Buy this book with Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America by Margot Adler today!

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A Witches' Bible: The Complete Witches Handbook by Janet Farrar  (148)  $17.79

Elements Of Ritual: Air, Fire, Water & Earth in the Wiccan Circle by Deborah Lipp  (35)  $11.53

Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner (Includes Author's Book of Shadows) by Scott Cunningham  (456)  $10.36

The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Goddess: 20th Anniversary Edition by Starhawk  (140)  $11.56

The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy by Ronald Hutton  (22)  $30.40

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From Publishers Weekly
This spirited, amusing and immensely informative history of paganism in 19th- and 20th-century Britain centers on Wicca, the system of witchcraft Gerald B. Gardner introduced to a startled public in the 1950s. The book's first half takes the reader on a breakneck tour of Victorian and Edwardian culture, demonstrating that Wiccan belief and practice owe much to the scholars, novelists and poets who resurrected Pan and the Goddess, crafting romantic visions of a pre-Christian past. The second half proceeds at a more leisurely pace, detailing the development of British witchcraft over the past 50 years among Gardner's followers, critics and rivals. In this meticulously researched book, Hutton modestly demolishes myths perpetuated by both pagans and their hostile critics and maintains an attitude that is at once skeptical and ultimately sympathetic. He displays astounding breadth, with literary references ranging from Keats to Mary Daly, and peppers his work with insightful portraits of characters such as Madam Blavatsky, Aleister Crowley, D.H. Lawrence, Dion Fortune, Alex Sanders, Starhawk and the obscure 19th-century wonder-worker and wart-healer known as Cunning Murrell. In a field generally characterized by polemical or apologetic historiography, Hutton's exceptional work is by far the most scholarly, comprehensive and judicious analysis of the subject yet published. It will remain the standard for many years to come. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
`Hutton's professional expertise shows paganism in a new light' Katrina Dixon The Scotman, 24/02/01

`this work ... makes for excellent reading. Hutton's extensive scholarship allows him to make and clarify connections between people and movements in recent centuries.' Northern Earth, No.83.

See all Editorial Reviews

First Sentence:
THIS book is to be largely concerned with religion, a phenomenon which itself has never been defined in a manner wholly and universally acceptable to scholars concerned with it; indeed, the many practitioners and commentators who will feature in this present work themselves display a range of approaches to the problem. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
witch religion, dyn hysbys, pagan witchcraft, modern pagan witches, surviving pagan religion, early modern witch trials, early modern trials, cunning folk, operative magic, early modern witchcraft, feminist witchcraft, ritual magicians, witch rituals, cunning craft, rural myth, cunning people, modern paganism, cunning person, high magic, witch cult, modern witches, spoken history, horned god, pagan survivals, witch queen Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Golden Dawn, United Stat