Magical cultures like all communities encode expectations about gender. Women are witches; men are magicians. Women use receptive energy, men use active energy. Intuitive women embody the moon, focus on dreaming and enjoy making things, while intellectual men embody the sun, focus on accomplishment, and enjoy doing ritual. The essays in this book explode gender stereotypes and survey the spectrum of women's experiences in magic. Women are witches, but also ceremonial magicians, Satanists and sex magicians. Women dream, use intuition and make magical tools but they also argue, create ritual, and fiercely contest their right to achievement. In these essays, pregnancy is an occasion for analysis, alchemy exists in the lab and in the kitchen, desire is a path to self-knowledge, and gender itself is a door to the deep contemplation of the meaning of magic. In this book women's voices whisper their secret experiences, narrate lives of women magicians in the past, speak of the usual and the unusual, roar their triumphal discoveries, and sing the joy of life.
Women's Voices in Magic
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read this book several times after my copy arrived. I was very glad to see a range of women that had contributed. Some of the articles contributed are scholarly. Some are written from personal experience. "Are Ingredients Important" by Shellay Maughan and "The Bride of the Snake: A Brief Introduction to the Magic of Ithell Coloquhoun" by Amy Hale were as interesting to me as Grace Victoria Swan's "The Accidental Magician. The sections on culture bearers and the Left Hand Path were also intriguing.
I wish that more had contributed. I would have liked to see more essays to have a wider look at women in the magical community. I felt that it did well considering how difficult it can be to get people to talk or write about their work. The definition of "work" also can be different depending on the discussion.
I recommend this book to anyone that is feeling as if they are cut off from the community because of their circumstances. The work that the reader is doing is just as valid as any of the big names out there, and this book does a good job of showing that. It is my hope that this book encourages others to look at what they themselves are doing.
I would give this book 4.5 stars out of five. The only thing that knocks that half star off for me is that it is such a small book.
I wish that more had contributed. I would have liked to see more essays to have a wider look at women in the magical community. I felt that it did well considering how difficult it can be to get people to talk or write about their work. The definition of "work" also can be different depending on the discussion.
I recommend this book to anyone that is feeling as if they are cut off from the community because of their circumstances. The work that the reader is doing is just as valid as any of the big names out there, and this book does a good job of showing that. It is my hope that this book encourages others to look at what they themselves are doing.
I would give this book 4.5 stars out of five. The only thing that knocks that half star off for me is that it is such a small book.
4 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By G. T. Taylor
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
"Womens Voices in Magic: " is clearly intended as an exposition of the strong figures of some of the world's leading female occultists, past and present. It includes contributions from some of the women whose work it sets out to extoll. Caroline Tully, Amy Hale, and others present their work and, more importantly, their thoughts and insights for the first time in a single volume.
For such a strong premise, "Womens Voices," in the main, disappoints. The editor promises that the authors "whisper their secrets and roar their triumphs." There is very little of either. The opening editorial is best skipped altogether as it consists mostly of "politically correct" whining and excuse-making for behaviors that have little to do with occult practice. What content it does present consists of ideologically based interpretations of social behaviors with little or no fact or data to support them. "Women in a group tend to overlap conversation in a supportive manner," the editor asserts. Anyone who has actually listened to such a group converse will certainly observe the "overlapping" nature but will rarely find anything "supportive" about it. It usually appears to consists of a mixture of simply stepping on each others' toes, and often not-so-subtle infighting.
This reader would present a challenge to anyone who'd like to test this for themselves: Arrange such a get-together and secretly tape record it, while participating. Next, put the tape away for a month. At the end of thirty days, listen to it and attempt to make any sort of coherent sense of the conversation.
Equally absurd is her assertion that "men establish dominance" through group converse. Any man can tell you that the simplest and easiest way to make certain that everyone in a group is heard is to take turns. Let the person speaking say what they have to present, and then respond accordingly, This is not from any attempt to establish a "pecking order" but from the simple, common-sense standpoint that in order to be clearly heard, one must be allowed to deliver one's thoughts uninterrupted. It is simply a matter of collective, individual respect.
But neither the editorial, nor this response to it, have anything to with occult practice. They have to do with the field of sociology - that is group behavior - and occult accomplishments are those of the individual. The editor exhorts the reader to lay aside individuality and join in a "group overlap" where nobody gets anything done. The tenor of this editorial sets a very weak tone for an anthology that should be, in whole and in part, a paen to a series of strong and intelligent individuals.
First up, and by far and away the very best article in the book is Caroline Tully's offering on Florence Farr. Tightly and smoothly written, it delivers a surprise treasure. It is a masterpiece of "Devil's Advocacy" set to counterbalance an "occult sacred cow."
For those of us who don't know her, Mrs. Farr was head of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and a tireless worker in the service of womens education. She also billed herself as an "egyptologist," and this is where Tully, herself an archaeologist, turns "Devil's Advocate" and takes her to task. The Golden Dawn and later, Ordo Templi Orientis, relied heavily upon occult sources - encounters of the spirit - for their information about "egyptian magic." Following an occult fashionable convention left over from the late Renaissance, they held that all wisdom "came from Egypt." Thus, they looked at Egyptian Relics, performed various occult operations with them, and then presented their insights as "fact" rather than gnosis. To her dying day, Farr engaged in this practice and Tully notes that she, like her fellows, ignored the archaeological evidence that was even then coming to light, that refuted her insights. Thus Tully offers us two very important insights of her own:
Treating "spiritual insights" or even personal fabrications, as though they were "historical" facts remains one of the great stumbling blocks in the Western Consciousness. This perpetuation of fallacy was begun by established religion and has continued through mimicry in occult practice.
Treating any person, regardless of how accomplished, as a "sacred cow" and therefore immune to criticism only serves to perpetuate popular fallacy.
In this light, not only is Caroline Tully's offering the best written article in the anthology: It is, by far and away, the most important.
from
Amy Hale follows, with a less streamlined, but none the less interesting offering on Ithel Colquohon. While she does not take the "Devil's Advocate" stance with the daring of Caroline Tully, she presents us with an informative and enjoyable biographical sketch of her subject.
From this point, sadly, the authors begin to write in an increasingly rambling style that causes the book to descend from the sharp, intelligent concision of Tully and Hale, to tedium, to - in the ending articles - apparent pointlessness. A firmer editorial hand was certainly called for, with these writers, and sadly failed to materialize.
This anthology represents an important chronicle, both for its heights and for its failings. It deserves a thorough reading and a place among the important volumes on the bookshelf. However, to read it through an ideological lens, as the editor exhorts us, represents a serious blunder that will cause the reader to completely miss its value. Lumping "women" together in a mass does all concerned a grave disservice. To paraphrase Shaara in "The Killer Angels": "Anyone who judges people by the group is a peawit." These women, both those who contributed and those who were the subjects of compositions, deserve to have their work examined individually and in the light of strong individualism. Credit them where credit is due. Criticize where criticism is appropriate. But remember that occult work is the work of strong individuals, not collective herds. Give these individual women their just due.
For such a strong premise, "Womens Voices," in the main, disappoints. The editor promises that the authors "whisper their secrets and roar their triumphs." There is very little of either. The opening editorial is best skipped altogether as it consists mostly of "politically correct" whining and excuse-making for behaviors that have little to do with occult practice. What content it does present consists of ideologically based interpretations of social behaviors with little or no fact or data to support them. "Women in a group tend to overlap conversation in a supportive manner," the editor asserts. Anyone who has actually listened to such a group converse will certainly observe the "overlapping" nature but will rarely find anything "supportive" about it. It usually appears to consists of a mixture of simply stepping on each others' toes, and often not-so-subtle infighting.
This reader would present a challenge to anyone who'd like to test this for themselves: Arrange such a get-together and secretly tape record it, while participating. Next, put the tape away for a month. At the end of thirty days, listen to it and attempt to make any sort of coherent sense of the conversation.
Equally absurd is her assertion that "men establish dominance" through group converse. Any man can tell you that the simplest and easiest way to make certain that everyone in a group is heard is to take turns. Let the person speaking say what they have to present, and then respond accordingly, This is not from any attempt to establish a "pecking order" but from the simple, common-sense standpoint that in order to be clearly heard, one must be allowed to deliver one's thoughts uninterrupted. It is simply a matter of collective, individual respect.
But neither the editorial, nor this response to it, have anything to with occult practice. They have to do with the field of sociology - that is group behavior - and occult accomplishments are those of the individual. The editor exhorts the reader to lay aside individuality and join in a "group overlap" where nobody gets anything done. The tenor of this editorial sets a very weak tone for an anthology that should be, in whole and in part, a paen to a series of strong and intelligent individuals.
First up, and by far and away the very best article in the book is Caroline Tully's offering on Florence Farr. Tightly and smoothly written, it delivers a surprise treasure. It is a masterpiece of "Devil's Advocacy" set to counterbalance an "occult sacred cow."
For those of us who don't know her, Mrs. Farr was head of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and a tireless worker in the service of womens education. She also billed herself as an "egyptologist," and this is where Tully, herself an archaeologist, turns "Devil's Advocate" and takes her to task. The Golden Dawn and later, Ordo Templi Orientis, relied heavily upon occult sources - encounters of the spirit - for their information about "egyptian magic." Following an occult fashionable convention left over from the late Renaissance, they held that all wisdom "came from Egypt." Thus, they looked at Egyptian Relics, performed various occult operations with them, and then presented their insights as "fact" rather than gnosis. To her dying day, Farr engaged in this practice and Tully notes that she, like her fellows, ignored the archaeological evidence that was even then coming to light, that refuted her insights. Thus Tully offers us two very important insights of her own:
Treating "spiritual insights" or even personal fabrications, as though they were "historical" facts remains one of the great stumbling blocks in the Western Consciousness. This perpetuation of fallacy was begun by established religion and has continued through mimicry in occult practice.
Treating any person, regardless of how accomplished, as a "sacred cow" and therefore immune to criticism only serves to perpetuate popular fallacy.
In this light, not only is Caroline Tully's offering the best written article in the anthology: It is, by far and away, the most important.
from
Amy Hale follows, with a less streamlined, but none the less interesting offering on Ithel Colquohon. While she does not take the "Devil's Advocate" stance with the daring of Caroline Tully, she presents us with an informative and enjoyable biographical sketch of her subject.
From this point, sadly, the authors begin to write in an increasingly rambling style that causes the book to descend from the sharp, intelligent concision of Tully and Hale, to tedium, to - in the ending articles - apparent pointlessness. A firmer editorial hand was certainly called for, with these writers, and sadly failed to materialize.
This anthology represents an important chronicle, both for its heights and for its failings. It deserves a thorough reading and a place among the important volumes on the bookshelf. However, to read it through an ideological lens, as the editor exhorts us, represents a serious blunder that will cause the reader to completely miss its value. Lumping "women" together in a mass does all concerned a grave disservice. To paraphrase Shaara in "The Killer Angels": "Anyone who judges people by the group is a peawit." These women, both those who contributed and those who were the subjects of compositions, deserve to have their work examined individually and in the light of strong individualism. Credit them where credit is due. Criticize where criticism is appropriate. But remember that occult work is the work of strong individuals, not collective herds. Give these individual women their just due.
