Catherine Edwards Sanders used a real, straightforward and non-alarmist yet deeply though provoking style to discuss a very relevant topic in today’s culture. I found myself far better educated as a result. Not only on Wicca but also aspects of Christianity that I had not considered in great detail. The challenges offered to both Wiccans and Christians are strong yet always respectful. Most importantly, Sanders stresses the power of communication and relationship with those who are different from ourselves. This is a well written, informative, and refreshing book. It is well worth reading regardless of your age, gender, or creed.
Rating: 5 / 5

CAUTION: This book may fool you. I have one word for it: *hisssssssssssss*. It looks like a nice Wiccan book BUT IT”S NOT. Witches, beware! It is for biased Christians so they can just convert people who believe in an earthbound religion with a goddess. Listen. Trying to covert someone is bad. Not everyone can believe the same thing as you. Wiccans have not been harming Christians, so who gave Christians the right to convert Wiccans? Wiccans don’t believe in Satan! Satan was invented by the Christians. Satan is not real! Don’t accuse peace-loving people of believing in him.
Rating: 1 / 5

If the Threefold Law is true that anything you do will come back to you three times, then author Catherine Edwards Sanders can expect great rewards for her careful, sincere, and beautifully written book.

No where in this book can a hostile reader find a single malicious word about Wiccans, Neo-Pagans, or other spiritual seekers. Page after page of _Wicca’s Charm_ is based on firsthand reporting with sympathetic, compassionate protrayals of practicing Wiccans and their heartfelt beliefs.

In _Wicca’s Charm_ readers travel all over the country with Sanders meeting Wiccans, learning what they believe and why they practice Wiccan rituals.

Sanders is unerringly fair–she testifies openly and honestly as to her personal convictions and her own Christian faith. And she is open and honest about the failings of many Christians to truly reflect Christ’s intent for the Christian walk.

Throughout _Wicca’s Charm_ Sanders often shows a more subtle and deeper understanding of Wiccan beliefs and Neo-Pagan ideas than some Wiccan practioners. But she never attacks or even notes this.

She only respects those who took the time to speak with her and to share with her their views and their spiritual search. At one point, Sanders tells the story of a woman who turned to pagan rituals to grapple with the tragedy of a miscarriage. Sanders recognizes the lack of any specific ritual of cleansing in the church to deal with such tragedy. And then Sanders relates from her own life in personal and riveting detail how important it is for Christians to reach out to those in pain and deepest suffering.

At times, Sanders openly acknowledges where the church has failed –especially in the case of Wiccans who grew up in the church and were betrayed or disappointed. She also discusses strengths in Wiccan beliefs. For instance, she writes admiringly of the Wiccan respect for the environment and writes beautifully of her own admiration for God’s creation and what Christ-like respect for the environment entails. (As an avid surfer, no one–especially Christians–should ever forget the magnificent testimony found in the beauty of God’s waves and sea and sky and inhabitants, or our responsibility of stewardship.) Similarly, Sanders’ defense of Jesus’ respect for women shows how the desire of Neo-Pagans and Wiccans stems from the revolution unleashed by Christ’s own sacrifice and admiration for women as equals.

Christians who read this book will recognize an author in the vein of C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Os Guiness, and R.C. Sproul. Sanders is penetrating and faithful, kind and compassionate, learned and unwavering in principle. Parents and counselors will glean not just understanding but a powerful reminder than Wiccans are a step ahead of the rest of secular culture. They are sincere seekers of life’s ultimate meaning–they have qualities too few display in our loud, unreflective, spiritually dessicated modern civilization.

But the end, the reader comes to view _Wicca’s Charm_ as a bit of a paradox. Courageous, heartfelt Wiccans could read it and come away with a deeper understanding of what they believe and where their deepest spiritual thirst takes them. (Her survey of primary Wiccan literature is mindboggling.)

True followers of Jesus can read this book and see echoes of Paul and Daniel: an example of how to engage an unbelieving world by listening in a compassionate way that focuses on the individual human lives and minds searching for an answer before we all pass through this veil of tears.
Rating: 5 / 5