A Tome without a Thesis
3 stars
This is my first Silver RavenWolf book and it was chosen basically at random. I have read mixed reviews of this author. Some criticisms are stylistic objections and can come across as somewhat sexist and ageist. Silver RavenWolf is a woman and a baby boomer, and she reads that way. Some people will like her cutesy style. For other people, it is going to grate on them enormously, and that's okay. Her style doesn't make her wrong.
Her random flashes of overly aggressive snark and plain incorrect statements, however, are wrong. In this particular book, though, the offenses are pretty small. There's no discussion of a debunked witch genocide of millions of people, and the negative claims about Christianity are pretty few in this book. She does clearly think that witchcraft/Wicca (which she uses interchangeably, much to the annoyance of some Wiccans) has a special insight into the nature of …
This is my first Silver RavenWolf book and it was chosen basically at random. I have read mixed reviews of this author. Some criticisms are stylistic objections and can come across as somewhat sexist and ageist. Silver RavenWolf is a woman and a baby boomer, and she reads that way. Some people will like her cutesy style. For other people, it is going to grate on them enormously, and that's okay. Her style doesn't make her wrong.
Her random flashes of overly aggressive snark and plain incorrect statements, however, are wrong. In this particular book, though, the offenses are pretty small. There's no discussion of a debunked witch genocide of millions of people, and the negative claims about Christianity are pretty few in this book. She does clearly think that witchcraft/Wicca (which she uses interchangeably, much to the annoyance of some Wiccans) has a special insight into the nature of the universe that no others have, but it sounds like it is more pronounced in other books.
Her style didn't bother me except for a few points when it came across as smug. At one point, for example she describes a person with a "Blessed Be" bumper sticker on their Volvo at a fast food restaurant as someone who is clearly not serious about The Craft. I think it was meant to be funny, but I'm left here thinking... what? Why can't a serious Wiccan have a Volvo with a "Blessed Be" bumper sticker and enjoy fast food?! Did I miss a page?
RavenWolf is at her weakest when mentioning other religions, which she basically should never do. I can accept that she is an expert on Wicca. She does not, however, have a comparative religion degree. She shouldn't just throw Hindu gods into lists of deities of forgotten religions. She shouldn't refer to "Zoroaster" as religion or criticize it. She refers "thrown out of the church" as a term we've all heard. "Thrown out of the church" is not a term I have ever heard of as a term... I mean, it's a series of words that I fully understand and maybe have read in reference to a disgraced preacher or something. "Excommunication" is a term. I have heard that is an official term. Oh, and at point she claims that the sign of the cross is an ancient symbol of attack with no citation. This was an odd thing to bring up, and I cannot find a source for this anywhere. These mentions of other religions came across like a 19th century European Christian writer trying to explain Islam or Hinduism. The terms are off and she has a weird uncanny valley version of these other religions.
All in all, I think there are better books on this topic. To Stir a Magick Cauldron didn't make me scream, but it had weaknesses. It wasn't particularly organized or have a direct point. She has some great passages throughout the book. When she describes her own practice and true interactions with others, she makes her points effectively.
She also undermines most things she brings up by constantly reassuring the reader that they can just make up whatever they want. I get what she is aiming for, but I also understand those who dislike her approach for this reason. There's a balance between religious tradition and innovation, and Silver RavenWolf seems to hit the innovation side way too hard and often. This might be a reaction to a traditionalist slant that she experienced, but which does not exist any more.