Tell me about Silver Ravenwolf?

[Heka]

Re: Tell me about Silver Ravenwolf?

I read one SR book as a kid, from the library, thanked it, and but it back. Then picked up my magazine edited book and my Scott Cunningham, and got back to work. I've never heard of the others. Probably glad.

[Malflick]

Re: Tell me about Silver Ravenwolf?

this is all a whole new side of Paganism I never knew. Huh. Learning a lot from your thoughts on this guys.

[Riothamus12]

Re: Tell me about Silver Ravenwolf?

To be frank, she's fine as an introduction and people really give her a lot more flack than she deserves. There are many far worse writers out there.

[Vigdisdotter]

Re: Tell me about Silver Ravenwolf?

I could rage for HOURS about why SRW is a dangerous source and should only be read by those with a minimum of 5 years solid experience under their belt. At one point I tried to dissect the flaws on her Solitary Witch (and there are MANY) but had to give up after page 68. It was just too extreme. I still have my notes so maybe one of these days I'll gird my loins and try again. In a nutshell, she slaps together whatever she thinks will sell and doesn't pay attention go anything other than her own wants. So she comes up with horrible things like calling on frost giants to silence a gossip. Hint: Frost (and Fire, we're talking Norse mythology here) do not LIKE humans. And she tells emotionally distraught teenagers to call on them.

DJ Conway is another I really don't care for, though she's nowhere near as dangerous as SRW. She's just bland, trite and lacking in research. Conway forever earned her a spot on my blacklist of sources when she claimed that Frayja was a moon goddess. In Norse cosmology, the sun is female and the moon is male. The other thing that pissed me off about Conway was how all her books became very formula in nature. Just change the god names around and you go from Celtic Magic to Norse Magic.

McCoy....well that one has already been covered. She claimed that there was a 2000+ year old potato cult in Ireland. That right there makes absolutely evenryhtign else HIGHLY suspect. But as with Conway, she's not as dangerous as SRW. I just have a low tolerance for shoddy scholarship and people claiming things they made up are ancient Truth.

[Wonderland]

Re: Tell me about Silver Ravenwolf?

I have a question:

As far as Silver RavenWolf's Solitary Witch book being used more as a reference guide, is it reliable enough? (Not the spells part but terminology wise).

[Vigdisdotter]

Re: Tell me about Silver Ravenwolf?

I have a question:

As far as Silver RavenWolf's Solitary Witch book being used more as a reference guide, is it reliable enough? (Not the spells part but terminology wise).

I don't think so. I found a LOT of errors (Centering was basically a rehash of Grounding, for example), glaring beginner level stuff. It's fine enough if you have a solid background already and can spot those errors, but for a beginner it will cause all kinds of problems.

There ARE two things I did like about the book.

1) The organization. It's laid out very nicely and so it IS easy to find things.

2) The crafts. It does have some wonderful craft ideas and suggestions.

Unforutealy these two things don't outweigh the many errors (and attitude issues) in my mind.

[monsno_leedra]

Re: Tell me about Silver Ravenwolf?

I have a question:

As far as Silver RavenWolf's Solitary Witch book being used more as a reference guide, is it reliable enough? (Not the spells part but terminology wise).

I am wondering if your asking is it a good reference for generic definitions or for a specific pathway? All in all I have to agree with Vigdisdotter from a general or generic perspective yet I can't really say in regards Silver's path specifically as Black Forest I think it is.

[Wonderland]

Re: Tell me about Silver Ravenwolf?

I don't think so. I found a LOT of errors (Centering was basically a rehash of Grounding, for example), glaring beginner level stuff. It's fine enough if you have a solid background already and can spot those errors, but for a beginner it will cause all kinds of problems.

There ARE two things I did like about the book.

1) The organization. It's laid out very nicely and so it IS easy to find things.

2) The crafts. It does have some wonderful craft ideas and suggestions.

Unforutealy these two things don't outweigh the many errors (and attitude issues) in my mind.

I see. Thanx for replying!

I am wondering if your asking is it a good reference for generic definitions or for a specific pathway? All in all I have to agree with Vigdisdotter from a general or generic perspective yet I can't really say in regards Silver's path specifically as Black Forest I think it is.

Generic definitions but I get what you guys are saying. :/

[Raphaeline]

Re: Tell me about Silver Ravenwolf?

I have never trusted Ravenwolf because I see her as very fluffy and eager to simplify history to make Paganism easier to teach. I don't know much about Conway, although I think I recall owning one of her books (I actually didn't even know that Conway was a woman until this thread, that's how little I know about her) several years ago. I don't even know what it was called. I do own one book by McCoy - something about covens - and I used it when I was trying to decide if a coven was something I thought I could handle trying to organize.

I just don't even approach the New Age section of bookstores anymore because that's the kind of thing I seem to always encounter there.

[Louisvillian]

Re: Tell me about Silver Ravenwolf?

I just don't even approach the New Age section of bookstores anymore because that's the kind of thing I seem to always encounter there.

I only hit up the New Age section of the B&N because they have books in stock that I can't find at Half-Price Books. The latter place, at least in my neck of the woods, delightfully segments their New Age, Occult, Mythology, Wicca, and Pagan books into separate shelves under the "Spirituality" section. They don't lump them all into New Age. But, being HPB, they're often bereft of some of the material I need, like Cunningham's herbalism stuff, or Buckland's candle-magic books.

[nbdy]

Re: Tell me about Silver Ravenwolf?

Let me preface by saying that most esoteric books I read do not have the word "witch" in them. One of the few books I have read that used the word "witch" was by Ravenwolf. I did not find anything in it that would correspond to the criticisms that are generally leveled at her, though it was published only 5 years ago so maybe she took care not to cross the lines that made people so angry. Because of this experience I have often wondered how much of the criticism she has received is a combination of (a) jealousy due to her success and (b) a mob mentality. Having a history of being shunned (church thing), I can attest that most people are willing, dare I say eager, to join the crowd without even really knowing why, it is a tacit agreement to be part of the group rather than find out because part of that game is to completely ignore the person who is "out." In Ravenwolf's case -- don't read her books. Anyway, I have made this statement before (not here) and been told that I should read some of her earlier work so that I can understand that she is loathesome. Um, I have quite a reading list without adding old books with the word "teen" in the title read solely to find a reason to despise some one I have never met. Nah.

I also have a longstanding issue with the idea that there is a right and wrong way to do magic. Perhaps my concept of how this works is radically different from the mainstream, if that word can be applied to pagans ;-P, but who am I to say that if some one truly believes that dressing up as giant rabbit and reciting the alphabet backwards 20 times while standing on his left foot will bring his heart's desire can't manifest what he has set his mind to?

So, the other two authors. Never heard of them.

[Vigdisdotter]

Re: Tell me about Silver Ravenwolf?

I am wondering if your asking is it a good reference for generic definitions or for a specific pathway? All in all I have to agree with Vigdisdotter from a general or generic perspective yet I can't really say in regards Silver's path specifically as Black Forest I think it is.

Silver's claim to be connected to the Black Forest was debunked a while ago...and is one of the reasons she's disliked by many.

[monsno_leedra]

Re: Tell me about Silver Ravenwolf?

Silver's claim to be connected to the Black Forest was debunked a while ago...and is one of the reasons she's disliked by many.

I know a lot of her supposed lineage was debunked but I haven't bothered to follow her story for some time, so thank you for the update. Even all these years later her ethics and influence continue to influence many new pagans and even books that were written after her heyday. I suppose that just goes back to the old adage .."A fool and their money are soon parted!" and "There is a sucker born every minute!" which she definitely exploited in the writing of her books.

[Vigdisdotter]

Re: Tell me about Silver Ravenwolf?

(a) jealousy due to her success and (b) a mob mentality.

Maybe some of A, but I really haven't seen it. I have seen B and I have called people on it, telling them to read for themselves and make up their own mind. I have read her books. I have them sitting on my "Questionable Resource" self to the left of my computer so that I can pull them out and cite page numbers and print run information. There are very valid reasons why people say she's a problematic or even dangerous source.

I also have a longstanding issue with the idea that there is a right and wrong way to do magic.

Oh there is a right and a wrong way. The right way works. The wrong way doesn't. And pretty much everything she's printed in regards to spells fall into the "doesn't" category. Something that is actually a relief. Because if it DID work, it would result in emotionally charged, undisciplined people calling on forces that can squash them. Really not a good thing.

[nbdy]

Re: Tell me about Silver Ravenwolf?

Oh there is a right and a wrong way. The right way works. The wrong way doesn't.

With this I completely agree; however, in my experience, many different things can "work" in the broad sense of the word. It sounds as if you are concerned with evocation, which I doubt a novice would understand. Sort of like leaving wood and matches with my cats and expecting them to build a fire.