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Rating: Summary: GREAT BOOK! Review: I absolutely love this book! I have been Wiccan for eight years and found the topics to be very informative and well written. I had been searching for an advanced book on wicca and this is it! I contacted the author for permission to use her discussion questions (at the end of each chapter) in my egroup. We have had more interesting conversation from the topics than ever! If you are looking for more advaced, interesting information, this is it.
Rating: Summary: A book for people who are intellectually rigorous Review: I got the book and read it through over several weeks while I was working through my school-work. The presentation of the material was not for the novice and it was evident that at least a bit of previous research and learning was needed before this work was undertaken. Some of the aspects were somewhat questionable but I found the use of the dual sided argument, the siting of sources, and the repeated act of telling the reader to research and come up with their own opinion refreshing in a genre that seems to be geared more toward the fluffy side of religion. I wouldn't recommend this work for a basic student text but it should be read within the first couple of years if possible.
Rating: Summary: Basic, at best. Review: If you like to read then this book is just as good as any other. I did not find any advanced teaching as this book promises. I have been initiated in the craft since 1971. Basically this book is about short stories which the author uses to expound her own threories or opinions. I think that this author is bashing the teachings of other authors that she doesn't like which comes through when she says, "this is why". The book is a dry read, very boring. Personally I would give it a O rating.
Rating: Summary: a book for the critical new Wiccan Review: There is a reason why you should take any words of Kaatryn MacMorgan with a grain of salt. Reason one, is that the author has some very good debate topics and has the research to show in each chapter, however, the author has a bad habit of either contraditing her words or she poorly explains them to the point of giving the reader a headache of mumbo jumbo that the average person cannot understand.
Another reason, why are we still debating the Wiccan Rede?...there are no "breaking down" as the author puts it. However, to me she fails to put some kind of "mumbo jumbo" out to the public that they "cracked the code" from the decoder ring the author got from a craker jack box...nobody cares!. Everybody knows who is a wiccan see it as a "poem" and only use it as a "guideline"...thats all!..there should be NO breaking down the Rede in order to "understand it". The author also uses too much "scholar type" writing to bore her readers to death with.
On page 16 she truly misunderstood what Dion Fortune words of "All Gods are One God" ment. The author poorly explains this to only confuse the readers. She tells her readers on page 22 , "All paths lead to the same place is a good idea that fails in practice"...hold on!..she just told readers that not to long ago that "they were all different"...Is that a contradiction?.. because if we all ended up in the same place after death, that would pretty much explain all paths are equal. The author fails to explain this more. Then by adding fuel to the fire, she adds on page 23 "Believing all paths are one path can be seen as a sort of reaction to fundamentalism"...very, very untrue this is ONLY in her view.
However, even though the book gets a 3 from me, it isnt a bad book to be honest just poorly explained on the topics. However, there are some things she should rewrite on so other readers can understand it better. On page 59 the Tomas Timeline is very well done and very useful. However, the author's "run around" with newbies on page 67 is very bad...and this person says she is a teacher?...thats very sad. However, she writes that "a smart question assumes nothing"...which is true, but, nobody should assume anything because that makes you an ass..which she fails to explain on what real "smart questions" truly is. Instead, the author plays "mind games" and not truly answer the questions from the e-mail that the person sent to her...again taking her "teaching" with a grain of salt.
The Celt part on page 72 was pretty good, however, the author has to understand that Wicca never claimed "Celtic tradition" as their own. Wicca however, uses the Gods and Goddesses they feel comfortable with and blend the "influences of Celt tradition"..that is all!..nothing more. Every wiccan knows by now that wicca is not Celtic..again she telling readers what we already know.
Anyways, I do agree on her chapters on Proselytizing, Facts about Satanism which was very well explained and Forming an Ethical code which was good too. Now, as i said i gave this a 3 because the author has a poor way of explaining things. Now as being advance..that is 50/50.
I would try to find something better than this book, in order to look for better advance books about wicca.
Rating: Summary: Advanced Topics in BELIEF. Review: This book is a collection of vignettes-twelve relatively short sections that each describe an aspect of *belief*, either Wiccan belief or beliefs often associated with Wicca, in extreme detail. The information is critical. The author cites sources, gives contrasting views at time (for example, in the section on the Wiccan Rede, she talks about the reasons why it is generally interpretted as she describes, (her interpretation is Gardnerian to the core, which is weird from a self-described eclectic) then suggests that those with contrasting views should do the research, presumably to challenge her reseach or reach their own conclusions.) Perhaps most refreshingly, right in the introduction she states that she is not a guru, and that she should not be accepted because her word is in print. It's almost a complete turn around from other books I've read in which the author lords it over the readers. She repeats the message of "do your own research" again and again, and always states when, where and how she came up with what she says. There are even a few times where she states two contrasting opinions in the community and says she has no opinion on which is right and several times where she states an extreme belief, expressed by friends and covenmates and says "but I'm not sure I can believe that, and here's why." This book will alienate people looking for things about how to be Wiccan or an easy form of Wicca... it's a challenging read, giving equal creedence at times to points of view that are obscure. I imagined, at times, the author was vetting things through a ravening hoarde of reconstructionists, whose side she's clearly on in the whole unethical eclecticism vs communal and cultural gnossis debate. It is no more, and no less than what it says it is, advanced topic in Wiccan Belief, and perhaps provided a read that stuck with me more than any other book I've reviewed.
Rating: Summary: Philosophy and theology, not training Review: This is one of those books that may be misunderstood by some who buy it. Wicca 333 is a discussion of current philosophy, beliefs, and theology from a Wiccan perspective. MacMorgan addresses several current topics such as feminism and Wicca, science and Wicca, proselytizing, real history, and others. If you are a "trad" Wiccan who already knows "the one true way," then forget it. If you're looking for a more advanced "how to" book of super duper magick, it's the wrong book. But if you're a thoughtful Wiccan theologian or philosopher who enjoys keeping up with what others are saying and thinking about Wiccan religion, ethics, history and philosophy then this is a must for your reference library.
Rating: Summary: Philosophy and theology, not training Review: This is one of those books that may be misunderstood by some who buy it. Wicca 333 is a discussion of current philosophy, beliefs, and theology from a Wiccan perspective. MacMorgan addresses several current topics such as feminism and Wicca, science and Wicca, proselytizing, real history, and others. If you are a "trad" Wiccan who already knows "the one true way," then forget it. If you're looking for a more advanced "how to" book of super duper magick, it's the wrong book. But if you're a thoughtful Wiccan theologian or philosopher who enjoys keeping up with what others are saying and thinking about Wiccan religion, ethics, history and philosophy then this is a must for your reference library.
Rating: Summary: Excellent Source For Wiccan Philosophy Review: Thoughtful, pointed and provocative. This is an *excellent* source and starting point for discussion in Wiccan and Pagan philosophy and world view. This work is a great start to filling a gaping hole in Wiccan teaching. Kaatryn MacMorgan is opinionated, but well researched and well grounded in her views, and her purpose is to spark thought, research and more discussion. Her statements are sometimes bold, and tend to stir up the thought processes.Each chapter contains references to source material that can be used as a start for further discussion and more advanced topics. The book is suitable for solitary study, group discussions, or classroom situations. Others have pointed out that there are typos in the text, and there are several. However, substance is far more important, and this is an important work. I consider this a "must read" for any serious solitary or group studying Wicca seriously.
Rating: Summary: Excellent Source For Wiccan Philosophy Review: Thoughtful, pointed and provocative. This is an *excellent* source and starting point for discussion in Wiccan and Pagan philosophy and world view. This work is a great start to filling a gaping hole in Wiccan teaching. Kaatryn MacMorgan is opinionated, but well researched and well grounded in her views, and her purpose is to spark thought, research and more discussion. Her statements are sometimes bold, and tend to stir up the thought processes. Each chapter contains references to source material that can be used as a start for further discussion and more advanced topics. The book is suitable for solitary study, group discussions, or classroom situations. Others have pointed out that there are typos in the text, and there are several. However, substance is far more important, and this is an important work. I consider this a "must read" for any serious solitary or group studying Wicca seriously.
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