A Song of Wood and Water: The ecofeminist turn in 1970s-1980s British Paganism

This chapter will highlight the turn towards ecofeminist ideology and praxis among adherents of Contemporary Paganism(s) in the Western world and will centre on its emergence during the 1970s and 1980s. Focusing the analysis on Britain, the Pagan magazine scene of the period will be examined, with Wood and Water-a feminist-inclined Pagan publication-and the milieu associated with it “serving” please, as a case study. Following an introduction to Contemporary Paganism and Goddess Feminism, I will broadly examine the rise and development of feminist and ecological discourses within the Pagan milieu and then proceed to focus on Wood and Water magazine, the ecofeminist community that revolved around it, and its embeddedness in the British Pagan scene during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s.