Literature Review 4

 Teenage Witches: Magical Youth and the Search for the Self by Helen Berger and Douglass Ezzy

Citation:

Berger, Helen A., and Douglas Ezzy. Teenage Witches: Magical Youth and the Search for the Self. Rutgers University Press, 2007. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hj9jq.

Summary:

    Berger and Ezzy interviewed many young witches in the United States, England, and Australia to find out what drove them to become witches and what it means to be a witch. They dive deep into the moral ethics of witchcraft and how these people find themselves and their identity within the religion. Some of the interviews that showed the most insight were placed at the beginning of the book or between each chapter, giving us a firsthand experience from witches themselves. 

Authors:

    Helen Berger is an American sociologist who has done a lot of research into Paganism and witchcraft. Her interest in witchcraft began in 1986 and since then she has performed many lectures on paganism and has even been invited to sit into coven rituals as a researcher. She has written four books on paganism and witchcraft, including A Community of Witches: Contemporary Neopaganism and Witchcraft in the United States. 

    Douglass Ezzy is an Australian sociologist who has done a lot of research on religious freedom and LGBTQ+ studies. He has just completed a series of studies into contemporary paganism and has written a handful of journals and articles, including Sex, Death, and Witchcraft: A Contemporary Pagan Festival. 

Key Terms:

    Identity-fulfillment: The idea of finding oneself in which one would be the most comfortable in life and meaning

    Enchantment: The process of being uplifted spiritually, or being in a state of immense pleasure

Quotes:

    "For a long time society was matriarchal, and then Christianity sort of made it into a patriarchal society, and the Goddess got pushed under the table, and so I think now, you know, she is starting to make a revival and has gotten a lot of feminists excited to say a woman is more than supposed to be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen--like a woman is a woman and she is in charge and she is strong and she is powerful," (Berger, Ezzy 186). 

    "The formation of community and a sense of group solidarity provide important emotional support to young Witches that helps them deal with the fear of stigma and avoid the potentially damaging emotional consequences of hiding their Witchcraft beliefs and practices from friends and family," (Berger, Ezzy 149). 

    "We [Berger and Ezzy] do not want to suggest that beliefs or practices that involve spiritual experiences or supernatural encounters are linked to mental health problems, nor do we think that Witchcraft causes mental health problems. To the contrary, it typically appears to have positive consequences... The avoidance of mental health issues is probably reasonably common among all teenagers, and in this case young Witches are probably no different from their non-Witch peers," (Berger, Ezzy 236). 

Value:

    This book is full of cases about young witches and how they feel when it comes to being involved in Witchcraft. It is the best source when looking for why young witches decide to enter into witchcraft. Furthermore, it provides a strong professional insight on what draws women into witchcraft and why it has risen so much especially among the youth. It also provided me with an idea of a theoretical frame: enchantment.