Witches of America

By: Alex Mar

Narrated by: Amanda Dolan

When most people hear the word witches, they think of horror films and Halloween, but to the nearly one million Americans who practice paganism today, it's a nature-worshipping, polytheistic, and very real religion. So Alex Mar discovers when she sets out to film a documentary and finds herself drawn deep into the world of present-day witchcraft. Witches of America follows Mar on her immersive five-year trip into the occult, charting modern paganism from its roots in 1950s England to its current American mecca in the San Francisco Bay Area. Along the way she takes part in dozens of rituals and becomes involved with a wild array of characters: a government employee who founds a California priesthood dedicated to a Celtic goddess of war; American disciples of Aleister Crowley whose elaborate ceremonies turn the Catholic mass on its head; second-wave feminist Wiccans who practice a radical separatist witchcraft; and a growing "mystery cult" whose initiates trace their rites back to a blind shaman in rural Oregon.

©2015 Alex Mar (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"[Mar takes] readers on an expertly crafted spiritual journey." ( Publishers Weekly)

Great intro to American Witchcraft.

I wanted to find out how far Alex would go in the world of witchcraft. Good history of the American practice, in regions as well as covens.

Love it!

So great that I got a hankering to listen to it again about a year after listening the first time. It was more autobiographical than I expected and typically I do not enjoy autobiographies but this was truly fantastic.

both fun and meh

while an extremely interesting read at the same time it is ultimately disappointing .

Gripping

I listened to this for my pagan book club and we loved it. I know the reviews are very mixed, but I really think it's like with any journalistic piece - if you don't like how you are portrayed, you complain. I think it's a great piece for those who have found themselves sometimes lost and I don't personally think it was unflattering to the subjects. Morpheus in particular is such a dreamy, interesting character in this. Sad to hear about the backlash.

great book

easy to listen to, well written, great view on the struggle of finding what works for you.