Customer comments on this selection.
 Good background info
I have been reading other books on Wicca and find that this fits in comfortable with my emerging views. Like all books on this subject, me the beginner has to balance all of the views together and come up with a meaningful whole that I can be comfortable with. A very good read.
 The Spiral Dance is NOT Wicca
It is true that this book has had an impact on modern Wicca, but it is also the simple truth that Starhawk's "The Spiral Dance" and "Reclaiming Tradition" are not actually Wiccan, was inspired by a faddish notion of an ancient Goddess Monotheism and utopia that has no basis in reality, and is more a political movement than a spiritual movement.
If you think you want to be a witch, read this book.
The Spiral Dance is the first book I would recommend for anyone who wants to work with women in ritual space with earth centered spirituality. Her Starhawk's writing is clear, specific and practical. She has revised her classic feminist work to include working with men and children in sacred space.
The Spiral Dance is a must-read for pagans, witches, or other folks who want to know how to work ritual in sacred spaces.
Wonderful book!
I enjoyed this book a lot. It gives a you a look at the positive aspects of Wicca and helps diffuse the myths that most people believe about witchcraft.
Read it with three bookmarks
I read it when I first started studying Wicca, Witchcraft, and Paganism, and then didn't read it for a few years.
Somehow, in that time, I saw so many reviews talking about how it was so 'Goddess/women focused', 'not balanced', blah blah blah...
It's really odd how other people's opinions can colour your perception like that, because I'd started believing it, to the extent I'd forgotten it even *had* a chapter on the God, let alone that it was the same size as the one on the Goddess. Weird.
And on the reread - it was pretty decent to start with, and in all the bits that I had questions or doubts, she's updated it with her commentary.
You WILL want to read the commentary as you go, so read it with three bookmarks, so you can flick back and forth. I respect that she wanted to let the original work stand alone, flaws and all, but for something written in her 20s, in the climate of the late 70s, it still stands up pretty damn well.
It's more group practice than solitary, but it's a classic for a reason.
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