She is to our own. This is such heady stuff that I hesitate to give too much away in a review - I hate "spoilers," so I won't ruin the wonder for other. Just read Wicca 404 for yourselves!

If I have one complaint, it is that the book is too short. I would have loved to have stayed in Esra Free's universe for a lot longer than the few hours it took to read this book from cover to cover, though I'm willing to bet that more will be forthcoming from Ms. Free and her "Cosmic Goddess Coven." I look forward to further installments. Part of Wicca 404 is a lengthy interview with Free taken from the pages of The Wiccan/Pagan Times, a small but reputable on-line Pagan publication. This theory/interview format worked well for me, balancing the at times challenging intellectual structure of the opening chapters with a fresh, personal and entertaining audience with the real flesh and blood woman behind the Thealogy. I was relieved to find all of my questions from reading the first half of the book (and then some!) answered in the interview. I wish the book was longer, but I have to admit that, after reading just the 104 pages provided, I honestly feel like I know this author and understand her ideas. She said everything she needed to say, then stopped, without adding a lot of fluff and filler. I appreciate that!

WARNING: This is NOT a book for beginners. If you are just launching your exploration of Wicca/Paganism, start with the basics (I recommend Starhawk's "The Spiral Dance"). In Wicca 404, Esra Free assumes the reader's familiarity with basic Wiccan and magickal concepts, and takes off from there. She opens the book with these words:

"The book you now hold in your hands contains no spells, no
rituals, and not one word about the Wheel of the Year or ritual
tools. This is not just one more in the seemingly endless stream
of "Wicca 101" books recycling one more time all the basic lore
and "do-it-yourself" ritual design and spellcrafting hints you've
already read a thousand times..."

Then she keeps her promise. There is exactly ZERO rehashing of the basics to be found here. If you are an accomplished 101 level witch seeking "higher instruction," I guarantee that you'll find darned near every concept in Wicca 404 to be new and exciting. If you don't yet know the basics, you'll be lost. Be warned!

If this were an expensive book, I would still insist that it deserves a place on the "required reading list" of every Wiccan/Pagan out there who cares about advancing beyond the Ravenwolf/LLewellyn "Wicca 101"" beginner's level of spiritual/magickal development. That it is bargain-priced makes NOT reading this book an act of indefensible spiritual denial. I give it an unhesitating five star rating.