Silver Ravenwolf/Scott Cunningham: Good or Bad?

Question

Some of these people on here are saying that you should stay away from these authors. Why and your opinions.

Answer 1

Who's trendy? Ever since Silver Ravenwolf wrote "teen witch" the trad community had it's panties in a bunch... and now it is trendy to bash Silver... Just because a few uppity BTW's said that it was "irresponsible" to begin training teenagers... now every noob and wannabe has something bad to say about her... like she is "fluffy" or "money hungry" or "take it with a grain of salt" without ever having read ONE of her books... yadda yadda yadda.... I think that her writing style is very readable, and the workbook style in which her books are formatted facilitates the learning process. Scott Cunningham style is a bit more dry and a bit of a chore to digest. However they make great resources, as he tends to make lists & put things in alphabetical order. Tell me this How can Scott Cunningham Be "Money Hungry” when he's been dead for nearly 15 years? ( I was sitting a Patricia Telesco's dining room table having coffee when she got the call about Scott Cunningham) I have met Silver Ravenwolf, and she has the best of the best witches in her company (Black Forest Clan Circle & Seminary) I also think that the majority of those who put her down, calls her fluffy & money hungry, etc etc, are either jealous of her success as an author, or are complete idiots, who have never even exposed themselves to her writing. Scott Cunningham was the "go -to guy" about Wicca for non- initiates when I first started out, and he helped forge a path for many many wiccans. Both are intelligent & fairly well researched. Both are formally trained BTW's with lineages to prove it, and they have proven their salt in my book!

Answer 2

Silver Ravenwolf first has a writing style that tends to trivialize Wicca and aims at rebellious teens, not at people seriously seeking to study. Further, Ravenwolf's Anti-Christian bias is blatent in a lot of Ravenwolf's books. Any antagonistic or hateful attitude on the part of a Wiccan should be a clear caution against that person as a teacher. Ravenwolf's scholarship often leaves MUCH to be desired, almost as if the content of Ravenwolf's writings are essentially pulled out of someone's butt. In short -- Silver Ravenwolf should not be considered a serious author in the field of Wicca. Cunningham shows great scholarship, acknowledges the role of ALL religions in people's lives, and is far more academic and a lot less antisocial to others with different beliefs.

Answer 3

1

Answer 4

Scott Cunningham Books

Answer 5

Coming from a non-Wiccan on a different sort of magical path...

Cunningham actually has some very nice reference books. I've got a few around.

Ravenwolf, besides the need to publically use a (incredibly ridiculous) craft name, has the "teen witch" mentality; Wicca is all about good and happiness and light and fluffy bunnies. This ignores the true aspect of nature, the light/dark duality and cycles of life and death, and can easily set people on a pretty dangerous path.

ETA: Whoa, check out Tirya's link by all means. I'm reading it now and it's a great explanation and a thoughtful criticism.

Answer 6

Scott Cunningham - I think he has good resource books (the encyclopedias) though there are others that are more thorough (especially with regards to crystals).

He has some interesting personal interpretations of Wicca, but overall I would recommend him for a beginner.

Silver RavenWolf - what few nuggets of good information she has are buried in so much crud that I wouldn't recommend her to a beginner. I certainly wouldn't recommend "Teen Witch" to a teenager. There's just something about advocating lying to your parents that just doesn't fly.

An opinion piece on Silver RavenWolf:

http://www.ecauldron.com/opedtarnishedsilver.php

Answer 7

As others have said, anything written on the subject these authors write about should be taken with a grain of salt. That being said, Cunningham is one of my fav authors. I really like his Encyclopedias and find his other books easy to read and understand. I find his works make good foundations to build learnings on.

Regarding Ravenwolf, I have not read her nonfiction works, mainly due to what others have said about her, so I cannot comment on whether she really is good or bad since I haven't judged her for myself. But, I have read her fiction works, such as "Murder at Witches' Bluff", and have found them to be quite entertaining.

Answer 8

Those are the two most credible and authoritative authors on Wicca. They've both done their research quite well. Most who do not like them are either christians, anti-wiccan, or just haven't checked into them at all. I did not know Scott Cunningham, but I do know Silver Ravenwolf personally. I subscribe more to Cunningham's methods, but I do NOT denounce any of Ravenwolf's methods, they're mildly different from eachother. The basics are exactly the same.

Answer 9

Scott isn't too bad. A bit light in some aspects, and definately focuses on non-traditional Wicca, but overall the information tends to be fairly good and fairly approachable. The biggest issue seems to be the break with traditional Wicca, which involves direct teaching (to pass along oathbound material) and initiation.

As for Silver - that's a whole different kettle of fish. I've got to second the linik that Tirya posted. I know the author of that article, and Sana is right - there are a number of factual and ethical concerns in Silver's writing. When these were intially brought up, Silver called the concerned Pagans "busy little bees" for being worried. Mind you, this is the same person who advocates (in her "Teen Witch" book) that kids cast "Un-ground-me" spells on their parents if they have been grounded instead of actually taking responsibility for their actions.

Sure, some of the people who don't like her may be anti-Wiccan, or just jumping on the bandwagon - but that doesn't negate the fact that there are serious, ligitimate problems with her work. She claims to be concerned for the future - but so are her detractors.

Answer 10

I personally love Cunningham's books. I have many of his herbs books. I think his books give a beginners look and eventually an intermediate look at magic and wicca.

I have read and did not like any of Ravenwolfs books. They were difficult to read and fully understand. I later found out alot of the things she wrote were way different than what I learned. Also I thought teen witch was a joke. Teaching kids to use magic to pass a test instead of actually studying for it. I dont agree with her writings and it has never worked for me.

If you are not sure read them for yourself and form your own opinion. I was unaware of the "problems" with her books until two years after I started. I have not found any fault with Cunningham's books. I plan on collecting almost all of them.