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The Woman Magician: Revisioning Western Metaphysics from a Woman's Perspective and Experience
For generations, women have had to channel their strength and power into the role of muse, priestess, or earth mother―and always in the shadow of male magicians. This groundbreaking book shatters outdated notions of the Western magical tradition and presents a new paradigm that celebrates and empowers the woman magician. Drawing on thirty years of study and personal experience, Brandy Williams boldly revisions metaphysics from a female perspective. She introduces a new Magia Femina―a female-centered exploration of tradition, history, philosophy, science, culture, theology, and magic―and shares unique wisdom on how to live authentically as a woman and as a dedicated practitioner of her craft. Williams discusses women's roles in magic and philosophy throughout history as well as issues of gender, sexuality, feminism, cultural identity, God as divine feminine, the Qabbalah, and the evolution of such magical systems as the Golden Dawn and modern Witchcraft. Offering a complete and workable ritual system based on Egyptian cosmology, The Woman Magician invites you to become a practicing member of the Sisters of Seshat, the first all-female initiatory magical order since the French Revolution. Experience powerful hands-on individual and group initiatory rituals, and help launch this new order into the greater world.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
10 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
About the author
Brandy Williams
30 books15 followersBrandy Williams is a Wiccan high priestess and ceremonial magician who has been practicing and teaching magic for over twenty-five years. An internationally known author and lecturer on esoteric topics and women's studies, she is also an initiator within Ordo Templi Orientis, based out of Washington State.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 4, 2012
The first half, in which the author discusses the perception and role of women and the feminine in "traditional" Wicca and magic-Craft was very interesting and raised valid issues: As a childless adult woman, what does the three-faced Goddess represent for me, as I am not Maiden nor Mother nor Crone? for example. She also points out that Goddess-worship and it's typical portrayal of the feminine divine is flawed and unbalanced.
However, the whole second half of the book, which is a handbook for sorority covens to reclaim ritual and space for themselves is...less inspired, in my opinion. It also does little to address the valid points raised earlier in the book-- her rituals just seem reactionary, or like a band-aid on the wound. Perhaps an actual practitioner of the Craft would find it more engaging.
However, the whole second half of the book, which is a handbook for sorority covens to reclaim ritual and space for themselves is...less inspired, in my opinion. It also does little to address the valid points raised earlier in the book-- her rituals just seem reactionary, or like a band-aid on the wound. Perhaps an actual practitioner of the Craft would find it more engaging.
March 9, 2021
After going through details that really aren't necessary, we get to the meat of the book at around 60% in. I was looking for ritual magic that invoked a Goddess, and I found one here, but She's Egyptian. I don't get a vibe from Egyptian magic, though. I think I need a good book on the Elysian Mysteries.
June 4, 2013
I met Brandy at a Conference and saw her speak about The Woman Magician and about the Egyptian goddess Seshat and was inspired to read this book. I found the beginning section in which she compares the rituals of 4 different Western Magical traditions, The Golden Dawn's Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram, Thelema's Star Ruby and Gnostic Mass and the Circle from Witchcraft to be useful as she explained the history and cultural connections the rituals are based on as well as how it felt to her to be a woman performing these rituals. It answered a number of questions I had both about the distinctions between groups like the Golden Dawn and OTO and also about the role of women in western magic traditions. The author calls on Lady Tradition, Lady History, Lady Philosophy, Lady Science, Lady Culture and Lady Theology, to show the origins of Western metaphysics. After exposing some of the shortcomings of male dominated magic for the needs of women, the book introduces feminist revisioning of Quaballah with Adam Kadmon-Eve Kadmon and the Tree of Life. A discussion of Seshat, a now relatively unknown Egyptian deity of the library, measurement and record keeping leads into the presentation of the Sisters of Seshat, a course in women's rituals founded on Egyptian myth and magic. The latter half of the book is devoted to Initiations into the Sisters of Seshat. This is not a simple topic and Brandy Williams does a great job of exploring the origins of Western philosophy and magic and pointing out the intrinsically male viewpoint embedded right into the ritual language. It's an ambitious project to promote the Sisters of Seshat as the antidote.
Want to read
March 7, 2013I've really been laying off the pagan-y books this year, but I was really intrigued with this one.
This is one of very few "women-centric" books that I have found that actually discusses gender in a way that allows for critique and recognizes that rigid male/female duality is often problematic. She discusses other genders, cultural constructs, and trans* issues. I have not had a chance to read it fully, but problematizing biological determinism is a YAY for me.
That said, page 191 and onward is likely not going to be of much use to me personally. I find myself quite bored with "ritual 101" books these days. Maybe that goes with being a pagan for so long, I don't know. I was wishing the majority of the book was as rooted in theory as the first part is, but then again, these kinds of books are probably hard to market.
[Update]
Okay, so when writing about other cultural understandings of gender, she did not include the over-simplified and romanticized definition of two-spirited and mentioned that terms for gender are band-specific in North America.
But this "good" is nullified. She used the word "berdache" when referring to us (if you do not know, this is a gross word imposed on Indigenous people like me who do not live up to herteronormative and gendernormative eurowestern roles, and is considered a slur). If she did ANY amount of research on pre-contact Indigenous gender and sexuality outside of outdated white sources, she would have easily found that that is a pretty gross word to use.
Well, this good review did not last long.
This is one of very few "women-centric" books that I have found that actually discusses gender in a way that allows for critique and recognizes that rigid male/female duality is often problematic. She discusses other genders, cultural constructs, and trans* issues. I have not had a chance to read it fully, but problematizing biological determinism is a YAY for me.
That said, page 191 and onward is likely not going to be of much use to me personally. I find myself quite bored with "ritual 101" books these days. Maybe that goes with being a pagan for so long, I don't know. I was wishing the majority of the book was as rooted in theory as the first part is, but then again, these kinds of books are probably hard to market.
[Update]
Okay, so when writing about other cultural understandings of gender, she did not include the over-simplified and romanticized definition of two-spirited and mentioned that terms for gender are band-specific in North America.
But this "good" is nullified. She used the word "berdache" when referring to us (if you do not know, this is a gross word imposed on Indigenous people like me who do not live up to herteronormative and gendernormative eurowestern roles, and is considered a slur). If she did ANY amount of research on pre-contact Indigenous gender and sexuality outside of outdated white sources, she would have easily found that that is a pretty gross word to use.
Well, this good review did not last long.
August 5, 2014
Definitely a keeper!
This book is incredibly important for feminists who are involved in the pagan or occult movements. It was recommended to me by feminist witches and I am SO GRATEFUL to have had the chance to get it and read it!
Brandy Williams echoes what is no doubt at least one of the complaints female Thelemites have brought up - whether it's the phallocentrism of the Star Ruby or the practice of females being treated as muses by male magicians with no power in their own right. But she addresses many of them at once and goes into great detail. Since the later half of the book is a workbook for Sisters of Seshat rituals, I went through that quicker, but the whole thing was still a very enjoyable read.
My only criticism is a few points which were either of contention or neglected in mentioning, such as: The clitoris being the ONLY organ for sexual pleasure (and no other purpose!); the conflation of sex and gender sometimes; and the lumping-in of trans, intersexed, two-spirit and third-gender people (they are each very different by definition and culture-wise).
This book is incredibly important for feminists who are involved in the pagan or occult movements. It was recommended to me by feminist witches and I am SO GRATEFUL to have had the chance to get it and read it!
Brandy Williams echoes what is no doubt at least one of the complaints female Thelemites have brought up - whether it's the phallocentrism of the Star Ruby or the practice of females being treated as muses by male magicians with no power in their own right. But she addresses many of them at once and goes into great detail. Since the later half of the book is a workbook for Sisters of Seshat rituals, I went through that quicker, but the whole thing was still a very enjoyable read.
My only criticism is a few points which were either of contention or neglected in mentioning, such as: The clitoris being the ONLY organ for sexual pleasure (and no other purpose!); the conflation of sex and gender sometimes; and the lumping-in of trans, intersexed, two-spirit and third-gender people (they are each very different by definition and culture-wise).
September 24, 2013
Has a little of History, psychology, socio-economy analysis of how religions and theologies have been transformed through time as well as the politics involved, has a little bit of everything. Even if you are not interested in Wicca, paganism or neo-paganism; this is a highly useful book for the reasons named above.
July 2, 2016
The first metaphysics book that really resonated with me. I'm not completely sure what really worked here - the writing was quite good, but I also feel like Brandy brought a keen awareness and an honest voice that feels so rare. All her observations about modern witchcraft were things that I had never quite found the words for. And the feminist slant was exactly what I wanted to hear.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews