A community of witches : contemporary neo-paganism and witchcraft in the United States / Helen A. Berger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Berger, Helen A., 1949-

Series:

Studies in comparative religion (Columbia, S.C.)

Studies in comparative religion

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Neopaganism--United States.

Neopaganism.

Witchcraft--United States.

Witchcraft.

United States.

Physical Description:

xviii, 148 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Columbia, S.C. : University of South Carolina Press, [1999]

Summary:

A Community of Witches explores the beliefs and practices of Neo-Paganism and Witchcraft -- generally known to scholars and practitioners as Wicca. While the words "magic", "witchcraft", and "paganism" evoke images of the distant past and remote cultures, this book shows that Wicca has emerged as part of a new religious movement that reflects the era in which it developed. Imported to the United States in the late 1960s from the United Kingdom, the religion absorbed into its basic fabric the social concerns of the time: feminism, environmentalism, self-development, alternative spirituality, and mistrust of authority.

Helen A. Berger's ten-year participant observation study of Neo-Pagans and witches on the eastern seaboard of the United States and her collaboration on a national survey of Neo-Pagans form the basis for exploring the practices, structures, and transformation of this nascent religion. Responding to scholars who suggest that Neo-Paganism is a pseudoreligion or a cultural movement because it lacks central authority and clear boundaries, Berger contends that Neo-Paganism has many of the characteristics that one would expect of a religion born in late modernity: the appropriation of rituals from other cultures, a view of the universe as a cosmic whole, an emphasis on creating and re-creating the self, an intertwining of the personal and the political, and a certain playfulness.

Aided by the Internet, self-published journals, festivals and gatherings, today's Neo-Pagans discuss social issues as well as ritual practices and magical rites. This community of interest -- along with the aging of the original participants and the growing number of children born to Neo-Paganfamilies -- is helping Neo-Paganism to develop some of the marks of a mature and established religion.

Contents:

Preface

Prologue: to the tribe let there be children born

Background

The magical self

The coven: perfect love, perfect trust

A circle within a circle: the neo-pagan community

The next generation

The routinization of creativity

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 135-142) and index.

ISBN:

1570032467

OCLC:

38936720