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| The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft | 
 enlarge | Author: Ronald Hutton
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $24.99 (58.83 RON)
Buy New: $16.49 (38.82 RON)
You Save: $8.50 (20.01 RON) (34%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  75 reviews
Sales Rank: 70458
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0192854496
Dewey Decimal Number: 133
EAN: 9780192854490
ASIN: 0192854496
Publication Date: May 31, 2001
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Here is a book that brings witchcraft out of the shadows. The Triumph of the Moon is the first full-scale study of the only religion England has ever given the world--modern pagan witchcraft, otherwise known as wicca. Meticulously researched, it provides a thorough account of an ancient religion that has spread from English shores across four continents.
For centuries, pagan witchcraft has been linked with chilling images of blood rituals, ghostlike druids, and even human sacrifices. But while Robert Hutton explores this dark side of witchery, he stresses the positive, reminding us that devotion to art, the natural world, femininity, and the classical deities are also central to the practice of wicca. Indeed, the author shows how leading figures in English literature--W.B. Yeats, D.H. Lawrence, and Robert Graves, just to name a few--celebrated these positive aspects of the religion in their work, thereby softening the public perception of witchcraft in Victorian England. From cunning village folk to freemasons and from high magic to the black arts, Hutton chronicles the fascinating process by which actual wiccan practices evolved into what is now a viable modern religion. He also presents compelling biographies of wicca's principal figures, such as Gerald Gardner, who was inducted into a witch coven at the age of 53, and recorded many clandestine rituals and beliefs.
Ronald Hutton is known for his colorful, provocative, and always thoroughly researched studies on original subjects. This work is no exception. It will appeal to anyone interested in witchcraft, paganism and alternative religions.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 70 more reviews...
 You'll Need Magick to Read the tiny tiny font... September 30, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
You'll need some pretty bitchin' mojo to get your eyes to focus on the un-BELIEVABLY small type this tome is printed in! (The hardback was bad enough, but the print in the paperback issue is smaller than that of your phone bill!)
College textbooks from the eighties are easier to read!
Goddess Hecate, hear my prayer, let this publisher be banished to some demon Hell dimension where ALL the books are printed this shoddily! And... then he should be made to... like... you know... read them. Or whatever.
Poof, be gone!
: )
 Best Book Available on Wicca August 7, 2008
This is a masterful work of scholarship that examines not only the history of Modern Pagan Witchcraft, but also the social factors that led to its emergence. Every Pagan should read this book.
#1 reference book in any Wiccan's library May 28, 2008
This is a fantastic work, sweeping the cultural heritage of British Wicca into an encyclopedic volume. Every paragraph brims with valuable references and insights.
The book spans several hundred years of the literary and artistic traditions that made possible the formation of our modern faith.
Ronald Hutton combines excellent scholarship with a truly sympathetic attitude toward modern earth religions. He rightly challenges the pagan community to grow away from dependence on pseudohistory. It's time we learned to be proud of our true roots, and turn this pride into a new movement of rich cultural development.
 it might be great book, if one could see well enough to read it. April 24, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
I'd been looking forward to reading this book for quite a while, and only recently got around to ordering it. I'm sure it's good, but unfortunately, it's almost impossible to read.
The printing was excruciatingly small, and there was almost no leading between the lines. I have 20/20 vision (checked just a few weeks before trying to read this book, in fact), and I'd end up with a migraine every time I tried to read it. I'm sure this was done to condense the size into something smaller, making it less expensive. Yet it sacrifices a great deal of readability and enjoyment from the book.
This is probably one of the most reader unfriendly books I've ever come across. It's too bad. I didn't think I'd have to read with a magnifying glass until my 80's.
One of the only/best histories of Modern Pagan WItchcraft November 4, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Ronald Huttons Triumph is all inclusive: From the 17th century start of initiatory secret societies in the form of Scottish Masonry; to the first use of the phrases: "the craft, "so mote it be," "merry meet, merry part;" to the origins of the meanings of the cardinal points of the compass and the four elements; to the origin of grimoires and the use of sacred tools such as the chalice, pentacle, athame and wand; to the reasons Gardner used nudity in ritual; to the inspiration for the charge of the goddess; almost all of the "origin" questions about Wicca are answered in this book.
You will also learn about things you never expected: From 19th century naturalist authors who yearned to escape the industrialization of the day, to the many magicians who worked with High magic before Crowley was even born, to the naturalist clubs that sprouted up around the turn of the century including the "Seton Indians," "Boy Scouts," "Order of Woodcraft Chilvalry," "Kindred of the Kibbo Kift," and the "Woodcraft Folk."
All the major players are here, the people, traditions and many early covens including the Rosicrucians, Theosophy, Barrett, Constant aka Levi, Mackenzie, Little, Hockley, Kingsford, Mathers, Sprengel, Blavatsky, Frazier, Gage, Leland, Crowley, Firth aka Fortune, Graves, Murray, Gardner and everyone worth noting that came on the scene after Gardner.
I loved the interplay of the Gardenerians and non-Gardenerians during Wiccas "formative years" and of the claims and the debunking of the claims of all the people who came out of the woodwork with family trads after Garder made his "splash" onto the scene. It was particularly illuminating to have someone (Hutton) investigate most everyone who claimed to study or be initiated by Crowley by going back to Crowleys extensive day to day diary and see that that persons name didn't appear on the day in question or even weeks ahead or behind "the day."
About Hutton's "bias" that so many here have commented on: I believe his Bias is "the truth." While he systematically debunks the claims of many in the early times by looking at facts, timelines or places, he treats everyone fairly especially Crowley, Gardner, Valiente and Cochrane. He refutes the claims of Crowley being a Satanist; going against the grain of the anti-Gardner backlash, he gives Gardner his due of inventing a genuine original modern religion; Valente as being the author of much of Wiccas wonderful poetry but at the same time tending to believe in "evil" craft purely from newspaper article evidence, and the firebrand Cochrane who despite alienating everyone in his later life, was able to lead rituals that "genuinely swept up and transformed" participants.
Huttons tone throughout his work is always upbeat and never harsh or accusatory. The general feeling after finishing and reflecting on this work is that Hutton has tried to give modern Pagan witchcraft a more solid footing by addressing all of the troubling aspects of the craft (namely its history) by an apologist allowing the culture to come up with their own answers and come to terms with the colorful characters of their spirituality.
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