From: mkkuhner@phylo.genetics.washington.edu (Mary K. Kuhner)
Subject: Re: Opinions on a book...please
Date: 21 Jan 1994 22:29:22 GMT

west@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Boo) writes:
>Has anyone out there read:
>_Persuasions of the Witches Craft_ by Luhrmann

An interesting book.  Luhrmann was a "participant/observer" in a
number of covens and ritual magic circles in England because she
wanted to know what caused people to become witches and magicians
(most of the book centers around ceremonial magick).  She is herself
skeptical about magic, although she recounts a few strange things that
happened to her personally.  The parts of the book which describe her
experiences are interesting and easy reading.  However, I found her
conclusions hard to follow--the vocabulary was very technical.  She is
definately coming at it from a sociological perspective, and some of
what she says is meant for other sociologists.  Still, an interesting
read.

As I understood it, her basic conclusion was that the way we think
about "belief" is misleading.  Magicians, she says, don't practice
magic because they believe in it; they believe in it because they
practice it, and the practice engenders specific habits and patterns
of thought which come to be understood as beliefs.

Mary Kuhner mkkuhner@genetics.washington.edu