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, the first mainstream publisher to produce a do-it-yourself manual for the would-be witch or warlock.Clifton, Chas S., Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America, Lanham, MD: Rowman Altamira, 2006, , p. 96
The book has been described as one of the main motivators of the so-called "occult explosion" of the 1970s;Clifton, Chas., and Harvey, Graham The Paganism Reader, New York: Routledge 2004, Freedland, Nat, The Occult Explosion, New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1972Cunningham, Scott,The Truth About Witchcraft Today, MN: Llewellyn, 2002 it was regarded as one of the chief sources of information and ritual for non-Wiccan and non-feminist witchcraft.Penczak, C., Sons of the Goddess: A Young Man's Guide to Wicca, "The Men of Wicca" pp. 37-38, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2005, Luhrmann, T.M. Persuasions of the Witch's Craft, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989, p.261 "Appendix: Core Texts in Magical Practice. Any list would be incomplete but certain books are central...for non-feminist witchcraft Doreen Valiente Witchcraft for Tomorrow (1978) and Paul Huson Mastering Witchcraft (1970)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, .