by Ellen (UCLA CS Dept.)
In October 1984, after receiving a positive response to her essay defending Paganism as a spiritual path, Ellen — a UCLA computer scientist and feminist practitioner — posted this annotated reading list to net.religion. The World Wide Web was a decade away; alt.pagan did not yet exist; and the handful of people on the internet interested in Wicca and contemporary Paganism had to find each other through Usenet. This list — five books with genuine, opinionated annotations — is the earliest known online Pagan reading list. It is both a practical guide and a window into how a thoughtful practitioner in 1984 wanted to present her tradition to curious strangers.
Ellen's voice — lowercase, direct, warmly irreverent — is preserved exactly as she wrote it.
due to a generally positive response, i'm posting an annotated listing of Pagan/Wiccan books. thanks to everyone who sent positive and curious messages. to others: please keep the discussion on the net. any other unanswered questions may be dealt with on a personal basis, if i can figure out how to send mail on uucp.
i'm glad to see some people expressing a healthy interest in contemporary paganism, not necessarily interest in converting (after all, one has to find the most suitable way for oneself), but at least an interest in learning more. personally, i think that the healthiest attitude is a desire to learn more, not to sit complacently, thinking one has found the final answer.
here are several books i would recommend, of various flavors. i recommend them because i feel they are well-written, interesting to read, and useful. i do not necessarily agree 100% with everything expressed therein. i'm not an occultist nor do i think that all of humankind's great discoveries and creations were inspired by little green men from Sirius.
Book List
1. Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler, Beacon, 1981 (paper).
an over-view of paganism in the US. interviews with originators of various serious sects; good bibliography, although its list of periodicals is out-of-date. a serious journalistic book, not sensationalistic. not flaky. (unless you assume that beliefs alien to one's own are either fiction or superstition)
2. The Spiral Dance by Starhawk, Harper & Row, 1979 (paper).
a BEAUTIFUL book. useful to almost anyone because of its deep spirituality. very well-written, well-organized, concise, poetic, expressive. Clear descriptions of the reason for the existence of contemporary Witchcraft, its meaning and usefulness as a spiritual path; the tools of the Craft, their meaning and use; ceremonies; solo and group work; symbolic associations (color, direction, ritual objects, herbs, days, planets, spiritual entities, etc.) THE NUMBER ONE BOOK about the contemporary way of the Craft. Read this before you flame.
3. Mother Wit: A Feminist Guide to Psychic Development; Exercises for Healing, Growth, and Spiritual Awareness by Diane Mariechild, The Crossing Press, 1981 (paper).
DON'T BE THROWN BY THE TITLE. a friend of mine (a MAN, NOT gay or a witch) uses it for guided meditation/visualization. the book is female-oriented but NOT exclusive of males. the author has two sons and they are included in her spiritual practice. the Craft is good for men, too. covers topics like meditation, healing, witchcraft, self-affirmation, dream work, spirituality for children, etc. each chapter contains meditations and guided visualizations on the topic being discussed. gentle, loving, and lovely.
4. Positive Magic: Occult Self-Help by Marion Weinstein, Phoenix Publishing Co., 1981.
this book is not really about occult matters, but about alternative methods of self-help and personal problem solving. the author covers topics such as magic, positive and negative and ceremonial (she is opposed to so-called black magic); various coercive religious cults and how to guard oneself against them; witchcraft as a contemporary religion; using the Tarot, astrology, I Ching for personal growth; self-affirmation techniques, etc. extensive and reasonable.
5. Real Magic by P.E.I. (Isaac) Bonewits, Creative Arts Book Co., 1971, revised 1979 (paper).
this is the guy who got a B.A. in Magic, from UC-Berkeley, legitimately, back in the '70's. he's rather arrogant (this is from personal experience, not mine, but a friend's) and he believes in things that i don't, such as various psychic phenomenon (i'm agnostic on psi-phenomenon). he's serious, intelligent, obnoxious, and VERY FUNNY (huh? well, Magic is a system of paradoxes that work together. read this book and see how).
when i have more time, i may post quotes from some of the above books, or others i have in my library (sure i'm demonic: i am a BOOK FIEND).
contacting Pagan groups is not always easy, because of persecution on the part of believers in other traditional religions, fundamentalist Christians in particular, and general lack of understanding on the part of most people who unfortunately know little about the true beliefs of less established religions. however, Pagan and Wiccan groups on the East coast, the Mid-West, in the South are much more overt and aggressive than they are here in Southern California. one way to find out what's going on is to go to metaphysical book stores and those bizarre occult shops which exist in most big cities, take classes, and watch for flyers and announcements.
there are many sensationalistic books on related subjects (witchcraft, the occult, ritual magic, satanism) and i have a few of them, too. in many cases, the authors are believers in the subjects on which they write, but, unfortunately, these books are not intelligently written or well-organized. these play right into the hands of antagonistic non-believers by enforcing old stereotypes, but they can be fun and funny to read.
i would like to hear how people feel about these books, after reading them.
i also read on art history, yoga, tantrism, taoism, sufism, gnosticism, as well as buddhism, and occasionally on Judaism-Christianity-Islam, tho' the last batch remain too paternalistic and patriarchal for me.
Colophon
Written by Ellen (UCLA CS Department, [address removed]), posted to net.religion on October 22, 1984. Message-ID: [email protected]. A companion piece to her essay "Other Spiritual Paths — Paganism and the Case for Religious Diversity," this reading list represents the earliest known online annotated bibliography of Pagan and Wiccan books. Ellen's annotations are her own; the books she recommends are copyrighted by their respective authors.
Preserved from the UTZOO Usenet archive (University of Toronto) for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
🌲