Customer Reviews

Witches: True Encounters with Wicca, Wizards, Covens, Cults and Magick

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

 

 

I remember Hans Holzer from the 70's, as THE "Ghost Hunter" and his association with Sybil Leek. He was into ESP and psychic experiences and he wrote many books which I explored at that time. I do remember his stories about ghosts and approached this book with an open mind.

I am surprised at this book. There is so much information in here that is just wrong and some of his sources are questionable.
While there are a few groups and names that are easily recognizable, he does not interview those but merely mentions them. Those individuals that he does interview are very new to the path. Some of the covens he interviews are not very well known and those that are have very dated interviews.

His information, like Wicca being an "ancient religion" is inaccurate (actually founded by Gerald Gardner in the 1930's/40's), he does not differentiate between Wicca and witchcraft. He calls Ms. MorningGlory Zell "Mountain Glory", and a picture of Yvonne Frost is labeled "Alice Frost". Typos abound showing very poor proofreading. There is no bibliography, no references to where he found his material. This is just his personal experiences, beliefs and pictures.

Photos are misleading. There are photos of him and Sybil Leek but they do not relate to the material being discussed other than to mention a remembrance or two. Many of the photos are out of focus.

A lot of the material is from the 1970's. He tells the stories as he remembers events and interviews from that time period. Very little, if anything, is updated to today's current pagan community. What we read is a vignette of what the craft was like in its early years but not what it has evolved into today.

Some of his memories of people like Tim Zell (Oberon Zell Ravenheart) and Dr. Leo Martello and the Frosts are interesting. His coverage of the "Witch Wars" of the 1970's is an interesting viewpoint from a different perspective. There is some truth to the events that occurred but there is some omitted information or he just didn't get the entire story.

He includes rituals from some groups he practiced with back then, and this becomes so much filler to beef up the book. It is interesting if you are looking for older reference materials. He also goes into "Satanism" and again, while it may be interesting to the curious, it has nothing to do with "witches" and should have been done in a book separate from this book.

All in all, the book lacks authenticity, is not factual or current and has interest only from the standpoint of the author himself.

Reviewed by Poke Runyon

This book is large (8.5x11"), heavy, thick (670 pages), black and intimidating. The dust jacket screams "Witches" in inch-and-half high type garnished with a flaming red pentagram; just the thing to leave on your coffee table when your Christian maiden aunt pays a call (obviously shock value is part of the publisher's marketing strategy). However, if we can get past the book's appearance and take an unbiased look at the contents we will find a treasure trove of modern Pagan, Wiccan, and Magical history going back forty years (and in some instances brought up to date). Professor Holzer might be called the Herodotus of modern witchcraft. He reports on what he has observed first-hand, and gleaned from interviews, among the several personalities and groups he has visited over a period spanning four decades; and all this graphically documented by nearly a hundred photographs. He writes for the general reader, avoiding academic technicalities. His viewpoint is empathetic, in pleasant contrast to the expose journalism so often associated with this subject matter. He does not attempt to write a comprehensive history of the modern Pagan/Magical revival--but, when such a history is written, Holzer's contributions will figure prominently in its corpus.

I'm at a toss with this book. It's big, it's black, and it boasts of "true encounters with Wicca" and so on.

While this book is written from the perspective that Witchcraft isn't a bad religion, in the first 100 pages, it feel into some might deep stereotyping.

A couple examples:

* In the history section, the author declares firmly that practitioners of the old religion long ago did not worship the Devil. That they, in fact, worshipped one god (a goddess, really), known only as The Moon Goddess. He's not talking about the modern practices, but those that took place during the Witch Hunts.

* He states that the practitioners are all young and beautiful. On another page, he says that most of the practitioners are those born ("Natural Witches") or are young. And the only reason the youth are interested is because the "wild dancing and frolicking" of the Sabbats are like those one would find at a rave where they would take drugs.

He plugs his other books a lot and I'm wondering if a lot of his material for this book wasn't left over from his others. (He was a prolific writing in the 60's and 70's.) Most of his examples come from that time.

While some of the chants and that are good, over-all, this book is dry and boring and not worth the $30 to buy it. If one finds in cheep, I'd still not suggest it.

I am a big fan of Han Holzer. The fact is I have been for more than twenty years. Unfortunately, although "Witches (True Encounters...)" promises much, it fails to deliver on many points. The first shortcoming is that Holzer's research abruptly ends in the mid-1970's. It should be pointed out to the prospective reader that this book is comprised of many older articles by Holzer. The salient issues he pursues with investigative reporting zeal do not go into any depth and leave the reader with more questions than answers. My favorite part of the book is Holzer's investigation and interview with Carrol "Poke" Runyon's group The Order of The Temple of Astarte (OTA), a sect that revived and actively practices Western Solomonic Ceremonial Magick. Holzer also leaves the reader with an inaccurate history of and parallels to paganism, witchcraft, and satanism.

With all of that said I am not being hypocritical by stating that this volume is a keystone of paranormal research and was compiled when this area of understanding was by most comparisons in its infancy. This book would be a great resource for those neophytes starting their paranormal/comparative religious studies. Huge at 672 pages (in true Holzer style) and complete with many photographs and transcripts of rites I must acknowledge this work as a seminal source of information and rate it at five stars plus.

JP

The main problem I have with this book is that it seems to have been primarily written in the 1970's, and then updated to include a LITTLE 21st century (year 2000 and later) culture and Witchcraft information. Consequently, the book is and feels rather outdated, its tone is unsophisticated and sometimes quite silly, compared to the erudition, sincerity, psychological and spiritual astuteness and real thoughtfulness that at the present time can be found in Pagan and Witchcraft communities, and in many people whose interest in Witchcraft comes from a more meaningful place than simply the desire to shock or stick it to their parents, friends, communities.

The second problem I have with this book is that the author lacks critical and intellectual skill, and so there is a feel of a complete lack of organization, where whatever any one person says about Witchcraft is taken as of equal value with whatever any other person says, regardless of what we would nowadays call the degree of "fluffbunny" of the speaker, meaning their ditziness. Together with a certain 1970's fetishizing of Witchcraft, the result is the kind of presentation on Witchcraft one might expect to find in the Reader's Digest, or Newsweek magazine. Then too, one of the author's positions towards various Witchcraft and Magical groups, was that he wanted to get initiated into as many of them as he could. This kind of overt dilettantism, shallowness, disrespect and insincerity may have been acceptable in the loose 1970's, but it isn't today, and most covens or Magical orders would deliver this author a kind slap on the wrist and send him packing if they realized he was just out to "collect" initiations.

Most of the photos in the book appear to be from 30 to 40 or even 50 years ago. Author commentary and interviews that would appear to be conducted at the present time, are 30 to 40 years old. Sybil LEek is shown looking middle aged: she died at age 65 in 1982. Fred Adams, who founded Feraferia, is shown in many photos as a middle aged man: he died in 2008 at age 80. The author relates what appear to be present-time conversations with Alex Sanders, who died in 1988. Raymond Buckland is described as "young and fairly handsome": Buckland is at the present time a 77 year old man. The book has a chapter called "The War of the Witches", and it will perhaps strike the reader as quaint or bizarre to find that a whole chapter has been dedicated to detailing the exchange of written correspondences in egotistic squabble that occurred in the 1970's. One of the principal combatants in that squabble is referred to by his birth name, Tim Zell, which is NOT the name he is presently known by in Pagan circles: he goes by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart.

If you want details on some of the goings on in Witchcraft in the 1960's or 1970's, or a taste of what some of the covens were like then, this book may give you some help with that. The many highly imaginative prayers, invocations and rites by Lady Svetlana of Feraferia which are included will give a good taste of the "loose" 1970's when if what you said was beautiful and poetic, you weren't expected to make any sense. But as far as giving any meaningful impression or view on present-day Witchcraft practices, politics, beliefs, views or organizations, this is not the book to turn to.

This is a good book to add to a collection to those interested in Wicca. Be aware that it should not substitute for a "correspondence course in witchcraft." There is such a thing as too much information, and no knowledge how to properly use it. Kids order this stuff, and think it's cute as a game. One needs to know that reading a book, does not a witch make. It is as if I read all the Tom Clancy books, and now think I know how the CIA and Government Intelligence work. He is a smart guy, but he thinks his info is correct but no one else can be credible.

He was a ghost hunter first and foremost. And a really great one!!

Hans Holzer's "Witches" covers a lot more than its' title would imply. It is easy to read, despite the formidable size of the book. Features his personal experiences of joining various Wiccan and Magickal groups, even one with a Faery theme. There are a several details which he got wrong - not crucial, but some have complained. Further, there are a number of actively public groups he seems unaware of. It is still a valuable contribution, and his personal descriptions of the groups and their members make it a unique overview. Many excellent photos help to clarify the subject. Highly recommended.

i had been looking for this book for several years.i could only find it
in paperback.the bookstores where i shop had pulled it from their shelves
before i was able to buy it.i am really glad i looked on amazon and found
it.i will definantly shop here again if i cannot find what i am looking
for anywhere else.

this book was written as if it were never edited. it is very disorganized. Although the chapters titles are enticing the actual content is superfluous and trite. There is no depth and the content doesn't even match the chapter titles. Most of the content is focused on a person(s) or specific group that this author had met and his impressions of them. It doesn't address specifically the topic of the chapter title.
Also the author frequently in the first few chapters refers to another book that he wrote numerous times hense misusing the book for an infomercial of a previously written book. The author also overemphasized the issue of nudity and continuously attempted to downplay nudity and sexuality to the point of making it an issue. He gives the reader the sense that he is a dirty old man that continually obsesses over the practice of nudity and sexuality in the wicca to the point that instead of seeing it as a natural no big deal thing, he makes it a big deal.
Also, the material is outdated and outmoded. This book was very difficult to plow through. It was BORING.

Witches: True Encounters With Wicca, Wizards, Covens, Cults, and Magic is a hefty book that at over 600 pages packs quite a bit of information in its pages. The book is largely true to its name covering a plethora of subjects in different chapters. In fact, Hans Holzer often deviates from a strict discussion of witches into realms such as Satan, ancient Greece, the Celts, poltergeist and the like. Oddly enough the bulk of the material chronicles events and persons from the 60's and the 70's. Apparently, while the tome is a recent publication, the book was written in the mid-70's and given a cursory update and then shipped for printing in 2002. The book, consequently, comes occasionally across as dated by thirty years. Regardless of that matter, Witches... easily features lots of interesting information.

Holzer's bias for paganism and Wicca becomes apparent early in the book. He is clearly sold on the notion and often allows the bias to seep into the narrative. Still, Witches... steers clear of commercial sensationalism and aggrandization and is a good entree into the topic. Nonetheless, one can still encounter many grammatical and factual mistakes, as well as over-simplifications. The coming to the fore of the 'devil' on page 25 is a good example. Naturally, and often, non-mainstream ideas simply make too much sense for most and are difficult for the average person to fathom. Holzer tries hard to re-introduce witchcraft and 'the old religion' as a sane choice that is crudely ostracized by Joe public. It is not surprising then that Holzer dissects Christianity in addition to alternative religions. It is surprising that the chapter on how to become a witch is giving short shift and comes up with very few details. Moreover, in order to make his topic more palatable, Holzer gives the accounts of different contemporary witches and gives great space to demystifying the craft. It is here that the author gives the occasional rare and valuable glimpse into the world of witchcraft and paganism. Nevertheless, when discussing the dark arts the author himself manages to display much prejudice and ignorance while trying to distinguish between witchcraft and Satanism. Even this book's notion of Satanism is Christian and dated. Given the book's main thrust that witches and pagans are not to be feared and are more 'good' than 'bad', the book's early mentions of Satanism are annoying at best. Having said that, and towards the end of the book, the subject matter is treated in a more conciliatory fashion. It is possible that those chapters were written several years later and signal an evolution in the author's thinking.

It is also worth mentioning that this book would have been a much better read had the author refrained from his constant self-referential self-promotion. Safe to say he has written many books, stayed at many expensive hotels and met many witches who happen to be both beautiful and blonde. Holzer would have done better had he left out the autobiographical and devoted the space instead to the topic at hand.

Vanity aside, Witches: True Encounters With Wicca, Wizards, Covens, Cults, and Magic is a comprehensive book that is better recommended to the initiate than the insider.