The number of practising Pagans is increasing dramatically. This book offers a collection of views from a wide range of Pagans - including Wiccans, Druids, Celts and Shamans - reflects the diversity of traditions The contributors range from practising Pagans and Wiccans to academics. The subjects they discuss include: is Paganism an ancient tradition or a new religion?; what are the main magical groups?; a look at the goddess as a source of healing for modern women; how is wicca practiced?; what do druids do?; and what does it mean to be a Celt today? Paganism is a growing spiritual path and this book offers an introduction to the subject.
I can't tell you how refreshing it was to come across this book - there is such a lack of scholarly writing on modern paganism! This anthology grew out of a conference bringing together both academics studying neopaganism and magic, and practitioners, and has an excellent balance of both in-depth scholarly analysis and an insider perspective - or several considering the diversity of the contributors. I know it will probably draw the ire of those who expect all pagan books to be dumbed down to a remedial-reading level - and it appears it already has, looking at at least one of the reviews already submitted - but for educated and literate pagans, works like this are a godsend, and I hope to see many more of them in the future.
Things you need to know
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 23 years ago
The first thing you need to know is that this is a re-release of "Paganism Today", by Charlotte Hardman and Graham Harvey, that was originally released in 1996. (the copyright says 1995 but Graham Harvey refers to it in his Bibliogaphy as 1996) That is what they mean by "new edition". This is the second time I have stumbled across a book that has been re-released with a different title and no revisions. Watch out for this problem with other titles by favorite authors. It may be related to changes in the tax laws for publishers. The second thing you need to know is that this is a collection of scholarly articles by scholars for scholars. Graham Harvey is Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at King Alfred College, England. In America we would call him a Professor. This book was written at the college level not the 6th grade level of most popular books.I recommend this book for anyone interested in studying Paganism at the college level.
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