whats the deal with silver ravenwolf?

Question

i've been praticing wicca for about 6 years and i recently saw "teen witch" in my younger cousins room. i read some of it, it's very informal to gear for younger people. i never continued reading it, is she worth reading? i've heard she's a BSer but what does she lie about? and i thought she was a large part in the wiccan community and raises children to be witches too? please just tell me what you know, thanks a lot :)

Answer 1

First of all she is not actually Wicca herself although she claims to be Wicca her lineage is dubious at best. As such what she writes about in her books is not Wicca but a rather light-hearted naive form of Neo-wicca that she claims is Wicca in order to cash-in on children and teens who are interested in witchcraft and Wicca. As such she spreads ignorance and disrespect towards Wicca and encourages others to do the same by claiming to be Wicca when what they are following is Neo-wicca at best.

She encourages teens and children to use magic to resolve real-life issues rather than deal with their problems in other ways, she offers quick-fixes in the form of mechanical magic rather than teaching her readers anything about the system of magic or of course the importance of spell construction and understanding of the workings behind the magic being worked.

Ravenwolf tends to get even the most basic of information incorrect, not just on Wicca but general Pagan topics such as god mythology or seasonal correspondences, she then also has an additional issue in that she is both anti-Satanism and anti-Christian which not only shows an ignorance of these religions as well as Wicca but also encourages her impressionable readers to take on the same attitudes.

She is certainly not part of the Wicca community not only not being Wicca herself but also in that she has done more harm to the Wicca and Pagan community than any other author but misrepresenting Wicca – resulting in many people claiming to be Wicca when they are not and believing because what they do is similar to what they have read that they must be correct in their assumption that they are Wicca.

http://wicca.timerift.net/ravenwolf.shtml
http://www.ecauldron.com/opedtarnishedsilver.php
http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=wiccan&keyword=Authors&filter=all
[Last link from my community, quite a few posts about $ilver Rabidwolf, normally with a fair few of our 2000+ members joining in - she is very much disliked in the Pagan community]

Answer 2

I've got her book "To ride a silver broomstick", just to see what she was about. She's not what I would consider a reliable source of information for a serious Wiccan. Even Reader's Digest could do better by condencing any book by the Farrars.

I'm not saying she's not a witch. I'm not saying her books are COMPLETELY worthless. The problem is that they are simply a pre-digested version of things found elsewhere. She covers so much stuff that it's impossible to get any depth at all. In "broomstick", she covers divination in general, the Tarot, Runes, gazing, graphology, along with sections on ethics and working with those of other religions in 23 pages.

In trying to present it all, she distills things down so much that you can't count on her books for any information in depth.

If you're serious about the study of Wicca, stick to some of the more respected authors. If she presented what she has as more of an outline and a place to begin study, it might be better.

Answer 3

Why should Wiccans have a corner on that market? Honestly, if you ask 10 humans (of whatever persuasion) a question, you will get at least 10 different answers. It's a human thing -- not a Wiccan thing, or a Christian thing, or a feminist thing, or an American thing, or any of the other qualifiers I've heard put on that particular phrase.

Answer 4

"whats the deal with silver ravenwolf"?

I think the deal is she writes a book every 6 months as part of her contract. She get's all the bunnies she can handle as payment.

Personally I just wish Silver would smoke a joint and get laid once in a while and then maybe she'd shut up.

Answer 5

People say that she specifically tells teens to lie to their parents, and that she has questionable ethics. They also say that she has facts that are completely wrong, such as the dates of the Sabbats, and even the number of people killed during the "Burning" time. They also say that she teaches hate and intolerence, especially towards xtians. However, in the many books on Wicca, I have yet to find info that proves the arguements about the Sabbat dates. If you're looking for some basic info, I would say to first read some good books and then read SRW.

Answer 6

If there is any truth to the old saying "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.", that truth is found in the occult, and Wicca in particular. Silver Ravenwolf has written close to a dozen books on the subject of "The Craft", and claims she has been studying it since about 1969, which is almost as long as I’ve been alive. She has written a book on how to cast money spells, and includes a chapter on how to do so in her Teen Witch book. But the thing is, she doesn't particularly sound all that prosperous herself. Ravenwolf writes,

" For years I couldn't afford to go to a hair stylist (still can't, it's shop and chop for me). I got pretty good at stying my own hair from looking at magazine pictures" [SOURCE: Teen Witch, Llewellyn Publications, 2003 edition, page 145]

OK, she so rich she can't go to the hairdresser. Hey, get me a copy of that Prosperity Spell book!

Silver Ravenwolf seems to have inadvertently discovered that Wicca makes things worse, but won't ever admit it as such.
In Teen Witch she says

"A lot of people tell me how bad their lives have gotten after casting a spell and tell me they won't do Witchcraft anymore. I tell them their lives would have been much worse for not having cast the spell".

Gee Silver, you would think a lot of people would be saying things like "Hey, Silver Ravenwolf, my life has improved tremendously with Wicca!" if Wicca is as great as they claim. Instead it makes lives much worse, and even Silver Ravenwolf admits she hears this a lot!!!

If you want to make your life worse, just keep doing what you're doing.

Answer 7

Silver has put to much emphasis on money lately, look at her books, they dont empasize free will like others,

her books are made merely for the money

she likes to tell other followers exact specifications on how to preform rituals to the dot, ritual to pagans are more about what you feel inside.

Answer 8

She used to be well regarded in Wiccan circles. But not so much any more. Some of her spell work has started to become inefficient. Now lately she is sticking to mainly writing.

Answer 9

I've read some of her stuff and she doesn't rub me the right way. I think she's a little off her rocker.

Answer 10

Some dislike her and put down her works because they say she's too "fluff-bunny." They also claim she only writes for the money (but isn't that the goal of all authors?) Still others put her down simply because somebody told them that a friend of theirs claims to have read something against her. So they blindly "go with the flow." I have a couple of her books myself, and I have to say they are great for beginners. They don't delve too deeply in anything, so there does come a point when you just outgrow her stuff. But then, there's people who criticize Scott Cunningham, and even Ray Buckley. Every author has his/her own things to say, and you need to read each with an open mind, accepting some things, rejecting others. To each his own, I say. If you enjoy her books, fine.