{"id":941,"date":"2007-10-24T19:24:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-24T19:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=941"},"modified":"2020-08-25T14:56:35","modified_gmt":"2020-08-25T20:56:35","slug":"a-manufactured-conspiracy-in-wiccan-publishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=941","title":{"rendered":"A Manufactured Conspiracy in Wiccan Publishing"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have started reading Aidan Kelly’s Inventing Witchcraft: A Case Study in the Creation of a New Religion<\/em>, published by Thoth Publications<\/a> but also available from Amazon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In simplest terms, it’s an enlargement and reworking of Crafting the Art of Magic, Book 1<\/em><\/a>, which Llewellyn<\/a> published in 1991–Kelly’s study of the origins of modern Wicca, based primarily on textual criticism<\/a> of various versions of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kelly published one earlier article on the BoS in my own zine, Iron Mountain: A Journal of Magical Religion<\/em>, which had a run of four issues from about 1984-1986. It is sort of fun to see it referred to again. (It is available for download here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Because there was only Book 1 and no Book 2 back 15 years ago, a whole conspiracy theory has arisen, for example, that American Gardnerians somehow had the book suppressed. Even Thoth’s copywriters can’t resist: the back-cover copy reads, in part, “When the first edition of thisbook was released, conservative Gardnerian Witches attempted to suppress it….Even though its first printing quickly [!] sold out, the original publisher, faced with death threats and boycotts, agreed to abandon the project…”<\/p>\n

Horse shit. Elephant dung. Monkey poop. Here are some facts:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Llewellyn typically then (and now, I suppose) kept first runs short, usually under 5,000 copies. If sales were good, more copies would be ordered in similar increments. Even one of their top Wiccan authors, Scott Cunningham<\/a>, was selling only in the mid-five figures at that time.<\/li>\n
  2. \n

    Shortly after Crafting<\/em> was released, I flew to Minnesota to spend a couple of days with Carl and Sandra Weschcke, who own Llewellyn, and then-acquisitions editor Nancy Mostad, discussing the series that I was editing for them<\/a> and possible other projects.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    On our way to dinner the first night, Carl asked me if I knew when Kelly would send the ms. for Book 2. He wanted<\/em> to publish it. After thirty years in the occult publishing business, he probably treated the displeasure of his reading public less seriously than he treated Minnesota mosquitoes. Death threats indeed. Controversy is good for publishers, as Thoth is obliquely admitting by trying to manufacture some.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. But Kelly’s own problems at the time prevented him from ever delivering the manuscript. With no Book 2 in the pipeline, Book 1 was allowed to go out of print — as the majority of Llewellyn titles do after their first press runs. No conspiracy there, just business.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Since Amazon advertises used copies of Crafting<\/em> at prices from $46 to more than $150, you get much more by buying the new book, despite the cover hype. I have some minor issues with it — I wish that it more reflected research into Wiccan origins done since the first book was written — but it is still worthwhile.<\/p>\n

      Thoth also has reprinted Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki’s The Forgotten Mage<\/em>.<\/a> It is a key background book in the emergence of contemporary Paganism from the milieu of early 20th-century ceremonial magic and esotericism.<\/p>\n

      UPDATE 10\/25:<\/b> Greetings if you came here from Wildhunt<\/a>. (Thanks, Jason.) As I hope I made clear in my response to one commenter, I don’t want to turn a discussion of this dubious book marketing into a pro\/con discussion about Dr. Kelly and his difficult relationship with other American Gardnerians. Don’t want to go there, OK?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      I have started reading Aidan Kelly’s Inventing Witchcraft: A Case Study in the Creation of a New Religion, published by Thoth Publications but also available from Amazon. In simplest terms, it’s an enlargement and reworking of Crafting the Art of Magic, Book 1, which Llewellyn published in 1991–Kelly’s study of the origins of modern Wicca, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7,6,12],"class_list":["post-941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-publishing","tag-wicca","tag-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-fb","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6","url_meta":{"origin":941,"position":0},"title":"Reprinting "Crafting the Art of Magic"","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 13, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"A round of discussion on the Nature Religions Scholars Network e-mail list about the desirability of reprinting Aidan Kelly's book on the origins of Gardnerian witchcraft, Crafting the Art of Magick Book 1 (there was no Book 2), which came out a decade ago from Llewellyn Publications. Although primarily based\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"publishing\"","block_context":{"text":"publishing","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=publishing"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5113,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=5113","url_meta":{"origin":941,"position":1},"title":"Wicca, Recategorized by Librarians, Now by Booksellers as Well","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In 2007, the\u00a0 news was that books on Wicca were re-categorized by the Library of Congress from BF (psychology, abnormal) to\u00a0 BP 600, a sort of catch-all for \"other beliefs and movements.\" A new Dewey Decimal number was assigned as well, for libraries using that system. Now the change is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"libraries\"","block_context":{"text":"libraries","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=libraries"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13198,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=13198","url_meta":{"origin":941,"position":2},"title":"The First Wiccan Book Published in India","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A little more than twenty years ago, in the preference to his landmark study of contemporary Pagan Witchcraft, The Triumph of the Moon, the historian Ronald Hutton wrote that \"the unique significance of pagan [sic] witchcraft to history is that it is the only religion which England has even given\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"India\"","block_context":{"text":"India","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=india"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/ANI-20221216115613-300x205.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":533,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=533","url_meta":{"origin":941,"position":3},"title":"Up and down in Pagan\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 12, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Up and down in Pagan publishingLawyer and Wiccan author Phyllis Curott has stirred up a lot of dust in the past couple of months with dark hints of a conspiracy to suppress Pagan books.Some see too many \"Wicca 101\" books or not enough editorial integrity.Elsewhere, Kensington\/Citadel laid off the editor\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":187,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=187","url_meta":{"origin":941,"position":4},"title":"More Wiccan History","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 12, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"\"The Founding Fathers of Wicca,\" a graduate-school paper by Susan Young, currently at the University of Alberta, explores Aleister Crowley's liturgical and other influence on Gardnerian Wicca. It was published in Axis Mundi: A Student Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, whose article index is here. The paper is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":974,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=974","url_meta":{"origin":941,"position":5},"title":"Gallimaufry: It’s Traditional","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00b6 When an ill-informed blogger writes that \"Wicca Attempts to Control Life\" on a right-wing site, commenters weigh in. The gist: (a) religion has nothing to do with politics or (b) all religions are bogus. It's nice to see street-level libertarianism thriving.\u00b6 Maxine Sanders' new autobiography Fire Child: The life\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Asatru\"","block_context":{"text":"Asatru","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=asatru"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chascli-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1869928784","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=941"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11753,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}