NMR ISSUE 12

Astrological Forecast 12
Breaking the Mold
Druids and Celtic Magick
Editorial 12
Electric Almanac
Estara
Goddess
Letters 12
Love Spells
Pan
Past and Parallel Lifetimes
Tarot Images II
Teaching the Magical Arts
The Charming of the Plow
The Dream
The Magickal Trade School
The Oldest Magic
Visions of Cybele
White Buffalo, Eagle, Cougar and Hawk
Witchcraft: Yesterday and Today

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REVIEWS

Witchcraft:
Yesterday and Today

Raymond Buckland

Video: Llewellyn, $29.95

Witchcraft finally enters the New Age with the recent introduction of a videotape. As far as videos go, it is has a reasonable price tag for 60 minutes of tape. As far as I'm concerned, videos tend to suffer from the not-nearly-as-good-as-a-book syndrome. Like audiotapes, rarely do they contain information that would not be more convenient (and cheaper) in a book. However, videos have a power that no other medium has—they can hold your attention.

Buckland's tape contains much basic information about Witchcraft, past and present, which is well presented, but (for the most part) eminently available in print. Few people already involved in metaphysics would get their money's worth (unless they were wealthy, which tends not to be the case for metaphysicians). The value of this tape is that those who would ordinarily ignore the subject will be mesmerized by the phosphorus screen into absorbing information. Law enforcement agencies, PTA groups, schools, churches, etc. may well watch this tape and learn, when they might otherwise persecute those they do not understand.

Besides the attention holding properties of video, this tape offers pictures that will familiarize you with some basic Wiccan ceremonies in a way no book can. But I don't know if most people would find this worth $30.

One potential problem is that this tape contains nudity. It is the harmless kind that one finds in the average French commercial, but makes for good advertising (judging from the ads in the now unmercifully `tabloidic' Llewellyn New Times, —Warning: this video contains scenes of partial nudity). Unfortunately, this is the kind of thing that those who would most benefit from this video might focus on as evidence that it is evil." Any reasonable adult would not feel this way, however.

Despite the nudity problem, this tape is great for informing mundanes about the positive nature of Witchcraft. For those that would otherwise be willing to read the many books on the subject with an open mind, it may be (at best) an expensive introduction.