Witches of America

by Alex Mar

Hardcover, 2015

Status

Checked out

Genres

Religion & Spirituality

Publication

Sarah Crichton Books (2015), 288 pages

Description

"Witches are gathering." When most people hear the word "witches," they think of horror films and Halloween, but to the nearly one million Americans who practice Paganism today, witchcraft is a nature-worshipping, polytheistic, and very real religion. So Alex Mar discovers when she sets out to film a documentary and finds herself drawn deep into the world of present-day magic. Witches of America follows Mar on her immersive five-year trip into the occult, charting modern Paganism from its roots in 1950s England to its current American mecca in the San Francisco Bay Area; from a gathering of more than a thousand witches in the Illinois woods to the New Orleans branch of one of the world's most influential magical societies. Along the way she takes part in dozens of rituals and becomes involved with a wild array of characters. This sprawling magical community compels Mar to confront what she believes is possible--or hopes might be. With keen intelligence and wit, Mar illuminates the world of witchcraft while grappling in fresh and unexpected ways with the question underlying every faith: Why do we choose to believe in anything at all?--Adapted from book jacket.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member ritaer

Through most of this book I am never certain whether I am reading journalism or spiritual memoir. The spiritual neediness of the author seems to be the major theme of the book, as she explores various options on the Neopagan spectrum without fully committing to any. Lack of such commitment, is not

of course, a problem for a journalist seeking to give an objective account of the beliefs and practices of various groups. However, one cannot help but feel that the author's failure to find her path affects her ability to be objective. The groups she describes are the Feri tradition of Witchcraft, the Ordo Templi Orientis magical order, an unnamed group of necromancers who pray to Santa Muerte, and the Coru, a group founded by a former Feri priestess dedicated to the Celtic goddess Morrigan. The information in the book is interesting and seems accurate, but is so mixed in with personalities that it difficult to decide what is doctrine (if doctrine there be) and what is individual preference and quirk. Should probably be read by Neopagans and Wiccans, if only to be able to respond to questions about it.

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LibraryThing member sparemethecensor

This is a perplexing book. It's partially investigative journalism but partially spiritual conversion memoir, and it does neither 100% well exactly because the author doesn't know herself which category her experiences fall into. This will be of interest to those who are interested in America's

religious minority communities, but likely not to others. I would be interested to see where Alex Mar lands in her religious journey in another 10 years and what her take on this book is, then.

As a note, there is a disturbing section of this book that goes into a very dark subset of witchcraft including necromancy and graverobbing. I have read quite a bit about American Wicca and never came across anything like this before -- it's very disturbing and I truly hope we are reading the ravings of an unstable daydreamer rather than true acts (they are technically unverified by the author). This section is not for the squeamish.

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LibraryThing member urnmo

I picked this up from the library at the same time as Hutton's Triumph of the Moon, in the hopes that it would bridge the 1999-present anthropological gap. It didn't.

Uninspired writing, a weird obsession with bodies that reminds me of dark teenage ED thinking, and a totally disingenuous "seeker"

narrative.

Overall vibe? Insecure 30 something wants to write a book that sells, has a lot of body and class hangups, and hopes that vaguely exotic topic will mask her frankly boring writing.

Alas. Shouldn't have expected academic tone from pop journalism.

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