okay so i downloaded one of her ebooks and then i was reading through it and i was wondering why people call her fluffy. I also read her teen witch book and it dosent seem fluffy to me . I mean its not a book i would suggest for beggeners but its not completly bad.
I have never read anything by her. Probably should at some point, just don't seem to get around to it. With the Pagans that I have met, it seems that anyone they disagree with is seen as 'fluffy', their reasoning for the term is vague at best and most are unwilling to discuss the whole work of the 'fluffy' just the parts they don't like.
Silver ravenwolf is considered "fluffy" in the sense that she refuses to speak of anything but the "positive" side of magic, and all but states anyone whom even approaches a grey area of thinking or commits a "selfish" act is automaticly a bad person.
Instead of presenting a non biased explanation of her views, she all but says that following a "close your eyes and wish for good things to happen" mindset for magic is ideal or even paramount. Fluffy in the sense it is applied to her is more along the idea of the word Naieve, or biased towards positive thinking as an absolute or cure all
Some people also believe that her work takes unnessary "shots" at other religions, attempts to teach the younger to lie to their parents, and encourages casting spells on other people as a first resolution attempt for any issue. There is also an issue that the history she portrays is inaccurate.
I'll cite two different essays I found on a casual google search, if you prefer to read more indepth the arguements people have against her as an author.
I would like to note that this isn't presented to enforce the idea that believing or enjoying an authors works is wrong but to explain why this one in particular is considered inadaquate by the larger community.
i'll check out those links in a minute Flagg, thanks for sharing.
i'm a bit torn myself on Silver, when i first started out, the library only had 5 books on witchcraft, one was on trials, another was one chapter in a book on cults, one was a spell book, one was by Raymond Buckland and the final was by Silver Ravenwolf. her name kinda stuck me as a turnoff because 'Siver Ravenwolf' to me sounds like a name a Fluffy Bunny would use, and my other wiccan friends told me to stay away. for the past year, i've been rethinking her, it's not so much she doesn't know what she's talking about, she just seems kind of, well, for lack of a better word 'Fluffy'. if you like her, it's fine, but people like Silver kind of rub me the wrong way. my friend could explain it better than i can, i just avoid her work because i know i don't enjoy it. i don't get why people go out of their way to insult her though.
Some of the things she suggests, like the necessity of having a pagan name (Silver Ravenwolf) and so forth also earn her somewhat of a fluffy bunny reputation. She makes many assertions about her particular brand of Wicca as though it is the only form of magic, without really touching upon where it is derived from with any depth.
That is my experience, anyway. Admittedly I am not well versed in her material. I only read one of them when I was first exploring, trying to find more on the occult. She may well provide more details in other books.
She provides a good foundation and understanding in the ritual magic of Wicca. It is important in reading her work however to realize that there is much more to magic than what she offers, both in terms of depth and history as well as options outside of being a witch, a goddess worshiper, etc.
