Witch: an Autobiography is possibly the world’s least narcisstic autobiography. This book may not even be an autobiography. While author Rochelle Moore uses the first person in transitive passages, she manages to almost completely avoid talking about herself, her experiences, how she came to witchcraft (except to intimate psychism was a generational trait in her family) and why she continues the practice for herself. She does infer that witchcraft is somehow hereditary, but she does not elaborate, often simply throwing together charts, symbols, and colors typical of most beginner books on Wicca. It even includes the “history” of Wicca with long since proven specious ties to the Burning Times.
Sticklers for sourcing will find themselves nonplussed: claims are made in the history section that must come from research, but Moore does not share where she gets any of her information – she does not even offering a bibliography. Aside from Moore herself claiming Celtic-Irish heritage and offering a snippet of faery lore that is distinctly British Celt but otherwise unexplored, it’s very much the same Wicca 101 you might read anywhere, even in US American prints.
Moore has a likable writing voice, in the few places where she interjects her own personality.
Alas, Moore became embroiled in a plagiarism scandal in 2010, making all her works before and since suspect.
Not recommended.
~ review by Diana Rajchel
Author: Rochelle Moore
Green Magic, 2009
pp. 223, $19.95
