Customer Reviews:
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 Witchcraft from the 'Insider' March 27, 2008
I read the book some years ago.It reminded me a lot of Robbins' book,'The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonolgy',from the 1950s.I do not understand what all the flakk is about.Buckland's book refers to proto-wiccans as followers of the 'Olde Religion'.The overall point is that the Christians were trying to destroy the cunning country folk,in order to appease the Jewish merchant-bankers.This has been the case since the dawn of christianity.The Salem area witches (or innocent peasant folk thereof) are still remembered today for their ordeals at the hands of the witch-finders.Close to four hundred years have passed,and we still study their names and lives.Will you be remembered in four hundred years time ? The May-pole may have started as a monolithic phallus created by the stone-age peoples of the pre-historic times.The german name 'Bohrman' ,i always thought was a 'drill-worker',who aided in the construction of ships and buildings.When in fact,the bohrman or drexler,were the ones who drilled the holes into 'May-pole' or 'May-stone'. The feastive may-pole is always the center-piece for Spring Beltane rituals today.Eventhough,it was surpressed and shunned for decades and centuries by the christians and later by the communists.The communists transformed 'May-day' into a national Labour day celebration,yet the rebirth of Spring has never disappeared.-When i was traveling through Austria some years ago,i saw the Kufstein castle.That year they had an interesting display of European torture instruments from the Middle Ages.I think most Europeans would agree that the devises were cruel and inhumane.Yet,this is what the christians did to the just and weak,in order to instill fear among the populace.-If you are not a Gardnerian wiccan,you probably would wince at this Buckland book.I would recommend at least reading this classic one,as well as,that of other wicca-craft authors.It will only broaden your vision on the topic,and therefor you can judge for yourself.
Informative Read September 4, 2005
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I read all of the reviews myself and than decided to leave one as well. I found this book delightful to read, and do not see it as it was described by other reviews. It might not be for beginners - but those with some knowledge of the craft should have open minds. It has a lot of wonderful information in it and even if it leans toward one tradition (even if you don't follow that tradition) it's not worth overlooking everything else.
Highly Suggest!
 Well......At least the Title was interesting..... March 21, 2005
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
Ok I bought this book because I am, normally, a fan of Ray Buckland's work. However, when I read this I about choked on it. First off, the book was inredibly OVERLY simplistic and that would be great - if you are a beginner to The Craft. But - I wouldn't even recommend this to them due to the inaccuracies in the book. The photos that were included in the book were about the only thing that I found more interesting than the title of the book.
As a Practicing Witch for almost 17 years, I tend to shy away from the beginner books; however, I do feel a responsiblity to pickup a few a year to review them and give advice on them to my coven dedicants. This book will go into my library; however, will NOT get recommended to my dedicants. There is so much *QUALITY* literature out there - do not rely on this.
Buckland gets a lot of flack from time-to-time from the Pagan community; however, I have found his books to be informative - although reading like
Nothing in this book is true (well, almost nothing). January 4, 2004
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
I'll just come right out and say it. The picture of history this book paints is almost completely inaccurate. Buckland references few of his claims about the "ancient" origins of witchcraft, and where he does list references, they're to sources that are questionable at best. He takes scraps of historical evidence out of context and twists them to fit his concept of pagan history, which is that Wicca is, quite literally, the religion of the Stone Age Celts. In the 1970s, when the book was originally published, his wilful misinterpretation of history would be understandable as a product of the times, but to republish it today and endorse it as "valid" is unforgiveable when there is so much good scholarship now available on the history of paganism. If you want to know what the ancient inhabitants of Britain *really* believed, try Ronald Hutton.In addition to the glaring inaccuracies, I didn't see how whole sections of the book even related to the topic at hand. Buckland concedes that very few of the people burned as witches during the "Burning Times" were actually practitioners of Wicca, but then spends dozens of pages describing the witch trials (and especially the specific ways in which "witches" were tortured, with illustrations), using the confessions of these "witches" as evidence of the way in which Wicca was actually practiced! He then continues to refer to the "Burning Times" throughout the book as an era of widespread Wiccan martyrdom, even though, as he admitted previously, most of those killed *were not Wiccan*, or even witches for that matter! He concludes the book with a chapter on "Witches and Fairies," making the rather lame claim that "many people associate witches with fairies" and going on to talk about the nature of fairies as if that was enough to relate them to the history of witchcraft. In short, I would not recommend this book as a guide to history, or Wicca, or witchcraft, or anything but the inside of Raymond Buckland's head.
 okay for newcomers February 12, 2001
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
There is not a lot in this book that hasn't been rehashed over by other authors. This book was probably more impressive when it first came out; but I didn't find any major revelations about the Craft. One can get the same info from Gardner, the Farrars, Valiente, or Patricia Crowther.If this is one of the first books on Wicca you pick up, then it could serve as a good starting point. Including essays from other famous Pagans was a nice touch. I thought the ending chapter on trying to prove fairies existed was a bit much, though.
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