The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft is a book of religious history by the English historian Ronald Hutton, first published by Oxford University Press in 1999. At the time, Hutton was a Reader in History at Bristol University, and had previously published a study of ancient pre-Christian religion, The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles (1991) as well as studies of British folk customs and the Early Modern period.
The Triumph of the Moon deals with the history of Wicca, a contemporary Pagan religion which developed in England in the early 20th century. The first academic study to tackle the entirety of this subject, Hutton questions many assumptions about Wicca's development and argues that many of the claimed connections to longstanding hidden pagan traditions are questionable at best. However, he also argues for its importance as a genuine new religious movement. The work was first presented as "The Triumph of the Moon" by Hutton, at the Centre For Pagan Studies in 1995.The Centre For Pagan Studies
The Triumph of the Moon was well received in both academia and the mainstream press. Various academics working in the fields of Pagan studies, the history of western esotericism and the history of magic have praised it as an influential study that helped to legitimise the historical investigation of alternate and occult religious movements. An academic anthology edited by Dave Evans and Dave Green was later published in its honour, entitled Ten Years of Triumph of the Moon (2009).
The book's reception has been mixed in the Pagan community itself. Many welcome it as an authoritative account of Wiccan history, but others are more critical, arguing that Hutton has prematurely rejected the idea that Wicca is the continuation of an ancient, pre-Christian tradition. Several Wiccans taking the latter view have published their criticisms, with the Wiccan Jani Farrell-Roberts taking part in a published debate with Hutton in the British Pagan magazine The Cauldron (2003), whilst the New Zealander Ben Whitmore published a short book casting a critical eye on Hutton's work, entitled Trials of the Moon (2010).
Background
Hutton and his research Ronald Hutton was born in Ootacamund in India, and "was in fact brought up Pagan, in a modern English tradition which combined a reverence for the natural world with a love of the ancient Greek and Roman classics." In his teenage years he became acquainted with Wicca, attending his first Wiccan rite at Halloween 1968 and meeting the prominent Wiccan High Priest Alex Sanders.Tulley and Hutton 2011.
Hutton had studied history at Pembroke College, Cambridge and then Magdalen College, Oxford, before gaining a job at the University of Bristol in 1981. Focusing his research interests on Early Modern England, he subsequently published a string of four books on the subject; The Royalist War Effort 1642–1646 (1982), The Restoration: A Political and Religious History of England and Wales 1658–1660 (1985), Charles the Second, King of England, Scotland and Ireland (1989) and The British Republic 1649–1660 (1990). 1991 saw the publication of his first work on the subject of pagan religion, The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles, released by the publishers Blackwell.Hutton 1991.
In 1998, the year before the publication of Hutton's Triumph of the Moon, the American Wiccan Donald H. Frew (1960–) published an article entitled "Methodological Flaws in Recent Studies of Historical and Modern Witchcraft" in the Canadian journal Ethnologies in which he criticised the study of Wiccan history up till that point, including Hutton's Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles.Frew 1998. Hutton responded to Frew in an article published in the journal Folklore in 2000. Entitled "Paganism and Polemic: The Debate over the Origins of Modern Pagan Witchcraft", in the paper Hutton commented that Frew's work had been a "historiographical landmark", being "only the second contribution to one of the key scholarly debates in the history of contemporary religions".Hutton 2000. p. 103.
Synopsis Opening with a preface in which Hutton explains his purpose in writing the book,Hutton 1999. pp. vii–xii. the first half of the work, which is titled 'Macrocosm', deals with the various influences which existed in 19th and early 20th century Britain that played a part in the development of Wicca.
Part One: Macrocosm
Chapter one, entitled 'Finding a Language', deals with the definitions of various words pertinent to this study, such as "religion" and "paganism". Hutton proceeds to look at the ways in which ancient pagans, adherents of indigenous tribal religions and druids had been depicted in Romanticist and other forms of literature, such as in the works of R. M. Ballantyne, G. K. Chesterton and Lord Byron.Hutton 1999. pp. 3—31.
The second chapter, 'Finding a Goddess', looks at the development of both a moon goddess and Mother Earth in the works of literary figures like Keats, Shelley and Charlotte Brontë. Hutton then discusses the archaeological ideas of ancient goddesses which were prevalent at the time, in particular those put forward by the likes of Arthur Evans and Jane Ellen Harrison which argued for the existence of a singular Great Goddess.Hutton 1999. pp. 32—42. In the third chapter, 'Finding a God', Hutton then tackles the view of male pagan gods, noting the widespread adoption of Apollo and Pan as modern icons by Romanticists, and discussing the wealth of literary references to Pan produced in the 19th and early 20th centuries.Hutton 1999. pp. 43—51.
Part Two: Microcosm
The latter half of the book looks at the early development of Wicca.
Academic reception and recognition
Academic reviews In his review published in The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, the historian Alec Ryrie of the University of Birmingham described Hutton's work as "a remarkable book" which offered "a brave, perhaps foolhardy" study from a scholar who was "at the height of his powers". He furthermore remarked that the book had been written with a mix of passion, calm and clarity. Ryrie went on to note that he felt it was striking that Hutton insisted on taking the religious claims of Pagans seriously and felt that he had continuously expressed contempt for the rationalism common in academic discourse. Although noting that Hutton's "willingness to take such a view in print entails a lowering of the academic's normal shield of dispassionate detachment", a position that Ryrie felt might not be "sustainable", Ryrie ultimately considered Triumph of the Moon to be "a passionate, important and consistently fascinating book."Ryrie 2002.
Writing in the Journal of Contemporary History, Rodney W. Ambler noted that Hutton's work "has important insights into some of the positions adopted as the intellectual hegemony of Christianity appeared to become increasingly insecure in the course of the nineteenth century." Nonetheless, Ambler remained largely critical of the book, noting that by associating with hundreds of Wiccans in the process of researching and writing the work, Hutton had written a "highly personalized and partial study" which had a "seriously flawed" methodology.Ambler 2002. pp. 474—475.
In The Pomegranate: A New Journal of Neopagan Thought – then a scholarly but not yet academic publication – two separate academics published reviews of Hutton's book. Gina O'Connor of the University of Colorado praised the intricate nature of Hutton's investigation, arguing that its purpose was twofold; both inspiring further, in-depth investigation and weaving together a picture of the cultural milieu from which Wicca could emerge. She noted however that Hutton had failed to examine any influence on early Wicca from the countries neighbouring England, and wondered whether further investigation would reveal that England was not the only home of Pagan Witchcraft. She furthermore remains unconvinced by Hutton's argument that Gardner was the definitive founder of Wicca, but nevertheless proclaims that whether one accepts Hutton's arguments or not, his book remains the "most comprehensive and readable" of its kind.O'Connor 2000.
The Pomegranate also published a review of Hutton's tome authored by Sarah Whedon of the University of Colorado. Noting that it was unparalleled, she believed that it was a valuable addition to the growing field of Pagan studies, being written in an entertaining and meticulous manner. She nevertheless believed that it contained problems, for instance disagreeing with Hutton's statement that Madame Blavatsky was ultimately a Christian and believing that he had left some historical sections underdeveloped. She notes that because he is dealing with the hidden history of a mystery religion, Hutton has had to be selective in what information he decided to publish and which he kept from publication, believing that this might annoy many readers. Like O'Connor, she notes that Hutton has opened up multiple new lines of inquiry for further research, but feels that his final chapter, the sociological analysis of Wicca, was disappointing. She nevertheless thought that these criticisms were "minor" in comparison to the contribution to Pagan studies that the work brought.
Influence in Pagan studies In 2009, Hidden Publishing released an edited volume in honour of Ronald Hutton and his Triumph of the Moon, entitled Ten Years of Triumph of the Moon: A Collection of Essays. The idea was developed by the historian Dave Evans, who felt that "the tenth birthday of something so important needed to be celebrated in some way." After initial attempts to organise an academic conference failed due to a lack of funds, Evans decided to put together a book in commemoration containing papers from a variety of academics working in the fields of Pagan studies or Western Esoteric history.Evans 2009. pp. 11—12. In the introduction, Evans related that:
In many ways Ronald's work provides us with the history of both how we have seen ourselves and how we have constructed and reconstructed our past(s) over time, and how we continue to do so. He has a very pragmatic, creative attitude, recognising that factual error can still produce beneficial results.Evans 2009. p. 12.
Pagan reception and recognition
The response from the Pagan community was somewhat mixed. Many Pagans embraced his work, with the prominent Wiccan Elder Frederic Lamond referring to it as "an authority on the history of Gardnerian Wicca".Lamond 2004. p. 64—65. The Pagan researcher Michael G. Lloyd, writing in his biography of Eddie Buczynski, described Hutton's book as "groundbreaking".Lloyd 2012. p. 160. One Pagan internet reviewer going by the pseudonym of Stryder called it "an outstanding and readable scholarly book", and stating that "Hutton maintains a balanced and objective view of the history of Wicca, and always remains respectful of neo-Pagan beliefs", ultimately giving it four stars out of five.Stryder n.d.
Jani Farrell-Roberts and The Cauldron debate
Public criticism came from the practising Wiccan Jani Farrell-Roberts, who took part in a published debate with Hutton in The Cauldron magazine in 2003. Farrell-Roberts was of the opinion that in his works, Hutton dismissed Margaret Murray's theories about the Witch-Cult using Norman Cohn's theories, which she believed to be heavily flawed. She stated that "he is... wrongly cited as an objective neutral and a 'non-pagan' for he happens to be a very active member of the British Pagan community" who "had taken on a mission to reform modern paganism by removing from it a false history and sense of continuance".Farrell-Roberts, Jani. (May 2003). The Cauldron
Ben Whitmore's Trials of the Moon