Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess Worshippers and other Pagans in America
Margot Adler
Penguin, New York, 2006
646 pp.

I had read the 1986 revision of this classic work when I was new to Paganism; this book and Starhawk's The Spiral Dance were my first two purchases, and they were for me, like many newbies, an entree into a world I'd hoped existed but didn't realize was a reality. I even loaned that earlier edition to my mother in hopes that she'd take a second look at her preconceived notions about witchcraft and paganism; I don't think it worked but I felt that it was the most balanced view she was ever likely to get of the movement that I had joined.

This 2006 revision is a worthy successor to that book. Ms. Adler has expanded the book to include several branches of the Pagan family that were left out of the previous editions, especially the Heathen traditions that share so many features with Our Druidry. I'd estimate that about half the book is focused on Wicca and related traditions; this seems only fair as the majority of Pagans practice some form of Wicca. The other branches of Paganism get plenty of attention, though. As a result of our roots in the idiosyncratic Reformed Druids of North America, the account of ADF remains somewhat oddly placed along with other Druid movements in the "Religions of Paradox and Play" chapter along with the Discordians. This seemed rather strange in the 90's and seems even more like an oversight in the 21st century, as ADF has evolved into a religion that, while embracing play and paradox as valid gateways to religious experience, encompasses far more than just those two elements!

The addition of sections covering the emergence of Pagan Studies as an academic discipline, festival culture, and the evolution of the approaches taken to Paganism by scholars, writers and journalists were particularly interesting to me as a scholar embedded in non-Pagan Religious Studies. I have been planning the next phase of my education and have been considering expanding the scope of my studies from the development of Christianity to issues of nature-centered religions and their interfaces with modern American culture and government; Ms. Adler's overview of these approaches may prove a valuable springboard for future research.

Drawing Down the Moon has served its purpose for me twice now: the first time to orient me in the vast sea of Pagan traditions as a newcomer, and this time to re-orient me as I return from my absence to catch up with developments I missed during my Christian sojourn. It is a valuable volume and a worthy introduction to modern Pagan culture.

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