Witchcraft: A Concise Guide

Rating:
Summary: Sad......
Review: Mr. Bonewits is not a true pagen...just check out his homepage...He`ll sell anything to make a buck! He knows NOTHING about True druidism,wicca, or "real magick".

Rating:
Summary: Eye opening
Review: Bonewits has been around for a long time and makes most people think that is enough to justify this rehashing of material that has been around for a long time. Granted he has re-written some of it but everyone is entitled to rethink how they feel on any issue.

It is good to see the definitions and break downs of some of the traditions in this book. Granted, I do not believe that is all of the traditions around. We are diverse.

His views of Feminists Witchcraft is too negative, or maybe mine is too positive. The world will always be very eclectic.

There are better books.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Reflection of NeoPaganism
Review: Dear Readers,

It has been many years since a concise understanding of the history and psychology of witchcraft was understood. In fact, I don't think we've ever seen one that actually permeates the membrane, even within the Neo-Pagan community, of what this is all about, until now. Bonewits has portrayed very vividly the evolution and the idea of the "witch".

Isaac Bonewits is a true Iconoclast, and a Heretic of Heretics. This is a Good Thing.

He challenges the New-Age Witch and the Satanist and the Shamanist, which is good when one gets down to what we really are. When one is in the "community" it is often hard to get a hard grasp on the concept, but Isaac Bonewits, from his knowledge and fortunately through a good sense of humour, clarifies a lot of things about witchcraft that many wouldn't understand unless they read his book. His book is not only important to the casual explorer in spirituality but is also important for those who think they understand NeoPaganism, and still have many questions about the origins and the meanings of what a "witch" or a "neoPagan" is all about. I highly recommend this book not only to the Pagan Clergy but to any Clergy who wish to have a good source as to what Paganism is all about, as well as to anyone who wishes to have a source in their spiritual repertoire about the nature of (Neo)Paganism.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I had the pleasure of hearing Bonewits speak at the Starwood festival this year and while he ticks people off, the guy does his research. He is also willing to admit when his own work has been disproven or when he has made mistakes, and how many pagan authors have done that? I don't recall hearing of any retractions for the terrible research and half truths presented in McCoy or Conway's work. (see reviews of "Witta" if you want to know what I mean by that)

Years ago when I started exploring the pagan path, I slogged through many books hoping to find the "right" way of doing things, hoping I would find authors who knew what they were talking about. Had I had this book, I could have cut my slogging in half. Bonewits provides some very concise arguments against the many fam-trads, would be gurus, and overall self appointed holders of the truth, without bashing the true intent of this path which is to connect with the divine and grow as an individual. He points out that just because something is new and created, it doesn't invalidate it. Neopaganism is a growing movement that, like all spiritual systems, is going to change over time. Those of us in the movement shouldn't feel so insecure as to have to claim our beliefs and practices descended from a matriarchal tribe existing 10,000 years ago. What he points out with refreshing clarity is that right here, right now, we are creating something that is exciting and enlightening.
Knowing that there is no undisputed tome which will give me all the "right" ways to do things (hmmm, kind of like the bible) is a weight off my newbie shoulders. I await the next book in this series with great excitement and hope they hold other pagan authors a little more accountable to something besides their wallets.

Rating:
Summary: Well worth reading
Review: I read most of this book and found it well worth reading: informative, entertaining, and provocative. Certainly, I got the impression that there was far more to be said on the topic, but no one book can say it all. You could say that what Isaac did give us in this handy little work was "concise", and so the book does exactly what it says on the tin. I would not hesitate for a second to reccomend this title to a first-time buyer of a pagan book, and to those of us who have been around a bit longer, Isaac may have a few things to teach as well.

It seems to me that the negative reviews seen here on Amazon are a bit unfair. If someone who has been in the Pagan community for decades cannot draw upon his experiences and present his ideas with a modicum of authority, then who can? I can think of other equally well known authors who have not the talent, the wit, the deadpan humour, and the sheer breadth of knowledge, as Bonewitz has

All in all, Witchcraft: A Concise Guide made excellent reading, and I'm happy to have it on my shelf.

Rating:
Summary: Good Introduction to Wicca's History
Review: I think Bonewits' new book provides a good introduction to Wicca, its history, and some of the many problems and questions that are raised by that history. This is a good next step for readers who found articles like the Atlantic Monthly's "The Scholars and the Goddess" (by Charlotte Allen in the January 2001 issue) interesting but too short. I would certainly recommend this book to someone who's curious but doesn't want to make the commitment to a long scholarly text.

For those readers who have a better understanding of Wicca and its history, you may be disappointed. Bonewits' text fulfills its purpose, but it does not provide a great deal of new ideas or research material aside from some of the methodological concepts such as Bonewits' classifications of witchcraft. There are also some typos and factual errors due in part from conflicting sources. This book does not present an "authoritative" or completely factual history of Wicca--partly because so much research is being done in the field right now that any text becomes outdated the moment it is frozen in published form, but also because of the mistakes it does have. Those who have an abiding interest in Wicca's history or are writing a paper, article, or report should probably turn towards a more careful and exhaustive history, such as "The Triumph of the Moon" by Ronald Hutton or the recent research of Philip Heselton in "Wiccan Roots."

This book serves as a good "beginners" introduction to Wicca, its history, and its abiding controversies, but it falls short of an erudite scholarly or authoritative history due to typos, outdated and conflicting sources, and the omissions necessary for brevity and simplicity.

Rating:
Summary: Author Delivers Exactlty What the Title Presents
Review: I've been reading Pagan and craft books for ten years now, and I have to say this book is user-friendly, engaging, concise, and very much lends to further study (should the reader so choose) due to its exquisite and purposeful scope, notes, structure, clarity, and bibliography--Beginners and more advanced readers can learn from and with it.

Isaac Bonewits' characteristic conscientious, honest, and careful treatment of the topic serves well as a reality check (and he does reality checks and corrections on his own work as well), which will not sit well with everyone, of course. It was important to me that he did not fabricate, has exquisite interpretational skills, and continually researches a wide array of resources thoroughly. This lent very well to his coverage of what was done to witches, their paths, and their reputations over time (both by practitioners and by others) ...for nothing exists in a vacuum, does it (and history was written by whom, usually the "victors")? I would have loved this book to be far more in depth, but then, the book is exactly what the title claims - a concise guide.

I wrote in numerous notes in the page margins-something I do only with my favorite well-thumbed books.


Rating:
Summary: A true expert clears the air!
Review: Mr. Bonewits has been a Pagan, Druid and Witch for longer than most current Witches have been out of diapers! He received the first accredited degree in magic in 1970 (from Berkeley, of course). He has founded Pagan organizations, written the seminal work Real Magic, and spoken to thousands upon thousands of Pagans and Witches. Few can claim to be more qualified to speak on this subject.

This book is well-researched, accurate and unromanticized. Too much "history" of Witchcraft is more wishful thinking than scholarship. Bonewits knows that Wicca doesn't need pseudo-scholarship to artificially promote it -- the real thing is good enough.

Many of the opinions here will be controversial, but that only adds to their value.

It's very funny that a "haddockslapper" has posted a review that says Hutton's book disproves Bonewits's. Funny because Hutton reviewed Witchcraft: A Concise History very, very favorably! I guess the joke is on the fishguy!

Rating:
Summary: This will annoy all kinds of fundamentalists
Review: This ebook demolishes all the fake history that Christians and Wiccans have both built up around witchcraft. Yes he got a few dates wrong, but the typo list on his website says a new edition will be out in August without the mistakes. I think the sarcasm this ebook is getting has more to do with exploded myths and lies that some famous Pagan authors and founders of Wiccan trads have built careers on than anything else.

The book is fun to read but gives readers solid historical information and a great book list to let them go further. He seems to know that the Goddess is Eternal even if Wicca is young, that the only Devil worshipping witches were invented by the Christians, and that *honest* scholarship can mix with *honest* faith. He also includes an explanation of *why* Wiccan rituals are they way they are and how to make them better!

I recommend this to everyone who wants a concentrated blast of reality about old and new Witchcraft.