DD 131-135.999 (Tony)Not in Kansas anymore : a curious tale of how magic is transforming America by Christine Wicker (133.409 WIC)
I know, it's been awhile. But I am still doing this project. Jan is too, if she could only finish the other non-Dewey books she's reading first. I've been trying to get a new business off the ground. A fiery foods retailer. Yes, Mr. Tony is going to be a shopkeep. Hot Sauce, BBQ Sauce, Spices...things like that. Thus, what little freetime I have is usually taken up reading Batman, Capt. America, Superman and the like. But over the past few weeks, I got cracking and read the next section in our Dewey Project.
This is a strange world we live in and nowhere is it more evident than in this book. Witches, Warlocks, Vampires, Voodoo and Hoodoo. If someone is studying the occult, they're recorded in here. And it's not just pretend. Oh, well maybe the results that the practioners claim they have received from doing spells and such. No, I mean people really beleive this stuff.
Some of it I think is a rationalization for being odd- especially those who beleive they are hobbits, elves, werewolves, Jedis. See, there's a real name for that, it's called a Geek, or to be meaner a freak. Don't worry, I'm not being mean, I used to pretend I was a Jedi in highschool. I was a total Geek. However, I got married, grew up (a little), and stopped trying to move items with the force. Though, I still love to surprise kids by acting like I am using the force to open those automatic doors at Wal-Mart.
Sadly, what bothered me most wasn't the Satan worship, or Voodoo Spells, or bloodletting amongst the Vampires. It was the authors like of faith that bothered me so. And I had bad dreams because of it. Many of her ideas for rejecting Christianity is to mark it off as pure magic anyway. True, so folks speak in tongues, and heal folks, and things like that, and I can see why the author would think that. But, then she would quote all these other people as thinking the same way and it just made me sad.
Even worse, if I was given a chance to talk to this woman, I would have little or no clue what to say.
Anyway, it took me awhile to finish this book (due to guilt, I guess), but I finally did. I do wish there was more "history" and less spiritual journey of one woman against the forces of darkness. Isn't that what Jane Austen books are suppose to be about anyway? Still, not a bad read either. I didn't know there was a difference between Voodoo and Hoodoo. And I did not know that my wife's best friend was in to that stuff- till I read this book. Still I would have liked to read about Harry Potter and Tolkein and it's impact of today's society. Instead, I find out that George Washington and Newton were evil people because they practiced Alchemy. Alchemy is not evil, it's the original get rich quick scheme. If my wife could afford to be an Alchemist, she would- I mean this stuff is right up her alley. And every day millions of folks practice Alchemy by trying to turn a 3x5 piece of paper with six numbers on it into a million dollars.
Lottery, Voodoo, Wade Boggs only eating chicken on game day, all "magic" or superstitious, but not really examined in a balanced way. Heck, the woman on the cover is obivously a Shaker, and they're not even mentioned in the book. Alas, maybe were not in Kansas anymore, but this book was so distant from what I felt in should be, it wasn't even in Nebraska.
This is a strange world we live in and nowhere is it more evident than in this book. Witches, Warlocks, Vampires, Voodoo and Hoodoo. If someone is studying the occult, they're recorded in here. And it's not just pretend. Oh, well maybe the results that the practioners claim they have received from doing spells and such. No, I mean people really beleive this stuff.
Some of it I think is a rationalization for being odd- especially those who beleive they are hobbits, elves, werewolves, Jedis. See, there's a real name for that, it's called a Geek, or to be meaner a freak. Don't worry, I'm not being mean, I used to pretend I was a Jedi in highschool. I was a total Geek. However, I got married, grew up (a little), and stopped trying to move items with the force. Though, I still love to surprise kids by acting like I am using the force to open those automatic doors at Wal-Mart.
Sadly, what bothered me most wasn't the Satan worship, or Voodoo Spells, or bloodletting amongst the Vampires. It was the authors like of faith that bothered me so. And I had bad dreams because of it. Many of her ideas for rejecting Christianity is to mark it off as pure magic anyway. True, so folks speak in tongues, and heal folks, and things like that, and I can see why the author would think that. But, then she would quote all these other people as thinking the same way and it just made me sad.
Even worse, if I was given a chance to talk to this woman, I would have little or no clue what to say.
Anyway, it took me awhile to finish this book (due to guilt, I guess), but I finally did. I do wish there was more "history" and less spiritual journey of one woman against the forces of darkness. Isn't that what Jane Austen books are suppose to be about anyway? Still, not a bad read either. I didn't know there was a difference between Voodoo and Hoodoo. And I did not know that my wife's best friend was in to that stuff- till I read this book. Still I would have liked to read about Harry Potter and Tolkein and it's impact of today's society. Instead, I find out that George Washington and Newton were evil people because they practiced Alchemy. Alchemy is not evil, it's the original get rich quick scheme. If my wife could afford to be an Alchemist, she would- I mean this stuff is right up her alley. And every day millions of folks practice Alchemy by trying to turn a 3x5 piece of paper with six numbers on it into a million dollars.
Lottery, Voodoo, Wade Boggs only eating chicken on game day, all "magic" or superstitious, but not really examined in a balanced way. Heck, the woman on the cover is obivously a Shaker, and they're not even mentioned in the book. Alas, maybe were not in Kansas anymore, but this book was so distant from what I felt in should be, it wasn't even in Nebraska.
posted by J at 7:50 PM
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