Still Alive, for Better and Worse

Blessed Beltane, to all who celebrate it.  For my take on the Sabbat, which hasn't changed since last year, see the post In Which Sylvan is a Bit of a Stick in the Mud.

I will be out of the blogosphere for another week or so, and out of town for most of that.  I could go on about where I've been or what's been going on with me, but the short version is that I seem to have had a sort of nervous breakdown (or whatever the current PC psychology term is for it) and am just now stabilizing.  I beg your patience and continued indulgence, and I thank everyone for their continued support.

I hope to be back to my usual life--writing, dancing, snarking--by the end of next week, although, I also hope that some things become distinctly un-usual.

In the meantime I am conducting a sort of informal survey; anyone who would like to respond is welcome to in comments below.  (Unless you are on LiveJournal, in which case I cannot see your comments, so you'll have to come to the original post here at DDtM to respond.)

What was your first Pagan book?  Probably 98% of modern Pagans started with books (or read them along with in-person classes).  I cut my teeth on Cunningham, but plenty of people started with Starhawk or RavenWolf (or even Gardner, though that's rarer here in America than, say, Buckland).  Where did you start?  And what year was it?

I'm curious about how Pagan neophytes' literature has changed, or not, in the last 20 or so years.  I've kind of lost touch with what the new folk are reading these days.  Well, and the older folk too.  My interest in Pagan books went from a flame to a fizzle as the repetition bored me and the tone of many books insulted my intelligence and common sense.  Plus, and I've discussed this before, there's not much in "advanced" Wicca books that I feel I need in my personal tradition. 

I have thought many times that I would one day write a beginner's book myself, to create what I wish had existed back in 2004--but really, when you get down to it, it wouldn't be all that different from The Circle Within, just with more vocabulary words and a chapter on pseudohistory that would make me very unpopular with traditionalists.  (Okay, more unpopular.)  A more recent version of that idea would be a textbook for EarthDance, which I would probably make available by chapter online. 

Yeah, maybe someday.  Right now I'm just curious.  Where did you start, bookwise?  And how long ago was it?

EDITED TO ADD:  Per the first comment (thanks Maeve!), if your first literature was online, mention that too.  After all, networking and education has changed a lot thanks to the Internet, so books are obviously not the only road in anymore.

Comments

[Maeve]

Well, it's not a book, but my first Pagan "literature" or "beginners' guide" was Wicca For the Rest of Us (http://wicca.timerift.net). I know you asked for books, but you mentioned you're curious about how beginning material has changed. There are a few good websites out there, too, and I would consider WFTROU better than many beginners' books out there now.

[Sondra]

Welcome back, I was extremely worried about you! Take care of yourself! It's hard to lose a charished pet and it will take time to mourn but healing will come.
I honestly can't remember the name of the first book I read and it has long been passed on to another person (Man I Hate it when people dont give books back!). All I know is I have never been able to find it again and I really liked it, this was 6 years ago. It was a short book with basic information about the Goddess and God, about the Sabbats, Elements and moon. At the end of every chapter was a meditation suggestion. It was perfect for me. I didn't want to start out with a book that gave step by step rituals and a discussion on tools....I simply wanted a starting point for the spiritual side rather than the "practice" side. I wish I could find that book again it really helped me find my way to connecting with the Dieties.
I did move on to Cunningham and everything else I could find but nothing ever touched me like that book.
Sondra

[dreamflowing]

Buckland's Big Blue Book of Bullshit (I don't remember the actual title) when I was 9. I put a lot of effort into etching my kitchen-knife athame with iodine XD. Thank the Goddess I found Starhawk by the time I was 11.

What started me looking though (when I ended up finding the Buckland) was a little children's book called "The Headless Cupid" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. I still have a fond spot for it.

[Mystic Dilettante]

It was New Year's Day 1999 and I bought Edain McCoy's Celtic Myth and Magick. Later that month, I bought Kisma Stepanich's two volume Faery Wicca set (which was later pulled after charges of plagiarism). Many of the early books I read were less than spectacular. The two I found that year that had the most influence on me were Ann Moura's Green Witchcraft and Yasmine Galenorn's Embracing the Moon.

At that time, Yasmine had a yahoo group, and I joined. That yahoo group helped me more than any book I read. But as she got more well-known and her career expanded, she could no longer run the group, and it disbanded.

Another online source that meant a lot to me early on (and that kept me from going off the deep end into ultra-fluffdom) was ecauldron.com

What I wish I'd read less of early on was the endless Z Budapest and other feminist books. Actually, if you count those types of books, then the first book that started me on the Pagan path was actually Merlin Stone's When God was a Woman, which I read in 1998. Reading that book got me thrown out of my Bible study and I lost all my Christian friends in one fell swoop.

[Centaur Cunningman]

what started me looking was actually Ellen Dugan's teen withcraft elements book in late 2003. what started me "practicing" was definitely Starhawk's "Spiral Dance" around this time of year, 2004.

[Ganga]

My prayers and candle work go out to you! We lost 2 dear special therapy cats last year, my deepest sympathy! I became interested in Wicca when 3 witches at a home school park day asked me if I was a Pagan or Wiccan -- out of the blue. They were very supportive and suggested Cunningham and Starkhawk's works which I eventually read but my first 2 I read cover to cover were: Witch Amongst Us: The Autobiography of a Witch and West Country Wicca: A Journal of Old Religion (both British). That was back in 14 years ago, so around 1994; I was 46. I am now 60 and am ever so grateful to those 3 women who guided me to the Path which I practice with my daughter but we are solitary at this point. Again, take care of yourself gently, Love and Blessings! Meera

[Sara]

Book polls. I cannot resist them. It's like some kind of gravitational force. :)

My very very first book was, I believe, True Magick by Amber K. I picked it up in a local indie bookstore in Boulder, CO. I was either 13 or 14. I kind of thought it was a fantasy novel (I had just started my career as a professional geek) until I perused it more carefully in the store and came to the shocking and completely life-changing realization that Ms., er, K, was completely serious. Real magic - people doing real magic. I near passed out. There still aren't words for the consuming joy I felt on that revelation. After that, I knocked back a lot of Cunningham, bein' my favorite Pagani author for the majority of my high school years, and went in for the Ravenwolf stuff too - so much so that I wrote her a very long, very sincere and very 15 year old nerd-girl letter pouring out my little Pagan-newbie soul. I may not identify in the same way as I did back then, and I may not be the biggest fan of her work anymore, but I will always appreciate that she wrote me back, a brief but supportive and lovely letter that made me feel connected to a community when I had no other way to do so (my parents were totally supportive, but I just didn't know how to contact any local groups and was too shy to do so even if I did). During those first couple of years, I read everything. Spiral Dance and Drawing Down the Moon - everything in the American Pagan canon during the early 90s, including the not-so-great stuff, like the Stepanich Faery Wicca books. The second biggest moment of sheer joy came when I got my first copy of the Circle Network News (still in newsprint form then), and realized there was an entire world of people out there who believed this way. It was a thrill that I wouldn't mind living again - I remember it so fondly. I pored over that thing for *hours,* several times, read every syllable, from articles to obituaries for a hamster named Lugh.

-S

[maewyn]

My first foray was online; I read the entire Reformed Druids of North America site and joined a Yahoo group called SolitaryDruid. I did a lot of my questioning there, got book recommendations, read them, came back and discussed them. My first book was Thorsson's Princples of Druidry (part of the "Principles of ..." series; I think Vivianne Crowley wrote the one on Wicca). There were some fantastic people in that group, wonderfully clueful as a whole, and their influence made a big difference on my development as a Pagan.

I lived with a close friend who was as interested in Wicca as I was in Druidry then, and I read her books on Wicca too -- I think we started with the usual, Spiral Dance and Drawing Down the Moon and Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner. This was around the year 2000.

I read an awful lot of Wicca 101 books, and I think that's partially responsible for my eventually leaving Druidry for Traditional Wicca. But that's another story. ;)

[Sjh]

Secrets of a Witch's Coven by Morwyn. My dad gave it to me. I think I must have been 11 or 12, because I know it was after we had a long conversation about why some people went to church to talk to God and I just went to the lake or the foothills. Also, I was obsessed with the Salem trials, and had a deck of (really ugly and cheap) tarot cards. I think he spotted my pagan-ness before I even knew what it was all about. The book itself was pretty boring, and overly technical. (I think the author's coven was really traditional.) I moved on pretty quickly. Still, getting that first book from him made me feel safe to explore, and that's pretty incredible.

[s1ren]

My first book was Laurie Cabot's "Power of the Witch", in 1999, which was mailed to me by a friend in New Mexico, after our "You're a WHAT?" "No, seriously" conversation. I spent the next couple of years mostly perusing websites and talking to pagans of various strip in online message boards, and then began reading Cunningham and Starhawk. And...you know the rest. :)

[Joe]

My first pagan book was "Buckland's complete book of Witchcraft". I was a freshman or sophmore in high school which would make it '91' or '92'. I was in B Dalton looking at the fantasy novels and saw the new age section. I whent in and saw that big blue book. I whent back several times to look at it before I bought it. I was always a big geek and loved fantasy fiction and dungeons and dragons, still do,I remember wishing that magic was real. Then I found that book and it seemed to say that everything I wanted to be real is real.
I was hooked from that moment on. After that I was in the new age section alot. I picked up scott cunningham's books. Silver Ravenwolf was also a big influence and I still love all those early books of hers. Her anecdotes were my favorite. I got to have a glimpse of a world that desperatly wanted to be apart of. those books and others like it were my safe place.

I hope you are doing better Diane. It is never easy to lose a friend.

[Morgan]

What a fab question about first books! I'd always had pagan leanings, but I didn't go actively looking until I read Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Mists of Avalon" in the mid-80's (I was born in 1970). She mentions Starhawk in the, hmm, I think acknowledgements, so I picked up "Spiral Dance" next.

You are the only person I've ever heard of who has also read Gael Baudino - her approach to the Goddess has much informed my own practice as well.

[Marcus]

My first book on any kind of specific paganism was "Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner" by Scott Cunningham. I bought it at a little shop in Houston in 1993 called Lucia's Garden.

However, my father had a rampant interest in mythology, ufo's and psychic phenomenon, so I read a lot of that for as long as I can remember.

[Lupa]

Taking a break = healthy. Too many people forget that.

Around 1998, I think, my first book was Ted Andrews' "Animal-Speak". (I've also read a lot of totem dictionaries that seemed to want to be just like him!) I'd mostly relied on the information given to me by Wiccan friends for about a year prior to that.

I'm not Wiccan, though Cunningham was an early influence, so I haven't had so much trouble finding advanced works. Some of them have been in better-stocked pagan/occult shops (I don't mess with the big boxes), and some of them haven't even been expressly pagan (psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, etc.)

As for the current crop of beginner books, I still see a lot of repetition; I tend to recommend to newbies either a few old favorites or a couple of newer texts that manage to introduce the material in a completely different fashion (though, again, not in a strictly Wiccan paradigm).

/book geekery

[Amber]

I smiled when I saw this poll because the first pagan/wiccan book I ever read was "The Body Sacred" by you-can-guess-who. Even though it clearly states that it is not meant as a wiccan primer, but was written under the premise that readers already had a familiarity with wiccan, it really did serve as an excellent intro.
Another book that helped me explore a more wiccan-esque spirituality, but that isn't Wiccan, is Sue Monk Kidd's "Dance of the Dissident Daughter" she is a christian author who had a huge religion/faith overhaul and describes her recognition of the presence of the Goddess, or feminine aspect of the Diety, in this memoir.

[Miranda]

I was getting very worried about you.

First book that got me started would be Spiral Dance by Starhawk.

Very average.

[Ellen-Mary]

I bought my first tarot cards when I was fifteen. I spend almost all my time in the library haunting the paranormal and metaphysical section. When I was eighteen my roommate and I would take the train home from work together. One afternoon she showed up with a book on Witchcraft. I can't remember which one it was. This was early 1986 and the book had a black cover. It was interesting but a little too 'out there' for me. Someone else mentioned Gael Baudino and MZB. I can't remember in which order I read which books. Maze of Moonlight, Strands of Starlight blew me away. I love the spirituality Baudino presented in those books. There's a third one too I can't think of the title right now. I do know that my first official 'has Wicca in the title' book was Scott Cunningham's guide for the solitary practitioner. I was home.

[marielle]

Mary Daly, Gyn-Ecology. I always knew I was a pagan. When I was 5yrs old I was building altars in my Grandparent's fields. I just didn't know what i was had a name.

After Gyn-Ecology, started a long list of feminist theologians (I was Catholic of course i studied the theologians). Then like 1,2,3,...
Dancing Down the Moon
The Spiral Dance &
The witches Bible
I found home, at last.

[marielle]

oops, that should read Drawing Down the Moon.

[Broce]

I guess you could say my first book was The Spiral Dance, back when it was first published, but I was raised as a witch, and I was an adult by the time I did any specifically "pagan reading."

You might want to consider Sybil Leek's Diary of a Witch my first book, though that's less pagan than specifically a "witch biography." I read that sometime in the middle 1960's I think. For reference, I'm 49.

[lifeisenchanted]

I initially read "The Mists of Avalon" in 1988 when I was 24 years old, which opened my mind and spirit to find my first two Pagan books: "Drawing Down the Moon" by Margot Adler and "The Spiral Dance" by Starhawk. I read them simultaneously in 1989 - those were my very first books - and at the time, they were about all that was out there. I was 25 that year, and it really changed my whole life.

[margaritaspirit]

I discovered Wicca online, at which point my mom put me on the phone with her sister (who I'd had no idea was a witch growing up) who told me to go out and buy Marion Weinstein's "Positive Magic". I found it sort of interesting but mostly boring.

My next book was Cunningham's "Earth, Air, Fire, and Water" which was allowed by my mother (still nervous about the whole thing) because I sold it to her as being not technically about Wicca.

Neither of them were really what I was looking for. I forget what my next book was but it was sometime later and was likely either Cunningham's guide for the solitary practicioner or Ravelwolf's "Teen Witch"

[Rose]

First book related to paganism was The Great Cosmic Mother - Monica Sjoo (I'd gotten half way through it when she said that Mormons didn't allow trees next to their temple or churches. I lived at the time in Salt Lake City, Utah. The temple has lots of very old trees snuggling up to it and every LDS Ward or Stake center's land is well greened. I started to wonder what else she wrote that was false and chucked the book.)

Spiral Dance (the skinny, burgundy colored original) 1987. Though I don't groove to that tune anymore I still have the book. The spine has been taped more than twice, the pages are dog eared and yellowing, but it's a keepsake.

After that, in no particular order:
Magical Rites from the Crystal Well - Ed Fitch
Uncle Bucky's Big Blue
Wicca for the Solitary Practitioner (first ed.) Cunningham
Casting the Circle - Diane Stein
All Women are Healers - Stein
Ariadne's Thread - Shekhinah Mountainwater
Oh and Mysts of Avalon.

[Riverrequiem]

The first book I read was 'Witchcraft. A Beginners Guide' by Theresa Moorey, from my local library. I think it's only published in the UK. It's been a long time since I read it so I can't give a good review, but it inspired me. I stopped looking for love spells to perform on the boy I liked at school (forgive an eleven year old girl)and began something much more fulfilling (and more suitable?). I've since bought an expanded version called 'Witchcraft. A Complete Guide,' that is good for dipping into now and again for ideas.

Best wishes, Dianne, take care of yourself. I hope you feel better soon.

[Dana]

Dianne,

First of all ... huge ***hugs*** for you and also my love and prayers. You have been through a lot, probably way more than you'd ever begin to share on a blog. I hope you are being well cared for during your time of need.

To respond to your survey:

The first book I read on my quest (beginning of this year, 2008) wasn't necessarily pagan. I was looking for something to fill the void in my spiritual life. A friend told me about "The Power of Myth" by Jospeph Campbell. I devoured it and moved on the "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Paganism." From there I read your book, "The Circle Within." I've started on "Body Sacred" and also just began reading Cunningham's Solitary Guide. I have Thea Sabin waiting in the wings. I own Buckland's book, but I didn't get far into it before I decided it wasn't what I'm needing at this moment in time.

Best wishes, be safe and take care of yourself.

In Love & Light,
Dana

[Pyrola]

My first "book" was actually on the internet, but I'm pretty sure it's not there anymore, since that was at least ten years ago. It wasn't really Pagan, but had some things to do with the Craft. The witch who had the homepage wrote a book later on, and that was my first. It's called "Jolanda den tredjes bok om tarot" and is actually a book about tarot (it's in swedish).

My second book was Jennifer Hunter's "21st century wicca". It didn't do that much for me, really, but it was another step on the way. Actually your book is the one that has given me most... and I don't jus say that, I mean it. It took me over ten years from my first book to where I am now, and I've only begun practising. Could be due to the fact that I'm only 26.
Blessed be.

[Minxi]

First 'book' was a Campanelli book abt Pagan Rites of Passage. I was studying different cultural rites of passage in a class in high school and thought this might be a good title. I was 14yrs old at the time and quickly moved onto Cunningham, Buckland, Cabot, The Farrars etc in the next year or so.

Another pivotal point was reading Starhawk & Gardner at 18.

Prior to identifying as 'pagan' I had an unhealthy interest in all things rock and crystal like. And had started reading Tarot.

[Kat]

I didn't remember this until just now. I was married, we were trying to live as fundamentalist christians. He bought some mass market paperback on witchcraft, I can't remember the title or the author. There was a chapter on satanism that he crossed out with a black magic marker. I think his excuse at the time was that he wanted to "know the enemy" (but seeing later as he started having sex with a 15 year old, I'm thinking maybe he was looking for something else.)
After my divorce (around 1995), a co-worker came to my house: she was a self-proclaimed witch with long black talons and thick eyeliner. She would "read" tarot cards but was never that good at it. But her presence inspired me to find out if all "witches" were really this lame. I bought Cunningham's Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. The focus on nature as divine was so familiar to me. Soon after, I got Buckland's book-ugh. I then got Cunningham's Solitary Practitioner and developed my own deeply satisfying pagan path.I'm turning 40 next Thursday. I would have never imagined this spirituality for myself when I was 20. Never. Thank Goddess for not always getting what we think we want.

[mama kelly]

{{{{ }}}} I am so sorry to read that you are haivng such a rough time emotionally/psycologially/etc. Blessed and Joyous Beltane to you as well!

Mama Kelly

PS My first book on Wicca specifically was The Old Religion by Dr. Leo Martello

[Jessica]

Well, I believe my first introduction to Wicca was Silver RavenWolf's Teen Witch (back in 98 or 99). I was about 12 or 13 years old. I honestly can't remember anything about the book for some reason, I only remember it was my first read on the Craft. I think Scott Cunningham had the greatest impact for me later on. I still like his books although they are rather basic for me now, after being on this path for 9 or 10 years. I'd recommend them to all beginners. By now I have read just about every Wiccan/Pagan book imaginable and like my interest has fizzled a bit but I am always looking for that new, special book. I really just enjoy reading about other Wiccan/Pagan perspectives and practices in relation to my own. It is hard to come by a truly, great book but I have a few that have touched me:

Your books, The Circle Within and The Body Sacred

And some others which are not strictly Wiccan in fashion but great reads anyway.