REVIEW: Living Wicca, by Scott Cunningham

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Xiao Rong
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REVIEW: Living Wicca, by Scott Cunningham

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Living Wicca: A Further Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham, published in 1993 by Llewellyn Books

I came across this book in a metaphysical bookshop when I was just starting to get into paganism. I did not wind up pursuing a Wiccan path, so take that as you will. Everything below is purely my opinion.

This book is supposedly a continuation of his previous work (Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner), which I haven't read. Nevertheless, I found this to be a very solid, introductory book to Wicca (Wicca 101, if you will). It goes over topics such as what the God and Goddess are, how to start a Book of Shadows, some basic prayers, the Wheel of the Year, etc.

It's not particularly different from any introductory Wicca 101 information you can find on the Internet, but the main difference is Cunningham's writing style, which is clear, straightforward, and authoritative. This is both good and bad - good in that it is simple and easy to read and laid out coherently. However, his tone also conflicts with some of the messages of the book: while he is advocating that each solitary practitioner should work out their own tradition and path, his writing style also indicates that the stuff that he's got in his book is The One True Path, with little room for creative reinterpretation. Although he mentions the Wiccan Mysteries, and bullet points some of the Wiccan beliefs on deities, for instance, it's hard to find true mysticism from his book alone, which is simply an instruction manual on "this is what Wiccans do". There's very little in the book that makes you ponder the mysteries of life and death and the world; for that, you'd have to get another book.

The other thing I would say was missing from his book was engagement with other religion. Throughout the book, he insists that if you do this or fail to do that, then it's not Wiccan.
"Just as one bolt of cloth can be cut and stitched into a huge variety of objects ... so too can Wiccan rituals be fashioned in many ways. However, if you wish to make a shirt from that cloth but decide not to include sleeves, you won't end up with a shirt ... Though Wiccan ritual structure is a bit loose, those aspects of it that are set must be followed if you're to continue practicing Wicca."
I feel like there's a conversation missing from this piece, about why one chooses Wicca out of all other paths. This book is perfect if you're already 100% certain you're going to dive headlong into Wicca, but it seems like for people who have more questions, just saying, "Well, this is what Wicca is, and so if you're going to be Wiccan, then that's the end of that" is not enough. Of course, it's perhaps unfair of me to expect Cunningham to cover EVERYTHING in such a small tome, but whatever.

It's definitely an interesting enough book, and I whole-heartedly recommend it as an introductory text for anyone who's just starting out. But I'd take most of what he says (especially the stuff along the lines of "this is what Wicca is, no questions asked") with a grain of salt, and read a bunch of other books afterwards (which is what you're supposed to do as a Pagan, n'est-ce pas?)

3 out of 5 stars.


(Again, everything here is my opinion; I'd love to hear others' thoughts about it.)
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Re: REVIEW: Living Wicca, by Scott Cunningham

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Xiao,
I have read that book a few times myself, as Cunningham is one of my favorite authors. I do have to agree on the point you made about that certain quote about Wicca
The other thing I would say was missing from his book was engagement with other religion. Throughout the book, he insists that if you do this or fail to do that, then it's not Wiccan.
I disagree with this entirely. Just because some of us in the Wiccan religion choose not to engage with other religions does not, by any means not make us Wiccan. That would be like saying a cookie is not a cookie unless it has chocolate chips! We all have our preferences and are entitled to engage with whom we want. What makes us Wiccan is what we believe in and worship daily. I.E. Nature, God(s) and Goddess(es), elements.
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Re: REVIEW: Living Wicca, by Scott Cunningham

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Hmm, Lillady, I think you misunderstand me. By engage with other religions, I mean to intellectually contextualize Wicca within other religions, or varieties of paganism, which I think was a shortcoming of the book, not Wicca. I'm not disputing the preferences and beliefs of Wicca. I'm saying that Scott Cunningham just says, "This is what Wicca is. If you're not doing __ then it's not Wicca", without exploring why one is drawn to Wicca in the first place, which I think is a critical piece of the conversation to start with (unless you're 100% certain you are definitely going to follow Wicca). Like I said, perhaps it's not within the scope of the book to go into that. But when I was exploring paganism initially, having a manual on the "how to" of Wicca without the "why" of Wicca was ... off-putting.
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Re: REVIEW: Living Wicca, by Scott Cunningham

Post by scaravich »

I think what Cunningham is trying to convey is that Wicca is not make-believe. You can't just make up whatever you want and say "OK, this is Wicca because I want it to be."

For example, if someone says "In my religion, I worship the One and Only true Christian God. I go to church and pray to him and accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. There are no other gods and I do not believe in magic. I believe it is my duty to spread the Word to as many people as I can. I am a Wiccan."

Would you say that person is Wiccan? Well, no. Nothing about what they said is Wiccan at all... other than "I am a Wiccan." What Cunningham is trying to convey is you can't just make up your own religion and call it Wicca. Certianly you can incorporate aspects of others, but you have to have certain things in place or else it's no longer Wicca. Worshiping the Christian God and not accepting any other Gods, living under that God's rule, and refusing magic... all of those are things that I would say make your religion NOT Wicca.

Things have to have some amount of definition to them. The "shirt" example he gave could be better explained like this:

If you see an animal that has feet, and you know dogs have feet, that means the animal you see MUST be a dog.

Of course, we know that is not true. Cunningham is saying just because you may use some aspects of Wicca in your personal path, if you don't do a set group of things, it's no longer Wicca.

Now, the problem arises because many people define Wicca differenlty. But I don't think any of us here would say that Wicca is just whatever you want it to be and there are absolutely no definitions at all.

He's not so much trying to create a world of dogma and rules, as he's trying to say that there are certain definitions that make something Wicca or not. Worshiping a single God, not believing in or practicing in magic, etc. make your religion something other than Wicca. Even if it draws inspiration and ideas from Wicca.

Of course, a monotheistic worship religion is probably an "easy" example, because it's clearly not Wicca. The problem arises when stuff gets really close...

I personally believe there are only three major things you need to follow in order for your path to be properly defined as Wicca, and that's:

Acceptance and understnading of the Lord and Lady
Acceptance and understanding of magic
Acceptance and understanding of the (eight-word) Wiccan Rede

As long as you have those three things, along with an obvious fourth (that you personally identify as Wiccan) then I think you're on a Wiccan path. But I think if you're missing any of those three things, you're not really following Wicca, but something similar. And there's nothing wrong with that. Just like I see a cat... it has four feet, but I don't call it a dog. I'm not saying anything bad about the cat. I'm just using the definition of 'cat' and 'dog' to tell the difference between the two animals.

Many people have a lot more "rules" to what Wicca "should" and "shouldn't" be. It's been a long time since I've read Cunningham's two beginner books, so I don't know how dogmatic he is in them... but I don't think there's anything wrong with having definitions.

There are people, of course, who are traditionalists that believe it's not Wicca if you're not part of a tradition, not initiated by a realized tradition/coven, don't work skyclad, don't do very specific things during ritual, etc. And Wicca did start with these traditions, after all. So in a way, they are not wrong. (Though I see their Wicca and the eclectic, solitary Wicca as two separate things, both valid but still different paths)

Well, that's my take on it lol.

In all I love Cunningham's books as a portal for people new to Wicca. I don't think any one book should be followed like a Bible because that's kind of against the spirit of Wicca after all. And I think using Cunningham as a starting point and branching out to other information will give you a solid foundation (and you'll start to begin to define to yourself what is and isn't Wicca).

(Also, I think you'd see the book in a different light if you read the first one first. It's a lot more informative and open, I think).
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Re: REVIEW: Living Wicca, by Scott Cunningham

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Oh my apologies Xiao, I did misunderstand you! Wicca uses various aspects of other religions yes, I agree on that. For example, Buddists mediate, just like we do as Wiccans. The same is for other religions using various aspects of Wicca. Scaravich said it very precisely and is right on cue, I don't think I could have said it any better! The only mixture I can think of that you cant really be Wiccan and it is that of Christianity. I am not slandering that religion by any means. What I mean is in Wicca we have various God(s) and Goddess(es) whereas Christians have only one God. So in this case, you are either Wiccan or Christian, to me those cant go hand in hand and be mixed, per se.
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Re: REVIEW: Living Wicca, by Scott Cunningham

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I think you can incorporate aspects from Christianity into Wicca, but it would not be Christianity but it could still be Wiccan. Like, you could read the Bible and learn from its stories, and incorporate some of its characters into your own pantheon of deities, but this would not be Christian, as you wouldn't be following all the doctrines that make your path a Christian one, but it could still be a Wiccan one.

But yeah, I still wouldn't call that Christian-Wiccan. Just Wiccan. Because it's not Christian. :) (And I think any religion that enforces dedication to a specific God and considers belief in others to be blasphemous cannot incorporate Wicca into itself.)

I also think that Christians use magic, by another name. There are plenty of spiritual healers in Christianity that use the power of their divine to heal and help others through spiritual energy and not the mundane.
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Re: REVIEW: Living Wicca, by Scott Cunningham

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A Christian believes in one and only god, heaven and hell.

Wiccans believe in The Lord and Lady, and reincarnation.

You cannot be both.
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Re: REVIEW: Living Wicca, by Scott Cunningham

Post by Vervain »

Lillady wrote:Oh my apologies Xiao, I did misunderstand you! Wicca uses various aspects of other religions yes, I agree on that. For example, Buddists mediate, just like we do as Wiccans. The same is for other religions using various aspects of Wicca. Scaravich said it very precisely and is right on cue, I don't think I could have said it any better! The only mixture I can think of that you cant really be Wiccan and it is that of Christianity. I am not slandering that religion by any means. What I mean is in Wicca we have various God(s) and Goddess(es) whereas Christians have only one God. So in this case, you are either Wiccan or Christian, to me those cant go hand in hand and be mixed, per se.
I know several people who define themselves as Wiccan and use the Christian God, the Virgin Mary, and Jesus as aspects of the Lord and Lady. More Catholic than Protestant Christian, for sure, but I think it can absolutely be Wicca with the Christian "pantheon" and mythology. However, if you believe that Jesus is the one and only true God, no, that's not Wicca.
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Re: REVIEW: Living Wicca, by Scott Cunningham

Post by Vervain »

So basically I agree with Scaravich.

That'll teach me to read EVERYTHING before posting.
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Re: REVIEW: Living Wicca, by Scott Cunningham

Post by scaravich »

vervain wrote:So basically I agree with Scaravich.

That'll teach me to read EVERYTHING before posting.
Haha, don't worry, I do this all the time. I think sometimes you have an idea and you want to say it before you forget it, so you post while it's fresh in your mind :)
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