When Tina Howard (spaghettipie and Blog Tour Spot) asked me to participate in a blog tour for Marla Alupoaicei, I happily agreed. I met Marla at Mt. Hermon, and we had a good conversation. She’s also a published poet.
That’s why I’m posting about her latest book, Generation Hex, written with Dillon Burroughs. I promised to post a review. I do have many concerns about the book, though. You can read an excellent summary of the book’s problems at John Morehead’s site. I share the concerns he raises, so I won’t rehash them here. But please, go read his post.
Concerns aside, the book has a few moments that work well. In particular, when the book presents first hand material from believers of Wicca. That is, whenever the book is merely objective and informative, it more or less works.
For example, it quotes the Wiccan Rede: “An ye harm none, do as ye will.” And the Wiccan Rule of Three: “What ye send out comes back to thee.” According to Dillon and Marla, the Rule of Three means what you do to others, whether good or bad, will be returned to you threefold. It’s a bit like the concept of Karma, they explain.
The problem is that they explain too much and too often–and so they paint a picture of Wicca that is oddly informed by Christian distortions of Wicca. At times, the book does not seem to respect the faith of Wicca as a faith in its own right. This attitude felt particularly dangerous to me because it invites others to treat my faith without respect.
For example, the book shares a heart-wrenching confession from one Wiccan who is experiencing religious persecution in her workplace from her Christian boss.
While my back was turned to the board, I heard Mr. D distinctly say, “Witch!”…
It didn’t stop there.
One lady, who worked down the hall from our offices, used her finger to cross my forehead and the back of my neck with a Christian cross. She told me she prayed for me always.
Why?
I was a deer caught in the headlights–just plain shocked by what she had done.
Let’s just stop right there. Here is a big problem I would have liked to have seen the book address. Too often in Christianity, we treat our faith like magic. How many Christians wear crosses–almost like a good luck charm or an omen of protection? And drawing crosses on people? Good grief! We might as well turn our prayers into spells.
But crosses aren’t totems. And prayers aren’t spells.
I’m not saying that to disrespect totems and spells, but to point out a particular distinction between my faith and the Wicca faith. Of course, even calling Wicca a faith is problematic as John Morehead pointed out.
Marla and Dillon do include a short summary after this horrible story explaining their desire to reach out to women like this. Unfortunately, the book provides few models for reaching out to Wiccans. Instead, it starts with a chapter about the insidious dangers of Harry Potter. (Are we really still talking about Harry Potter?) Then several chapters later, it addresses “the subtly dangerous influence” of Halloween in America.
Great. My son is addicted to Halloween. He sleeps with his stuffed bat (Gat the Vampire Bat) and asks me to tell him stories about when the graveyard zombies go to church. (Maybe you shouldn’t ask about that particular line of stories.) And you know what? It’s okay with me that my son likes Halloween. I like Halloween too. I don’t believe ghost stories or vampire stories or Z is for Zombie have some kind of subtly dangerous influence. (Though, for the record, Z if for Zombie is a bit gruesome.)
Generation Hex does finally talk about how to connect with Wiccans toward the end: “Kindness and genuine concern open doors; hasty judgment just slams them shut.” To that, I can say amen.
And I offer this reminder to myself. Genuine concern means I am earnestly desiring to understand the other person’s perspective and faith.
If my faith isn’t strong enough to be that honest and open with someone from a different faith, then my faith is probably not worth much anyway.
Here are the other folks who are reviewing the book as part of the tour:
A Peek at My Bookshelf
Aspire2 Blog
Be My Guest
Bible Dude
Blog Tour Spot
Book Room Reviews
Camy’s Loft
Christy’s Book Blog
read DB
Fictionary
Footprints in the Sand
From the desk of Flutecrafter
Gatorskunz and Mudcats
Good Word Editing
His Reading List
i don’t believe in grammar
iamhealed.net
In the Dailies
Leap of Faith
Lift My Noise
Lighthouse Academy
L’Chaim
Morehead’s Musings
Mystery, Suspense, and God, Oh My!
One Voice in a Big World
Portrait of a Writer . . . Interrupted
Quiverfull Family
Reality Motherhood
Refresh My Soul
Reiter’s Block
The Friendly Book Nook
The Reel Katie Morgan
The Sosbee Story
Wide Eyed Fiction
Windows to my Soul
Write by Faith
Writing on the Edge
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you for your different perspective and refreshing review of Generation Hex.
Thanks for leaving your thoughts on my blog. I wonder if you’d be interested in a courtesy review copy of Beyond the Burning Times: A Pagan and Christian in Dialogue (Lion, 2008), a new volume I had the privilege of editing. If so, let me know and I’ll drop it in the mail to you.
Fair’s fair, John – let Mark and I review your book too.
I would be happy to send you a copy for a review on your blog, Kathi. Send me your mailing address to johnwmorehead@msn.com. Thanks for your interest.
I’ll admit it…
As an ex-witch, now a born-again Christian, our family won’t touch Halloween with a 10 foot pole. I have absolutely no interest in celebrating a pagan holy day now that I’m walking in the light.
Lots of love in Christ,
Jennifer
Lot of great talk going on here about Wicca. I know there are many differing views, and this book brings out a lot of them. If you are interested, I work with Abunga.com, and we are hosting an online chat with the authors of “Generation Hex” on Wednesday, Sept. 17 from 2-3 p.m. EDT. You can ask your questions about the book directly and hear a little more about their research. I think there will be some good discussion during the chat. Join us if you can at Abunga.com/AuthorsAtAbunga.
Hey Marcus – Thanks for participating in the tour. I always love hearing your thoughts and opinions.
Halloween and all of the “religious holidays” have become far too comercialised in my opinion… I asked a 12 year old boy the other day what halloween was about and he had no clue… he was more interested in getting money out of me because he said “trick or treat”