Hex Appeal

[dreamer_easy]

Heh. The SMH's Spike column nailed the downside for women of the popularisation of witchcraft:
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Ladies, forget feminism. It seems all you need to succeed in life these days is a few nifty spells. A copy of a new book, Hex Appeal: Seductive Spells for the Sassy Sorceress, landed on the Spike desk yesterday, and boy did it make for some interesting reading. Did you know that if you want to make your man call you, all you have to do is light incense, carve an arrow into a candle and recite the following: "Hear my will, I am in your heart, I am in your mind, I am in your thoughts, you need to call me, you want to call me, you will call me," nine times. Or then again you could just call him. The book also advises how to stop men falling asleep after sex, curb a boyfriend's bad habits, and turn an ex into a toad. Very useful.
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Wicca and Paganism can teach women the confidence to find and use power, but it can also divert us into games of powerlessness. Spells, like prayer, are only part of achieving your goals - as in the familiar story of the chap on the roof of the flooded house who refuses rescue because God will save him, or the oft-quoted Buttprints in the Sand.

Comments

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

I've often sat in Borders with a bunch of pagan friends and sat and mocked these books.

The worst example that comes to mind is 'Five Easy Steps to Becoming A Witch' by Fiona Horne, I believe.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Fiona Horne appeared in Playboy wearing only a snake. She can bite my bum.

[vindaloo-vixen.livejournal.com]

...and the snake could well bite hers, I imagine.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Thus, nature balances itself.

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

If the snake's not venomous, there is no balance. And that makes me sad.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

** insert "asp" pun here**

[barrington.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately these are the only books I ever see outside the Adyar Bookshop (and I haven't been there in years since, y'know, it's in Sydney and I'm in Melbourne). What's the best book for someone interested in learning more about Wicca? Is there one? Is there a Bible eqivalent (not in the sense of there being one "holy source" of information for the religion, as I know enough about Wicca to understand there is no such thing, but in the sense there's one book which anyone new to Wicca should read to understand what it's really all about.)

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

I started with "Spiral Dance" by Starhawk and "Hedgewitch" by Rae Beth, and can recommend both of them. (Adyar do mail order online if that helps! :-)

[whochick.livejournal.com]

Not strictly wicca ... but definitely the same genre is 'Anam Cara' by J. O'Donohoe.

I think it can get tricky looking for the wicca bible-equivalent. It's such a diverse tradition that pinning it down in one book is near impossible. Plus, by doing that you lose diversity, which for me, is one of the appeals of the tradition in the first place :)

I'm in Melbourne too. Have you tried the Esoteric Bookshop in Murrumbeena? There's some drivel, but you'll find some diamonds in the rough.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Having worked in a bookstore for years, I can testify to the fact that many clueless teenagers are drawn to the books and really think that they speak the truth. After the senseless horror movie "the Craft" came out there were groups of kids in every day or so to ask if we had a book that had a ceremony to "call the corners". *sigh*

A few of the books make for interesting reading, recanting much older lore and traditions that have nearly died out, and explicating our modern Christmas and Easter traditions (I love the Campanellis' books), but most of the latest crop are laughable. Some of them seem to have sprung from the articles of Cosmo magazine.

[barrington.livejournal.com]

Not wanting to start anything nasty, but I'm curious: most Wiccans and Pagans I know despise Fiona Horne. What's your opinion? Has she done more harm or good for Wicca?

(I found an interview with her via a Vampire web site (roleplaying game...yes, yes, move along) at www.bitememagazine.com (http://www.bitememagazine.com), though the site was doen when I wrote this.)

[barrington.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...it would seem you've answered my question above, though without your usual eloquence. ;)

Actually you might want to read the interview on the site above, when it's available; she talks about the Playboy spread and why and how she did it.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

You know, in a context which *wasn't* selling her arse as wank material for a bunch of sexist old guys, it could've been a really interesting shoot. Wouldn't have been as lucrative though. I go euw when my religion is used to provide mere naughty exoticism. Horne is hardly the first to do that, though - sexy "omg nude covens!" books are a dime a dozen in any second hand book shop; the Playboy shoot is just part of a long tradition of exploitation. It's a challenge for Wicca trying to be pro-sex *and* pro-woman when there's so much anti-woman commercialised sex out there - trying to disentangle sexuality from sexism. Horne ain't helping by dropping trou for Hefner. That said, you have to hope the shallow end of Neo-Pagan culture, the endless money-making Books of Shadows, has a chance of leading a few people to the stuff that they need, that could change their lives.

Must get back to writing my best-selling Celtic Crystal Angels for Health, Wealth, and Success.

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

I'm TELLING you, woman. You'll make shedloads off that thing.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

It's going to tie in to my epic fantasy trilogy in 700 books, the Ormaniad.

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

But not before the opus that is the Deleriad!

...erm. I think I need sleep.

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

Believing in spells to do anything more than bolster up your confidence and focus your mind is just as bad as believing that prayer will cure your little girl's meningitis and you don't need to take her to the hospital.

Any faith or tradition is best served in moderate portions.