Chanel défilés - L'intégrale des collections depuis 1983

𝑀𝑖𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑂𝑢𝑟 𝑂𝑤𝑛 𝑀𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔: 𝐴 𝐻𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑃𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑚 is a breath of fresh air: refreshingly sensible and thoroughly well-researched without losing the... well, 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑐.Williams' characteristic straight-talking wit is present throughout the book, and I loved the down-to-earth descriptions of magical concepts (at one point, a sigil is described as "a bit like a [demon's] email address" (p.146), which I loved).One of the first notes I made about the book was "I keep wanting to stand up and applaud various passages," because I feel like this is a book the witch/pagan/magickal community has needed for a long time: something written from the inside, but with a level of intellectual rigour that is often lacking in books on these topics.I liked, as well, that 𝑀𝑖𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 isn't snobbish about where people draw their inspiration from or what counts as "real" witchcraft, something that has bothered me in every pagan/witchy group I have ever encountered. Describing some of the parallels between the magical and fictional realms, Williams writes:"I would venture the suggestion that when many adults who come to paganism for the first time make the often repeated assertion that it is 'like coming home,' it is possible that they do so because the way that pagan movements approach the world is reminiscent of the magical realms they encountered in children's fiction. This is not to make an ontological claim; and it is not to say that the deities within paganism are purely fictive. Who knows but that the gods have chosen to make themselves known through popular narratives?" (p.241)That was one of the passages I wanted to stand up and applaud. I see absolutely no reason why people can't weave aspects of all sorts of things they enjoy into their magic, whether that's the Wiccan Rede, Elvish scripts or (yes, I'm going to say it) Harry Potter. In fact in some ways I would argue that incorporating, for example, Harry Potter into one's craft could be seen as more "honest" or "real" than incorporating elements from a "traditional" craft that was made up a century ago but purports to stretch back across millennia.So, yes. Read this book if you are at all interested in paganism, witchcraft, magic or the occult, from a historic or spiritual perspective. It is extremely readable, very well-written and rather beautiful, taking everything with a pinch of salt whilst not denying the depth and importance of a magical practice:"The moral is: take what you are doing seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously." (p.313)