Hidden Circles in the Web - (Pagan Studies) by Constance Wise (Paperback)

About the Book

In Hidden Circles in the Web, scholar and Feminist Wiccan practitioner Constance Wise explores the growing and mysterious Pagan tradition of Feminist Wicca through the lens of process thought.

Book Synopsis

As one of the fastest growing Pagan traditions, Feminist Wicca appeals to many through its emphasis on the deep interconnectedness of life and its focus on the woman's religious experience. In Hidden Circles in the Web, scholar and practitioner Constance Wise explores Feminist Wicca through the lens of process thought, developing a new theaology of feminist spirituality that can enrich and deepen the religious practice. Although the twentieth-century philosophy of process thought is often portrayed as a complex and inaccessible system, Wise explains its concepts in simple language and illustrates her points with accessible examples from life.

Wise invites readers into the hidden wisdom of Feminist Wicca and process thought, proposing statements of Feminist Wiccan beliefs and practices in six areas: history, anthropology, epistemology, ethics, cosmology, and theaology. While the focus of the book is on Feminist Wicca, her insights into process thought apply to an array of traditions and will interest a range of practitioners and scholars across the religious spectrum.

Review Quotes

"Creatively, Constance Wise discovers unexpected cogency in extraordinary religious practices. She uses process philosophy and personal narrative to unfold the richness implicit in an emerging form of American religious naturalism." --William Dean, professor emeritus, Iliff School of Theology

"Process thought has played a role in the development of Christian feminist theology. Alongside those feminists who have undertaken to revise Christian teaching and reform Christian practice so as to end the exclusion of women, there are others who believe they can work to overcome the myriad tentacles of patriarchy more effectively from outside the deeply patriarchal Abrahamic traditions. Constance Wise has found her home in feminist Wicca. Now, like Carol Christ, Wise finds in the conceptuality developed in the process tradition a fruitful way of articulating the insights and experience of Wicca." --John B.Cobb, Jr., CLAREMONT SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY

"An intriguing synthesis of Goddess spirituality and process thought." --Carol P. Christ, author of She Who Changes

An intriguing synthesis of Goddess spirituality and process thought.

Creatively, Constance Wise discovers unexpected cogency in extraordinary religious practices. She uses process philosophy and personal narrative to unfold the richness implicit in an emerging form of American religious naturalism.

Process thought has played a role in the development of Christian feminist theology. Alongside those feminists who have undertaken to revise Christian teaching and reform Christian practice so as to end the exclusion of women, there are others who believe they can work to overcome the myriad tentacles of patriarchy more effectively from outside the deeply patriarchal Abrahamic traditions. Constance Wise has found her home in feminist Wicca. Now, like Carol Christ, Wise finds in the conceptuality developed in the process tradition a fruitful way of articulating the insights and experience of Wicca.

About the Author

Constance Wise teaches religious studies, women's studies, and philosophy at the University of Colorado, Denver, the University of Northern Colorado, and Metropolitan College of Denver. She has practiced Feminist Wicca for thirty years and is co-founder and leader of two Feminist Wiccan groups in Denver.