Skip to main content

Sex Magic or Sacred Marriage? Sexuality in Contemporary Wicca

  • Chapter
Sexuality and New Religious Movements

Abstract

The procession moves up a dirt road under the brilliant sun. First comes a prancing contingent of little girls dressed in flowing gowns, trailing ribbons, and butterfly-shaped “fairy wings.” They are followed by about a dozen men carrying a large pine tree trunk, straddled by a buxom young woman wearing a diaphanous and revealing garment. Assorted maidens and “Amazons” make up the rest of the group.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Adams, Fred Charles-McLaren [Frederick Adams]. 1970. “Oracles of the Faerie Faith.” Accessed June 24, 2011. http://www.phaedrus.dds.nl/fera8.htm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adams, Frederick. 2001. The Ethers of Aphrodite. Amsterdam: Peter Tromp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adams, Frederick, and Svetlana Butyrin. 2009. “I Am the Lady of the Dance.” In Green Egg Omelette: An Anthology of Art and Articles from the Legendary Pagan Journal, edited by Oberon Zell, 101. Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bender, Deborah. 2009. “In Defense of Polarity.” In Green Egg Omelette, edited by Oberon Zell, 241–42. Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Budin, Stephanie. 2009. The Myth of Sacred Prostitution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clifton, Chas S. 1988. “A Goddess Arrives: The Novels of Dion Fortune and the Development of Gardnerian Witchcraf.” Gnosis 9: 20–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 2004. “Review of Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration: An Investigation into the Sources of Gardnerian Witchcraf.” The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies 6(2): 267–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —. 2006. Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cusack, Carole. 2010. Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction and Faith. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darling, Diane. 2009. “Agents of Aphrodite: In Her Majesty’s Sacred Service.” In Green Egg Omelette, edited by Oberon Zell, 236–40. Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fabian, Cosi. 1997. “The Holy Whore.” In Whores and Other Feminists, edited by Jill Nagle, 44–54. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, Nick. 2004. “The Shrineless God: Paganism, Literature and Art in Forties Britain.” The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies 6(2): 157–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, Gerald. (1954) 1973. Witchcraft Today. Secaucus, NJ: Citadel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hallett, Jennifer. 2006. “Wandering Dreams and Social Marches: Varieties of Paganism in Late Victorian and Edwardian England.” The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies 8(2): 161–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heselton, Philip. 2003. Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration. Milverton, Somerset, UK: Capall Bann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutton, Ronald. 1999. The Triumph of the Moon. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, Aidan. 2007. Inventing Witchcraf: A Case Study in the Creation of a New Religion. Loughborough, Leicestershire, UK: Thoth Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, Gordon. 2007. “Children of the Sonne: Wandervögel, Reformers, Hippies, Greens, Naturmenschen, and Ferals.” Tyr 3: 193–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kripal, Jeffrey J. 2001. Roads of Excess, Palaces of Wisdom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamond, Frederic. 1997. Religion without Beliefs. London: Janus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheba, Lady. 1971. The Book of Shadows. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn.

    Google Scholar 

  • Traxler, Donald. 2011. Introduction to The Light of Sex, by Maria De Naglowska, 1–7. Translated by Donald Traxler. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, Christopher. 2011. Adventures in the Orgasmatron. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

    Google Scholar 

  • Urban, Hugh B. 2006. Magia Sexualis. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wigington, Patti. n.d. “What is the Great Rite? And What is Ritual Sex?” About.com. Accessed July 28, 2011. http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/magicandspellwork/f/WhatIsRitualSex.htm.

  • Zell, Oberon. 1997. “Science Fiction Double Feature.” Green Egg 118(March/April): 3.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Henrik Bogdan James R. Lewis

Copyright information

© 2014 Henrik Bogdan and James R. Lewis

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Clifton, C.S. (2014). Sex Magic or Sacred Marriage? Sexuality in Contemporary Wicca. In: Bogdan, H., Lewis, J.R. (eds) Sexuality and New Religious Movements. Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137386434_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics