Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power Kindle Edition

This book made me proud to call myself a witch. Grossman gives an in-depth and thoughtful history of the figure of the witch, linking it with her own personal history. She also analyzed the various ways in which the word Witch has been used over time. The book is informative and lyrical at the same time. I had to keep stopping to look up all of the art she references throughout the book; this is not a bad thing! I spent a few extra hours going down an internet rabbit hole on artists such as Remedios Varos and Leonora Carrington. It helped to bring the book to life for me.

I love Pam and I love her style of writing. However, this wasn’t a good read for me. It felt like it was a too long podcast or a book that wasn’t ready to be written yet. I wasn’t expecting so much of the book to be Pop references and then detailing them out. I wanted it to either be substantially more like a memoir or a witchy reference book. I get the idea she was forming and trying to flush out, but it was a miss for me.

Enlightening scholarship and and thoroughly enjoyable to read - a rare combination indeed! Add to that a sympathetic explanation of the historically misunderstood and fearfully persecuted archetype of the witch, and you come to the end realizing that the stigma created by patriarchal religions and societies is responsible for stifling the much needed healing powers of wise women for centuries. It is truly time to Wake The Witch!!

Pam Grossman has served a delightful cup of spiked tea with Waking The Witch. I picked it up because I'm always curious about the cross section of popular culture and the occult. There are times in history when those two hang out more than others, and her deep understanding of this permeates the book.The entire time, I felt like I was having a conversation with a well informed friend. The tone is consistently inviting and warm while she covers a really wide swath of history and culture, making sense of it all with where we are today.I kept making notes about things to check out later, which is a sure sign of my engagement. This is also a great book to recommend to people in your life who want to understand non-standard life choices or could use a primer to basic feminism.

I loved this book. I'd read a number of books she discusses, and it was fun to encounter them again and to see someone else's perspective. And there were a number of things Grossman discusses that I hadn't read, and so those were fun to discover. All in all, a lovely read on the history of the witch in pop culture, art, politics, and the like. Many moments in Grossman's story connected with me as well--especially that bit about the Goblin King.Definitely recommend.

I don't normally like nonfictional books but I have a deep appreciation for the symbol of the witch and I really love this book. A lot of this history I didn't even know about! And the writer writes about it in such a way that it makes it interesting. I love how vuberable the writer is sharing her own story and how much I relate to it!

I appreciated this book for filling in details of witchery all around us. This is a thorough historical backtrack leading all the way up to current events.People are too quick to jump on the witch bandwagon without knowing or appreciating how it all came to this point.Before you start dabbling in spell casting or pronouncing your new witchdom, do yourself a favor and learn the backstory. I learned a ton from this book!!!Took longer for me to read but that’s because I would stop often and cross reference people, places and events for deeper understanding and for notes in my journey journal! :)Thank you For sharing this information!

This is a fascinating book about the history of witches in pop culture, history, art and writing. It is intelligently written and thoroughly researched. I learned a lot and I enjoyed it immensely.

This book is absolutely delicious, I so enjoyed delving into all the wonderful historical and cultural stories of the witch. I couldn’t put it down and spent a lot of time researching all the interesting art, music and films Pam mentioned. Highly recommend this book to anyone who’s interested in witchy things. I look forward to reading anything else by this author in the future. Her podcast the witch wave is great as well.

I’m actually quite disappointed with this book which I bought for the history of witches but its TV and film witch character reviews and the author boasting about herself. I’m half way through and don’t want to finish it. Such a shame as it’s beautiful and I had read it was worth getting.

A wonderful and rich book, filled with a huge array of references and perspectives. Grossman writes with heartwarming sincerity and astonishing brevity. She sees the figure of the witch in all her feminine might and makes her relatable to all. A true joy to read.

Am a black witch 🧙‍♀️ and I find felling boring reading 📖 this witch 🧙‍♀️ book 📖

This is the kind of book you want to highlight passages from, but realize you'd just be highlighting the whole book. Witch or not, it's a great read. It's a really lovely approach to historical feminism through the eyes of witches and witchcraft, and Pam Grossman has a wonderful way of words that's inspiring, insightful and well, magical. The book makes me happy and stays out on my shelf so I am reminded every time I look at it of Grossman's words of wisdom.