Its possible that the very existence of this book proves that Wicca has finally come into its own as a modern religious institution of sorts. In a backhanded way, at least. Otherwise, why would someone spend so much time and energy trying to debunk it and in such a lurid fashion as is normally only seen on infomercials on late night television or on the covers of various supermarket tabloids. Now, You Too can finally own a copy of the book that contains The Truth that the "conservative Gardnerian witches" tried to suppress! Complete with intimations of death threats no less...

Though, that isn't what happened at all. The first edition of this book came out and not only did it not sell out (copies were found shortly thereafter at half-price bookstores because it wasn't a best selling volume in the least) but the later edition that the author wished to follow up with--this book, essentially--got into trouble because he wanted to "out" witches and print their real names and addresses without their permission. A legal no-no.

I didn't agree with the conclusions in this book the first time around, and this edition doesn't come any closer to convincing me. Aside from making me think that maybe some people only have but one book in them and so have to keep rehashing it again and again.

A much better book if you are interested in the phenomena of trying to debunk the origins of modern Wicca would be "Triumph of the Moon" by Ronald Hutton. A lot of people don't agree with his conclusions either, but at least its a better written book and he has a little less of an ax to grind.

This was the third book I read on Gerald Gardner and his tradition. This made far more of an impression on me than even his writing(Gardner's) did. It helped put everything into context for me. I am glad that it is finally back out there with a publisher who does not scare easily!