''Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today'' is a sociological study of
contemporary Paganism in the United States written by the American Wiccan and journalist
Margot Adler
Margot Susanna Adler (April 16, 1946 – July 28, 2014) was an American author, journalist, and lecturer. She worked as a correspondent for National Public Radio for 35 years, became bureau chief of the New York office, and could be heard frequen ...
. First published in 1979 by
Viking Press
Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheimer and then acqu ...
, it was later republished in a revised and expanded edition by
Beacon Press
Beacon Press is an American left-wing non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is known for publishing authors such as Jame ...
in 1986, with third and fourth revised editions being brought out by
Penguin Books
Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...
in 1996 and then 2006 respectively.
According to ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', the book "is credited with both documenting new religious impulses and being a catalyst for the panoply of practices now in existence"
[Goldscheider, Eric]
Witches, Druids and Other Pagans Make Merry Again in the Magical Month of May
''The New York Times'', May 28, 2005. and "helped popularize earth-based religions." Adler was a
Neopagan and "recognized witch"
herself and a reporter for
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
.
The book is an examination of
Neopaganism in the United States
Modern paganism in the United States is represented by widely different List of Neopagan movements, movements and organizations. The largest modern pagan (also known as neo-pagan) religious movement is Wicca, followed by Neodruidism. Both of the ...
from a
sociological
Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociology was coined in ...
standpoint, discussing the history and various forms of the movement. It contains excerpts from many interviews with average Pagans, as well as with well-known leaders and organizers in the community.
The first edition of the book sold 30,000 copies.
Successive versions have included over one hundred and fifty pages of additional text and an updated contacts section. It has been praised by
Theodore Roszak,
Susan Brownmiller
Susan Brownmiller (born Susan Warhaftig; February 15, 1935 – May 24, 2025) was an American journalist, author, and feminist activist, best known for her 1975 book '' Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape'', which was selected by The New ...
, ''
The New York Times Book Review
''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
'' and the ''Journal of the
American Academy of Religion
The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world's largest association of scholarly method, scholars in the List of academic disciplines, field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association,
serving as a profess ...
''.
Background
Paganism and Wicca in the United States
Contemporary Paganism, which is also referred to as Neo-Paganism, is an
umbrella term
Hypernymy and hyponymy are the wikt:Wiktionary:Semantic relations, semantic relations between a generic term (''hypernym'') and a more specific term (''hyponym''). The hypernym is also called a ''supertype'', ''umbrella term'', or ''blanket term ...
used to identify a wide variety of
modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various
pagan
Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...
beliefs of pre-modern Europe.
[ Carpenter 1996. p. 40.] The religion of Pagan Witchcraft, or
Wicca
Wicca (), also known as "The Craft", is a Modern paganism, modern pagan, syncretic, Earth religion, Earth-centred religion. Considered a new religious movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion, the path evolved from Western esote ...
, is one of a number of different Pagan religions, and developed in England during the first half of the 20th century. The figure at the forefront of Wicca's early development was the English occultist
Gerald Gardner
Gerald Brosseau Gardner (13 June 1884 – 12 February 1964), also known by the craft name Scire, was an English Wiccan, author, and amateur anthropology, anthropologist and archaeology, archaeologist. He was instrumental in bringing the Moder ...
(1884-1964), the author of ''
Witchcraft Today'' (1954) and ''
The Meaning of Witchcraft'' (1959) and the founder of a tradition known as
Gardnerian Wicca. Gardnerian Wicca revolved around the veneration of both a
Horned God
The Horned God is one of the two primary deities found in Wicca and some related forms of Neopaganism.
The term ''Horned God'' itself predates Wicca, and is an early 20th-century syncretism, syncretic term for a horned or antlered anthropomorp ...
and a
Mother Goddess
A mother goddess is a major goddess characterized as a mother or progenitor, either as an embodiment of motherhood and fertility or fulfilling the cosmological role of a creator- and/or destroyer-figure, typically associated the Earth, sky, ...
, the celebration of eight seasonally-based festivals in a
Wheel of the Year
The Wheel of the Year is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals, observed by a range of Modern paganism, modern pagans, marking the year's chief solar events (solstices and equinoxes) and the midpoints between them. Modern pagan observances are ...
and the practice of magical rituals in groups known as
coven
A coven () is a group or gathering of Witchcraft, witches. The word "coven" (from Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman ''covent, cuvent'', from Old French ''covent'', from Latin ''conventum'' = convention) remained largely unused in English lan ...
s. Gardnerianism was subsequently brought to the U.S. in the early 1960s by an English initiate,
Raymond Buckland
Raymond Buckland (31 August 1934 – 27 September 2017), whose craft name was Robat, was an English writer on the subject of Wicca and the occult, and a significant figure in the history of Wicca, of which he was a high priest in both the Ga ...
(1934-2017), and his then-wife Rosemary, who together founded a coven in
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
.
In the U.S., new variants of Wicca developed, including
Dianic Wicca, a tradition founded in the 1970s which was heavily influenced by
second wave feminism
Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades, ending with the feminist sex wars in the early 1980s and being replaced by third-wave feminism in the early 1990s. It occurred t ...
, rejecting the veneration of the Horned God and emphasizing female-only covens. One initiate of both the Dianic and Gardnerian traditions, who used the pseudonym of
Starhawk (1951-), later founded her own tradition,
Reclaiming Wicca, as well as publishing ''
The Spiral Dance: a Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess'' (1979), through which she helped to spread Wicca throughout the U.S.
Adler and her research
In 1976, Adler publicly announced that Viking Press had offered her a book contract to undertake the first wide-ranging study of American Paganism.
[ Lloyd 2012. pp. 235]
Synopsis

Drawing Down the Moon chronicles the rise and diversification of contemporary Pagan religions across the United States from the mid‑1970s through the early 2000s. Adler divides her narrative into three broad phases:
* Origins and Foundations (Chapters 1–4): Adler traces the history of Neopaganism back to European occult revivals and the birth of Wicca under Gerald Gardner, then follows its transplantation to North America via figures like Raymond Buckland and Zsuzsanna Budapest. She profiles early covens, the role of feminist spirituality, and the publication of key works such as The Spiral Dance (1979) .
* Community Building (Chapters 5–8): Drawing on extensive interviews, Adler paints vivid portraits of regional gatherings (e.g., Pagan Spirit Gathering), coven life, and the emergence of specialized traditions—Dianic, Alexandrian, Reclaiming, and Heathenry. She highlights key festivals, ritual innovations, and the role of print and mail networks in fostering a national movement .
* Institutionalization and Diversity (Chapters 9–12): Adler examines how Paganism matured into a pluralistic constellation of schools, from GreenCraft ecology‑focused covens to reconstructionist Heathen groups. She addresses internal debates over gender, race, and authenticity, and surveys Pagan involvement in ecological activism and interfaith dialogue .
Republication
1986 revision
In 1986, Adler published a revised second edition of ''Drawing Down the Moon'', much expanded with new information. Identifying several new trends that had occurred in American Paganism since 1979, Adler recognized that in the intervening seven years, U.S. Pagans had become increasingly self-aware of Paganism as a movement, something which she attributed to the increasing number of Pagan festivals.
One reviewer noted that the alterations made for the 1986 edition "often creates a vivid contrast with events and persons first described in 1979."
[ Herndobler 1987.]
1996 revision
In the 1996 third edition, Adler added over 150 pages of new material to reflect seven years of growth and change in the Pagan movement:
* Expanded tradition profiles: New sections on GreenCraft, Afro‑Diasporic Paganisms, and the rise of online Pagan networking.
* Interfaith engagement: A chapter on Pagan representation at world religious conferences, documenting the formation of the Council of Interfaith Communities .
* Demographic data: Inclusion of the first mailed survey results estimating U.S. Pagan population at 150,000–250,000, from a 1994 National Census of Pagan Religions conducted by the Association of Round Table Pagans .
* Reflections on growth challenges: Discussion of organizational fragmentation, commercialization of Witchcraft paraphernalia, and debates over political activism within Pagan circles .
These additions cemented the book’s status as the definitive sociological survey of American Paganism in the late 20th century
2006 revision
The 2006 edition includes a new section on Greencraft (pp. 127–129), a Wiccan tradition emerging out of an
Alexandrian Wicca
Alexandrian Wicca or Alexandrian Witchcraft is a tradition of the Neopagan religion of Wicca, founded by Alex Sanders (also known as "King of the Witches") who, with his wife Maxine Sanders, established the tradition in the United Kingdom in t ...
coven
A coven () is a group or gathering of Witchcraft, witches. The word "coven" (from Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman ''covent, cuvent'', from Old French ''covent'', from Latin ''conventum'' = convention) remained largely unused in English lan ...
, which features its own
rune
Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets, known as runic rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see '' futhark'' vs ''runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were primarily used to represent a sound value (a ...
alphabet and a non-
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
form of
Kabbalah
Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...
based on work by Neopagan author
R. J. Stewart; it emphasizes the practice of Wicca as a nature religion and as a
mystery religion
Mystery religions, mystery cults, sacred mysteries or simply mysteries (), were religious schools of the Greco-Roman world for which participation was reserved to initiates ''(mystai)''. The main characteristic of these religious schools was th ...
. It also gives a more complete and sympathetic treatment of the Northern European Neopagan revivals grouped under the rubric "
Heathenism," which she admits to having consciously omitted from the first edition because of discomfort with the more conservative social values of this form of Pagan revival, and because some far-right and even
neo-Nazi
Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
groups were using it as a front for their activities at the time (pp. 286–296). And she prefaces her chapter "Women, Feminism, and the Craft," which discusses the emergence of
feminist forms of Neopaganism, with discussion of how her personal feelings about such groups have changed, but "decided to leave the chapter pretty much as is, with a few minor corrections, and address the question of feminist spirituality today at the end."
Reception
Academic reviews
Writing in the ''
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
The ''Journal of the American Academy of Religion'', formerly the ''Journal of Bible and Religion'', is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). The ''JAAR'' was es ...
'', Mara E. Donaldson of the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...
commented that Adler's book provided an "extensive study of paganism" that "demythologizes" the movement "without being sentimental or self-righteous." Considering it to be a "serious corrective to common misconceptions" propagated in the media, Donaldson stated that it was "worth reading" despite what she herself perceived as "neopaganism's weaknesses", namely the movement's lack of "historical-traditional-cultural memory" and a lack of "sensitivity to the Western problem of evil".
In a 1996 paper discussing the various sociological studies that had then been made of Paganism, the sociologist
Sarah M. Pike noted that ''Drawing Down the Moon'' had gone "a long way towards answering the question" as to "what makes these
agan ritualactivities valid and viable to those who engage in them". In doing so, Pike believed that Adler's work was an improvement on earlier sociological studies of the movement, namely that of
Nachman Ben-Yehuda, which Pike felt had failed to answer this question.
[ Pike 1996. p. 362.] Noting Adler's position as a practicing Wiccan, and the impact which this would have on her study, Pike however felt that the book was "less defensive and apologetic than sociological studies conducted by many supposedly objective "outsiders"."
Summarizing ''Drawing Down the Moon'' as being "unmatched" in its "sweeping survey" of the Pagan movement, Pike notes that in providing an overview of the subject it failed to focus on "detailed examination of specific issues and events."
[ Pike 1996. p. 363.]
Other reviews
Writing for ''The Women's Review of Books'', Robin Herndobler praised Adler's "clear, graceful prose", and the manner in which she had written about Paganism "with interest and compassion."
Influence
Pagan community
Writing in his later biography of
Eddie Buczynski, the Pagan independent scholar Michael G. Lloyd noted that Adler's book was a marked departure from earlier books dealing with Pagan Witchcraft which continued to equate it with either historical Early Modern witchcraft or Satanism.
In her 1999 study of American Wiccans, ''
A Community of Witches'', the sociologist
Helen A. Berger
Helen Alice Berger (born 1949) is an American sociologist known for her studies of the Pagan community in the United States.
Life and career
Helen Berger, then an assistant professor at Boston University, first became involved in the study of ...
noted that ''Drawing Down the Moon'' had been influential in getting many Wiccans to accept the non-existence of a historical
Witch-Cult from which their religion descended. Along with
Starhawk's ''
Dreaming the Dark'' (1982), Adler's book politicized practices of Paganism and witchcraft by emphasizing their radical and feminist aspects, and as a result drew many
radical feminists into their orbit.
Academia
In her sociological study of American Paganism, Loretta Orion, author of ''
Never Again the Burning Times: Paganism Revisited'' (1995), noted that she had "benefitted" from Adler's study, believing that it contained "insightful reflections" on those whom it was studying.
[ Orion 1995. p. 7.]
Editions
* Original edition 1979, hardcover, (Viking, New York)
* Original edition 1979, paperback, (Beacon Press, Boston)
* Revised edition 1986, paperback, (Beacon Press, Boston)
* Revised edition 1996, paperback, (Penguin, New York)
* Revised edition 2006, paperback, (Penguin, New York)
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
;Academic books and papers
*
1997 rev. and expand. edition*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
;Book reviews
*
*
;Other sources
*
Reviews
*Bittner, Amy
*Dangler, Michael
*Donaldson, Mara E. Untitled review in ''Journal of the American Academy of Religion'', Vol. 50, No. 2 (Jun., 1982), pp. 303–304.
Interviews
* ''The Wiccan / Pagan Times''
{{Authority control
1979 non-fiction books
Pagan studies books
Modern paganism in the United States
Viking Press books
Books about folklore
1970s in modern paganism
English-language non-fiction books
Books about modern paganism