Book Review - 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Paganism' by Carl McColman

When I first picked up this book on Kindle I liked the overall structure of the book, the five themed sections with chapters focusing on an aspect of each theme made for easy navigation, and there is a logical progression to the sections and chapters.

 The first section, 'Pagan Basics', was an overview of Pagan beliefs, the relationship of Pagans to the earth, three different types of Paganism, and a look at the other cultural odds and ends that have come to play a role in modern Pagan belief.

 While I appreciate the difficulty of talking about a path as wide and varied as Paganism in terms that would please everyone, the first chapter reads like a set up for the 'No True Scotsman' fallacy, presenting things that the author finds distasteful (like animal sacrifice) as 'not Pagan', regardless of actual Pagan practice. The whole first section seems to be a vehicle for the author's biases in general, especially with regards to worshipping 'the Goddess', and the sacredness of nature (not all Pagans worship the Goddess or have find the earth sacred). For a 101 guide to Paganism, it seems to be more 'Wicca-lite' than a real look at some of the diverse set of beliefs and traditions that huddle under the Pagan umbrella. Even the treatment of the three paths the author chose to focus on (Shamanism, Wicca, and Druids/Revivalist traditions) further reflects his biases with the chapter on Wicca being notably longer than the others. Not only that, but he squeezes Druids, Asatru, Romuva, Hellenismos, and Kemeticism into one chapter, and repeatedly brings discussion of Druidry back to Shamanism. The very complex traditions of Asatru and Romuva are only alloted one paragraph each, and poor Hellenismos and Kemeticism get a small paragraph between them!


In the final chapter of this section, the author looks at other factors that he felt contribute to the 'Pagan Puzzle', and while he does look at the influence of the Western mystery tradition, I don't think he devoted enough time to it, given its influence in Wicca (and therefore neo-Paganism on the whole).

The second section, 'How to Think like a Pagan', begins with an examination of Pagan cosmology, in which three different schemas are presented, then moves onto ideas of the Goddess and God, the spirit world, the elements, and the cyclic nature of Pagan beliefs.

I do like that the author takes the time to essentially explain discernment when dealing with the otherworld and spirits (chapter 7), and that the dead are not necessarily the same as they were in life. I think that's really helpful to have in a beginner's book, and not enough books tackle that. I also like that he points out in chapter 11 that not all Pagans have the same ideas on what constitutes 'the elements'.

Unfortunately, this is also the section in which he further cements the duotheistic mindset of Wicca, devoting a chapter to exploring 'the goddess', and another to exploring 'the god'. I think it's a major neglect of the author to not devote any significant time exploring the different Pagan approaches to deity, and that he could have filled an entire chapter looking at henotheism, duotheism, and the different types of polytheism. His treatment of fairies is similarily frustrating, on the one hand he seems to pidgeonhole them in elemental associations, but then on the other hand, rightly makes the point that they're all individuals, not all nice, and that some are best left alone.

The most annoying bit of this section though for me, was chapter 11. McColman gives the symbols for the four elements of Wicca, then equates them with yin and yang, and then genitalia. This feels like something from his own tradition, but rather than explaining that that's where he's getting it from, it feels like he's pointing it out as a universal truth. I also found it kind of worrying that he gave the king of the fire spirits as 'Djinn', especially when you think about what Djinn actually are in traditional lore. Not something I'd want beginners to mess around with.


The section on Ritual is a good primer on Wiccan-esque ritual, which isn't really my cup of tea, although the section in which he links Wiccan tools with the tarot suits is quite well done. The section on festivals needs to be better cited too, but citation of sources isn't a particularly strong point of this book. I understand that this is a 'Complete Idiot's Guide', but even complete idiots should be furnished with well-cited guides.

All in all, I think the section on Magic is one of the best sections in the book. The chapter on meditation is very well done for beginners, and aside from the generalisations about 'Pagans not cursing', on the whole, it's not too bad. I especially appreciated the inclusion of the origins and wider meaning of the words 'heal'/'healing' in Chapter 20 and their association with 'wholeness'. So kudos to Mr McColman there!

The final section is by turns good and bad. I really liked the section on the different types of groups, their pros, cons, and how to evaluate if a group is truly good for you to be involved in. This is a self-protection issue that I don't think is brought up enough in beginner books, and I especially appreciated the advice to keep an eye on how much time you're spending online vs actually doing (chapter 24). It was also good to have a section on how to build your own practice as a Pagan, but that would have been better without the encouragement to find one's 'matron' and 'patron' deities.

On the whole though, while there were some good parts, I wouldn't recommend this book.
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