When it comes to Pagan books, finding a scholarly book of substance is like getting Pagans to show up at an event on time. It's almost impossible. Jo Harrington has, in my opinion, achieved greatness by writing and publishing her dissertation, 'Towards an Academic Study of British Wicca: An Investigation into its Origins'. I interviewed her via e-mail and forced her to preen and talk about herself.
Let's start with the most obvious question. What made you (besides fulfilling the requirements for your MA) want to write a dissertation on Wicca?
It was all of the gauntlets thrown down by Professor Ronald Hutton in 'Triumph of the Moon', reinforced by the more blatant call to arms in 'Witches, Druids and King Arthur'. In the latter, he actually asks where the Wiccan academics are to study their own religion. It became clear that it was necessary. That only academics can advise those who have a huge impact upon the lives of Wiccans, for example, the police, social workers, judges et al. If no Wiccan is being that academic voice, then whom precisely do we trust to speak for us?
I don't claim to be anything more than a single person taking up my portion of the slack. I'm hoping that I will be one of many who read Hutton's words and felt that they applied to me too.
When you chose this topic, did you expect it to be an uphill battle? Were you prepared?
No. To be honest, I thought that it would be a pushover, because there were so few sources available. I thought that it would be a lot easier than researching a subject that's saturated with textbooks, where all you're doing is evaluating everyone else's work. The first inkling I had that this wouldn't be the easy option was when Prof Hutton e-mailed me to say words along the lines of 'good luck, you're going to need it'. He was right. I'm certain that it would have been a lot less work to enter a well-trodden field of study.
Why do think there so few academic sources available?
No one's written them, simple as that. There are good reasons for this, insofar that it's a minefield for those wanting to retain academic or Pagan credibility, when the things which would satisfy one often upset the other. One or both communities have openly savaged predecessors. There are methodological obstacles to overcome and the required sources are either unwritten or unexplored academically, or else are still alive and highly suspicious of scholars (with reason).
I know now that it really does take a brave or foolhardy soul to attempt it. I'm naturally in the latter category. ;-)
The history of Wicca is a very subjective topic depending on whom you ask. How did you narrow your focus?
The word count was a factor. *grin* I had a constant battle to decide what were the priorities and write about those, then edit them out again, when more important aspects couldn't be skimmed over. I wrote a lot about its inherent subjectivity for a start.
What are the important aspects?
It's actually the boring things, like how to tackle a study of this kind. In just about every other discipline and/or subject, you have tried and tested ways that it can be done, but academics attempting a study of Wicca are literally pioneers. We have to set up the nuts and bolts before we can even start on the juicy stuff.
Did you have difficulties finding scholarly resources?
There are very few scholarly secondary sources. What you do have is a plethora of not so scholarly primary sources. It was a case of hunting down the former, but narrowing down the latter.
It was very difficult getting hold of Aidan Kelly's 'Crafting the Art of Magic' and Tanya Luhrmann's 'Persuasions of a Witches' Craft'. The former is very expensive to buy, particularly in Britain, while the latter is elusive, but occasionally turns up on the market. I had one instance of you finding a book in Oregon that I couldn't source elsewhere, snapping it up and posting it to me. I had another where an American could only buy a book, so Pixie paid for it and I pay-palled her the money. I was lucky enough to read Luhrmann's original thesis, as my University loaned it from her University, in the mistaken belief that I was studying for a Doctorate instead of a Master's.
Equally difficult to find was Doreen Valiente's 'The Rebirth of Witchcraft', which I literally got hold of after my dissertation's first draft had been submitted to my tutor. I had to e-mail him to ask him to stop reading, as I was re-writing a chapter to include her invaluable evidence.
I sat in eBay for weeks, buying books on an almost daily basis, because I had to discover the current thought throughout the past, at least, 60 years. Then I had a list of must have books, which grew ridiculously long by the end of it, even when I was being discerning, because such and such a book influenced this or that author.
Whom did you meet (famous authors, etc) along the way?
It was more long e-mail conversations with people, not all famous, but very knowledgeable about their path. Some of the information gleaned couldn't be credited and therefore couldn't be added, but prodded me in the right direction to things that were historically verifiable.
People who are quite well known are the members of Witchgrove - well, on this site anyway! LOL I did have some e-mail or telephone conversations with some lovely people, like Raymond Buckland, Charles Arnold, Ronald Hutton, Owen Davies, Selena Fox, Laurie Harris and Gavin Bone. Charles proofread some chapters from the point of view of having lived through some of the periods of history, while Owen Davies, at one point, offered to be an external tutor. The others helped me bounce ideas off them. It should be made clear though that the conclusions reached in my book are my own, so none of the people I'm name-dropping here should be blamed at all.
Did writing this dissertation teach you anything about your path?
My path is Alexandrian Wiccan. Writing that dissertation took my religion, ripped it to shreds, trampled it underfoot and threw it in a hedge. It's fair to say that for a brief time I lost my way spiritually and found myself in a very horrible world. Fortunately, the aftermath gave me an opportunity to examine what that path had been and then to find it again. It ultimately strengthened my faith in what I believe, whilst reforming it in more depth.
Was it the examination of your path that caused your "crisis of faith" or just the shear will of slogging through the dissertation?
A bit of both. After a while, the Mysteries become less the ancient path through the forest and more a problem of how to reference what such and such said, when it patently contradicts what someone else said and can't be explained in scholarly terminology. I got to the point where certain words took on whole new negative meanings and I had to relearn what they meant to everyone else.
Mostly though, it was the realization that a lot of what I took as the foundations of my religion had actually been made up x amount of years ago, by someone you didn't necessarily view in the same way anymore. What it did teach me was that it was permissible to go out and find my own communion with the moon. It taught me to listen more intently to my own soul than to repeat things found in books.
How did you keep yourself motivated when the going got tough or you were stuck on an idea or concept?
I whinged on Witchgrove a lot and people took it in turns to explain to me why it would be silly to give up this close to the end.
Did it take any sort of persuading the Academic Powers That Be that this was a credible subject?
I didn't think for one second that I'd be allowed to do it. I walked into that initial meeting with my tutor with a dissertation carefully planned which looked at the Diaspora of the Welsh into Wolverhampton and the Black Country. I fully expected him to refuse the notion of researching the history of British Wicca, in which case I'd gracefully surrender and get the proper plan out of my bag.
I must have had the gift of the gab that day, because I talked for a while, answered every question that he threw at me and managed not to faint with shock when he agreed to me doing it.
What has been the response to the publication of your dissertation?
It's been stunning. I've had people I barely know stop me in the street to ask where they can buy it, which is the really shocking thing.
I expected a certain amount of backslapping from my friends and family, but I didn't expect quite so many of them to tell me that they've bought it. I thought I'd have to plead a little more than I did with Trevor, at Witchcraft Ltd, in Glastonbury, to sell the book; but I only skirted towards the subject and he said yes immediately. Yesterday, he told me that he's sold out of his first batch and is ordering more. My publisher called to tell me that they've already sold more of this book than any other in their catalogue and it's only just come out.
I do have to keep pinching myself, particularly when people say that they've read it and are still impressed.
Now that the dust has settled and you can look at the dissertation w/o wincing, is there anything you'd do differently or are you pleased with the final outcome?
I'm pleased with the final outcome, but I wish that I'd been gentler with myself during the researching and writing process.
I wish I'd spelled Pixie's surname right in the credits.
There is the fact that, in a Master's dissertation, you have to be perhaps more critical of other writers' methodologies than your heart tells you to be. I had to point out the pros and cons of Philip Heselton's work, whilst personally believing the same to be invaluable. That's potentially embarrassing, now that it's in the public domain.
Last but not least, where can we get a copy?
It's being sold via Witchcraft Ltd, in Glastonbury, in Britain; the Gold Mine, in Estes Park, Colorado, in the USA; and also via my publisher, Flying Witch Publications. It could well be being sold elsewhere, but those are the ones that I know about, because I know the shopkeepers. I do know that you can walk into any bookshop with the ISBN code and order it.