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 Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 3:00 pm
I was wondering if anyone had any info or opinions on the author Edain McCoy. I just bought her book 'Celtic Myth and Magick'. I was skimming through it, and can't really find where she is doing a who lot wrong. Aside from the use of the word 'magick', which I know bothers some people, she seems to be decent. She seems respectable to the cultures, describes them, lists MANY different traditions, and appears to be sane. I've never read anything by her before though, and I didn't know if anyone else had. So I was just wondering if anyone on here had an opinion on her (mainly I wanted to know if I just wasted my money stressed )
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Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 6:35 pm
My first experience with her was when I bought her "advanced witchcraft" book. To my dismay I discovered it was not at all advanced and half of it was barely witchcraft. So there began my dislike of McCoy. And then there's, well, this.
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Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 7:51 pm
Well, damn.
Ok, will this help my efforts any;
The book I bought has some sections that instruct on certain things (spells, rituals, the building blocks of both), which I'm not all too concerned about. I'm mainly interested in the reference part of the book. Hmmm, the only way I can think to get anything from this is to double check with this forum when I read things.
Here, I found some things in the book I know people in this forum would know about. I'll post below, and if it isn't too bs-laden, I can hope for the best.
In the section on traditions, giving small summaries of many:
Alexandrian Tradition: Although not exactly a Celtic tradition, many Celtic paths today use words and expressions which reflect the Kabbalistic influence of this Pagan tradition. Its founder, Alexander Saunders, was a Pagan leader who successfully blended Kabbalistic practice with Anglo-Celtic Pagan practice. Many people believe that this blending first began in the late 1400's when Moors, Jews, PAgans, and other non-Catholics fled the Spanish Inquisition. Many of these people came to the west of Ireland, then the end of the known world, to hide and begin a new. life. The book, 'Secrets of a Witches' Coven', by Morwyn, outlines the basic teachings of this tradition.
Druidic Tradition: The pathways based on the practices, rituals, and magick of the Celtic preistly class known as the Druids. Many expressions of this tradition exists, and their differences have often been case for dissension in the Pagan community. Two of the best books published in recent years on Druidism are 'Book of the Druids', by Ross Nicols, and 'The 21 Lessons of Merlin', by Douglas Monroe.
Gardnerian Tradition: This is not exactly a Celtic tradition, but many of Gerald Gardner's ideas have had so much impact on modern Paganism since he first began writing about his vision of witchcraft in the 1950's that many Celtic groups have adopted them. His tenets include ritual nudity, hierarchies of leadership, and an organized, graduated training system for new converts. A very stratified, initiatory tradition. The many books of Janet and Farrar best present Gardnerian ways.
I know I saw some things in this list I did that are strikes against her, as I have discovered here, but as long as I can distinguish the BS from what is worth while, I'm willing to sift. And I know any time I have a question, I have this place as a reference.
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Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 8:34 pm
Yes you can ^_^
And dear lord. That list is all kinds of incorrect.
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Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 8:42 pm
gonk
I think I just screwed myself, buying this book.
And to think, I had a horrible feeling that told me to put it back and buy something else....
...and of course, I blew it off.
Well I guess it furthered my lesson in listening to myself neutral
I hope at least the part I REALLY wanted the book for is half right. There's an encyclopedia of gods/goddesses that pertain to Celtic Myth in the back, which is what I was mainly interested in. Keeping my fingers crossed that when I skim through it doesn't fail horribly.
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Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 8:53 pm
I had a very similar experience when I bought my book of hers. I put it down to thinking I wasn't ready for an "advanced" book. Ironic really.
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Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 8:58 pm
Ugh, I completely understand.
But where there is BS, there is bound to be at least one shred of truth. Like I said, I'll sift through the BS, because I refuse to have totally wasted my time. I'll draw something positive out of this, one way or another. biggrin
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Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 3:33 am
Oooh I found the book on Amazon.
The cover makes me cringe xd "Harnessing the power of the gods and goddesses"? Wtf? why does she hate them so much? xd what hubris.
Flaw number one is that she seems to think there's only one Celtic pantheon. You'd think that this would be something a person would understand first off.
God she's an insulting b***h this woman. "Paganism does not require enslavement to dogma". Oh and apparently, the pentacle is one of the two principal symbols of Celtic Paganism!
Wow, ******** deja vu.
Oh! and apparently, the "tree faeries of the Celtic lands" are called Dryads! How silly of me to think this was a Greek term!
Does she even believe the s**t she writes? or is she actively trying to pull the wool over people's eyes? What do ritual circles and athames have to do with Celtic religion?
More fun things she mentions:
"Wicce" is an "olde english" (note the obligatory extra "e") word for "wicca". WHO KNEW.
Soft polytheism in Celtic Paganism? Source please?
Oh, I see, APPARENTLY modern anthropologists believe there was never any such thing as polytheism.
It looks like she's saying "the gods don't really exist, and that's why I can abuse them for my own profit".
To be honest, I'd take it back and see if I could get store credit.
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Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 9:19 am
gonk
Yes, I was thinking the same about taking it back. Because at this point my options are;
1.) Take it back and get the book about kittens
2.) Burn it
Though no one really benefits from it being back out on the shelf, I'd at least like to get a book with pictures of kittens.
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Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 11:26 am
Don't feel to bad about the waste. I'm sure many of us have made the honest mistake. I know I have. xd
Sadly, I bought her books in bulk along with *shudders* Ravenwolf back in my fluff days. I have since learned that the books I wasted 80+ dollars on amount to diddly-squat academically. I hate to realize that I wasted the money, but it was a learning curve for me. None of those books are even remotely relevant to me now.
As for what I now do with the books, I run a group at my college called the Student Pagan Association. It was handed over to me(I didn't want it! gonk ) and seems to have a "healthy" amount of misinformed people and fluffs alike. So, I'll be using the books by McCoy and Ravenwolf as a reference to what one should avoid when buying reference books. Hopefully I can educate a few people in the group.
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Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 12:24 pm
Yeah, I understand xp
I guess I just sort of feel like I was making a 'rookie mistake' because I've been with this guild for a bit, and should have consulted someone about the author before buying and what not. To be perfectly honest, I was blinded by everything else on the cover by the word 'Celtic'. Once I started looking at the other things on the cover, I felt uneasy, and should have put it back. Oh well, I guess I'll learn to listen to myself the hard way then xd
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Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 11:48 am
At least you learned something from this event. You've learned one more Author to avoid. And really, while asking the opinions of others is great, sometimes you have to make some mistakes for yourself to really learn something.
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 4:40 am
The only book by her I have read that I liked was titled along the lines of "If you want to be a witch". I found it to be better than the other s**t by her I had read. One of the reasons I generally avoid her is the book she wrote titled Witta.
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