The Triumph of the Moon, by Hutton,
Hutton is a British historian who has spent 10 years or so researching pagan history. He recent book deals with the social and cultural forces that led to the emergence of Wicca in the middle of the 20th century. He then chronicles the major trends in Wicca in the last half of the 20th century. In one chapter he discusses the Starhawk/Budapest feminist California liberal misandrist turn that paganism took in the 1980s. Hutton describes how their badly misandrist and overly emotional writing lacked any scholarly credibility, but nevertheless had a major impact of Wicca and paganism in general for two decades. With publication of Hutton's book and others we are finally beginning to see some signs of returning to a more balanced pagan literature.
His history is incomplete however, and he makes some of the same mistakes and assertions that he criticizes others for making. For example in the first half of the book Hutton extensively details literary references to witches and claims about historic roots. Many pages are each devoted to Margaret Murray and others. Then toward the end he waives off all of that in a page or two by simply asserting that it has been disproved. He provides nothing close to supporting data to demonstrate that claim. A few years ago I attended a workshop by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowikci (21 books and other publications listed on Amazon) where she described in detail her study of an actual pagan village that kept itself hidden since the Norman invasion, and which had written records of village life since that time. According to Nowicki the village was finally over run by urban sprawl in 1990 but most of the residents have relocated to a new hidden village that still follows pre-christian pagan traditions. Nowicki says that her mother was born in the pagan village. Either Nowicki was lying to everyone who has attended her workshops describing the pagan village, or Hutton's scholarship that "disproved" the survival of actual pagan villages is sadly lacking. I have also researched or become aware of several other pieces of information that leads me to believe 1) that some of the historical witch trials and hangings were in fact people whom modern pagans would recognize as pagan witches, and 2) that some family tradition witches were actually surviving pagan witches. Hutton asserts that all claims to any pagan survival have been disproved, and in fact are not possible, but he offers no proof and provides no data. A widely published author, Initiate Wiccan HPS, and leader of a Ceremonial Magick society in the UK such as Ashcroft-Nowicki cannot be waived off by assertion without some evidence that her claims are false. My own family admitted to being witches at the Salem trials, but their stories have been deleted from current histories rather than researched and discounted. You won't find their names on lists of witch trial victims published in the last half century. Today's historians would rather claim that all the witch trial victims were really Christians. That's not scholorship, that's just avoiding the disagreable facts.
On the positive side Hutton does provide a lot of information about Gardner and subsequent Wiccan history. His observations about the state of Wicca today are interesting. I was especially fascinated by the discussion trying to fit Wicca into anyone's scholarly classification system for religions and religious branches. Wicca, it seems, doesn't fit any classification system and religious scholars don't know what even to call it. I would recommend the book to all Wiccans and interested parties, but keep in mind that it's not the last word on a lack of pagan roots.
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There is a newer edition of this item:
The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft
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Only 8 left in stock - order soon.
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Top reviews from other countries
Lydia
Incomplete,selective with constructed omissions
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 9, 2013Old Nick
British Wicca owes everything to Gerald Gardner
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 27, 2016Jean Shorney
A well written book. Possibly
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 18, 2019Heathcliff
Great Book (shame about the print)
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 20, 2012
