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A review by loched
Green Witchcraft by Ann Moura
2.0
Very, very generous two stars.
A few good things to start off with: the holiday activities were actually unique, and I will be using some. The rituals were also elaborate, which I also liked. In addition, I appreciated the tip on how to enter and leave a circle if needed. To save those of you the trouble of reading this book, you excuse yourself, use an athame to draw a "door," step through it, seal the door by drawing a pentacle over it with the athame, do what you need to, then reenter by drawing another door and sealing it behind you. That is incredibly useful, especially if you drop something and it rolls out of reach, forget the matches again, etc. I also liked the idea that if you are meant to perform a spell you will be provided with the means to perform it (16), as this goes against some of the rampant consumerism I have seen in the witch community, in which people buy slave-mined crystals all for a Beltane ritual, etc. Some of the sabbat crafts also had to do with reusing items, which I adored. I do still think, however, that sustainability and helping the planet was discussed suspiciously little in this book, though I think it already helps a great deal that Moura does not mention crystals even once. What a breath of fresh air.
So...on to the problems. I think the largest, glaring issue with this book is that the author approaches her topic from a historical perspective, and an abysmally inaccurate one at that. If you are going to open your book by telling us you teach history, and you adopt scholarly, analytical language in your tone, you need to cite sources. Many people praise this book for its herb correspondences, but really, I wanted more of an explanation behind them. Is it too difficult to add another column explaining why basil signifies protection, wealth, love, and repelling negativity? By the time I reached the herb correspondence chart, the author had already lost my trust completely with her outrageous historical claims, so I found myself wondering why the hell I was supposed to look to her as any sort of authority on herb correspondences when I could just as easily learn the same information from a kitschy Wiccan Instagram influencer.
The historical inaccuracies in this book verged on offensive; really, the author's unsourced claims were so unbelievable that she must have written this assuming she had a stupid audience. The same author who cites TLC (or, as she conveniently refers to it, "The Learning Channel" [45]) documentaries multiple times--that's right, the TV channel that brought you Toddlers and Tiaras is now a legitimate source of historical information to be used as the foundation of one's religion--also wants us to take her at her word when she claims that the rituals and sacred ideas she promotes date back "ten to twenty thousand years" (3).
I also find it extremely interesting that this author claims her "personal approach is not one that can be pinned down to any one tradition; [she has] borrowed what [she] wanted and discarded as [she] saw fit" (4), but she feels no need to "discard" the label of "Aryan" when she talks about some of her traditions.
There is also the usual bullshit in here about the "law of return" and delusion about the history of witchcraft. Unfortunately for Moura, I am doing my thesis on witchcraft in Early Modern England, and can say with one-hundred percent certainty that she is false in saying "magic was not performed for monetary payment" (12). In fact, magic could be quite lucrative, at least during that time, and services ranged from herbal remedies to quackery to finding buried treasure to recovering lost property. Moura also asserts that "to attempt to draw upon Darkness to harm another is simply...not a 'witch thing'" (96). Can we as a faith community stop denying that cursing has, is, and always will be a very large part of witchcraft? I am getting bloody sick of entitled uwus telling witches we cannot curse, and that cursing is not a part of our identity. It is. When women were unable to get divorces, were unable to persecute their rapists, were unable to have any kind of control in society, they cursed. Curses have historically provided comfort, dignity, and a sense of autonomy to people who are marginalized and/or have trauma. To pretend like it isn't is ahistorical and a blatant lie. I would know, I've read spell books from the 1600s, held the brittle paper in my hand.
Moura also slips into her backstory often and unexpectedly. I think this would have been appropriate if it was sectioned off somewhere, maybe at the beginning of the book, but to have her keep slipping into her own tragic backstory and opinions on Christianity really got annoying. Her attempts to "refute" (34) Judeo-Christian beliefs (just say Christianity, we all know you aren't talking about Judaism and Islam) come across as incredibly immature and lacking in self awareness. She refers to Biblical figures as "fictional characters" (34) despite believing that unicorns exist. Okay. First of all, you do not "refute" faith--if you were going for a historical refutation of Christianity, perhaps you should have cited more credible sources than TLC. Second of all, she also condemns Judeo-Christian faiths as propagating the idea that women are "second-class humans," while the lore of her own beliefs centers around the "Lady" giving birth to the son of her own mate and son. Her own lore reduces women to birthing machines.
Moura also believes that you do not need to thank your deities for what They do for you. Maybe it is because I am a Hellenic Polytheist, but I believe in the principle of χάρις, and I believe that when a God does something for you, you thank Them. Even before They have done something for you, you thank Them. Moura's idea that a thank you somehow means more when it isn't directly said reads as incredibly immature, and it vaguely calls to mind 2014 Tumblr posts about how supporting your friends through difficult times is 'emotional labor.'
More tidbits that annoyed me because my food is here:
*"[The Learning Channel documentary] convincingly suggests..." (45).
*"The natives of an isolated Amazonian Jungle tribe only have children every three years" (47). What tribe? Why not say the name, so we can Google it if we're interested?
*Disrespect for the Theoi. Moura has every right not to worship Them (in fact, I would be incredibly offended if someone decided to use Zeus as the face of the "Lord"), but she really took digs at Them more often than any other pantheon, saying she can't take Them seriously because of media, etc. Maybe it's because you're allergic to research.
*"pseudo-archaic language...is just as valid" (77). 1-800-AM-I-VALID
*Wildly incorrect interpretation of the Devil Tarot card as a "blessing" (117) card.
*Calls use of Native American culture in magic by non-Native Americans "shallow" (95) instead of what it is, which is racist.
*Checked the bibliography: No mention of TLC documentary, overwhelming majority of entries are occult books. The non-occult books and articles, which presumably were where the "historical" information came from, where almost all 30 years old or more, often leaning more towards 50+. I could have given this a pass, if she had properly cited the facts as she was giving them, but right now, it feels like the thumbed through a few articles and books at the local library, watched some documentaries, and typed away until she had something that would sound convincing to clueless newbies wanting to believe in something.
A few good things to start off with: the holiday activities were actually unique, and I will be using some. The rituals were also elaborate, which I also liked. In addition, I appreciated the tip on how to enter and leave a circle if needed. To save those of you the trouble of reading this book, you excuse yourself, use an athame to draw a "door," step through it, seal the door by drawing a pentacle over it with the athame, do what you need to, then reenter by drawing another door and sealing it behind you. That is incredibly useful, especially if you drop something and it rolls out of reach, forget the matches again, etc. I also liked the idea that if you are meant to perform a spell you will be provided with the means to perform it (16), as this goes against some of the rampant consumerism I have seen in the witch community, in which people buy slave-mined crystals all for a Beltane ritual, etc. Some of the sabbat crafts also had to do with reusing items, which I adored. I do still think, however, that sustainability and helping the planet was discussed suspiciously little in this book, though I think it already helps a great deal that Moura does not mention crystals even once. What a breath of fresh air.
So...on to the problems. I think the largest, glaring issue with this book is that the author approaches her topic from a historical perspective, and an abysmally inaccurate one at that. If you are going to open your book by telling us you teach history, and you adopt scholarly, analytical language in your tone, you need to cite sources. Many people praise this book for its herb correspondences, but really, I wanted more of an explanation behind them. Is it too difficult to add another column explaining why basil signifies protection, wealth, love, and repelling negativity? By the time I reached the herb correspondence chart, the author had already lost my trust completely with her outrageous historical claims, so I found myself wondering why the hell I was supposed to look to her as any sort of authority on herb correspondences when I could just as easily learn the same information from a kitschy Wiccan Instagram influencer.
The historical inaccuracies in this book verged on offensive; really, the author's unsourced claims were so unbelievable that she must have written this assuming she had a stupid audience. The same author who cites TLC (or, as she conveniently refers to it, "The Learning Channel" [45]) documentaries multiple times--that's right, the TV channel that brought you Toddlers and Tiaras is now a legitimate source of historical information to be used as the foundation of one's religion--also wants us to take her at her word when she claims that the rituals and sacred ideas she promotes date back "ten to twenty thousand years" (3).
I also find it extremely interesting that this author claims her "personal approach is not one that can be pinned down to any one tradition; [she has] borrowed what [she] wanted and discarded as [she] saw fit" (4), but she feels no need to "discard" the label of "Aryan" when she talks about some of her traditions.
There is also the usual bullshit in here about the "law of return" and delusion about the history of witchcraft. Unfortunately for Moura, I am doing my thesis on witchcraft in Early Modern England, and can say with one-hundred percent certainty that she is false in saying "magic was not performed for monetary payment" (12). In fact, magic could be quite lucrative, at least during that time, and services ranged from herbal remedies to quackery to finding buried treasure to recovering lost property. Moura also asserts that "to attempt to draw upon Darkness to harm another is simply...not a 'witch thing'" (96). Can we as a faith community stop denying that cursing has, is, and always will be a very large part of witchcraft? I am getting bloody sick of entitled uwus telling witches we cannot curse, and that cursing is not a part of our identity. It is. When women were unable to get divorces, were unable to persecute their rapists, were unable to have any kind of control in society, they cursed. Curses have historically provided comfort, dignity, and a sense of autonomy to people who are marginalized and/or have trauma. To pretend like it isn't is ahistorical and a blatant lie. I would know, I've read spell books from the 1600s, held the brittle paper in my hand.
Moura also slips into her backstory often and unexpectedly. I think this would have been appropriate if it was sectioned off somewhere, maybe at the beginning of the book, but to have her keep slipping into her own tragic backstory and opinions on Christianity really got annoying. Her attempts to "refute" (34) Judeo-Christian beliefs (just say Christianity, we all know you aren't talking about Judaism and Islam) come across as incredibly immature and lacking in self awareness. She refers to Biblical figures as "fictional characters" (34) despite believing that unicorns exist. Okay. First of all, you do not "refute" faith--if you were going for a historical refutation of Christianity, perhaps you should have cited more credible sources than TLC. Second of all, she also condemns Judeo-Christian faiths as propagating the idea that women are "second-class humans," while the lore of her own beliefs centers around the "Lady" giving birth to the son of her own mate and son. Her own lore reduces women to birthing machines.
Moura also believes that you do not need to thank your deities for what They do for you. Maybe it is because I am a Hellenic Polytheist, but I believe in the principle of χάρις, and I believe that when a God does something for you, you thank Them. Even before They have done something for you, you thank Them. Moura's idea that a thank you somehow means more when it isn't directly said reads as incredibly immature, and it vaguely calls to mind 2014 Tumblr posts about how supporting your friends through difficult times is 'emotional labor.'
More tidbits that annoyed me because my food is here:
*"[The Learning Channel documentary] convincingly suggests..." (45).
*"The natives of an isolated Amazonian Jungle tribe only have children every three years" (47). What tribe? Why not say the name, so we can Google it if we're interested?
*Disrespect for the Theoi. Moura has every right not to worship Them (in fact, I would be incredibly offended if someone decided to use Zeus as the face of the "Lord"), but she really took digs at Them more often than any other pantheon, saying she can't take Them seriously because of media, etc. Maybe it's because you're allergic to research.
*"pseudo-archaic language...is just as valid" (77). 1-800-AM-I-VALID
*Wildly incorrect interpretation of the Devil Tarot card as a "blessing" (117) card.
*Calls use of Native American culture in magic by non-Native Americans "shallow" (95) instead of what it is, which is racist.
*Checked the bibliography: No mention of TLC documentary, overwhelming majority of entries are occult books. The non-occult books and articles, which presumably were where the "historical" information came from, where almost all 30 years old or more, often leaning more towards 50+. I could have given this a pass, if she had properly cited the facts as she was giving them, but right now, it feels like the thumbed through a few articles and books at the local library, watched some documentaries, and typed away until she had something that would sound convincing to clueless newbies wanting to believe in something.