Waking the Witch is a delightful review of the Witch archetype as it has moved through media, pop culture, and mainstream media. From our cinema beginnings with the first “Good Witch” in The Wizard of Oz through our present day Witch Revival both socially and in the media, Pam Grossman takes us on a journey that explores the Witch in all her various media facets.
We explore the cautionary tales told to teens and young women about all-consuming power and danger, the association with witches and the Devil, the stigma of being a woman without children (by choice or circumstance) through to modern day witch-based political movements, protests, demonstrations, and world-wide group hex-work.
Personally, I adored this analysis of the history of the witch from an insider perspective. As a witch herself, Pam Grossman is able to speak to personal experiences that a lot of us share, and approaches the topic with a caring and humor that only personal experience can really yield.Throughout the book, she shares tidbits of her own journey, and the personal impact various media bodies and events had on herself – many of which were similar to my own experiences.
Even beyond this personal experience, the history of the Witch is the history of women and feminism in society, so even if you came to witchcraft later in life, or not at all, this book will resonate – these are all things that we know, but to have words put on them is a profound difference.
We had the opportunity to interview Pam Grossman ourselves, and you can listen to that interview here:
