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Title: Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess Worshipers, and Other Pagans in America Today
Author: Margot Adler
Published: New York: Penguin, 1997 (1979, revised 1986)
Page Count: 584
Total Page Count: 30,577
Text Number: 88
Read For: general Paganism research, borrowed from the Reed College library
Short review: Drawing Down the Moon is an introduction to the Wicca and Paganism movement circa 1979, the book's original publishing date. As some time has passed since then, the book is now heavily dated. It functions best as a history text, outlining the conception of Wicca and various Pagan religions and creating a snapshot of these religions as they were in the late 70s. The 1986 revision of the book briefly explain the ways in which things have changed in the intervening ten years, therefore emphasizing the book's historical nature. Alder discusses the general nature of pagan/earth-based religions, the formation and primarily features of Wicca (including the role of feminism in Wicca in the 1970s), the formation and role of a few, smaller, non-Wiccan pagan religions (almost all of which are now defunct), and finally the interaction between Paganism and the "material plane." Outside of a few rituals in an appendix, the book contains no information about practicing Wicca, and as such it isn't a beginner's guide to the religion. The 1997 republication contains an updated resource guide (lists of communities and publications), but that guide is now out of date. The concise history of Wicca is readable and perhaps the most useful part of the book, followed up the book's function as a historical snapshot, capturing and explaining Wicca and Paganism at the time. This is primarily a research resource, not a guide to religious practice. Some readers may not find it useful as a result, but for what it is it serves its purpose fairly well.
( Long review. )
Review posted here at Amazon.com.
Author: Margot Adler
Published: New York: Penguin, 1997 (1979, revised 1986)
Page Count: 584
Total Page Count: 30,577
Text Number: 88
Read For: general Paganism research, borrowed from the Reed College library
Short review: Drawing Down the Moon is an introduction to the Wicca and Paganism movement circa 1979, the book's original publishing date. As some time has passed since then, the book is now heavily dated. It functions best as a history text, outlining the conception of Wicca and various Pagan religions and creating a snapshot of these religions as they were in the late 70s. The 1986 revision of the book briefly explain the ways in which things have changed in the intervening ten years, therefore emphasizing the book's historical nature. Alder discusses the general nature of pagan/earth-based religions, the formation and primarily features of Wicca (including the role of feminism in Wicca in the 1970s), the formation and role of a few, smaller, non-Wiccan pagan religions (almost all of which are now defunct), and finally the interaction between Paganism and the "material plane." Outside of a few rituals in an appendix, the book contains no information about practicing Wicca, and as such it isn't a beginner's guide to the religion. The 1997 republication contains an updated resource guide (lists of communities and publications), but that guide is now out of date. The concise history of Wicca is readable and perhaps the most useful part of the book, followed up the book's function as a historical snapshot, capturing and explaining Wicca and Paganism at the time. This is primarily a research resource, not a guide to religious practice. Some readers may not find it useful as a result, but for what it is it serves its purpose fairly well.
( Long review. )
Review posted here at Amazon.com.
