Book Review by Rita Rippetoe

Title: New Age and Neopagan Religions in America
Author(s): Sarah M. Pike
Publisher: New York: Columbia University Press, 2004
ISBN: 0-231-12402-3
$45.00, hb, 256 p, includes chronology, notes, glossary, bibliography and index

Pike’s work is a scholarly attempt both to situate new age and Neopagan beliefs within the contemporary religious landscape and to trace the historical influences that have shaped these separate, yet related movements.

Pike defines Neopagans as focused on the relationship between humans and nature and as interested in reinventing the religions of the past. While recognizing that Witches form a majority of Neopagan she includes ceremonial magicians, Druids and other reconstructionist groups in the category. She also concludes that ritual is central to religious identity and community. The term New Age encompasses many beliefs and practices, with a focus on self transformation and a shift to a new level of consciousness for the individual and society.

Practicing Neopagans may not find much new information in this work. However it is good example of scholarly study of the community.

Dr. Pike is an associate professor of religious studies at California State University, Chico, and is also the author of Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: Contemporary Pagans and the Search for Community, a study of Neopagan festivals.