|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 10:27 am
Scarlet Lips Nadreth This is why I don't read Silver Ravenwolf: http://wicca.timerift.net/ravenwolf.shtml
This was really interesting and I'm glad you posted it. When i first was interested (about 4 years ago) my friend had picked up Teen Witch and referred it to me. I read it and took it in. Reading the quotes in this website reminded me back to when i had first read the book. I actually am quite Christian but very open minded. I have her other book To Ride a Silver Broomstick but i stopped reading it because of the things I've read about it. Some of the comments i read make me think that it would be worth it to read the rest of the book but disregard her comments about other religions. Or would i just become more mislead and misinformed?
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 1:19 pm
Silver Ravenwolf is freakin awesome!!!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 10:03 pm
don't get any big ideas, they're not going to happen...I'm of two minds about her. She was one of my favourite authors when I was just starting out, because she "writes like a friend", as someone else has mentioned. It was very easy to read, enjoy, understand, what have you. But now, in retrospect... I regret putting more money into her pockets. It was easy to understand because there was so little substance to her books. It was all, "magick is cool!", "glue glitter and lace on your paper angel, and presto!", and how Christians are hypocrite bastards. And you know, I did try some of her spells... none of them worked. Surprise surprise.
Thankfully, there was no permanent brain damage. I survived her books and came to where I stand today, so I harbor no ill-feelings towards her... I just feel extremely cheated and stupid for trusting her name. ...you'll go to hell for what your dirty mind is thinking.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 3:57 pm
Cannibelle Scarlet Lips
This was really interesting and I'm glad you posted it. When i first was interested (about 4 years ago) my friend had picked up Teen Witch and referred it to me. I read it and took it in. Reading the quotes in this website reminded me back to when i had first read the book. I actually am quite Christian but very open minded. I have her other book To Ride a Silver Broomstick but i stopped reading it because of the things I've read about it. Some of the comments i read make me think that it would be worth it to read the rest of the book but disregard her comments about other religions. Or would i just become more mislead and misinformed?
Thank you for your advise. It was very helpful. I think i will start off by finishing the book. After i'm done with it i'll have to post back here and tell everyone what i thought.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 5:08 pm
Well, she was the only book I could find at the store I went to. I'm planning on reading it, but it was good to see other people's opinions about it. I think that I will be fine if I just remember what I have read about her and keep an open mind on the subject. It will be my first book, but definitely not my last.
I'm definitely going to be looking for Scott Cunningham's book now! Thanks for the references guys.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 7:42 pm
While hate is a pretty strong word, I have no respect for Silver Ravenwolf other than as a writer and a marketing tool. If you look at her books, she has little to no primary sources. The reason for this seems to be that she made most of it up. While her books are quite easily digestible, they are full of strange notions completely unheard of in other (more credible) Wiccan sources.
She has created a generation of witches (fluffy bunnies to some) that have no idea where Wicca comes from or even what Wicca is. While I am not as against this as some are... it is generally her followers that are making it harder to get respect for Wicca as a faith rather than as a fad.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 5:37 pm
Nadreth This is why I don't read Silver Ravenwolf: http://wicca.timerift.net/ravenwolf.shtml lol!!! wwow, she is very, um, interesting. lol. rofl
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 6:23 pm
I'm currently readin Dumy's Guide to Wicca, and Witchcraft. It's rather nice. I read about a chapter a day. And well I'm enjoying it. I once borrowed the book Solitary Witches and Teen Witch, from a friend. Strangely they have both disappeared....But any way when trying to read her writing it's very confusing...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 7:43 pm
Personally, I have read many of her books along with Cunninghams and I found that I was able to understand her better. I love her as an author although I don't love some of the things she states within her pages.
Don't get me wrong, I love Cunningham as well and own two of his books but I did not quite understand them as well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 3:18 am
The thing I absolutely loathe about Ravenwolf is the way she blatantly states opinion or even fantasy as fact. She actually says, literally, that only Wiccans are witches and anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is either lying or delusional. BLATANTLY UNTRUE. Some of you have linked the Wicca for the rest of us essay. That's a good one, but personally I prefer the Tarnished Silver essay. Happy reading.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 3:34 am
Sorry to say, but I never heard of her..
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:08 am
Sanguina-chan The thing I absolutely loathe about Ravenwolf is the way she blatantly states opinion or even fantasy as fact. She actually says, literally, that only Wiccans are witches and anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is either lying or delusional. BLATANTLY UNTRUE. Some of you have linked the Wicca for the rest of us essay. That's a good one, but personally I prefer the Tarnished Silver essay. Happy reading. I challenge you to find an author who doesn't blend the line between opinion and fact. Unless you are reading a very, very dry analysis of something, chances are you are not going to find one. Part of the reason she comes off this way more than some other authors is because it is her writing style. I recognized that when I first tried reading her works and so I didn't have any problem distinguishing where her opinions began and the facts ended. You either like her writing style or you don't. You either let a single author make up your mind on everything for you or you don't. I have very little regard for the critical essays of this sort on Ravenwolf (or any author) because it is very easy to smear someone if you set out to do so from the get go. Even the greatest literary works can be made an a** of if you pull the right quotes out of their proper context and choose to interpret them in a particular way. Gods, I saw that all the time when I served as a member of a board that reviewed book challenges. Most of the time it would be one or two lines that the challenger took out of context and was offended by and the rest of the book was totally fine. xd
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:23 pm
Aye, but blending is one thing, and blatantly stating the untrue as solid fact is another. Fine if you've got a grounding in Wicca already, or you've been working with similar sorts of books, but if you're a young teen and you're under the impression that nonfiction is meant to be true (even for a given value of "true"), and you have no basis upon which to compare, you're going to trust your source more than someone a few years older who has already become cynical.
Ravenwolf's issue is that she'll tell you something, and then say that people who disagree with you aren't "true Wiccans" or something. Or that they're lying, or they're deluded, or whatever.
Sure, read the books, I'm sure somewhere in there is something of value. (Last time I reread one of her books, searching for that gold, I got angry at her all over again and gave up.) As long as you keep in mind, while doing so, that a lot of it is pure crap. That's easy enough for many, but not so easy if you're 14 or something and have no knowledge to compare it to. And the unfortunate fact is that many of her books - not just Teen Witch - are geared to the young.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 6:49 am
Well, I think why people are so irked about Ravenwolf is because she has created a monopoly on the subject of witchcraft, in a sense. Please, hear me out before you behead me.
In some book stores, especially in smaller towns, Ravenwolf is all, or most of the selection in the entire new-age/Wiccan area. A lot of younger or perhaps more naive people who read her books, would probably take her writings as all there was to know, since she is so intensely published. Ravenwolf seems to have tried to ride the wave off of Harry potter and 'media' witchcraft and draw that into to actual fact. While this is bad for people who want good, hard sources and books they can consult when the need arises, it's apparantly worked very well for her and shot her into the range of mildly popular writers. I'd go as far as to say, in the pitiable new-age sections in my local bookstores, she is probably the most recognized writer.
So I hope you can see why, in my mind, she has sort of created a monopoly. I think maybe for many people it is this way, depending on where you live and etc of course, but more advertising and placement dollars go to more popular writers, and so more of her is everywhere.
I kind of touched on this earlier, but then also the reason why I think she upsets so many people is that she gives the ILLUSION of a monopoly, and usually people who are published a lot and who have a lot of books and etc have good things to say about whatever they are trying to say. In this way she could 'fool' newly interested, aspiring witches or wiccans-to-be into believing what she says as irrefutable fact.
Honestly I think if she was some backwater writer being published by an equally backwater publisher and she had a little 4"x5" paperback book with a manila cover, shoved into the corner in the dregs of whatever section they cared to toss the thing into, nobody would care about her.
Semi OT, but: My first book on Witchcraft/wicca was written by someone I honestly don't remember, nor the title of it.. (Introductory to Witchcraft or something like it? the author was male) I remember it had quizzes between each chapter and the person was so dry and so specific about everything that I got halfway through and wondered what the point was if you couldn't s**t without being skyclad, bathing in lavender water, and consulting the Goddess about the outcomes of your s**t taking.
I am exaggerating of course, but only a little. So I must say as an introductory book, I would have much rather had a Ravenwolf title- As with anything, first impressions are priceless. My first impression of Witchcraft/Wicca (the book talked about both) was absolutely horrid, and presented in such a way that most of it flew over my head. Ravenwolf may be misleading and stupid, but if you are interested and drawn in by something you are more likely to continue to read more.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:16 am
I can't confirm nor deny your assertion that Ravenwolf's books are carried nearly to exclusion in small towns. I'd have thought that small towns wouldn't even have a bookstore, much less one with a New Age section. She most certainly lacks a monopoly in any metropolitan area of good size. It is possible that decades ago when there were fewer books out, hers indeed were among the only ones available simply because there was not much to choose from to begin with. I wonder what the picture would be if we placed her works in proper context relative to when they came out. I'm not quite that old, so I can't attest to that, but others have said that in many ways the style of the books were a direct product of the age they came out of. It's what was needed at the time. But like I said, I can't really attest to that personally.
I really don't see that many instances in her books (that I've read... which isn't all of them, granted) where she has said anyone who disagrees with her isn't a 'true Wiccan' or similar. Certainly not enough for me to make a fuss about. I just glaze over it. I've come across equally absolutist and asinine statements in several other books by several other authors. I glaze over those too. I don't see the point of spazzing out over this one specific author when others also do it. If we're going to b*&$@ about this author, we aught to be doing it to dozens of others as well to be fair. wink
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
