Ann Moura's New History of Witchcraft

by Ann Moura

What happens when religion is shaped by war, politics and propaganda? A cautionary account for our times that began 50,000 years ago. From the author of Green Witchcraft Volumes I, II, III, Dancing Shadows and Origins of Modern Witchcraft. Widely recognized as the leading authority on the history of Paganism, Ann Moura tells the story of the birth and evolution of Western religion with focus on NeoPaganism, Wicca and Witchcraft. The history complete with influences, pivotal junctures, intersections, parallels, overlaps and adaptations. A must read for every Witch and every student of religious studies/history

Genres: Witchcraft, History

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2007

About the author

Ann Moura, A.K.A. Aoumiel, is an author of books about magic, religion, and witchcraft, in particular the Wiccan religion, and has been a solitary practitioner of Green Witchcraft for over thirty years. Her craft name is Aoumiel. Her mother and grandmother were Craftwise Brazilians of Celtic-Iberian descent.

She holds both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts degrees in history. She is a certified Archivist, and has been a Navy Lieutenant.

She is married, has a son and a daughter, and is a certified teacher at the high school level in southeast Florida.

Information procured from wikipedia.org.

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Despite the engaging style and how much I enjoy the author's "Grimoire for the Green Witch" I can't justify giving this book more than one star. There are far too many historical inaccuracies, mistranslations of Sanskrit and other languages to English, outright fallacies and personal bias/opinion presented as fact. I can see exactly why Llewellyn allowed the first edition of this book to go out of print.
Moura also engages in a lot of bashing on mainstream religions, and it was too much vitriol for me. So much that it completely overshadowed the text at some points. She also takes a few jabs at Ceremonial Magic and Traditional Wiccans, the latter of which surprised me because quite a bit of her personal tradition is lifted straight from Wicca. She claims Family Tradition, but it's very very Wiccan.
So, those are my issues with this title. Some of her personal gnosis is interesting with regards to deities, and it may prove useful to someone. I just could NOT get past all the bad information and revisionist history, or the religious bigotry.
If you want to read about the development of religion in the west and the roots of modern Paganism, this is not a good starting point.

[Braeden · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a "history" book, as opposed to a History book. The writing is clearly biased. The author hardly ever cites sources. As a university student studying History, I actually use this as an example of how NOT to write in this subject.