I read it, but I don't think I got very much out of it. It's a little dense, and I don't think I devoted the proper attention to it at the time. (Not really interested enough to make another go, either.)
I seem to remember it being an interesting read, but fairly time-sensitive-- as you said, it's outdated, and though it gives you a good overview of early "neopaganism" from the perspective of the 1970s, anything beyond that is of course not covered.
Why? It doesn't teach much about how to do magic, but it does provide (IMHO) an excellent historical perspective of where and why a lot of current groups got started, and provides the student with a better understanding of their history (as opposed to believing many of these groups sprung up overnight, full blown).
I usually don't recommend DDTM for newbies for one single reason. The book lacks context unless you know a bit about the folks involved. After a few years in practice, the book has a lot more to say. And at that point, I highly recommend it. Even if its outdated, there are wonderful metaphors, philosophical ideas, content and context discussed, history and more to be found within DDTM.
That said, we've been trying to break the book into chapters, made more relevant by subject being taught in an Outer Grove. Seems the book is a tad much for folks to take on all at once, especially for the newbies.
For some folks, however, its become a bit of a "well, I suffered through it when I was a student, so you will, too". We've been teasing we need a certificate of completion or a merit badge for reading it!
Let us know what you think of it, if you haven't already gotten through it.
Tootles Tris - who is very grateful to have already read it, thrice!
History trivia: I read somewhere that Graves' description of the Goddess is remarkably like one of his girlfriends... right down to her reputed temperament.
As you indicate most people either love it or hate it. My primary complaint about it is that it was nearly 10 years out of date when it was first published (the same year as the original edition of The Spiral Dance by Starhawk), and the revised edition wasn't much better (but neither was The Spiral Dance's revision, either).
As a historical picture of what the pagan movement in the US was like at the time, it's ... okay. It's not spectacular, but on the whole it isn't that bad.
I can't honestly say that I've ever felt that it was rascist, but it's been over 20 years since I last lookd at it - at the time it was written, Asatru was just getting its start in the US; that may be what people were referring to, as I do vaguely recall that her opinion of it was not very high.
At the time Adler was writing Asatru rightly deserved her approbation, being largely dominated by White supremacists. Things took a radical turn away from that course, IMO in part because of that very book, after publication. I thank Margot Adler for it, and was very happy to read it myself, even knowing that it was badly out of date at the time.
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I seem to remember it being an interesting read, but fairly time-sensitive-- as you said, it's outdated, and though it gives you a good overview of early "neopaganism" from the perspective of the 1970s, anything beyond that is of course not covered.
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Why? It doesn't teach much about how to do magic, but it does provide (IMHO) an excellent historical perspective of where and why a lot of current groups got started, and provides the student with a better understanding of their history (as opposed to believing many of these groups sprung up overnight, full blown).
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That said, we've been trying to break the book into chapters, made more relevant by subject being taught in an Outer Grove. Seems the book is a tad much for folks to take on all at once, especially for the newbies.
For some folks, however, its become a bit of a "well, I suffered through it when I was a student, so you will, too". We've been teasing we need a certificate of completion or a merit badge for reading it!
Let us know what you think of it, if you haven't already gotten through it.
Tootles
Tris
- who is very grateful to have already read it, thrice!
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ACK!
Tris
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As a historical picture of what the pagan movement in the US was like at the time, it's ... okay. It's not spectacular, but on the whole it isn't that bad.
I can't honestly say that I've ever felt that it was rascist, but it's been over 20 years since I last lookd at it - at the time it was written, Asatru was just getting its start in the US; that may be what people were referring to, as I do vaguely recall that her opinion of it was not very high.
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