Transformative Witchcraft

I received this book for free from NetGalley and Llewellyn in exchange for my honest review.

Here we go.

My biggest issue with this book? The author seems to think that all witches are Wiccans and that witchcraft demands a belief in the Lord and the Lady. That, my friends, is not the case. Wiccan and witch are not interchangeable and witchcraft is not a religion.

The book had a lot of anti-Christian remarks, some openly so, some thinly veiled. It was off-putting, as I'd love to see us pagans move past that already. I can see how this book would definitely offend people who are Christian witches.

The heteronormativity bugged me, too. Now, Mankey occasionally remembers that heteronormativity is no longer cool and mentions it, but he still manages to go on heteronormative spiels or rants about things. Cisnormativity was never even mentioned, at least I can't remember it being mentioned. The High Priest's counterpart is the High Priestess and they have a phallus and a womb, respectively, we get that you'd like to think that.

And, as a sex-critical person with asexual friends, the chapter about the Great Rite rubbed me the wrong way. Not all witches are sex-positive, not all witches are into sex. I was glad to see Mankey mention consent culture, though, because it is often overlooked.

After reading the book I feel like I've learned nothing. The title, even, was misleading. This book didn't mention anything ~transformative~, not in Mankey's life, not in mine.

But there had to be some good parts, because I gave two stars and not just one, right?

The book had some interesting parts. That's it. The Masonic stuff was interesting.