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Scott Cunnigham
27 March 2019 18:11 Say what you like about Scott Cunningham - he's a brilliant writer. He's accessible! My copy of Wicca for the Solitary Practicioners has survived several book culls because I never don't need a quick reference for, say, the 7 basic steps in ritual. Or, some quick sabbat correspondences. Or in this case, how to cast a circle.
It's clear, concise, well laid out, and I frequently don't have the spoons to access more complex information or remember where I might have written or stored it.
Like, I have other books which talk about circles. From various trads - ive a handful of ceremonial works, some 60s original coven books, some modern ones, some dorky stuff like a book on animal spirits or druid Wicca. They've all got a basic sacred space chapter.
But Cunningham is my go to.
And that's the essence of what a textbook should be. Not just simple, but simply laid out.
I think the biggest problem with WftSP is a lack of signposting. It really needs a chapter directing you to 201 level material, and supplementary stuff to pad out his work. For example, there's non real discussion of what you do when a circle is up; and none of the poetry and strangeness which existed as long as Wicca has been performed. Cunnigham's goddess is bland, safe, fully mapped, vapid. I don't necessarily think his craft was like that, only that his accessible textbook style lends itself very badly to poetry.
So you'd definitely want to give a new starter Cunnigham, alongside maybe a book by Valiente -which is more vivid about what the craft looks like in practice, and how complex and vital it was even at its genesis (I feel like Cunnigham is in part responsible for the idea thst Wicca is bland. You think Gardener didon't know how to curse?!). And then thirdly, you'd want to give them something like a book of fairy stories, or the Hobbit, or Paradise Lost - something beautiful, something with poetry and depth, something that feels rather like what magic can be.
I feel like far from empowering my craft as a new starter, Cunningham held me back. I use him a lot more now I've got the "why" of the faith fully in place, and consult him for the "how"
It's clear, concise, well laid out, and I frequently don't have the spoons to access more complex information or remember where I might have written or stored it.
Like, I have other books which talk about circles. From various trads - ive a handful of ceremonial works, some 60s original coven books, some modern ones, some dorky stuff like a book on animal spirits or druid Wicca. They've all got a basic sacred space chapter.
But Cunningham is my go to.
And that's the essence of what a textbook should be. Not just simple, but simply laid out.
I think the biggest problem with WftSP is a lack of signposting. It really needs a chapter directing you to 201 level material, and supplementary stuff to pad out his work. For example, there's non real discussion of what you do when a circle is up; and none of the poetry and strangeness which existed as long as Wicca has been performed. Cunnigham's goddess is bland, safe, fully mapped, vapid. I don't necessarily think his craft was like that, only that his accessible textbook style lends itself very badly to poetry.
So you'd definitely want to give a new starter Cunnigham, alongside maybe a book by Valiente -which is more vivid about what the craft looks like in practice, and how complex and vital it was even at its genesis (I feel like Cunnigham is in part responsible for the idea thst Wicca is bland. You think Gardener didon't know how to curse?!). And then thirdly, you'd want to give them something like a book of fairy stories, or the Hobbit, or Paradise Lost - something beautiful, something with poetry and depth, something that feels rather like what magic can be.
I feel like far from empowering my craft as a new starter, Cunningham held me back. I use him a lot more now I've got the "why" of the faith fully in place, and consult him for the "how"
