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Wicca's Charm: Understanding the Spiritual Hunger Behind the Rise of Modern Witchcraft and Pagan Spirituality

di Catherine Sanders

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Christian Nonfiction. Religion & Spirituality. Nonfiction. HTML:How Wiccan Spirituality Is Filling a Spiritual Hunger in America
Hundreds of thousands of people practice Wicca and other forms of modern Pagan spirituality in America today, and journalist Catherine Edwards Sanders wanted to understand why such belief systems are rapidly attracting followers. When a routine magazine assignment led her to realize that her stereotype of Wiccans as eccentric spiritual outsiders was embarrassingly misinformed, her curiosity compelled her to understand the Wiccan mystique. With the support of a journalism fellowship, Sanders spent a year interviewing neo-Pagans and witches and found that the lure of this emerging spirituality was not the occult, but rather a search for meaning in an increasingly fragmented and materialistic culture.
With keen observation, challenging insight, and compassionate critique, Sanders produces a lively narrative about what she experienced and discovered during her travels: Halloween rituals in Salem, anti-globalization protests in New York, and the contrasts between what seekers find in neo-Paganism that they perceive as lacking in Christian tradition. In Wicca??s Charm, Sanders explains the powerful attraction of an increasingly mainstream spirituality that celebrates the wonder of creation and the life-giving energy of women while also exploring why Christian churches often fail to engage these seekers, but how they can learn to tap into the deep roots of Christianity to nourish the hunger of so many who seek a holistic and authentic worship experien
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I picked up Catherine Sanders’s book Wicca’s Charm when I saw the subtitle, Understanding the Spiritual Hunger Behind the Rise of Modern Witchcraft and Pagan Spirituality. That’s an interesting line of inquiry! And when I opened it, I was bolstered by the fact that there were footnotes and what appeared to be actual research done. However, I was dismayed when I actually began reading.

Sanders should have begun her book with this: “This background may be of help to you as you look for a way to respond to a Wiccan friend or as you compare Wiccan and Christianity for yourself” (78). Because that’s what this book is. It isn’t an unbiased account of Wicca. It’s not even an editorial into why Wicca is popular. It’s not well-researched, or thoughtful, or anything other than a missionary’s pamphlet dressed up with footnotes. What Sanders has written is for precisely those two audiences: questioning teens and Christians looking to convert their poor, misguided friends. Fine. If she wanted to write that book, she can. But dressing it up as supposedly some neutral look into Wicca and hiding her true purpose (you’ll note that quote comes from page 78) is deceitful and misleading. It would be like writing a book called, Gay and Confused? The Teens Guide to Coming Out and Being Your True Self and then filling it with all the ways that being gay is sinful and wrong. Her tone is supposedly neutral, but she manages to be offensive, patronizing, and downright idiotic at points – and I consider myself to be Christian. The important part, however, is that I consider myself to be a Christian with critical thinking skills rather than just agreeing with everything said by someone I align myself with.

She argues that Christians should be understanding and reach out to Wiccans and try to understand where they’re coming from, but then is so offensive and patronizing, that I question her idea of “understanding”. Telling someone, “I know you’re questioning and searching for something, but this stuff is idiotic,” is not understanding. It’s not going to convert anyone. It’s going to turn them even more away from you. So even for one of her target audience, she does a terrible job. I guess she can make the other group feel better about themselves, however, and pat themselves on the back for both being able to condemn someone else and label themselves as understanding. Win-win!

Her patronizing demeanor is especially ironic considering she herself quotes Christian author John Stott when he says that Christians “cannot sweep away all… cherished convictions with a brash, unfeeling dismissal” (128). And yet, that’s what Sanders does continually.

She talks about how women are drawn to Wicca because of their feminism and discusses the rise of feminism coffee klatches, where women could talk about their opinions without interruption or criticism, then immediately says, “Christians who believed in the supernatural and might have had some interesting things to share with these women about grace and the power of God’s love largely steered clear of such feminist gatherings” (52). She says that, “…without knowing it, the gospel message is what Margot Adler longed for as she clutched the microphone in Seattle” (94). How would Sanders feel, I wonder, if I said that this book – without her knowing it – was a deep-seated longing for Wicca and a religion which doesn’t disenfranchise her to the point that she has to justify it and ignore the parts she doesn’t like in order to convince herself it’s real? I imagine she would be angered by how dismissive I was at her cherished convictions. Yet this book echoes over and over again that these women are poor, misled people who just need to hear God’s Word to be saved.

I joked in a progress update on GoodReads that reading this book was turning into a “spot the logical fallacy” game, but it wasn’t really a joke. On page 69, Sanders notes a “maidening” ceremony wherein a seventeen-year-old girl was whipped by members of a coven. Though she does admit that “All maidening ceremonies are different, and not all involve whipping”, the implication is clear: How barbaric! How horrific! Look at these backwards Wiccans and their child-abuse ways!

I would argue that the Wiccans/neo-Pagans who whip their own daughters in such a ceremony are very much the exception, rather than the rule – most of the Wiccans I know would be horrified even to learn that such a thing exists. Sanders here creates the classic strawman argument: putting an average, everyday Christian against a fundamentalist Wiccan and finding fault. I wonder how the comparison would go if she put an average, everyday Wiccan against a fundamentalist Christian. I doubt the Christian would fare well in the comparison.

Sanders has a bad habit of making very good points, then destroying them with her own commentary. She argues that women feel marginalized and disenfranchised within modern Christianity, which I agree with. Unfortunately, she then destroys her good points by adding her own commentary. On the whipping, she comments that, “some covens would go so far as to whip participants to mark life’s passage shows how desperate many women are to be noticed” (70). She also brings up the point that not just the church, but advertising has led to women feeling objectified and marginalized. She repeatedly, however, notes that women are responsible for this. I agree with that – women have had a part in contributing to their own disenfranchisement. However, the sheer number of times she reiterates and emphasizes this point points to an almost internalized misogyny. She notes that, “Women’s bodies are often treated only as eye candy for men, and women are complicit in much of this” (81) and “Women are right to mourn over this mistreatment. This type of patriarchal behavior is sinful. We cannot blame only the men, however, as such behavior has been encouraged by women, too(66), emphasis mine.

But Sanders critiques Wiccans for not holding themselves up to the same standards they hold other religions (and, let’s be honest, this isn’t a failing of Wiccans, or Christians, but a basic human one). Adler, a prominent Wiccan discussed in the book, “….was typical of other neo-Pagans I met who could hold monotheistic religions to a standard of truth when they displayed no concern for truth in their own spirituality” (72). Really? For fun, let’s apply Sanders own idea of truth – as she applies it to Wiccans in her book – to Christianity. For instance, she claims that she finds “the fallen, sinful human condition, which leads to the cultural objectification of women, seemed to be the real culprit rather than the message of the gospel” (80). She claims that the Bible condemns rape and incest – which it does, in a sense. But clearly she doesn’t know her own gospel as well as she thinks she does.

Deuteronomy 22:25:

“But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die:

But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter” (Deut. 22:25-26).

That’s pretty progressive, right?

But let’s read on:

“If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found:

Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shek’-els of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days” (Deut. 22:27-29).

Or, a few chapters later in Deuteronomy 25, we see that if a woman’s husband dies and they have no children, then “her husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s brother unto her” (Deut. 25:5).

Finally, she claims that the patriarchal culture of Christianity, where “women over the years have been taught to take a backseat to the men, to get their self-worth from their husbands alone, to give boys the best of life’s opportunities” is a “type of patriarchal behavior [that] is sinful” (66). No, it’s not. It’s taught in that same Bible that Sanders is using to condemn Wicca with. Open that Bible up and read a little. Just a few chapters, say just until Genesis 3:16: “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, he shall rule over thee” (Gen. 3:16). Or there’s all the times that women should submit themselves to their husbands, as in Ephesians 5:22, Colossians 3:18, Titus 2:4-5, and I Peter 3:1. I could name more, but I think it’s fairly obvious that this isn’t the product of a sinful culture… this is the product of what the Bible teaches. Women should be seen and not heard. Women should subject and submit themselves to their husbands. Saying that women turn to Wicca because they feel disenfranchised within the mainstream Christian religion is fine, but to claim that they shouldn’t feel is idiotic. If Sanders truly believes that women should submit themselves to the men, then fine. She has that right. But if she wants to claim that Christianity doesn’t teach that, then she’s picking and choosing what she wants to from Christianity.

And if you don’t believe me, see the chapter “Jesus’s Unusual Treatment of Women”. Here she claims that, “In Athens, women were usually forced to marry either before or at puberty, and they received little or no education” (87). I wonder what she thinks ancient Christians did, because that was common throughout the ancient world. Yes, even Christians. Oh, and Christians “condemned divorce” and “rejected the double standard that allowed men more sexual license than women” (87). Condemning divorce isn’t always a good thing. In fact, back in the ancient days, it was very much a bad thing. It meant that women were often trapped in abusive or awful marriages and unable to get out of them through any means but death. Full disclosure, I was a Classics student in college – if she thinks that Stark was right when he wrote that “Christian women enjoyed substantially higher status within the Christian subculture than pagan women did in the world at large” (87), she’s crazy. But again, she dismisses Christian sexism as “the gospel message has been distorted over the years” (87). Again, read above. No, it hasn’t. If anything, it’s gotten better because people don’t ascribe to the worst of it.

She even holds up a woman named Catherine of Siena as a show that Jesus “liberates women” (88) and says that Catherine “founded a monastery at age thirty and devoted her life to peacemaking and preaching” (89). Good for her, but she’s in direct contradiction to the Bible: “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church” (I Corinth. 14:34-36). Or I Timothy, “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence” (I Tim. 2:12). You don’t get to pick Mother Theresa to show how great Islam is, so you don’t get to use a woman’s accomplishments to show how progressive Christianity was when the Bible directly told her not to do those things.

Later, she even argues that the Indian practice of sati (a widow throwing herself onto the pyre of her husband) was directly linked to their religion. “Because of the pantheistic worldview of the goddess-worship culture, the Indians saw nothing wrong with this – the woman was no more important than an inanimate object” (85). Okay, so in Christianity, that same sexism is not because of the Bible – even though, yes, as I believe I’ve demonstrated, it’s clearly there – but because of the culture. But in Indian religion(s), sexism is directly related to their faith and not the culture. How about those double-standards now, Sanders?

Obviously most Christians don’t believe – or at least don’t practice – these laws anymore, but since Sanders is so concerned with truth in the Wiccan faith, I only thought it fair that Christianity be examined with the same standards that she holds to Wicca. Physician Sanders, heal thyself.

Sanders brings up some good points, which is what makes this book especially infuriating. There is a very fine line to walk when investigating an inquiry of this kind: one must identify the sources while withholding judgment on the results. Sanders (correctly, I think) identifies the lack of care about the Earth and nature, the disenfranchisement of women in mainstream Christianity, the need for ritual and the occult, and a desire for spirituality as the main reasons that people turn to Wicca. And if she had stopped there, I think this could have been a fascinating book. Instead, she chooses to use those results and point out that these could all be solved if they just understood that Christianity encompasses all those things – even though it clearly doesn’t.

If you’re a person questioning their religion and seeking answers, don’t pick up this book. Pick up books on Eastern religions and Christianity (I especially recommend Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis) and Wicca and think for yourself to decide what you believe. Don’t rely on someone else – Sanders, in this case – telling you you’re wrong and what you should believe.

If you’re a Christian with Wiccan friends, don’t pick up this book. Talk to them. Try to understand them. And admit that maybe you don’t have the right answer, or that the church isn’t perfect. If you listen to Sanders and her sanctimonious tone, you’ll only wind up driving them further away.

If you’re looking for a well-reasoned, neutral, unbiased book that explores an intriguing line of thought, don’t pick up this book. It’s not any of those things. It’s a thinly veiled proselytization written by a sanctimonious woman who wanted to write a missionary pamphlet that people would actually read (mistakenly).

If you’re a Christian who likes to pick and choose what you believe, condemn others without looking at yourself first, and likes feeling good about themselves by telling other people to go to hell, then sure, pick up this book. It should be right up your alley. ( )
  kittyjay | Feb 28, 2019 |
The author has wicca confused with goth. ( )
  Regyna2167 | Jan 16, 2016 |
GBIP
  imnotawitch | Nov 19, 2005 |
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Christian Nonfiction. Religion & Spirituality. Nonfiction. HTML:How Wiccan Spirituality Is Filling a Spiritual Hunger in America
Hundreds of thousands of people practice Wicca and other forms of modern Pagan spirituality in America today, and journalist Catherine Edwards Sanders wanted to understand why such belief systems are rapidly attracting followers. When a routine magazine assignment led her to realize that her stereotype of Wiccans as eccentric spiritual outsiders was embarrassingly misinformed, her curiosity compelled her to understand the Wiccan mystique. With the support of a journalism fellowship, Sanders spent a year interviewing neo-Pagans and witches and found that the lure of this emerging spirituality was not the occult, but rather a search for meaning in an increasingly fragmented and materialistic culture.
With keen observation, challenging insight, and compassionate critique, Sanders produces a lively narrative about what she experienced and discovered during her travels: Halloween rituals in Salem, anti-globalization protests in New York, and the contrasts between what seekers find in neo-Paganism that they perceive as lacking in Christian tradition. In Wicca??s Charm, Sanders explains the powerful attraction of an increasingly mainstream spirituality that celebrates the wonder of creation and the life-giving energy of women while also exploring why Christian churches often fail to engage these seekers, but how they can learn to tap into the deep roots of Christianity to nourish the hunger of so many who seek a holistic and authentic worship experien

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