The Witches' Craft: The Roots of Witchcraft & Magical Transformation

by Raven Grimassi

Set foot on the well-worn path…follow the the time-honored traditions of the Craft as it was once practiced by the village witch. This meticulously researched reference guide preserves the authentic history and practices of Witchcraft, much of which has been forgotten, misplaced, or discarded through the years. Award-winning Wiccan author Raven Grimassi presents many aspects of Witchcraft never before seen in print, including the entire unedited method of constructing the witches' ladder. You will learn all the essentials of the art of Witchcraft, as well as how to strengthen your magickal power through self-discipline, patience, and perseverance. Also included is the author's correspondence with Doreen Valiente. Ancient and powerful, the traditions of the Witches' Craft must never be forgotten. Honor the memory of those who have gone before you, and take your own magickal practices further than you ever imagined when you return to the old ways of Witchcraft.

Genres: Witchcraft, Nonfiction, Wicca, Paganism, Spirituality, Reference

312 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

About the author

Raven Grimassi was an American author of over 20 books, and a scholar of paganism with over 40 years of research and study in the genre of Wicca, Stregheria, witchcraft and neo-paganism.

Reviews

[Aurah Sage]

This was the first book I read on the Craft about 7 or 8 years ago. though I didn't feel I learned too much probably because I had already done some online research back then. It's very preliminary and kind of reads like a light desk reference with introductory summaries. It's presented in a way that I feel doesn't intimidate the reader and by giving them too much to take in since it only grazes the surface.The readers meant to see what interests them and look further into their topics of interest - I believe the author explains this at one point, too.
Because of its nature I wasn't able to sink my teeth into anything in particular. It's certainly meant to be an intro, and I may have enjoyed it more and given it a higher rating had I not spoiled myself with online research before reading The Witches' Craft...oops!
Having said that, I can think of a few groupings of books as well as some individual reads that would probably be better depending on if one is a beginner witch, considering Wicca, or wants to learn about the history of the craft and paganism from an academic standpoint.

[Julian Mercury]

Raven Grimassi and I part company rather dramatically over some of the history in this book, but I find the disagreement more interesting than irritating. He was writing at a moment when historians were dismantling the old story that modern Witchcraft represented the relatively intact survival of a pre-Christian witch religion, and Grimassi clearly thought something important was being lost in the process. His response was to search folklore, literature, magical practice, and historical fragments for evidence of deeper continuity. I do not think he proves the case he wants to prove, but watching an intelligent practitioner grapple with what newer scholarship meant for his religion is fascinating in its own right.

The practical material is where I become much more sympathetic. Grimassi is interested in what used to be called the Arte, the accumulation of techniques, discipline, symbolism, and ways of working that make a witch increasingly capable. The witches’ ladder receives unusually detailed treatment, but the larger point is that magical power is something cultivated through patience and repeated practice. That is a message I will happily take from him. Witchcraft becomes awfully shallow when initiation is treated as identity confirmation and magical skill is expected to arrive automatically with belief.

I was also delighted by the correspondence with Doreen Valiente. She occupies such an interesting position in modern Witchcraft because she was simultaneously one of the people who helped create Wicca as we know it and someone deeply interested in older forms of witchcraft that did not fit neatly inside Gardnerian structure. Having her voice appear in a book so preoccupied with roots raises the questions Grimassi is asking without necessarily settling them. What counts as continuity anyway? A ritual surviving word for word is one thing. A magical idea disappearing and reappearing in another form is something else. Folklore, family practice, ceremonial magic, literary influence, and deliberate revival can become entangled so thoroughly that demanding a single pedigree may tell us less than we hoped.

That is probably where I finally land with Grimassi. I no longer need Witchcraft to have survived underground for thousands of years in order for it to possess roots. Roots branch, cross, die back, graft themselves onto other things, and sometimes produce growth nobody could have predicted from the original tree. The Witches’ Craft occasionally tries too hard to make those roots older and straighter than the evidence allows. Yet Grimassi’s underlying desire to recover depth, discipline, memory, and magical substance from behind the increasingly generic label of Witchcraft still speaks to me. I disagree with some of the history and remain grateful for the question beneath it. What have witches inherited, what have we invented, and what are we actually going to carry forward?

[Avalon]

This was one of the first books on the craft that I purchased and read as a teenager.
Grimassi touches on a little bit of everything, making this a good primer. I liked this book for that reason, and I wish I had kept it!

[Jazmin]

There was nothing wrong with the book and I am genuinely intrigued by it, I just can't pick it up. it's put me in a reading slump for about 3 months now and I've only read 20 pages....

I may try again in the future, as I am genuinely interested in the book. now is just not the time

[Thomas]

A pretty decent book.
I don't agree with all that is written here, but I think the inclusion of the Valiente letters at the end really are a bonus to reading the book.

[Chandni Sahi]

Even though this seems to be one of the lesser known books by Grimassi, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I finished this book whilst reading the first few chapters of Triumph of the Moon (by Hutton). I could find so many instances where I felt like the author was making a direct rebuttal to the concepts and theories presented in Hutton's more "academic" work. Anyhow, it was an interesting perspective to have on the whole history of the Craft debate. I learnt a lot of interesting new things about the Craft, so I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the topic. I specially enjoyed the info on Italian Craft. I need to add that I didn't agree with everything that the author had purported.

[Kathy]

I remember reading this book in my closet Harry Potter style because I didn't want my extremely Catholic mother finding me reading this book. I found this book at the Public library and it took all the courage to check it out under my name. I was 12-years-old. The Witches' Craft is a basic introduction to what witchcraft is. It mostly focuses on Wicca and it's types. There are sections on other kinds of Paganism, voodoo, santeria, and satanism.

[Wiccanmoon JulieJenks]

I am really enjoying this book by Raven Grimassi! A bit of everything. Touches on a bit of everything witchcraft from A to Z. Even includes how to make my own witches ladder. I've wanted to learn that since last spring!

[Morighan Hopkins]

I have learned quite a few things I did not know before!

[Gregory Mark]

The very best book on witchcraft I have ever read.