'Witchcraft Out of the Shadows - A Complete History' (Ruickbie; 2004) .... book review

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'Witchcraft Out of the Shadows - A Complete History' (Ruickbie; 2004)
Leo Ruickbie

This complete history of witchcraft from Ancient Greece to the present day charts the rise and development of witchcraft and the modern witchcraft religion of Wicca. This in-depth investigation discovers how the ideas we have about witchcraft took shape thousands of years ago in the myths and religions of the ancient world. It looks at why these ideas were expressed so violently during the era of the witch trials, and reveals how witchcraft has been transformed into one of the most radical and fastest growing religions of our age—a religion of equality and compassion that still has the power to unsettle even the bravest amongst us. With fresh insights and previously unpublished material drawn from the author's doctoral research into the mysticism, magic, and social meaning of Wicca, this is the first book to bring witchcraft fully out of the shadows.


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GoodReads.com
'Witchcraft Out of the Shadows - A Complete History' (Ruickbie; 2004)
Leo Ruickbie

Dr Leo Ruickbie is a sociologist and historian specialising in the field of witchcraft, Wicca, magic and the occult. He hold a PhD from King's College, London, for his work on modern witchcraft, and is the author of several books including Witchcraft Out of the Shadows and Faustus: The Life and Times of a Renaissance Magician. In 2008 and 2009 he exhibited on the subject of witchcraft in France. As well as giving public talks and writing articles for Pagan Dawn, Watkins Review and ASANAS, he also runs the WICA (witchology.com) website.


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One thing about this book is that it's very thorough. The only thing that I could slightly knock it for is that it didn't go back to prehistoric evidence of Proto-European spirituality; including the Earth Mother, the Horned God, and the Nebra sky disk. It started with the pre-Christian era, and was very complete from that point onward as far as I could tell.

The book started off with three chapters on 'The Early History of Witchcraft in Europe', entitled 'Age of Shadows'. First was ancient pre-Olympian Greece... "The Birthplace of All Sorceries." Essentially, it was about Hecatean tradition. and how it later conflated a bit with the the gods of Classical Greece, and later Christian Greece; and it delved into the mythology of Hecate's daughters Circe and Medea as well. Medea was a prominent character in the ancient Greek legend of 'Jason and the Argonauts'; you may recall the 1963 film.

Second was entitled 'East of Midgard', and delved into the history and mythology of the Odinic tradition in northern Europe. Included in this chapter was a sub-section entitled 'People of the Oak', which described the pre-Christian Druidic tradition; and of which I found particularly interesting. Ruickbie even gave a small account of the interaction between ancient Germania and Gaul.

Third was a chapter entitled 'South of Heaven', and was a very objectively complete overview--much if it in great detail--of the history of witchcraft/pagan traditions in the Medieval/Christian era... the burning times. I found the 'Age of Shadows' to be the most enjoyable part of the book, especially the first two chapters. I would have liked to have heard Ruickbie's opinion of how the early Proto-European traditions tied together.

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The next three chapters were entitled 'Born of Shadows', and delved into the history of modern witchcraft. First, he gives a brief summary of the survivals of the ancient magical or mystery traditions at the closing of the nineteenth century. It started with Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism, the Celtic revival, Charles G. Leland's long study on Italian Stregheria and its continued existence in a few rural locations, Hermeticism and Golden Dawn, the influence of Aleister Crowley, and Margaret Murray's "Witch Cult" hypothesis.

Second was about the invention of Wicca entitled 'The Craft of Invention'. Ruickbie proved beyond a doubt that an English Freemason named Gerald Gardner literally invented "Wicca" out of thin air. He actually used elements of Masonry, Hermeticism, and the magical works of Aleister Crowley and tried to pass them off as the ancient native magical tradition of the British Isles... and that he was a part of a long surviving coven. Personally I think that the basic idea of "Wicca" was a great idea, and I don't understand the need to rush in exaggerated claims to prove the legitimacy of what was an ancient tradition of some form.

Next was a chapter on the development of Wicca. Somewhat comically, Ruickbie detailed how a very knowledgeable associate named Doreen Valiente "cleaned up" Gardner's sloppy work and made it practical and workable. This chapter went into detail of how Wicca unfolded after Gardner's death. Lots of names were dropped, mostly charlatans and pretenders; but it seemed to me that Doreen Valiente and Patricia Crowther were sincere and practical leaders.

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The final three chapters were entitled 'Empire of Shadows', and went into great detail about every aspect of modern witchcraft today; basically in the English-speaking world, or at least as of 2004. Although undoubtedly important, it was quite wordy and monotonous. I know, it's important to understand what something is, and not what people perceive it is, what you think it is, or what you may want it to be. Still, I think it could have been summarized in a short chapter. However, for what this section was trying to accomplish, it was very complete. This book was a good and complete chronological history of pre-Christian European spiritual/magical traditions--including historically conflated elements--from ancient times up to their emerging time-nexus today.

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