''Mastering Witchcraft: A Practical Guide for Witches, Warlocks and Covens'' is a book written by Paul Huson and published in 1970 by

G.P. Putnam's Sons G. P. Putnam's Sons is an American book publisher based in New York City, New York (state), New York. Since 1996, it has been an Imprint (trade name), imprint of the Penguin Group. History The company began as Wiley & Putnam with the 1838 part ...

, the first mainstream publisher to produce a do-it-yourself manual for the would-be

witch Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...

warlock A warlock is a male practitioner of witchcraft. Etymology and terminology The most commonly accepted etymology derives '' warlock'' from the Old English '' wǣrloga'', which meant "breaker of oaths" or "deceiver". The term came to apply special ...

. The book has been described as one of the main motivators of the so-called "occult explosion" of the 1970s; it was regarded as one of the chief sources of information and ritual for non-

Wicca Wicca (), also known as "The Craft", is a Modern paganism, modern pagan, syncretic, Earth religion, Earth-centred religion. Considered a new religious movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion, the path evolved from Western esote ...

n and non-

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

witchcraft.Farren, David, ''Finding Magic: The Teachings of an American Coven'', pp. 9-10, "Whatever consistency there is among covens comes less from a centralized authority imposing uniformity than from a fact that a few books (Paul Huson's 'Mastering Witchcraft' and Stewart Farrar's 'What Witches Do' among the first) were widely used by individuals setting up groups of their own", iUniverse, 2001, .

References

Further references to ''Mastering Witchcraft'' and witchcraft

* Clifton, Chas S., ''Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America'', Lanham, MD: Rowman Altamira, 2006, . * Farrar, Stewart, ''Eight Sabbats for Witches'', . *Lewis, James R. (ed), ''Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft'', Baker, James W., "White Witches: Historic Fact and Romantic Fantasy", Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996, . * Skelton, Robin, ''Spellcraft'', Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1978, . * Luhrmann, T.M., ''Persuasions of the Witch's Craft'', Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1989, . * Valiente, Doreen, ''The Rebirth of Witchcraft'', London: Robert Hale, 1989, . {{Books about new religious movements 1970 non-fiction books Books about magic English-language non-fiction books G. P. Putnam's Sons books