Witching Culture

Folklore and Neo-Paganism in America

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Sociology, Marriage & Family, Religion & Spirituality, New Age
Cover of the book Witching Culture by Sabina Magliocco, University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Sabina Magliocco ISBN: 9780812202700
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. Publication: November 24, 2010
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press Language: English
Author: Sabina Magliocco
ISBN: 9780812202700
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication: November 24, 2010
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press
Language: English

Taking the reader into the heart of one of the fastest-growing religious movements in North America, Sabina Magliocco reveals how the disciplines of anthropology and folklore were fundamental to the early development of Neo-Paganism and the revival of witchcraft. Magliocco examines the roots that this religious movement has in a Western spiritual tradition of mysticism disavowed by the Enlightenment. She explores, too, how modern Pagans and Witches are imaginatively reclaiming discarded practices and beliefs to create religions more in keeping with their personal experience of the world as sacred and filled with meaning. Neo-Pagan religions focus on experience, rather than belief, and many contemporary practitioners have had mystical experiences. They seek a context that normalizes them and creates in them new spiritual dimensions that involve change in ordinary consciousness.

Magliocco analyzes magical practices and rituals of Neo-Paganism as art forms that reanimate the cosmos and stimulate the imagination of its practitioners. She discusses rituals that are put together using materials from a variety of cultural and historical sources, and examines the cultural politics surrounding the movement—how the Neo-Pagan movement creates identity by contrasting itself against the dominant culture and how it can be understood in the context of early twenty-first-century identity politics.

Witching Culture is the first ethnography of this religious movement to focus specifically on the role of anthropology and folklore in its formation, on experiences that are central to its practice, and on what it reveals about identity and belief in twenty-first-century North America.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Taking the reader into the heart of one of the fastest-growing religious movements in North America, Sabina Magliocco reveals how the disciplines of anthropology and folklore were fundamental to the early development of Neo-Paganism and the revival of witchcraft. Magliocco examines the roots that this religious movement has in a Western spiritual tradition of mysticism disavowed by the Enlightenment. She explores, too, how modern Pagans and Witches are imaginatively reclaiming discarded practices and beliefs to create religions more in keeping with their personal experience of the world as sacred and filled with meaning. Neo-Pagan religions focus on experience, rather than belief, and many contemporary practitioners have had mystical experiences. They seek a context that normalizes them and creates in them new spiritual dimensions that involve change in ordinary consciousness.

Magliocco analyzes magical practices and rituals of Neo-Paganism as art forms that reanimate the cosmos and stimulate the imagination of its practitioners. She discusses rituals that are put together using materials from a variety of cultural and historical sources, and examines the cultural politics surrounding the movement—how the Neo-Pagan movement creates identity by contrasting itself against the dominant culture and how it can be understood in the context of early twenty-first-century identity politics.

Witching Culture is the first ethnography of this religious movement to focus specifically on the role of anthropology and folklore in its formation, on experiences that are central to its practice, and on what it reveals about identity and belief in twenty-first-century North America.

More books from University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.

Cover of the book Early Modern Cultures of Translation by Sabina Magliocco
Cover of the book From Paris to Pompeii by Sabina Magliocco
Cover of the book The Steppe and the Sea by Sabina Magliocco
Cover of the book Frontier Cities by Sabina Magliocco
Cover of the book Madhouses, Mad-Doctors, and Madmen by Sabina Magliocco
Cover of the book The People of This Generation by Sabina Magliocco
Cover of the book Fairy Godfather by Sabina Magliocco
Cover of the book Liberia by Sabina Magliocco
Cover of the book Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain by Sabina Magliocco
Cover of the book From Abolition to Rights for All by Sabina Magliocco
Cover of the book Professional Indian by Sabina Magliocco
Cover of the book How Rivalries End by Sabina Magliocco
Cover of the book Translating Nature by Sabina Magliocco
Cover of the book Gray Panthers by Sabina Magliocco
Cover of the book Colonial Botany by Sabina Magliocco
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy