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The
Well Read Witch
Reviews
by Carl McColman
So many books get published these days on Wicca and Witchcraft. Some
of them are silly books on spellcasting, others are helpful if largely
innocuous studies of this or that aspect of craft tradition. Then every
once in a while, along comes a book that ruffles feathers and causes
a bit of controversy. A. J. Drew's Wicca for Couples:
Making Magick Together (New Page, $13.99) is one such book.
The title is a bit misleading. Indeed, when I first received the book,
I put it in my slush pile, thinking it was just another ho-hum book
that explored such questions as whether it's bad form to engage
in the Great Rite on a first date. Boy, was I wrong! The real topic
of the book is the place of love and fertility within Witchcraft, not
just for couples but for everyone. In looking at this topic, the author
has some fairly strong opinions over how sterile (his word) Wicca has
become. Indeed!
He traces this back to efforts made by early figures in the craft community
to promote the religion, and speculates that homophobia, revisions to
the Charge of the Goddess, and witch wars from the 1970's contributed
to an emerging trend in which Wicca became a purely symbolic religion
cut off from its roots in ancient pagan fertility practices. And while
such a sexless religion might be easier to market (after all, we live
in a society trained by centuries of patriarchal religion to fear and
hate sexuality, so a sexless form of Witchcraft will be less threatening
than a full-blown fertility religion), Drew sees it as a fundamental
denial of the true heart of the craft. Granted, Drew is not advocating
swinging or free love: he just wants to see the sexual dimension of
Witchcraft restored, for ordinary couples (whether straight or gay).
From there, Drew goes on to consider how a love/sex/fertility-positive
Wicca might be practiced in our day. His vision is of a practice centered
on home, hearth and family, rather than of a coven-driven religion that
is based on the sterile form of Wicca. As Drew sees it, the plethora
of cutesy “let's cast spells” and “you-too-can-be-a-Witchiepoo”
books are evidence of how the corporate world has co-opted this sterile
version of the craft. As he says, “Wicca has become big business.
For the most part, big business doesn't care about [those] who turn
to Wicca as a valid spiritual path. What they usually find is that the
corporate offerings are little more than fashion statements with none
of the “love” that their books speak of.” It's a
powerful, easily missed point: the sterilization of Wicca means more
than just witchcraft without sex: it's ultimately a religion without
love.
Drew's views are controversial, and have already drawn fire from
Ray Buckland, whom Drew attacks as one of the architects of sterile-Wicca.
Some readers may find Drew's in-your-face style to be distasteful
and may have difficulty accepting the joyful potential of an eroticized
Wicca. But I say this to warn, not dissuade, potential readers. Even
if you ultimately disagree with Drew's analysis of witchcraft, this
is a book that will make you think and it asks important questions about
the future of magical spirituality. Therefore, it's an essential
read.
Book
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