What do you think?
Rate this book
Witches.
Best-selling author Erica Jong turns her attention to the fantastical and factual world of witchcraft, exploring the figure of the witch both as historical reality and as archetype. On page after page filled with magical illustrations by Joseph A. Smith, Jong spins tales in poetry and prose, even providing recipes for love potions and magic spells.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1981
About the author
Erica Jong
94 books897 followersErica Jong—novelist, poet, and essayist—has consistently used her craft to help provide women with a powerful and rational voice in forging a feminist consciousness. She has published 21 books, including eight novels, six volumes of poetry, six books of non-fiction and numerous articles in magazines and newspapers such as the New York Times, the Sunday Times of London, Elle, Vogue, and the New York Times Book Review.
In her groundbreaking first novel, Fear of Flying (which has sold twenty-six million copies in more than forty languages), she introduced Isadora Wing, who also plays a central part in three subsequent novels—How to Save Your Own Life, Parachutes and Kisses, and Any Woman's Blues. In her three historical novels—Fanny, Shylock's Daughter, and Sappho's Leap—she demonstrates her mastery of eighteenth-century British literature, the verses of Shakespeare, and ancient Greek lyric, respectively. A memoir of her life as a writer, Seducing the Demon: Writing for My Life, came out in March 2006. It was a national bestseller in the US and many other countries. Erica’s latest book, Sugar in My Bowl, is an anthology of women writing about sex, has been recently released in paperback.
Erica Jong was honored with the United Nations Award for Excellence in Literature. She has also received Poetry magazine's Bess Hokin Prize, also won by W.S. Merwin and Sylvia Plath. In France, she received the Deauville Award for Literary Excellence and in Italy, she received the Sigmund Freud Award for Literature. The City University of New York awarded Ms. Jong an honorary PhD at the College of Staten Island.
Her works have appeared all over the world and are as popular in Eastern Europe, Japan, China, and other Asian countries as they have been in the United States and Western Europe. She has lectured, taught and read her work all over the world.
A graduate of Barnard College and Columbia University's Graduate Faculties where she received her M.A. in 18th Century English Literature, Erica Jong also attended Columbia's graduate writing program where she studied poetry with Stanley Kunitz and Mark Strand. In 2007, continuing her long-standing relationship with the university, a large collection of Erica’s archival material was acquired by Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library, where it will be available to graduate and undergraduate students. Ms. Jong plans to teach master classes at Columbia and also advise the Rare Book Library on the acquisition of other women writers’ archives.
Calling herself “a defrocked academic,” Ms. Jong has partly returned to her roots as a scholar. She has taught at Ben Gurion University in Israel, Bennington College in the US, Breadloaf Writers’ Conference in Vermont and many other distinguished writing programs and universities. She loves to teach and lecture, though her skill in these areas has sometimes crowded her writing projects. “As long as I am communicating the gift of literature, I’m happy,” Jong says. A poet at heart, Ms. Jong believes that words can save the world.
In her groundbreaking first novel, Fear of Flying (which has sold twenty-six million copies in more than forty languages), she introduced Isadora Wing, who also plays a central part in three subsequent novels—How to Save Your Own Life, Parachutes and Kisses, and Any Woman's Blues. In her three historical novels—Fanny, Shylock's Daughter, and Sappho's Leap—she demonstrates her mastery of eighteenth-century British literature, the verses of Shakespeare, and ancient Greek lyric, respectively. A memoir of her life as a writer, Seducing the Demon: Writing for My Life, came out in March 2006. It was a national bestseller in the US and many other countries. Erica’s latest book, Sugar in My Bowl, is an anthology of women writing about sex, has been recently released in paperback.
Erica Jong was honored with the United Nations Award for Excellence in Literature. She has also received Poetry magazine's Bess Hokin Prize, also won by W.S. Merwin and Sylvia Plath. In France, she received the Deauville Award for Literary Excellence and in Italy, she received the Sigmund Freud Award for Literature. The City University of New York awarded Ms. Jong an honorary PhD at the College of Staten Island.
Her works have appeared all over the world and are as popular in Eastern Europe, Japan, China, and other Asian countries as they have been in the United States and Western Europe. She has lectured, taught and read her work all over the world.
A graduate of Barnard College and Columbia University's Graduate Faculties where she received her M.A. in 18th Century English Literature, Erica Jong also attended Columbia's graduate writing program where she studied poetry with Stanley Kunitz and Mark Strand. In 2007, continuing her long-standing relationship with the university, a large collection of Erica’s archival material was acquired by Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library, where it will be available to graduate and undergraduate students. Ms. Jong plans to teach master classes at Columbia and also advise the Rare Book Library on the acquisition of other women writers’ archives.
Calling herself “a defrocked academic,” Ms. Jong has partly returned to her roots as a scholar. She has taught at Ben Gurion University in Israel, Bennington College in the US, Breadloaf Writers’ Conference in Vermont and many other distinguished writing programs and universities. She loves to teach and lecture, though her skill in these areas has sometimes crowded her writing projects. “As long as I am communicating the gift of literature, I’m happy,” Jong says. A poet at heart, Ms. Jong believes that words can save the world.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
March 6, 2012
This is a book not about witchcraft or witches merely, but about the archetype of the too powerful female figure and how that figure is villianized by patriarchal societies. It is also a commentary on the historical tendency of the Catholic church to ensure that the symbols and gods worshipped by the pagan faiths existent in the middle ages and ancient time were reduced to the anti-gods of the new Christian faith. The poetry is not particularly good, the art is much better. As a whole it is a very thought provoking book about the nature of the female identity in society, art, literature and religion. It deeply urged me to question the entire concept of the archetype of a "witch", why she is considered dangerous, evil and worthy of destruction, and how this archetype has manifested itself again and again in societies throughout history.
September 29, 2009
This is not a study on Wicca, or a historical look at witchcraft, or really about "facts" at all. It is more about perceptions of witches as archetypes, fairy-tale characters and/or the wishful daydreams of the mundane human of what it may mean to be something "other"..
I give it full stars mainly because my mother had a copy of it when I was a child and I loved it dearly then. Also, the illustrations are simply fantastic. Plus, it looks better naked. Take the dust-jacket off.
I give it full stars mainly because my mother had a copy of it when I was a child and I loved it dearly then. Also, the illustrations are simply fantastic. Plus, it looks better naked. Take the dust-jacket off.
November 1, 2011
This book is an amazing mix of art, poetry, spells and stories about witches and witchcraft. Not Wicca, but the Craft itself, which is rarely explored independently of Wicca and Paganism. The pictures are raw and honest, as is the prose, so it is definitely not for children's eyes. Women who feel the pull of the moon, keep the secrets and powers of the witch alive, and worship the Goddess will love this book.
July 30, 2020
I read this because that guy who is the showrunner on Motherland: Fort Salem read this and Motherland: Fort Salem has ruined my life. I am pleased to report that this book, however, did not ruin my life. Parts of it were interesting, parts of it made me go "uhhhh", I love witches, the end.
March 8, 2014
It felt a bit too Wiccan inspired, grossly misinformed about Satanism and seemed kinda anti-Christianity as well. It also sort of felt like beliefs I didn't hold were shoved in my face. I'm a Pagan, but I do not believe in the duality of good and evil. I believe they are extremely subjective and at worst, nonexistence. I also do not practice Paganism because of ecology reasons. I do care about Mother Nature but not in a religious or spiritual sense.
There was also a part where the "history" or what felt like "history" about witches was extremely questionable. Though besides these problems, it was an alright read, but I don't think I would really recommend it to anyone.
The artwork was really pretty though.
There was also a part where the "history" or what felt like "history" about witches was extremely questionable. Though besides these problems, it was an alright read, but I don't think I would really recommend it to anyone.
The artwork was really pretty though.
June 28, 2019
“She’s a WITCH!”
“How can you tell she’s a witch?”
“She turned me into a NEWT!”
(townspeople regard speaker, who is obviously of human form)
“…Well, I got better…”
-“Monty Python and the Holy Grail”
I got this through BookBub a couple years ago. It’s a reissue of a 20-year-old work by the author of “Fear of Flying.” The intent is not only to dispel a number of narrow stereotypes of what a witch is, but also to show what other roles and functions such women play, such as Earth Mother, Vixen/Seductress/Consort of the Devil, Shaman/Healer, Magician, Woman of Mystery, Heretic and others.
I’ll start out with two quotes from the book, which set the stage for what follows:
“What is the witch’s heritage? Her great, great, great, great, great, great ancestress is Ishtar-Diana-Demeter. Her father is man. Her midwife, his fears. Her torturer, his fears. Her executioner, his fears. Her malignant power, his fears. Her healing power, her own.”
“People in prehistoric times worshiped deities very different from those we worship today. One was the Mother Goddess or Great Mother or Queen of Heaven, who represented creation, birth, food-gathering, agricultural plenty, and the summer months. The other was the Horned God (stag-antlered, animal-skinned, cloven-hoofed), who represented the hunt, the killing of food, and the winter months. The year was divided between the worship of these two deities, especially in places where early humans divided their time between agriculture and hunting, depending upon the seasons. These two gods were most ancient and enduring. Even when Christianity came to be the established religion, their cults could not be eradicated. All over Europe, peasants persisted in their worship long after kings and courts were converted to Christianity.” This includes traditionally Christian holidays, which were derived from Pagan celebrations of the seasons. Morgan LeFay, sister of King Arthur, is credited with being on the cusp of merging the Christian and Pagan traditions (I would strongly recommend Marian Zimmer Bradley’s “The Mists of Avalon” – see my review)
Thus, good and evil, life and death, were considered in Druidic/pagan times to be both sides of the same coin and as such were to be equally revered. The Goddess/Great Mother is the representative of the outdoors/forests/sea, which are linked to poetry and other creative activities. In the Christian tradition, the Great Mother became the Virgin Mary and the Horned Got became Satan. Those who continued to worship the old gods were called witches and were thus branded as heretics. Ms. Jong postulates that witches were deemed heretics because they espoused a direct relationship between man and God (gods/deities), without the necessity of intercession by the Church. The work “Malleus Maleficarum” (The Hammer of Witches), written in the 1400’s by two (now discredited) priests/Inquisitors, was very popular and was considered a comprehensive treatise on witchcraft, reflective of a culture of misogyny, which basically blamed such women for a number of ills (infertility/impotence, e.g.) and described them as temptresses and killers of babies, among numerous other evils. The book was used as an interrogation guide by inquisitors and resulted in the executions of many.
In more recent times, Margaret Murray, through her two books “The Witchhunt in Western Europe” (1921) and “The God of Witches,” (1931) was credited with relatively modern descriptors of witches. While the theories were considered cogent, Murray was criticized for deriving her theories from the “confessions” of tortured women alleged to be witches and from Christian writers, as the Pagans had no written records regarding witches.
Wicka (modern witchcraft/neo-paganism) has enjoyed a recent revival, celebrating a return to respect for the powers of nature, in a more ecologically aware culture, and a related respect for (rather than suppression of) its related sexuality. This, of course, is not the stereotyped orgies or hexing of enemies.
In addition to the history of witchcraft, Ms. Jong also describes a number of its aspects. Thus, in homage to the Earth, the witches’ equipment must be hand-made and consecrated to the individual witch. These include: a wand and /or broom made of a sacred-tree wood such as elderberry, willow, rowan or oak; a cord worn around the waist; a cauldron; a chalice; a Book of Spells and a Book of Shadows (a sort of “diary” of what she has learned, such as spells or recipes); a conjure bag which contain herbs and other materials for healing or the bringing of good or bad luck. Other items of clothing such as the conical hat and pointy shoes (which were considered phallic), capes and robes are also described. Also, the fact that many witches worshipped in the nude (“skyclad”) gave further credence to theories that witches were purveyors of forbidden sexuality and orgies. Covens (groups of 13) were considered magical and able to draw cosmic power, much of which was used for healing purposes. Indeed, this aspect of witches was a great threat to the male-dominated and ecclesiastical medical profession of the time. Spells were used more for positive than negative purposes, and “love dolls” were used to help people find their true loves (a contrast to the more malevolent interpretation of “voodoo dolls”).
Well, I’m going on and on, but even this rambling summary is but a fraction of the rich and deep history of witchcraft. Ms. Jong has certainly done her research. I greatly enjoyed and would strongly recommend it. However, I must add that Ms. Jong has a poem at the end of each chapter which, in my opinion, only summarizes the chapter and really adds nothing to the reader’s understanding or enjoyment of the very-well-done text. Thus, I’m gonna have to give this work four rather than five stars because of the distracting and redundant poetry. However, in a biography of the author at the end of the book there is mention that before she became an author of fiction, Ms. Jong was a well-respected poet (a fact which has been verified by several of my colleagues). So, I guess, to be fair, I’ll go read some of her poetry and see for myself, will letcha know.
“How can you tell she’s a witch?”
“She turned me into a NEWT!”
(townspeople regard speaker, who is obviously of human form)
“…Well, I got better…”
-“Monty Python and the Holy Grail”
I got this through BookBub a couple years ago. It’s a reissue of a 20-year-old work by the author of “Fear of Flying.” The intent is not only to dispel a number of narrow stereotypes of what a witch is, but also to show what other roles and functions such women play, such as Earth Mother, Vixen/Seductress/Consort of the Devil, Shaman/Healer, Magician, Woman of Mystery, Heretic and others.
I’ll start out with two quotes from the book, which set the stage for what follows:
“What is the witch’s heritage? Her great, great, great, great, great, great ancestress is Ishtar-Diana-Demeter. Her father is man. Her midwife, his fears. Her torturer, his fears. Her executioner, his fears. Her malignant power, his fears. Her healing power, her own.”
“People in prehistoric times worshiped deities very different from those we worship today. One was the Mother Goddess or Great Mother or Queen of Heaven, who represented creation, birth, food-gathering, agricultural plenty, and the summer months. The other was the Horned God (stag-antlered, animal-skinned, cloven-hoofed), who represented the hunt, the killing of food, and the winter months. The year was divided between the worship of these two deities, especially in places where early humans divided their time between agriculture and hunting, depending upon the seasons. These two gods were most ancient and enduring. Even when Christianity came to be the established religion, their cults could not be eradicated. All over Europe, peasants persisted in their worship long after kings and courts were converted to Christianity.” This includes traditionally Christian holidays, which were derived from Pagan celebrations of the seasons. Morgan LeFay, sister of King Arthur, is credited with being on the cusp of merging the Christian and Pagan traditions (I would strongly recommend Marian Zimmer Bradley’s “The Mists of Avalon” – see my review)
Thus, good and evil, life and death, were considered in Druidic/pagan times to be both sides of the same coin and as such were to be equally revered. The Goddess/Great Mother is the representative of the outdoors/forests/sea, which are linked to poetry and other creative activities. In the Christian tradition, the Great Mother became the Virgin Mary and the Horned Got became Satan. Those who continued to worship the old gods were called witches and were thus branded as heretics. Ms. Jong postulates that witches were deemed heretics because they espoused a direct relationship between man and God (gods/deities), without the necessity of intercession by the Church. The work “Malleus Maleficarum” (The Hammer of Witches), written in the 1400’s by two (now discredited) priests/Inquisitors, was very popular and was considered a comprehensive treatise on witchcraft, reflective of a culture of misogyny, which basically blamed such women for a number of ills (infertility/impotence, e.g.) and described them as temptresses and killers of babies, among numerous other evils. The book was used as an interrogation guide by inquisitors and resulted in the executions of many.
In more recent times, Margaret Murray, through her two books “The Witchhunt in Western Europe” (1921) and “The God of Witches,” (1931) was credited with relatively modern descriptors of witches. While the theories were considered cogent, Murray was criticized for deriving her theories from the “confessions” of tortured women alleged to be witches and from Christian writers, as the Pagans had no written records regarding witches.
Wicka (modern witchcraft/neo-paganism) has enjoyed a recent revival, celebrating a return to respect for the powers of nature, in a more ecologically aware culture, and a related respect for (rather than suppression of) its related sexuality. This, of course, is not the stereotyped orgies or hexing of enemies.
In addition to the history of witchcraft, Ms. Jong also describes a number of its aspects. Thus, in homage to the Earth, the witches’ equipment must be hand-made and consecrated to the individual witch. These include: a wand and /or broom made of a sacred-tree wood such as elderberry, willow, rowan or oak; a cord worn around the waist; a cauldron; a chalice; a Book of Spells and a Book of Shadows (a sort of “diary” of what she has learned, such as spells or recipes); a conjure bag which contain herbs and other materials for healing or the bringing of good or bad luck. Other items of clothing such as the conical hat and pointy shoes (which were considered phallic), capes and robes are also described. Also, the fact that many witches worshipped in the nude (“skyclad”) gave further credence to theories that witches were purveyors of forbidden sexuality and orgies. Covens (groups of 13) were considered magical and able to draw cosmic power, much of which was used for healing purposes. Indeed, this aspect of witches was a great threat to the male-dominated and ecclesiastical medical profession of the time. Spells were used more for positive than negative purposes, and “love dolls” were used to help people find their true loves (a contrast to the more malevolent interpretation of “voodoo dolls”).
Well, I’m going on and on, but even this rambling summary is but a fraction of the rich and deep history of witchcraft. Ms. Jong has certainly done her research. I greatly enjoyed and would strongly recommend it. However, I must add that Ms. Jong has a poem at the end of each chapter which, in my opinion, only summarizes the chapter and really adds nothing to the reader’s understanding or enjoyment of the very-well-done text. Thus, I’m gonna have to give this work four rather than five stars because of the distracting and redundant poetry. However, in a biography of the author at the end of the book there is mention that before she became an author of fiction, Ms. Jong was a well-respected poet (a fact which has been verified by several of my colleagues). So, I guess, to be fair, I’ll go read some of her poetry and see for myself, will letcha know.
July 31, 2018
Working from the premise that "witches are, above all, the first liberated women" Jong attempts to articulate the "communal mythology" of witches and witchcraft (in the west) through a diverse collection of writing, poetry and illustrations. At times I thought it was self serious about its claims, and at others it seemed to have a great sense of humor (and she never shied away from nudity/expletives) . I thought the position/perspective she was writing from was confusing. She would go from being open to the differences in practices and perspectives to making strange and specific assumptions. Seemed inconsistent and unspecific and I was never quite sure what was the purpose.
My main concern though was her uncomfortably racialized language ("Mohammedanism was used in place of "Islam" for example) combined with her lack of racial or sexual perspective (appropriative and heternormative at times).
I wasn't personally into this, but I imagine it has an appeal the same way many tumblr aesthetic blogs do!
My main concern though was her uncomfortably racialized language ("Mohammedanism was used in place of "Islam" for example) combined with her lack of racial or sexual perspective (appropriative and heternormative at times).
I wasn't personally into this, but I imagine it has an appeal the same way many tumblr aesthetic blogs do!
January 15, 2019
I wasn't totally sure what to expect from this book but having read and loved Fear of Flying I was looking forward to seeing if Jong could live up to my opinion of her. And didn't she just. As a witch (and one proud to use the title) I was quite intrigued about her views of witches over the centuries and the drivers behind the various witch-hunts that have taken place over the centuries. I found her writing both amusing, enlightening and informative although I did feel it focus a little on the coven and Pagan style of witchcraft, missing out the solitary and more folk side of the craft (which happens to be the path I follow). However, I loved the illustrations by Jos Smith and even some of the poetry pricked my ears up and made me take note, which is impressive as I'm not usually a big poetry fan.
November 30, 2018
The word 'silly' keeps coming to mind but that's not totally accurate. I do, however, judge the use of exclamation points used so freely (as in, at all) in non-fiction, so I guess silly will have to do.
October 23, 2021
Reflections and lessons learned:
I grew up in the 80s/90s in the midlands so went to a lot of grungy style alternative style shops, but wouldn’t ever describe myself as interested in witchcraft. I was always more poetry rather than spells. Once started this book for instance, I instantly found myself debating my top 3 tv witches (Samantha Stephens from Bewitched (suburban house mom witch), the inimitable Angela Lansbury as Miss Price, along with Emelius in Bedknobs and Broomsticks (single strong woman living on her own witch) and perhaps Mary Poppins (temporary fixer witch - simply swapped the broom for an umbrella?) - tempting to include Grotbags, but she didn’t quite make it). But this was a much more rounded and informative summary of the history, perception and treatment of essentially, what were quite often simply women. Really insightful and considered - very important for feminism and from an influential and appropriately experienced author
I grew up in the 80s/90s in the midlands so went to a lot of grungy style alternative style shops, but wouldn’t ever describe myself as interested in witchcraft. I was always more poetry rather than spells. Once started this book for instance, I instantly found myself debating my top 3 tv witches (Samantha Stephens from Bewitched (suburban house mom witch), the inimitable Angela Lansbury as Miss Price, along with Emelius in Bedknobs and Broomsticks (single strong woman living on her own witch) and perhaps Mary Poppins (temporary fixer witch - simply swapped the broom for an umbrella?) - tempting to include Grotbags, but she didn’t quite make it). But this was a much more rounded and informative summary of the history, perception and treatment of essentially, what were quite often simply women. Really insightful and considered - very important for feminism and from an influential and appropriately experienced author
September 15, 2024
Wish I could give more than 5 stars honestly, the historical description, art, & poetry throughout this book was beyond amazing.
My landlord texted everyone through all the properties she owns that a resident who rented 2 apartments has passed away and if anyone would want to go through his books and take them for free. He owned thousands of historical books, mythological books, folk lore, etc. This book was among a few that I grabbed to take home. I do not regret it at all. I feel honored to have the opportunity to have gotten this book for free. It took me 3 hours to read and I loved every second of it. I was so intrigued that I couldn't put it down.
My landlord texted everyone through all the properties she owns that a resident who rented 2 apartments has passed away and if anyone would want to go through his books and take them for free. He owned thousands of historical books, mythological books, folk lore, etc. This book was among a few that I grabbed to take home. I do not regret it at all. I feel honored to have the opportunity to have gotten this book for free. It took me 3 hours to read and I loved every second of it. I was so intrigued that I couldn't put it down.
February 2, 2018
Read this on my work downtime, now consider myself a Dianic proofreader-witch & hereby disavow the virgin birth as a false usurpation of the feminine power to give life.
Fun, concise little history of the witch archetype (as a construction of male fear of womyn and our SEXUAL POWAR).
There was a chapter on love potions that I glossed, some of the poetry was eh. Book also has beautiful illustrations.
Recommend to anyone interested in witches. Excuse me while I go perform nocturnal rites with my winged consorts.
Fun, concise little history of the witch archetype (as a construction of male fear of womyn and our SEXUAL POWAR).
There was a chapter on love potions that I glossed, some of the poetry was eh. Book also has beautiful illustrations.
Recommend to anyone interested in witches. Excuse me while I go perform nocturnal rites with my winged consorts.
January 25, 2021
A unique take on the lore behind witchcraft, the neo-pagan culture, and all of the associations to femininity within the harshness of persecution with some harshly beautiful illustrations
February 18, 2018
This book focuses on the witch as a archetype of female sexuality and expression in a spiritual sense. Kind of what you would expect from Erica Jong. This book takes many aspects of the craft and looks at why they may have been developed and how they fit into feminine spirituality. It shows the witch as the female rebel against male patriarchal religious practices. Beautifully illustrated book.
May 29, 2018
I have been wanting to read "Witches" ever since I first spied the beautiful poem "Love Magick" which was printed in a 'Pagan Africa' magazine years ago. I finally purchased the kindle version of this book, and found Jong's writing to be evocative and beautiful and most of the artwork featured was delightfully dark and luscious.
There were many things I enjoyed about this book, but there was too much focus on Neo-Paganism, and Wicca for my own tastes. I would have preferred a deeper interrogation into folklore and the witches of fairy tales. If this was one of the first books on witchcraft I read, I would have probably been blown away.
There are many darkly and beautiful references to poison plants, the Sabbat, and familiars. The poetry is delightful, and the entire book is poetic. A minor issue I had was the image of Bittersweet Nightshade which accompanied the poem about Belladonna. It always gets my goat when I see these two plants being confused for each other.
Overall I would recommend this book above many others simply as introduction to ideas regarding witchcraft and the modern permutations of it.
There were many things I enjoyed about this book, but there was too much focus on Neo-Paganism, and Wicca for my own tastes. I would have preferred a deeper interrogation into folklore and the witches of fairy tales. If this was one of the first books on witchcraft I read, I would have probably been blown away.
There are many darkly and beautiful references to poison plants, the Sabbat, and familiars. The poetry is delightful, and the entire book is poetic. A minor issue I had was the image of Bittersweet Nightshade which accompanied the poem about Belladonna. It always gets my goat when I see these two plants being confused for each other.
Overall I would recommend this book above many others simply as introduction to ideas regarding witchcraft and the modern permutations of it.
June 29, 2007
This book is just beautiful.
I didn't know that Eric Jong was sympathetic to wicca. I could have guessed based on her other novels. This was kind like finding out the Stevie Nicks was a witch.
I was transported to childhood or a place of childlikeness when I started turning the pages. I can't remember whether this was a book meant for children or if in fact the design of the book was to evoke exactly that feeling I mentioned above.
The graphics and colors are just absolutely gorgeous.
Mike
I didn't know that Eric Jong was sympathetic to wicca. I could have guessed based on her other novels. This was kind like finding out the Stevie Nicks was a witch.
I was transported to childhood or a place of childlikeness when I started turning the pages. I can't remember whether this was a book meant for children or if in fact the design of the book was to evoke exactly that feeling I mentioned above.
The graphics and colors are just absolutely gorgeous.
Mike
May 24, 2017
The books artwork is what got me interested as it's very much in the vein of Brian Froud. The context leaves much to be desired. A mix of research and silliness it seems this writer tried to base her writing in some facts then goes off into Fantasy. Beautiful but take the information within with a grain of salt!
August 12, 2020
This book was great on a lot of levels. A cultural history of witches and societal perceptions of those deemed witches, but not as boring as I make that sound. Each chapter reads like a dense bite-sized essay about a different aspect of witches and comes with some fantastic artwork. It's a coffee table book, a picture book for adults, and I wish there were more like it.
October 13, 2018
While it's an interesting book, it often feels as though the author can't decide between a serious work or a silly one. The history recounted is atrociously bad, but works well if the narrator of sorts is supposed to be unreliable.
March 2, 2021
Every feminist should read this to confirm what they have always known in their hearts. Non-feminists should read this to get their heads on straight. Praise be.
February 9, 2025
The illustrations are probably the best part of this book, but the writing was better than I had anticipated, though not without issues. Namely, the author has a strange tendency to both repeat and build up questionable and unfounded claims, and then turn around and wryly point out the problems with these interpretations. Yet it is still the imprecise and suspect legendarium of the meaning and place of witches in the European context which receives the greatest attention. One example: witchcraft is undeniably female coded in modern society, but I don't think it is entirely clear that this was always the case. In fact, the few times the book goes into detail about historical examples, it is male witches or magicians who are featured. There is also the schizophrenic feeling that the author both acknowledges the specific time, place, and circumstances of the witch-craze in Europe and the speculative root causes of it, yet also makes sweeping claims that the persecution of witches is found throughout history and in all parts of the world; to an extent it is true, but the sort of broad obsession and sweeping nature of the witch-craze was a unique phenomenon, and the persecution of individuals in other circumstances does not have the same connotation.
September 27, 2024
I have been trying to read this for two years and honestly I’m a bit disappointed. I guess I expected poetry and free writing about the idea of witches, taking many forms and covering many ideas. But this is more of a rewriting of the idea of the witch as a feminist figure, which is not a big bold claim in 2024. Maybe in 1981, when this was released, it was bold and dramatic, but it feels pretty lacklustre now. The art by Jos. A. Smith is lovely and I liked the imagery he provides for this. But I find Jong’s ideas just a bit tired. They might be tired because she came up with them, I don’t know, all I know is that I wasn’t as wowed as I wanted to be. The poetry is lovely and I think it was my favourite part of the text itself and while the concepts behind them are tired (to me) the way they are used is wonderful. However, a couple of them read like a student’s project after learning new terminology- you learned the term love poppet, now write a poem about it! Overall, this is a decent text if you’re looking for information on witches and witch culture, but I wanted something deeper and it’s just not there
May 17, 2025
Joseph Smith’s illustrations are absolutely stunning, and are the shining star of this book. The book itself is beautifully and poetically written.
When I purchased this book, I actually thought it was a collection of poetry and short stories, maybe for children, so I was surprised to find most of it focused on real history (and some very sexually explicit artwork and poems). The history, however, is a bit outdated and heavily references discredited “witch-cult” theories of Margaret Murray. The author does state many times that this work is meant to be an openminded reflection and not a 100% factual interpretation of history, and the book works best as a series of essays and poetry on womanhood and the history and culture of misogyny. There is much beauty to be found, but I often felt the author was presenting her personal opinions (sometimes even based on disproven hypothesis) as fact. With these discrepancies in mind, it’s still a lovely short read.
When I purchased this book, I actually thought it was a collection of poetry and short stories, maybe for children, so I was surprised to find most of it focused on real history (and some very sexually explicit artwork and poems). The history, however, is a bit outdated and heavily references discredited “witch-cult” theories of Margaret Murray. The author does state many times that this work is meant to be an openminded reflection and not a 100% factual interpretation of history, and the book works best as a series of essays and poetry on womanhood and the history and culture of misogyny. There is much beauty to be found, but I often felt the author was presenting her personal opinions (sometimes even based on disproven hypothesis) as fact. With these discrepancies in mind, it’s still a lovely short read.
February 12, 2018
I want really expecting this book to be so good, I finished it in a day. It's filled with beautiful artwork and writings based on folklore and historic witchcraft. Includes lesser talked about (amongst modern pagans and wiccans) herbs, such as the Solanaceae family, that I was especially happy to see here. Not a manual by far, but an excellent collection of poetry and information that any witch should check out and perhaps even keep as a beautiful coffee table book after reading it.
Funny enough I also think the book looks nicer without the white dust jacket on it as pictured. It's bound in marbled blue with gold writing and a gold symbol. Sitting the dust jacket aside to keep it from getting torn only enhances this one.
My copy was used as I wanted hardcover, but it came in excellent condition!
Funny enough I also think the book looks nicer without the white dust jacket on it as pictured. It's bound in marbled blue with gold writing and a gold symbol. Sitting the dust jacket aside to keep it from getting torn only enhances this one.
My copy was used as I wanted hardcover, but it came in excellent condition!
July 10, 2017
Exquisite artwork, and not a cloying watered down version of what the witch's tradition is to make it seem more PC. Said watering down usually occurs via denying sexuality as a powerful tool for the intellect or trivializing the power of radical acceptance (which I use here in reference to the diving into "evil" and "ugliness" to see what truly lies at the heart of such concepts). I appreciate that. There's a reason witches were viewed as being dangerous, as they embody the healer who is guided by the marriage of her intuition and intellect. The synthetic creative brilliance that distills the essence of "becoming" with which the book is crafted is a testament to the original practice, as much as the content is.
April 12, 2025
The artwork is fantastic but the text is, as others here have said, all over the place tonally. Jong often goes from being deadly serious to cracking bad jokes within a single paragraph. And for the love of the Goddess, please do not take what is written in this book as historically factual! Just as one example of this: there is way too much reliance on Margaret Murray's theories. (There's a pretty significant bibliography on the last page, but Murray's name comes up throughout the book far more often than any other.)
Seriously though, the art rules.
Seriously though, the art rules.
May 14, 2020
This book was given to me by someone special and I'm glad they found it. Its a great overview of witches throughout history and the many beliefs that were associated with witches. Though there's a good amount of humor, it's a lot heavier than I thought it would be. There's a lot to consider about why people believe in witches, why people gravitate towards them, and the lessons we can learn from it. It could easily be the first witch book you read, or the last one. The artwork is also amazing.
April 17, 2022
An interesting read; bought about 20 years ago and finally read through from cover to cover. I'm guessing when it was first published (1981) it was a lot more powerful, and, no doubt, helped open up many discussions and helped draw religious zealots and many intolerant people out of the shadows they lurk in. I wouldn't call it a particularly serious tome, though it is interesting in the range of topics it covered.
February 15, 2019
This book was a gift from a friend many years ago. Considering the fact that this topic tends to either be overly dry and academic or overly "twee", I found it to be well balanced. I enjoyed the artwork, which enhanced the content as well as the poetry. "For All Those Who Died" has become a favorite of mine, often recited on Samhain.
January 2, 2021
Three stars are for the beautiful drawings... I am not sure the text is as good. However, even though much of the information I've seen time and time again, this book is certainly older... So who copied who? Saying that, it was amazing to read, even though I raised my eyebrows a few times at things she was saying... Beautiful drawings .. did I say that already?
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews