Research Catalog

Title

The sign of the witch : modernity and the pagan revival / by David Waldron.

Author

Waldron, David.

Publication

Durham, N.C. : Carolina Academic Press, ©2008.

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Details

Description

xxiv, 264 pages; 23 cm.

Summary

• Waldron's remarkable study traces a history of his topic that runs into the contemporary sphere, taking us from seventeenth century to twenty first century Europe, showing the twists and turns of ritual practices and reformative ideas that have given shape to the notion of witchcraft through these centuries. Contemporary ideas and actions attempt to reach back in time, beyond the religious and political conflicts of the seventeenth century, to the much contested realms of pre-Christian practices in the "follk" domain of Europe: practices that are linked to animism, nature worship, goddess figures, and the like, all of which spring into life in the imaginative worlds of the neo-pagan practitioners of Wicca. Carefully, and at times entertainingly, Dr. Waldron guides his readers along the historical pathways and into the labyrinthine worlds of the so-called "post-modern" times, with their emphasis on eclecticism and bricolage, including the eco-feminist strands of affiliation.
• One brief discussion introduced is on the importance of rumor and gossip in the genesis of withcraft accusations. The crucial concept is the idea of social fluidity and uncertainty. Uncertainty breeds suspicions, and suspicions lead to accusations if they are mobilized to do so. Theological ideas and agents of government may become attached to such a populist trend if it reaches a certian crescendo and has to be dealt with. Local community life is always full of suspicions as well as solidarities, and forms of talk are the media in which such conflicts are primarily expressed. In some works referenced, the term "shamanic" was employed in relation to ritual practitioners of the seventeenth century and earlier. The use of the term possibly reminding readers of the element of "vision" entering into both neo-pagan and what might be called neo-Christian practices. Two perspectives, the perspective of gossip and the perspective of shamanic practice, can help to enrich the kinds of materials that Dr. Waldron ably covers in his own analytical discussions. The "sign of the witch" can thus be seen as like a multivocalic or polyvalent symbol that can take on various colors and contrasts and incorporate alternative analytical viewpoints over time. Dr. Waldron has made an ingenius and substantial contribution to this semantic and historical tapestry. (From Series Editors' Preface).

Series Statement

Carolina Academic Press ritual studies monograph series

Uniform Title

Carolina Academic Press ritual studies monographs

Subject

• Witchcraft
• Wicca
• Neopaganism
• Witchcraft
• witchcraft
• Hexenglaube
• Neuheidentum

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 245-258) and index.

Contents

The historical context of witchcraft beliefs : progenitors and antecedents -- The end of witchcraft : the Enlightenment and the supernatural -- Romanticism and the pagan revival -- Gerald Gardner and the origins of wicca -- Witchcraft and the European occult milieu -- New Age witches : neo-paganism and the sixties counter culture -- Eco-feminist neo-paganism : marginalization and romanticism -- Eclectic paganism : the old religion in a post-modern age -- Commodified paganism : where to from here? -- Conclusion: The old religion in a post modern age.

ISBN

• 9781594605055
• 159460505X

LCCN

2008002577

OCLC

• ocn181827323
• 181827323
• SCSB-1545745

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library