Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld
Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld: An Anthropology is an
Greenwood became involved in the
Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld was reviewed by various figures involved in both academia and the Pagan community including Douglas Ezzy and Phil Hine. Greenwood herself would go on to author several other books on the relationship between magic and anthropology.
Background
Anthropological fieldwork into Paganism
Prior to Greenwood's work, several academic researchers working in the field of Pagan studies had published investigations of the Pagan community in the United States and the United Kingdom. First among these was the practicing Wiccan, journalist and political activist Margot Adler in her Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today, published by Viking Press in 1979.[1] A second study was produced by anthropologist Tanya M. Luhrmann in Persuasions of the Witch's Craft: Ritual Magic in Contemporary England (1989), in which she focused on a Wiccan coven and several ceremonial magic orders based in London.[2] Sociologist Allen Scarboro, psychologist Nancy Campbell and Wiccan literary critic Shirley Stave undertook fieldwork in the Ravenwood coven of Atlanta, Georgia, over several months across 1990 and 1991 as the basis for Living Witchcraft: A Contemporary American Coven, published by Praeger in 1994,[3] while anthropologist and Wiccan Loretta Orion investigated the Pagan movement in the East Coast and Midwest of the U.S. for Never Again the Burning Times: Paganism Revisited, published by Waveland Press in 1995.[4] 1997 saw the publication of Witchcraft and Paganism in Australia, authored by anthropologist Lynne Hume.[5]
Greenwood and her research
"This is a study of certain ideas, philosophies, practices and groups within the Western esoteric tradition in the last decade of the twentieth century. I explore, through issues concerning magical identity, gender, and morality, aspects of what magicians term the 'otherworld'."
—Susan Greenwood, 2000.[6]
As a child, Greenwood had found a greater spiritual connection with the natural world than with
Although initially planning to gather data through formal taped interviews with participants, she rejected this method, believing it solidified her "outsider" status among the subculture she was studying. Instead, her data was collected through informal conversations with practitioners, during which she tried to make clear that she was an anthropologist and would use their comments in her work.[7] Over the course of her research, Greenwood gained many friends within the city's Pagan community, and became sexually and emotionally attached to one magician.[7] Greenwood's research was funded using grants from the University of London Central Research Fund and from the Economic and Social Research Council.[8] She devoted the published work to her children, Adrian and Lauren.[8]
Synopsis
Chapter one describes contemporary Paganism and defines "the otherworld". It discusses London's magical and Pagan subculture in the 1990s, and Greenwood's relationship with it. Admitting to being an "insider", she explores her mixed feelings at being both a practicing Pagan and an anthropological observer.[9] The second chapter examines the community's conceptions of the otherworld, explaining how they approach it through acts of visualisation and
In her third chapter, Greenwood examines her experiences among London's ceremonial magicians, focusing on her training in the
Chapter five examines the attraction of magic for its practitioners, and its uses for
Chapter seven deals with conceptions of
Central arguments
Greenwood states that western esotericists have a
Greenwood highlights the practitioners' belief that they can interact with this otherworld and the entities which inhabit it through rituals that facilitate their own
Greenwood argues that the academic discipline of anthropology, being a product of the western rationalism developed during the Age of Enlightenment, is innately skeptical of claims for the existence of magic or an otherworld, either among non-western cultures or western subcultures. In contrast to this attitude, she notes that anthropology is the discipline which first pointed out that "reality is culturally constructed" and that there are "multiple ways of experiencing the world", including those which conceive of an otherworld existing alongside our own reality. For this reason, she argues that anthropologists wishing to understand a society that believes in and practices magic must first tentatively accept the existence of an otherworld, claiming that "it is inappropriate to use methods developed for the study of everyday reality to analyse the magical otherworld."[19]
Reception and recognition
Academic
Greenwood's text was reviewed by Patric V. Giesler of
The book was also reviewed by religious studies scholar Michael York of Bath Spa University for the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Labelling it an "enormously engaging, provocative, and rich book", he notes that readers may wish that Greenwood had more explicitly presented "the antipatriarchal assumptions and their shortcomings" of Feminist Witchcraft. Comparing it with Luhrmann's Persuasions of the Witch's Craft, York comments that it is a "discerningly astute, nonretreating, thoroughly enjoyable, and highly recommended work."[21]
Sarah M. Pike of the California State University, Chico reviewed the book for Culture and Religion: An Interdisciplinary Journal, describing it as an "accessible and personal account". Believing that it made an "important contribution" to Pagan studies and the anthropological study of magic, she nevertheless thought that Greenwood's subjective attitude was the book's shortcoming as well as its strength. Pike finds problems in Greenwood's insider-outsider status, believing that it has not been sufficiently theorised, and that Greenwood was unaware of her own bias in favour of Feminist Witchcraft, which in turn affects her interpretation of other forms of Wicca and ceremonial magic. She also critiques the book's lack of commentary or detailed analysis, complaining that many subsections lack conclusions.[22]
Anthropologist Galina Lindquist of the
Pagan and esoteric community
"This is one of the most stimulating and rewarding ethnographies of contemporary Witchcraft I've read. Greenwood has worked hard, and it shows in the quality of her findings and analysis. Her writing is clear, insightful, and draws on a sophisticated theoretical framework. She describes herself as a communicator between the worlds of academia and magical counterculture. She is clearly widely read both in the academic literature and the magical texts, more than competent in both worlds, and skilled at revealing one to the other."
—Reviewer Douglas Ezzy, 2001.[24]
Greenwood's work was independently reviewed by two separate individuals in
The Pomegranate's second review came from Pagan studies scholar Douglas Ezzy of the University of Tasmania, who praises Greenwood's research, theoretical approach and style of writing. He notes that her "truly ground breaking" approach in taking spiritual experiences seriously had "fascinated and thrilled" him, asserting that her work builds on the pioneering edited collection Being Changed by Jean-Guy Goulet and David E. Young. Noting that Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld was "sometimes provocative", he disagrees with some of Greenwood's conclusions, but highlights that her arguments had made him think about these issues "in much sharper focus."[26]
Reviewing it for his own website, prominent chaos magician Phil Hine described Greenwood's work as "fascinating", arguing that it should interest students of anthropology as well as practising occultists. He praises the author's descriptions of her own experiences within esoteric groups, and the manner in which she highlighted the power struggles that take place within them, before recommending it as "an engaging and thought-provoking read".[27]
References
Footnotes
- ^ Adler 1979.
- ^ Luhrmann 1989.
- ^ Scarboro, Campbell and Stave 1994.
- ^ Orion 1995.
- ^ Hume 1997.
- ^ a b c d Greenwood 2000. p. ix.
- ^ a b Greenwood 2000. p. 17.
- ^ a b Greenwood 2000. p. x.
- ^ Greenwood 2000. pp. 1–20.
- ^ Greenwood 2000. pp. 23–47.
- ^ Greenwood 2000. pp. 49–82.
- ^ Greenwood 2000. pp. 83–115.
- ^ Greenwood 2000. pp. 117–149.
- ^ Greenwood 2000. pp. 151–177.
- ^ Greenwood 2000. pp. 179–208.
- ^ a b c d Greenwood 2000. p. 23.
- ^ Greenwood 2000. p. 24.
- ^ Greenwood 2000. pp. 25–26.
- ^ Greenwood 2000. pp. 23–24.
- ^ Giesler 2002.
- ^ York 2001.
- ^ Pike 2002.
- ^ Lindquist 2002.
- ^ Ezzy 2001. p. 40.
- ^ Cohen 2001.
- ^ Ezzy 2001.
- ^ Hine n.d.
Bibliography
- Academic books and papers
- ISBN 978-0-670-28342-2.
- Greenwood, Susan (2000). Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld: An Anthropology. Oxford and New York City: Berg. ISBN 978-1-85973-445-2.
- Hume, Lynne (1997). Witchcraft and Paganism in Australia. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. ISBN 978-0-522-84782-6.
- ISBN 978-0-674-66324-4.
- Orion, Loretta (1995). Never Again the Burning Times: Paganism Revisited. Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press. ISBN 978-0-88133-835-5.
- Scarboro, Allen; Campbell, Nancy; Stave, Shirley (1994). Living Witchcraft: A Contemporary American Coven. Westport, Connecticut and London: Praeger. ISBN 978-0-275-94688-3.
- Book reviews
- Cohen, Daniel (Spring 2001). "Review of Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld". The Pomegranate: A New Journal of Neopagan Thought. Vol. 16. pp. 40–41.
- Ezzy, Douglas (Spring 2001). "Review of Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld". The Pomegranate: A New Journal of Neopagan Thought. Vol. 16. pp. 40–42.
- Giesler, Patric V. (February 2002). "Review of Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld". American Ethnologist. Vol. 29, no. 1. pp. 208–209. JSTOR 3095048.
- Hine, Phil. "Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld: An Anthroplogy [sic]". Phil Hine. Archived from the original on 6 May 2004.
- Lindquist, Galina (2002). "Review of Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld". The Australian Journal of Anthropology. Vol. 13, no. 2. pp. 239–241.
- Pike, Sarah M. (2002). "Review of Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld". Culture and Religion. Vol. 3, no. 2. pp. 242–243.
- York, Michael (December 2001). "Review of Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Vol. 40, no. 4. pp. 777–778. JSTOR 1387667.