Pagan Pride: Honoring The Craft and Culture of Earth and Goddess

by M. Macha NightMare

"Who wouldn't be proud? Pagans have given us art and architecture, customs and crafts, philosophy and poetry. Clearly and concisely, Macha NightMare offers a delightfully diverse overview of the world’s pagan heritage." --Patricia Monaghan, author of The Red-Haired Girl from the The Landscape of Celtic Myth and Spirit "Applying the revived and newly meaningful term ‘Pagan’ to a wide variety of human cultural activities, Macha NightMare makes us look at our history with fresh eyes, letting us see the connections between religious polytheism and artistic creativity, political innovation, and freedom of thought." --Chas S. Clifton, Colorado State University, Pueblo "M. Macha NightMare has assembled an impressive collection of Pagan accomplishments spanning thousands of years of human history. Modern Pagan readers will rediscover their heritage with pride, while non-Pagans will acquire a new appreciation for the contributions of their Pagan forebears (and contemporaries) to our shared culture and society." --Elder Donald H. Frew, Covenant of the Goddess National Interfaith Representative; Trustee, Global Council of the United Religions Institute; editor of Sacred 2004 Sacred Space Design Competition "From The Aenead to the White Horse of Uffington, Pagan Pride includes both well-known and nearly unremembered examples of pagan objects and ideas. Treasure Macha NightMare’s compilation and welcome to our strange and wonderful world, where minority religions can point to so many contributions to the majority culture." --Grey Cat, author of Deepening Advancing Skills and Knowledge and founder of the North Wind Tradition of American Wicca

296 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2004

About the author

M. Macha NightMare (Aline O’Brien, M.Div.(h,c,))is a ritualist, interfaith activist, and internationally published author who has contributed to anthologies, encyclopedia, textbooks, and periodicals. Much of her work in recent years has been in the liminal realm between the magic and the mundane. She serves on the Advisory Boards of Cherry Hill Seminary and the Sacred Dying Foundation, and represents the Covenant of the Goddess and CHS in the American Academy of Religion, Marin Interfaith Council, Marin Interfaith Climate Action (founding member), and at interfaith symposia throughout the U.S. Currently she serves the inmates of the Wiccan circle at San Quentin State Prison.

Reviews

[Gwyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book, but not a good one, either. I picked it up because I was bored. At first, I thought the concept ridiculous. A book highlighting the achievements of pagans? Well, that's everyone before Abraham, and almost everyone until a few centuries after Christ. Saying how cool pagans are because they invented the wheel isn't actually saying much.

Still, it's interesting to read about all these inventions, and myths, and practices, even if the fact that they're pagan doesn't really mean anything. I certainly wasn't bored while reading Pagan Pride--though I can't say I was fascinated, either.

My biggest problem with this book is a problem with pretty much all neopagan writing: a lack of scholarly rigor. I know that sounds a little stuffy, but it's frustrating when authors make broad generalizations about women's roles or the symbolism of circles which a) aren't true, and b) aren't presented alongside any evidence to support them, even if they were. Neopagan authors are also prone to presenting modern interpretations as historical ones. For example, NightMare calls Hecate a "triple goddess" with maiden, mother, and crone aspects. This kind of goddess is extremely popular in modern paganism, and, in the modern interpretation of her, Hecate is often seen this way. However, to my knowledge there is no evidence that the Greeks felt the same--and since NightMare was writing about the ancient Greeks, she should have checked into that instead of accepting the word of some tertiary source.

In all, this is an okay book. If you spot a copy on the shelves of your local library, go ahead and check it out; you won't be wasting your time. But don't bother hunting it down, and don't pay money for it.

[Selene Corvane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Firstly, Goodreads isn't accurate in the number of pages. There are 296 in total - when counting from the official first page marked "1".

The book was interesting to read. There were a few entries that I doubted, and subsequently had to fact check. I have a physical copy of this book, and - while it is an interesting read - there are no sources cited in a bibliography stating where she gets this information.

As a practicing Witch for over a decade, I find that it's of the utmost importance that any person practicing Paganism (using this as the Umbrella Term here) fact check. Even if a book or article you're reading cites their sources, please, PLEASE, double or even triple check those sources.

Because she doesn't cite sources for us to fact check with (which makes the homework of fact-checking harder), I'm only giving three stars; but, overall, it was an intriguing read and I did enjoy learning new things!

[Kendra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short blurbs of info on major "pagan" creations. Which basically means, anything created before the Jews were on the scene, as well as the Christians and Muslims. Not bad, but some of it could be a bit iffy.