Pagan Studies in Canada

A bibliography of books, articles, and conference papers compiled by Mandy Furney.

Books and Articles


Beaman, Lori G. 2006. Wicked Witches of the West: Exploring Court Treatments of Wicca as a Religion in Between the Worlds: Readings in Contemporary Paganism. Ed. Sian Reid. Toronto: CSPI / Women's Press.

Bird, Frederick & William Reimer 1976. New Religions and Para-religious Movements in Montreal in Religion in Canadian Society. Ed. by Stewart Crysdale and Les Wheatcroft, 307-320. Toronto: The MacMillan Co. of Canada.

Bowman, Marion. 2000. Nature, the Natural and Pagan Identity DISKUS 6.

Cailleach, Scathlatch Mac. 1979. La pratique de la sorcellerie. Des luttes et des rires de femmes. Tribune d'échange et de liaison des femmes. 3(3): 26-7.

Charbonneau, Marisol. 2007. The Melting Cauldron: Ethnicity, Diversity and Identity in a Contemporary Pagan Subculture. Pomegranate 9(1): 5-21.

Cheal, David and Jane Leverick. 1999. Working Magic in Neo-Paganism. Journal of Ritual Studies 13(1): 7-19.

Cholette, Marie-Michèle. 1979. Les sorcières, ça vous dit quelque chose? Des luttes et des rires de femmes. Tribune d'échange et de liaison des femmes. 3(3):19.

Cholette, Marie-Michèle. 1979. La Déesse aux mille visages. Des luttes et des rires de femmes. Tribune d'échange et de liaison des femmes 3(3): 24-5.

Choquette, Diane. 1985. New Religious Movements in the United States and Canada. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Cowan, Doug E. 2005. Cyberhenge: Modern Pagans on the Internet. Routledge.

D'Amour, Morelle. 1983. Sorcelerie vit. Canadian Woman Studies / Les cahiers de la femme, 5(2): 62-64.

Davis, Philip G. 1998. Goddess Unmasked: The Rise of Neopagan Feminist Spirituality. Dallas: Spence Publishing.

Davy, Barbara Jane. 2005. Being at Home in Nature: A Levinisian Approach to Pagan Environmental Ethics. Pomegranate 7(2): 157-172.

Davy, Barbara Jane. 2006. Introduction to Pagan Studies. Walnut Creek, MA: AltaMira Press.

Davy, Barbara Jane. 2006. Definitions and Expressions of Nature Religion in Shamanic Traditions and Contemporary Paganism in Between the Worlds: Readings in Contemporary Paganism. Ed. Sian Reid. Toronto: CSPI / Women's Press.

DuFresne, Lucie. 1997. Essentialism, Feminism, Women and Witches. U. of Ottawa. unpublished.

DuFresne, Lucie. 1997. Mother and Goddess - The Ideological Force of Symbols. Canadian Woman Studies / Les cahiers de la femme. 101-02.

DuFresne, Lucie. 1997. Losers, Weepers, Finders, Keepers. Canadian Woman Studies / Les cahiers de la femme. 116-18.

DuFresne, Lucie. 1999. A la Recherche des Mots pour le Vivre ... Canadian Folklore Canadian. 203-209.

DuFresne, Lucie. 2006. Mother and Goddess: The Ideological Force of Symbols in Between the Worlds: Readings in Contemporary Paganism. Ed. Síân Reid. Toronto: CSPI / Women's Press.

Fortin, Anne. 1983. Les sorcières: une alternative? Dérives, 36:17-29.

Gaboury, Eve. 1990. Enquête sur le monde des sorcières - De nouveaux voisinages pour l'imaginaire féminin. Recherches féministes 3(2): 133-147. Reprinted (1998) in Canadian Folklore Canadian, 91-106.

Gaboury, Eve. 1991. Écho d'une présence: rencontre du troisième type avec des sorcières modernes in Revue internationale d'action communautaire (RIAC), Jean-Marc Larouche et Guy Ménard (eds). Montréal: Université de Montréal. 26.66(1991) 139-146.

Gaboury, Eve. 1995. Ou, à défaut, invente: La sorcellerie néo-païenne comme lieu d'épanouissement du processus créateur gynocentrique dans Femmes et religions: Études sur les femmes et la religion. No.1. Denise Veillette (ed.). Québec: Corporation canadienne des sciences religieuses / Les Presses de l'Université Laval.

Goldenberg, Naomi. 1982/1994. Feminist Witchcraft: Controlling Our Own Inner Space, in The Politics of Women's Spirituality, 312-318. NY: Doubleday.

Guignard, Lise. 1995. L'art de l'enchantement - une introduction. Ottawa: Les Éditions Lise-Marie.

Jamieson-Williams, Neil. 2008. A field guide to modern Pagans in Hamilton, Ontario. Burlington, ON: Australopithecine Press.

Klassen, Chris. 2001. How Women are Defined (By the Goddess?): A Re-examination of Carol Christ’s Reflections. In Feminism(s) on the Edge of the Millennium: Rethinking Foundations and Future Debates. Eds, Krista Hunt and Christine Saulnier, 75-85. Toronto: Inanna Publications and Education.

Klassen, Chris. 2002. Cybercoven: Being a Witch Online. Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses. 31(1): 51-62.

Klassen, Chris. 2003. Crafting the Imagination: Feminist Witchcraft as a Speculative Movement. Religiologiques. 27: 89-102.

Klassen, Chris. 2005. The Goddess and/as the Cyborg: Nature and Technology in Feminist Witchcraft. The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies 7(2): 173-193.

Klassen, Chris. 2005. The Infertile Goddess: A Challenge to Maternal Imagery in Feminist Witchcraft. Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering. 7(1): 45-51.

Klassen, Chris. 2006. The Colonial Mythology of Feminist Witchcraft in Between the Worlds: Readings in Contemporary Paganism. Ed. Síân Reid. Toronto: CSPI / Women's Press.

Klassen, Chris, ed.. 2009. Feminist spirituality: The next generation. Lexington Books.

Marron, Kevin. 1989. Witches, Pagans and Magic in the New Age. Toronto: Seal Books.

Myers, Brendan Cathbad. 2004. Dangerous Religion: Environmental Spirituality and its Activist Dimension. El Sobrante, CA: Dubsar House.

Myers, Brendan Cathbad.2008. A Pagan testament: The literary heritage of the world's oldest new religion. O Books.

Nemani, F. Tsipporah. 1983. The Role of Ritual in Consciousness Changing. Canadian Woman Studies / Les cahiers de la femme. 5(2): 64-7.

Rabinovitch, Shelley TSivia. 2000. Heal the Universe and Heal the Self: Bateson’s Double-Bind and North American Wiccan Practice. DISKUS 6.

Rabinovitch, Shelley TSivia & James R. Lewis. 2002. Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft. New York: Citadel Press.

Reid, Sian. 1996. 'As I do Will, So Mote it Be': Magic as Metaphor in Neopagan Witchcraft in Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft. James Lewis (ed). Albany: State University of NY Press, 141-167.

Reid, Sian. 2005. Renovating the Broom Closet: Factors Contributing to the Growth of Contemporary Paganism in Canada. Pomegranate 7(2): 128-140.

Reid, Sian (ed). 2006. Between the Worlds: Readings in Contemporary Neopaganism. Canadian Scholar’s Press. Toronto.

Reid, Sian. 2006. Witch Wars: Factors Contributing to Conflict in Canadian Witchcraft Communities in Between the Worlds: Readings in Contemporary Paganism. Ed. Sian Reid. Toronto: CSPI / Women's Press.

Reid, Sian. 2006. Two Souls in One Body: Ethical and Methodolgical Implications of Studying What You Know in Religion and Canadian Society: Traditions, Transitions, and Innovations. Ed. Lori G. Beaman, 146-156. Toronto: CSPI.

Reid, Sian Lee & Shelley Tsivia Rabinovitch. 2004. Witches, Wiccans, and Neo-Pagans: A Review of Current Academic Treatments of Neo-Paganism in The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements. Ed. James R. Lewis. Oxford University Press.

Telford-Keogh. 2009. Queering Feminist Witchcraft in Feminist Spirituality: The Next Generation. Ed. Chris Klassen. Lanham, MD:Lexington Books.

Trent, Bill. 1971. The Witchcraft Boom in Canada in Witchcraft Today. Martin Ebon (ed). Signet Mystic Book. New American Library of Canada Ltd. pp.48-52.

Wagar, Samuel. 2009. The Wiccan "Great Rite" - Hieros Gamos in the Modern West. Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 21(2): np.

Young, Susan M. 2004. The Founding Fathers of Wicca. Axis Mundi.

Zwissler, Laurel. 2007. Spiritual but Religious: 'Spirituality' Among Religiously Motivated Feminist Activists. Culture and Religion. 8(1): 51-69.

Conference and Unpublished Papers; Theses and Dissertations

Aitken, Brian. 2007. Paddle and sail: Pursuing the vision quest in the Anishnabe and Irish Celtic traditions. Presented to Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

Armstrong, Allison. 2005. Raising Earth's Children: Neo-Pagan Parentig in Canada Today. Presented to Gaia Gathering.

Beaman, Lori G. 2000. "Non-Conforming" Religions in Canada and Freedom of Religion: The Case of Wicca. unpublished.

Bitney, Frances. 2007. The Portrayal of Witches, Witchcraft and WIcca in Role Playing Games. Presented to Gaia Gathering.

Bitney, Katherine. 2007. Moster in the Margins. Presented to Gaia Gathering.

Blain, Jenny. 2005. Paganism and Heathenry in Canada and the UK: A Personal Journey. Presented to Gaia Gathering.

Charbonneau, Marisol. 2005. The Melting Cauldron: Ethnicity, Tradition, and Identity in Neo-Pagan Subculture. Presented to Gaia Gathering.

Dion, Nicholas. 2006. What Exactly is a Wiccan Man Supposed to be Like? Presented to Gaia Gathering.

Dion, Nicholas. 2006. Worshipping the Dark: Expressions of the Jungian Archetype of the Shadow in Wiccan Ideals of Spiritual Development. Presented to the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

DuFresne, Lucie. 1994. La spiritualité féminine contemporaine et ses rapports avec la sorcellerie du Moyen Age. U. of Ottawa. unpublished.

DuFresne, Lucie. 1995. Wicca — Reclaiming Paradise as a Post-Christian Strategy. Presented to the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

DuFresne, Lucie. 1995. 'As Above, So Below' - Sacred Text as Social Charter - The Wiccan Wine Blessing. U. of Ottawa. unpublished.

DuFresne, Lucie. 1998. Influences of Neo-Shamanism on Wiccan Practices in Ottawa. Canada. Presented to Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association.

DuFresne, Lucie. 2000. Etre sorcière, le sommes nous toutes? RéSAFF, Ottawa. novembre 2000. unpublished.

DuFresne, Lucie. 2001. Etre ou ne pas être selon les normes: la lutte contre l'institutionalisation au sein du mouvement néo-païen en Amérique du Nord. ACFAS mai 2001, U. de Sherbrooke. unpublished.

DuFresne, Lucie. 2005. Finding the Words to Live By - Francophone Canadian Paganism and the Cognitive Dissonances of Living in Translation. Presented to Gaia Gathering.

DuFresne, Lucie & Shelley Rabinovitch. 1996. Which Witch is Which? Recasting Historical Nightmares as Utopian Visions. Presented to the Middle Ages in Contemporary Popular Culture Conference, McMaster University.

Furney, Mandy. 2003. Creative Formations: Pagans and the Electronic Frontier. Presented to the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

Furney, Mandy. 2003. Witches and mediums, Spiritualism and Wicca: A study of the Spiritualist influence on contemporary Witchcraft. Memorial University of Newfoundland. unpublished.

Furney, Mandy. 2004. A nature-based religion in the city: Contemporary North American Pagan relationships with urban environments. MA thesis. St. John’s, NL: Memorial University.

Furney, Mandy. 2004. Urban Paganism: Envisioning the City as Sacred Space. Presented to the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

Furney, Mandy. 2006. The public faces of NRMs: Paganism, a new religious movement in Canada. Presented to the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

Furney, Mandy. 2006. Quirky Neighbours or Occult Corruptors of Youth? Pagans in the newsmedia. Presented to the Consultation on Contemporary Pagan Studies 2006 and Gaia Gathering 2007.

Gaboury, Eve. 1989. Confluence du néo-paganisme et du féminisme chez les Québécoises: le discours de quelques sorcières. MA thesis, U. of Ottawa. unpublished.

Gagnon, Mireille. 2003. La Mouvance Wiccane au Quebec: Un Portrait de la Sorcellerie Contemporaine. MA Thesis. l'Universite Laval.

Gagnon, Mireille. 2006. The Canadian History of Wicca: Obstacles on the Path of the Uninitiated Researcher. Presented to Association for the Sociology of Religion.

Guignard, Lise. 1991. Reportage: La sorcellerie — toujours bien vivante au Canada. U. de Sherbrooke. unpublished.

Hastings, Heather. 1998. The Wiccan Religion: A Case Study of Symbolic Community. MA Thesis. University of New Brunswick.

Ivakhiv, Adrian. 2003. Ukranian Neo-Pagan groups. Presented to the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

Ivakhiv, Adrian. 2005. Nature, ethnicity and the 'Ecology of Culture' in East European Paganism. Presented to the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

Klassen, Chris. 1999. Postcolonial Possibilities: Border Crossings in Starhawk’s The Fifth Sacred Thing. Presented for the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

Klassen, Chris. 1999. Maiden, Mother and Crone: An Integration of the Sacred and the Profane in Embodied Time. Presented at the American Academy of Religion Eastern International Regional meeting.

Klassen, Chris. 2000. How Women Are Defined (By the Goddess?): A Re-examination of Carol Christ's Reflections. Presented at the 12th Annual Interdisciplinary Feminist Graduate Colloquium, York University.

Klassen, Chris. 2001. 'What do you have to do, to lay your mother to rest': Reconciling Human Mothers and Goddess Mothers in Starhawk's Fiction. Presented at the "Mothering, Literature, Popular Culture and the Arts" Conference put on by The Association for Research on Mothering, York University.

Klassen, Chris. 2001. Practical Magic: Representations of Witchcraft and Women’s Power in Popular Culture. Presented for the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

Klassen, Chris. 2001. My Mother, My Lover: How Goddess Imagery Can Disrupt Conventional Sexuality. Presented at the "Mothering, Sex and Sexuality" Conference put on by The Association for Research on Mothering, York University.

Klassen, Chris. 2002. Crafting the Imagination: Feminist Witchcraft as a Speculative Movement. Presented in the "Women, Religion and the Imagination" panel for the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion and the Canadian Women’s Studies Association.

Klassen, Chris. 2003. The Infertile Goddess: Challenging Maternal Imagery in Feminist Witchcraft. Presented at the "Mothering, Religion and Spirituality" conference put on by the Association for Research on Mothering, York University.

Klassen, Chris. 2003. Feminist Witchcraft as a Postcolonial Movement? Exploring Metaphors for Understanding Goddess Pre-history. Presented for the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

Klassen, Chris. 2003. The Patriarchal Invaders: Themes of Colonization, Victimization and Oppression in Feminist Witchcraft. Presented at the annual Centre for the Study of Religion Graduate Symposium, University of Toronto.

Klassen, Chris. 2004. Mother Goddess Imagery in Feminist Witchcraft. Presented for the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

Klassen, Chris. 2005. What Was, What Is and What Should Be: Exploring Utopian Mythology in Feminist Witchcraft. Presented at the American Academy of Religion Eastern International Regional meeting.

Klassen, Chris. 2006. Storied Selves: Technologies of Identity in Feminist Witchcraft. PhD Dissertation. York University. Toronto.

Klassen, Chris. 2006. Which Witch is Which: Challenges in Defining Modern Witchcraft with Kathryn Assaff, Religion and Culture Department Colloquium, Wilfrid Laurier University.

Klassen, Chris & Mandy Furney. 2007. Sacred Nature and Urban Place: Not all Pagans live in trees. Presented to Environmental Studies Association of Canada.

Klassen, Chris. 2009.Reading Pagan environmental ethics through the lens od Charles Taylor. Presented to Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

Klassen, Chris. 2010. Nature is everything, except for...: A preliminary cartography of the sacred in Canadian contemporary Paganism. Presented to Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

Lawrence, Austin. 2006. NeoPaganism: Genuine Invented Tradition in Late Modernity. Presented to Toronto Pagan Conference.

Leverick, Jane. 2004. Witches in Wonderland: Neo-Pagans, Civial Society and Citizenship. Presented to the Consultation on Contemporary Pagan Studies.

Leverick, Jane. 2006. Institutionalised Witchcraft?: Practice and Process of Organisation. Presented to CSSR and Gaia Gathering.

Leverick, Jane. 2007. Institutionalisation and Contemporary Western Witchcraft: When Binaries Dance a Tango. Presented to Gaia Gathering.

McGovern, Catherine. 2007. The Canon from the Cauldron: The Emerging Bible of Witchcraft. Presented to Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

Murray, Janet Anne. 2002. Rising from the Ashes: Wicca and the Reclamation of Women. MA Thesis. Laurentian University.

Myers, Brendan Cathbad. 2001. Dangerous Religion - Animism, Spirit and Environmental Activism. M.A. Thesis. University of Guelph.(published 2004)

Ostling, Michael. 2003. Who Chooses Which is Witch? Presented to the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

Ostling, Michael. 2005. Of Woman Wailing for Her Demon Lover: Sex, the Satanic Pact, and Folk-Belief in ths Polish Witch-Trials. Presented to AAR.

Pearce, Maryanne. 2000. Something Old, Something New: “The Old Religion” in the Modern World. MA Thesis. University of Western Ontario.

Pearce, Maryann. 2006. "All Acts of Love and Pleasure are My Rituals": Queer and Straight Responses to Heterosexism in Neo-Paganism.

Rabinovitch, Shelley Tsivia. 1991. The Institutionalization of Wicca within Ontario through the Wiccan Church of Canada. unpublished

Rabinovitch, Shelley Tsivia. 1992. 'An Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will': Neo-pagans and witches in Canada. MA Thesis, Dept. of Religion, Carleton University. Ottawa. Unpublished

Rabinovitch, Shelley Tsivia. 1993. Wiccan and Neo-Pagan Worship in Canada. University of Ottawa. unpublished.

Rabinovitch, Shelley Tsivia. 2005. Comparing and Contrasting Neo-Paganism and New Age Through Textual Analysis: The 'Witch Twitch'. Presented to Gaia Gathering.

Reid, Sian. 1992. A Portrait of Janus: The Social Construction of Witchcraft in The Ottawa Citizen 1980-1989. MA Thesis. Dept. of Religion. Carleton University. Ottawa. unpublished

Reid, Sian. 1994. The Structure of Privilege: Neo-pagan Witchcraft and the Institutional Sanction of Religion in Canada. Prepared for the American Academy of Religion.

Reid, Sian. 2001. Disorganized Religion: An Exploration of the Neopagan Craft in Canada. PhD Thesis. Carleton University. Ottawa.

Reid, Sian. 2005. 'Who Are The Witches, Where Do They Come From?': Demography, Cultural Trends, and the Once and Future History of WItchcraft in Canada. Presented to Gaia Gathering and Toronto Pagan Conference.

Reid, Sian. 2007. The Soul of Soulless Conditions: Paganism, Goddess Religion and Witchcraft in Canada. Presented to Gaia Gathering.

Reid, Sian. forthcoming. “Canadian Pagan survey project 2005-6”.

Roberts, Rosemary. 2007. Exploring Religious Syncretism in Montreal's Contemporary Pagan Community. Presented to Gaia Gathering.

Roberts, Rosemary. 2009. “It's all a giant Web”: syncretism, agency and (re)connection in a contemporary Pagan community. M.Sc., Anthropology, Faculté des arts et des sciences, Université de Montréal, Montreal.

Roberts, Rosemary.2010. The Reclaiming community of Montreal: An ethnographic study. Working paper.

Rowlatt, Linnea. 2009. God and the Goddess in the Gardens of Glastonbury. Presented to Candaian Society for the Study of Religion

Sandislands, Catriona A.H. 1988. Spirituality and Praxis: Witchcraft and Neo-paganism in Canada. MA Thesis. Dept. of Sociology. York University. Unpublished

Slade, Mary. 1989. The Fire Inside: An Introduction to Witchcraft in Canada. Honours Thesis. Dept. of Sociology & Anthropology. Carleton University. Unpublished

Strimiska, Michael. 2003. The Role of Music in Baltic Neopaganism. Presented to the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

Swain, Eleanor. 2003. Neo-Paganism, Feminism, and Anthropological Gender Discourse. MA Thesis. University of Guelph.

Tyrrell, Marc. 1992. Strands of Moonlight - An Examination of the Institutionalization Process Amongst Neo-Pagan Witches in Ottawa. MA thesis. Institute for Canadian Studies. Carleton University. unpublished.

Wagar, Sam. 2006. An Explanation and Understanding of Wiccan Ritual: Approaching a Deviant Religious Discourse in the Modern West. Presented to Gaia Gathering.

Williams, Katherine Dilys. 1973. A Content Analysis of Witchcraft: 1909-1972. Honours Thesis. Department of Sociology & Anthropology. Carleton University. unpublished.

Williams, Neil. 1991. Drums and Thunder - An Example of the Witchcraft Process Among Neopagan Witches in Southern Ontario. Presented to North Eastern Anthropology Association Meeting. unpublished.

Williams, Neil. 1991. Quest for a Tribe - Neopaganism as a Nativistic Movement in Contemporary North America. Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology. University of Guelph. unpublished.

Zwissler, Laurel. 2004. Right Action: Uses of Ritual in Anti-Globalization Protests by Neo-Pagan, United Church and Catholic Activists. Presented to the American Academy of Religion.

Zwissler, Laurel. 2006. Change Yourself or Change the World? Activist Ritual in a Toronto Pagan Collective. Presented to the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

Zwissler, Laurel. 2006. Public Spirituality, Personal Religion: Pagan Activists and Political Community. Presented to the Consultation on Contemporary Pagan Studies.

**If you know of additional studies of Paganism in Canada, please contact mdfurney(at)uwaterloo.ca **

Last Updated 09/04/2010.