Folkloric American Witchcraft and the Multicultural Experience: A Crucible at the Crossroads

by Via Hedera

Witchcraft and magic in America is an inherently multicultural experience and the folklore of our ancestors from every country converges here at a crossroads. It's a complicated history; one of uncertainty and fear, displacement and enslavement, merging and migration. Our ancestors may not have agreed on how they saw the world or the magic that inhabits the world, but they shared a very real fear of Witches. Hags, Devils, charms and spells; witchery is rooted in our deepest superstitions and folklore. The traditions of people and their cultures stretch and intersect across the country and this is where the unique traditions of American witchcraft and magic are born. As practitioners seek to revive and reconstruct the paths of our ancestors, we've begun to trace the interconnected roots of witchcraft folklore as it emerged in the Americas, from the blending of people and their faiths. For multiracial practitioners, this is part of our identity as Americans and as witches of this country. Folkloric American Witchcraft and the Multicultural Experience is an exploration of the folklore, magic and witchcraft that was forged in the New World.

Genres: Witchcraft, Nonfiction, Paganism, Magic, Spirituality

184 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2021

Reviews

[Briar 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A MUST read for the American Witch. Absolutely in love with it.

[Lynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

A whole lot of verbiage and “big words” to sound smart. The author is a blogger who claims she’s a witch. A lot of names and terms get tossed around here - intersectionality, cognitive dissonance, cultural motifs, etc, in a mishmash of language that means nothing. “Makes you think!” How embarrassing.

[Nightshade · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely brilliant read on American Folkloric Witchcraft. While I am not American, I still found this book to be informative, beautiful, and full of very important topics and insights which are often swept under the rug. This book is powerful and poignant, and I deeply respect Via Hedera for writing this powerful text.

[hope h. · Rating 5 out of 5]

STELLAR primer to american folkloric witchcraft. this is an accessible, respectful, and well-researched guide to the basics of american folklore, the way folklore originates from a blending of cultures, and specific charms and incantations, along with some fantastic thoughts on making folkloric witchcraft your own and how to proceed with doing personal research. worth reading just for the AMAZING sections on syncretic traditions and how they develop. this should be required reading for anyone interested in folklore, witchcraft, or anyone involved in american traditional witchcraft honestly. so good!

[Jessica Schwartz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great information here but as other reviewers have noted, I wish this book had had a more thorough copy edit. There were quite a few grammatical/typographic errors that I found distracting. I've enjoyed listening to interviews with Via Hedera and she certainly knows her stuff even if the writing here is a little awkward at times. I appreciated her unique perspective on the regional and cultural intersections of various elements of folkloric witchcraft in the US.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and engaging book describing the diverse landscape of American folk magic that touches on important conversations surrounding cultural appreciation vs. appropriation.

I will admit, though, that typographical errors and unconventional use of punctuation were often distracting and at times made the plain meaning of the text challenging to parse.

[Elisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice explanation about the cross pollination of American folk magic and traditions but not quite what I was looking for as it didn’t go too in depth.

[Kelly Cronin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Undeniable author crush — for sure. Thanks to podcasts, I’m familiar with Via’s voice, which I heard clearly while reading her book. To plant new seeds of thought throughout my home (and because I dig her word arrangements), whole passages were read aloud. Her work I will share with my cohort of crevice, dirt, and crossroad witches.

[Lisa Burrington · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading the history of witchcraft and other interesting bits. I will now always think of a witch’s black cat very differently since finding out to get a witch’s bone it was by boiling alive a black cat. Of course the author suggests other ways for the modern witch but how awful in the past that this was done, and maybe still by some.

[R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fan of the author's blog and artistic work. I was hoping for a more in depth exploration of folkloric witchcraft but it felt like an introductory book. Repetitive first few chapters before finally giving specific examples to specific cultures, wish there was more of that.

[Kendra Gruneberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must have for your spiritual library. Love the personal stories as well as the rich cultural histories.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a little dry at times, but it's a fascinating subject.

[Cynthia Holt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fantastic and informative.

[K Kriesel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for beginners, I wish there was an index though

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Via Hedera really knows her stuff. This is s very well researched book on all the streams of witch lore and how they blend into Traditional American Witchcraft.

[Syd ⭐️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!! American folkloric magic contains a multitude of cultures which this book is able to tackle and expel in a succinct fashion. I adored this book, wish I could have it for breakfast every morning.