 The first edition cover of the book | |
| Author | Susan Greenwood |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subjects | Anthropology of religion Pagan studies |
| Publisher | Berg Publishers |
Publication date | 2000 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) |
| Pages | 235 |
| ISBN | 978-1-85973-445-2 |
Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld: An Anthropology is an anthropological study of contemporary Pagan and ceremonial magic groups that practiced magic in London, England, during the 1990s. It was written by English anthropologist Susan Greenwood based upon her doctoral research undertaken at Goldsmiths' College, a part of the University of London, and first published in 2000 by Berg Publishers.
Greenwood became involved in the esoteric movement during the 1980s as a practitioner of a feminist form of Wicca. Devoting her doctorate to the subject, her research led her to join Kabbalistic orders and two Wiccan covens, during which she emphasised that she was both an "insider" (a practising occultist) and an "outsider" (an anthropological observer). Reacting against the work of Tanya Luhrmann, who had authored the primary anthropological study of the London occult scene, Persuasions of the Witch's Craft (1989), Greenwood argued against studying magical beliefs from a western rationalist perspective, instead adopting a theoretical approach informed by phenomenology and relativism. Greenwood's research focused on Pagan and magical conceptions of the "otherworld". The book's first chapter summarises the Pagan magical conception of the otherworld, and subsequent chapters detail Greenwood's experiences with Kabbalistic magic and Wicca. The work goes on to discuss issues of psychotherapy and healing, gender and sexuality, and morality and ethics within London's esoteric community, and the manner in which the community's members' views on these issues are influenced by their beliefs regarding an otherworld.
Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld was reviewed by various figures involved in both academia and the Pagan community including Douglas Ezzy and Phil Hine. Greenwood herself would go on to author several other books on the relationship between magic and anthropology.