Customer Reviews

The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is a veyr detailed and informative history. However the paperback edition has miniscule print on low grade paper, so much so that it is hard to read for a long period of time. I would reccomend getting the hardback. The work itself is great and it's worth paying the extra to be able to read it without needing aspirin on standby.

First, what this book is:

...a long, exhaustive and highly engaging look at the social changes in England during the Romantic era, their influence on poetry and the interpretation of history, and how these attitudes, as well as the influence of secret societies like the Golden Dawn and Freemasons, contributed to the notion of witchcraft as an ancient fertility cult, and why and how this notion was brought to the forefront when, in 1954, a British civil servant claimed he had discovered a survival of this cult in New Forest, and published what were suposedly its inner secrets.

What this book is not:

...an attack on the credibility and intentions of Wicca's founders by a disgruntled accedemic hell-bent on "exposing" Wicca as a religious and historical farce within the context of an accedemic study.

"Triumph of the Moon" represents to date, the only book of its caliber to take an in depth look at the history of pagan witchcraft not only from a historical point of view, but from a sociological and literary one as well. What we find when all is said and done is a book that will strengthen and solidfy the Wiccan beliefs of some, as it finally gives them a complete and coherrent historical account of their beliefs not intended to defame them, but to reveal Wicca as a religion born of poetry, literature and mysticism. For others, it will signal a death nill, as an (almost) irrefutable refutation of the, now discredited, notions of antiquity, ancient matriarchy, and survival("the burning times") that many fundementalist Wiccans are still trying to sell to the public, and which serves as a lure for many new adherents.

As a historical textbook, it's no less riveting. No other book so accurately, and with such detail, examines and interprets the goings-on of the occult community prior to, and during Wicca's compilation in the 1950's. The sheer cast of characters alone is staggering. (...)

If there is a flaw however, it is that Hutton is too nice. The only author who he genuinely downplays and criticizes is Margaret Murray. And while he is quick to point out the errors and misrepresentations made by Wiccas founders(Gardner, Valiente) and the authors who contributed to it's source material(Graves, Frazer), he most often does this while attempting to isolate and play up their better points and/or best intentions. Which brings up another potential flaw, that he is too kind to modern pagans as well. In the chapter "Coming of Age" he describes Wicca as a religion rapidly maturing, and its adherents increasingly tending to disregard Gardner's story, the Murray thesis, and the erroneous myth of the burning times. Perhaps this is true in England, but in America, the inqueries made in the 90's into both pagan Wicca and its historical claims, and the dissapointing (to believers) conclusions made by these inqueries, have only served to divide serious Wiccans into bitter and opposing camps, with newcomers being totally clueless and their Wicca being almost entirely self-styled from fluffy Llewelyn books. Such individuals, sadly, make up the bulk of people calling themselves "Wiccan" at any given time these days. He also fails to mention most Wiccans' (both camps) continuing hatred of the traditional, fairy tale representation of the witch, denouncing this image as a misrepresentation of "true" witchcraft. I would argue that this image is an intergral aspect of the folklore upon which Wicca is based on, and should be reverred and cherished as yet another level of the witch's mystique. Most modern wiches are oblivious to this fact. My children are fed a steady diet of veggie burgers and the brothers Grimm, and I am pleased to inform you that they most assuredly believe in witches.

Perhaps Hutton is working a little revisionist history of his own, bending the truth of Wicca's current state to give an example of how Wicca COULD redeem itself if it wanted to, and exemplifying a potential path that Wicca, and neo-paganism might take in it's long, hard road to accedemic and religious credibility. If this is his intention, then he proves to be Grave's and Murray's true heir in the developement of neo-paganism, using a bit of deception with the best intention of inspiring those who read it to do something new and positive. But as a testement to paganism's, indeed growing, maturity, this time the deception is a conscious one, serves a specific and useful purpose, and everyone is in on it.

Blessed Be. Yes, this review was written by a Wiccan.

note: as I stated, the book's few flaws are open to interpretation, and don't necessarily amount to factual errors, or at least they don't ammount to factual errors of the type Wiccans are famous for spouting, and for what it's worth, that is, a historical overview of the developement of Wicca and neo-paganism, you will not find a finer book available, therefore it still gets a perfect five stars.

The world still awaits a truly comprehensive history of Neopaganism. Margo Adler's estimable DRAWING DOWN THE MOON is perhaps the closest approach to date. With THE TRIUMPH OF THE MOON, British historian Ronald Hutton has raised the bar for future efforts both in terms of depth of research and genuine insight. Though his book focuses on the antecedents and development of British Wicca, it contains a wealth of material to any reader interested in Neopaganism.

Hutton is something of a bête noire for many Wiccans and other Neopagans after his iconoclastic PAGAN RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT BRITISH ISLES, particularly for his corrosive attacks on Robert Graves and THE WHITE GODDESS (however deserved they may have been). Hutton's work is, nevertheless, grounded in substantial research (as befits a widely-published historian) and a generally non-judgmental tone. Hutton continues his no-stone-unturned approach in this new book, but departs from simple history to offer rationales for the viability of Neopaganism as a religious path, even given its apparent twentieth-century origins.

For many Neopagans outside of traditionalist Wicca, the book's focus on Neopagan Witchcraft (and in particular on Gerald Gardner and Alex Sanders) may render its iconoclasm old news. Hutton's research only buttresses the deconstruction of Wicca begun in the '70s. Hutton's gift, though, is to go beyond the first order deconstruction and find unexpected bits of information amidst an impressive array of personal papers and museum holdings. For example, most informed readers will already be aware that "Old" Dorothy Clutterbuck, Gardner's supposed initiatrix, was shown to be a real person, after years of argument to the contrary. Hutton demonstrates, however--and rather conclusively to my mind--that "Old Dorothy" could not have been the person who initiated Gardner and he points emphatically to another woman who may have been hiding behind a smokescreen of Gardner's creation. Similarly, Hutton is not afraid to take on the now-taken-for-granted notion advanced by Aidan Kelly that the ritual nudity and scourging involved in Gardnerian Wicca were simply manifestations of Gardner's personal sexual kinks. Hutton ransacks Gardner's personal collection of pornography to refute this--and offers suggestions as to the real roots of these practices.

The book is of greatest interest to the general (read, "non-Wiccan") Neopagan reader in two regards. First, Hutton clearly demonstrates that the cultural roots of the Pagan revival lie embedded in the Romantic movement, particularly in Romantic Era poetry. The real forebears of the movement are seen to be, not Leland or Crowley (though both are examined and acknowledged), but poets like Keats, Shelley and Swinburne, who first identified the feminine divine with Nature and who repopularized the use of classical Pagan deities like Diana and Pan, often against critical resistance. The way in which Hutton tracks the passage of these motifs from literature into religion is fascinating.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, THE TRIUMPH OF THE MOON represents a scholarly book by an apparently non-Pagan historian (unlike Adler) who is willing to see past the herd of sacred cows he is slaughtering to point out the transcendent values of Neopaganism--Wiccan or otherwise. He is careful throughout the book never to reach categorical judgements against some deeply-held beliefs, even where the evidence might strongly point in that direction. And, in the final pages of the book, Hutton sets aside the persona of the dispassionate researcher to advocate for pagan witchcraft as "a full-blown, independent religion," one "which deliberately draws upon ancient images and ideas for comtemporary needs," a protean faith which "takes ideas from many sources and applies them in many--and often constantly altering--ways." Hutton hinted at this favorable sentiment in PAGAN RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT BRITISH ISLES and it is to his credit that he is willing to expand upon it here.

Even speaking as an initiate in one of the traditions critically examined in the book ("1734" Witchcraft), I recommend it highly.

This book was a very enjoyable read, partly for the quality of the writing style, partly for the way it catalogues so many interesting people, events and ideas, and partly for the thrill of the hunt as I tracked down and nailed mistake after mistake.
In a work of this scope a few factual errors are to be expected, but the sheer number of these errors, and the immensity of some of his misrepresentations is staggering, especially from someone who claims to be unbiased, and to have not left any significant silences.
Hutton's scholarly yet entertaining tone has totally starstruck a generation of pagans who previously had seen nothing better than Llewellyn's books (note all the 5-star reviews), however his scholarship is full of big, black, holes.

The main thrust of the book is to destroy any possibility of any kind of history or continuity to pre-Gardnerian "Wicca" or witchcraft. This is fine up to a point, but in his anti-Murray-ist zeal he goes so far as to conclude that not one single practitioner of any kind of pagan religion was persecuted in Europe during the time of the witch trials (1400-1700).
To support this extreme claim he employs character assassination against such people as Gardner and Leland (supported on a series of shaky or downright wrong information), qoutes other authors very selectively or out of context, paints quite unrealistic pictures of historical folk-magic (for instance, describing English cunning folk as isolated and having little or no contact with each other, and getting all their skills by mail order from London, when contemporary accounts describe that in some areas there were as many cunning-folk as parishioners).
He criticises the eminent scholar and historian Carlo Ginzburg (certainly a more rigorous scholar than Hutton) of being Murray-ist, but seems to have either not read, or somehow not understood Ginzburg's books which he has quoted from. He even at one point gives a list of authors who supposedly agree with him that no condemned "witches" held pagan religious beliefs - however if you actually read these authors, you will find that only one or two of them make any such claim, and in fact about half of them seem to take quite the opposite view, suggesting all kinds of connections with pre-christian religion (and giving lots of evidence in support).
Hutton doesn't even attempt to address the wealth of previous work that has gone into understanding the pre-christian religions of Europe and their continuation through folk-lore and custom. Folklorists like Jacob Grimm may have written some years ago when different academic approaches were in vogue, but this doesn't give Hutton license to entirely ignore their seminal works. There is an enormously different picture to be painted if you read just the authors Hutton has cited, let alone if you expand into wider areas such as folklore and legislation.
I really did enjoy reading this book, and I see it offering a good starting point for other better-prepared researchers, providing as it does such a nice catalogue of people and ideas (also, research is more fun when you have a contentious point or two to argue over). However as a book to be read and believed by Wiccans and pagans it is a tragedy. Instead of tracing the development of modern Wicca and witchcraft in an honest light, he rather stamps on these thin tenuous roots and casts a blackening smokescreen across what is already a dim enough area of history.
I don't really understand how or why he would get it so wrong. Is it really just plain sloppiness, or does he have some sinister agenda? :) But then, the world of witchcraft is a strange place, full of strange people. Perhaps Hutton is no less strange than some of the people and events he writes about.

(...)

This was an excellent historical work on modern Pagan Witchcraft. It does tend to focus on Wicca, but it does also talk about Druids, and non-Gardnarian Traditions. If you know nothing about Wicca, I recomend you start with another book, or the very last chapter serves as an excelent summary of what Wiccans belive, and though it seams weird to suggest it, you might want to read the last chapter first. Although the author is a historian and not a Pagan or a Witch, he remains respectful in his historical endevor. This book is an excelent example of how a new religion is born, and perhapse the only such history of the birth of a new faith to exist!

Wow, do I know I lot of people who need to read this!

Someone, and a respected historian-someone at that, has finally done it - and I only hope that there is more to come!
I came across this book in a university course and I can only say that I am deeply grateful to know that something like it has finally been written. Why didn't anyone mention it to me before huh? - I thought this was bound to be a standard work on every Wiccan's, Witch's or Pagan's bookshelf, right next to Margot Adler's "Drawing Down The Moon"!

Hutton's book is an in-depth study of the backgrounds, origins and development of modern Pagan witchcraft. Although it mainly focuses on Britain and on Wicca, it certainly provides a lot of "where-from" information on Neo-Paganism in general as well.

The first part of the book - "Macrocosm" - is a thorough study of the larger context, which in 1800-1940 Britain made it possible that something like Wicca could evolve. It deals with Romantic literature, archaeology, the 'cunning folk' and popular 'low magic', European learned 'high magic', folklore, secret societies, Theosophy, the Order of the Golden Dawn and Freemasonry etc. etc.
The second part - "Microcosm" - deals with the actual development of Wiccan traditions as they are practised today, starting with Gerald Gardner, then moving on to other important figures (such as Doreen Valiente etc.) and describing the development of other Wiccan traditions and also assumedly-independent-from-Wicca witchcraft traditions. Hutton also acknowledges the importance of the USA and how Wicca was greatly changed by the left-wing feminist attitude of American practitioners.

Although not written academically dry it is certainly no light read, just because of the sheer mass of information it includes, but it will be worth the effort, trust me.
Seldom have I read a book so packed full of things that I have always wanted to know and wondered about. I even know my share about Freemasonry now ;). The enormous research behind it and excessive end-notes satisfy even my sceptical mind. Hey, finally someone tries to PROVE what they are saying! It is therefore also a great sourcebook and basic work for further studies of your own.

However, for those who firmly believe in an unbroken continuity of Wicca from before the burning times, it is certainly a challenge, because Hutton does away with this theory most thoroughly. - But he does so in a very kind way, showing that there really is no need to justify a perfectly acceptable modern religion by means of these "ancient roots", and that, even if modern Pagans do pick and choose from actual older sources&religions, they are creating something uniquely modern, but nonetheless perfectly valid in the process.

The only two drawbacks are the tiny tiny tiny printing in the paperback, which has me longing for the hardcover edition - hopefully printed larger so that I can read it again and again without needing a magnifying glass or ruining my eyes.
The other is that for someone completely new to the subject it is probably sometimes hard to understand what it is all about, especially since Hutton includes so much detailed information.

If you've never heard of modern witchcraft, Wicca or Paganism, read "Drawing Down The Moon" first - then you can truly enjoy "The Triumph Of The Moon".

Since I am attending a class dealing with witchcraft at the Anglistics Institute of the University of Vienna I read this book to widen my, til then, rudimentary knowledge of modern witchcraft. Never before had I heard about 'Wicca' or the people connected with it - after reading this book my lack of education in this respect was more than removed

The descriptions of pagan elements and biographies of important figures in the modern witchcraft tradition are very detailed. Therefore, this book certainly is recommendable for those who are prepared to invest a large amount of time into their study of this issue.

Ronald Hutton tried to be as objective as possible. For example, Alstair Crowley is not presented as a Satanist as which he is seen by some(NB I talked to a guy,who is not attending this class,about Crowley and for him Crowley was the best example for a Satanist). Yet, Crowley's objection to leading women and his "savage anti-semitism" are mentioned.

The book consists of two parts:the "Macrocosm" and the "Microcosm". In the first part the belief of the Wiccans, eg their relation to-for them-divine nature, their worship of a Goddess and a God,their festivals,ceremonies and symbols are presented. Although the origins of Wicca as it is practised today are in the 18th century,Hutton writes about the romantic idea of many practitioners that it survived from the "Old religion"(after all,the worship of a goddess or seasonal festivals could hint indeed to such a pagan/ancient source).

However,living in Sigmund Freud's hometown,Vienna,I missed the psycological explanation why people turned their backs on 'traditional'religions like Christianity and moved to(of course even more traditional yet revived)paganism. What were/are they searching for?Perhaps for a contrast to our technologically constucted world?

The second part deals with the most important people in the Wicca tradition, first of all Gerald Gardner whose biography and carreer cover a whole chapter.I found the descriptions of the covens'actions against Hitler especially interesting(NB I've mentioned my Austrian origin).Once,Hutton mentions that "whitch covens right and left-against witch law-came together"to fight the Nazi-regime.Unfortunately,it is not clarified how 'right and left' is meant in this respect(does it have a political connotation?)nor is the 'witch law'further described,which was a problem for a newcomer like me.

Also of special interest for me was the last chapter that questions the definition of Wicca;should it be described a s religion or as a sect?Is the latter definition indicated,for instance,in Wicca's focusing on sexuality?(However,as Hutton points out,it has only a symbolic function in the ceremonies and he never came across actual sexual intercourse carried out in a coven's rite.) As one had to expect, Hutton defends this tradition against beiing perceived as a sect and calls it 'revived religion'.

Having read this book I could agree with him.

I read this in a library edition several years ago, and recently picked up a new copy to reread as my memory of it had become somewhat foggy. Unfortunately, I neglected to purchase a full-page or multi-line magnifier along with it, so I have only been able to read one or two pages at a sitting before having to reach for the aspirin bottle - the print is painfully small. This is an exceptional book and it's too bad that the print size may drive some readers away. I strongly recommend the purchase of a good magnifier, because this book is really much too interesting to have to put down every few pages! (I also recommend a highlighter, a very-fine-point pen for commenting in the margins, and several hundred Post-It Notes!) The printing detracts so much from the experience of the book that I downgrade it by a full two stars.

I also do admit a minor quibble in wishing that it were footnoted rather than endnoted, since footnotes are much easier to reference without losing the flow of the reading.

The people who would scream the most about this book are the ones who need to read it the most. As a (neo)pagan perpetually frustrated with all the gloppy revisionist pseudohistories purporting the existence of "egalitarian matriarchal" (huh!?) "vegetarian societies without war or violence where everyone created lots of (essentially monotheistic) Goddess-oriented art until the evil nasty patriarchy came along and messed it all up, but a few heroic women in each generation kept it alive - despite being burned to death on a regular basis - until modern times" I welcome this metaphorical and metaphysical dose of salts.

As several people have already said here, the incomparable Ronald Hutton has done the Pagan community an immense service with _Triumph of the Moon_. Indeed, he achieves the near-impossible: he has produced an academic monograph on the origins of modern Pagan witchcraft capable of satisfying those on the inside (Pagans) _and_ those on the outside (academics and society at large).

Hutton brings his characteristic wit and penetrating insight to bear upon the 'history' of modern witchcraft, and the result is simultaneously a sobering and an uplifting read. This is no mere hatchet job on the always-shaky historical claims of Gardner _et al_; it is a wide-ranging and extremely intelligent study of social, intellectual and spiritual trends in Britain during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which places the modern Craft in its worldly context. A succession of poets, academics, cunning folk, anthropologists, Masons and occultists are discussed, illuminating social currents of the day, and exploring the contribution of each to the great mosaic that became the modern Craft.

The myths, too, are explored: Margaret Murray, 'the burning times', Gardner's Book of Shadows and the myth of prehistoric 'Great Goddess' are all carefully examined, and gently (or not so gently) punctured. Yet I cannot emphasise enough that this is not an attack on Paganism - that it can only, in fact, make it stronger. The first (Gardnerian) witches' claims to the antiquity of their tradition may have been spurious, but Hutton makes it clear that this removes nothing from the fact that there was 'something in the water', so to speak, of early twentieth century society. Far from appearing a deceitful aberration, Gardner and others are shown to be expressive of a mood of their times, taking the logical next step in giving Paganism a structure and greater definition.

Two caveats (because I feel I ought to...): 1) The focus - both in historial chapters and in the sociological case study at the end - is upon coven witchcraft, with little space for solitary workers (although this is perfectly reasonable in terms of what Hutton is trying to); 2) From an article in 'Pagan Dawn' a little while back, I gather that Hutton's research is ongoing, and there's a possibility of a second edition at some point in the future!

Hutton is an engaging and lucid writer, as adept at discussing long-term social trends as he is at providing lively pen-portraits of the various writers and witches who parade through his pages. An enjoyable and an enlightening read for anyone with an interest in the Craft or in 20th century social history. Wonderful.

This book gives a clear, convincing history of the development of the 'religion' of witchcraft, showing quite clearly that the movement is 20th century in origin, and that extravagant claims about the antiquitiy of the religion have no basis in reality. Mr hutton shows that claims about the ancient origins of the witchcraft religion are nonsense, but he is always kind and polite, and never ridicules the beliefs of modern wiccans, he must be the world's most tactful historian. An earlier review of this book claims to have attended a workshop by someone who says she knows of a 'hidden' Pagan village in England, dating back to before the Norman conquest and only discovered in the 1990s. I don't think this reviewer can ever have been to England. We are a very small country, with 9as P.J. O'Rourke puts it)'A population density like Macy's toy department at Christmas'. There aren't any hidden Pagan villages here because there's nowhere to hide them, okay?