True to the spirit of the Pagan Portals series, Reclaiming Witchcraft serves as a concise entry point for understanding the background and structure of the Reclaiming tradition. In nine short chapters (84 pages), Irisanya Moon summarizes the history and central tenets of the Reclaiming tradition and provides an overview of some of the key classes and group dynamics (including the “Witchcamps” and other ritual activities) that constitute the practice: in other words, what it means to be a Reclaiming witch, and what a Reclaiming witch does as a member of that community.
The text itself is very readable, and Moon’s prose style is clear and accessible to the general reader. Knowledge of the Reclaiming tradition is not assumed, though a basic understanding of witchcraft, Wicca, and Pagan / Neopagan practices should help the reader to appreciate the book in essence and outline. Indeed, the book reads as a kind of guided tutorial for the curious reader and for the reader interested in exploring more of the Reclaiming tradition, particularly its activist and social justice aspects, which are part and parcel of the tradition. In addition to the background the book provides on the Reclaiming tradition, Moon also provides a helpful list of resources for further reading: authors, books, and websites. The book also includes a helpful “Ritual Outline,” which is clarified by the chapters especially on “Ritual” and “Core Classes” (chapters 5 and 6).
Reclaiming Witchcraft is the third book I have read by Irisanya Moon. After reading her books on Aphrodite and Iris — and with an aim towards reviewing those books — I decided it would be helpful for me to have a greater understanding of the tradition in which Moon is working and to which her books stand as a performative, and devotional, contribution. This has proven to be a wise move, I think, because it is entirely clear that that is the most important element to understand about her books. Irisanya Moon is a priestess, witch, and teacher in the Reclaiming tradition. To understand and appreciate her work, it is essential to understand something about what it means to be a Reclaiming witch. I will even confess that before reading Reclaiming Witchcraft , I wasn’t very clear what that meant. Indeed, I wasn’t entirely sure how to read the title. What I understand, now, from reading the book, and from getting myself a bit better informed from outside sources (many indicated helpfully by Moon’s book), is that the Reclaiming tradition is just that: a tradition that is “reclaiming” something vital at the heart of religion and spirituality, which is to say respect for the Mother Goddess and the Divine Feminine, and all the social and ethical issues that follow from that respect, and reverence. Protection of the living Earth and the environment, social justice and more equitable treatment for all peoples and particularly for women and minorities and peoples of color, indigenous peoples, peoples of diverse gender backgrounds and other identifications — these are basic, and central, concerns to the Reclaiming tradition. Situated in the Feri tradition and Dianic Wicca particularly, the Reclaiming Witchcraft tradition has been active, politically, since the 1980s, though its roots stretch back through the earlier Wiccan traditions of the 20th century, and indeed extend in the minds of many Reclaiming witches as far back as the Neolithic and Palaeolithic cultures of the very ancient world, in Europe and Asia and to the very dawn of humankind.
The book itself is not particularly heavy on the history or even theory of the Reclaiming or other Wiccan traditions. It is, on the other hand, very systematic and structured on the group ethos and practices of the tradition (the Reclaiming “Principles of Unity”). Moon does provide a brief overview of the history in the introductory chapters, which helps to situate the reader in the basic origins and ethics of the tradition. Again, in a book of this size, it is not expected to be a comprehensive account, but it does serve as a very good introduction, a primer of sorts, a stimulus for further reading.
It is for these reasons an important and useful book and not to be missed. It is a particularly helpful book for those actively interested in learning more about the Reclaiming tradition, and those who are looking for further practical guidance. Irisanya Moon has provided a fine service to the Reclaiming tradition, and another excellent addition to the Moon Books Pagan Portals series. I highly recommend this book, as well as the other books by Irisanya Moon. She is a clear writer and a gifted guide — and truly cares deeply about the lifeforce of the tradition, which is to say the people and the community that constitute all that it works to reclaim and sustain, which is to say: Magic(k).
~review by Christopher Greiner
Author: Irisanya Moon
Moon Books, 2020
pp. 104pp, $12.95
Editor's note: This review originally appeared in the 2021 Summer Solstice issue of Eternal Haunted Summer.
