Book title and author: Strange Experience: The Autobiography of a Hexenmeister by Lee R. Gandee
Status: Finished
My overall rating of the book: 8/10
How does this book relate to my magical practice?
As a Braucher/Hexenmeister myself, this book provides insight into a practicing Hexenmeister’s life and practices. Through hearing about the life experience of Gandee, I have been able to see several parallels between his life and mine, and getting to hear how his life experiences shaped his philosophy and practice was interesting to me.
My personal thoughts/opinions
First and foremost, I need to point out that this book requires some trigger/content warnings. The author was from a time and culture where terminology and the way things such as race, sexuality, gender, ability status, etc. were discussed in very different ways. The author even at one point states that his family was on the side of the Confederacy during the American Civil War – that statement alone gives an indication as to how certain things are discussed. However, I can assume that, given some of the life experiences of the author in re: race, gender expression, sexuality, ability status, etc., he is not necessarily antagonistic toward any historically “othered” groups. Just make sure to approach the book and its wording with caution and a grain of salt.
Another caveat to keep in mind is that the practice of Braucherei is rooted in Christianity. (See my post on an overview of Braucherei for more information.)
Yet another caveat to keep in mind is that of terminology used to describe the practice of Braucherei within this book. Gandee often uses the term “Hex” as a label for himself. From my research and everything else I’ve read, the term “Hex” was used by descendants of German-speaking immigrants in a pejorative way – it had the same connotation in the local German dialects as the term “witch” in the English language throughout history. Gandee didn’t explicitly discuss his use of the term “Hex,” but from my reading, it felt like it may have been used to reclaim the power the way people choose to identify as a witch today to take the power back from those who use it in a pejorative manner. Technically speaking, Gandee was a “Hexenmeister,” as that term, although still viewed with skepticism by German-speaking peoples in America due to the nature of the practice, was not viewed in a purely pejorative light as with the term “Hex.”
This book was very different from my initial expectations of what I thought it was going to be like. The autobiographies I have read in the past have been fairly linear retellings of the accounts of one’s life. This autobiography was about as far from a linear retelling of one’s life as one could possibly get. It jumped around in time so much that I had a difficult time following. Gandee’s view was that he had memories of some of his past lives, so the timeframe covered spanned several thousand years.
At times, the writing itself was difficult to understand as well. At points, I was wondering if the segments were written under the influence of mind-altering substances. I consider my comprehension to be pretty good, but at times, I was like, “I have literally no idea what’s trying to be said – I’ll just move on…”
This is definitely not a “how to” manual. There are brief explanations of workings throughout the book, but the main focus is on the life of the author – which I suppose is reasonable, given that this book is an autobiography and not an instruction manual… lol
An interesting quote from the book:
“Well, you may not be any more than a speck of dust in a corn field, but you are conscious of something forty light-years away. Think about yourself as a being whose consciousness can reach out to something that distant, and recognize it, and give it a name, and when you wish go back and locate it in something vastly bigger.” (page 94)
“This God is unto each man what that man believes God to be.” (page 111)
“When I saw that even atheists may have Puritan standards as to right and wrong, I began to wonder what unique value religion has. Its practical values seemed to come from psychology, and its helpful effects in controlling behavior, as well as better or worse from ethics or philosophy. All that seemed left was worship, and I found that very difficult in churches. They are not big enough to inspire awe, or beautiful enough to inspire reverence, or quiet enough for meditation. More and more, I became interested in magic, more and more in the God in Nature, less and less in churchly religion.” (page 116)
“Any condition resulting from belief in witchcraft is apparently beyond the reach of ordinary medicine – and beyond the reach of ordinary religious faith, because anyone with enough faith to break a spell is not subject to a spell in the first place. Breaking a spell is as formidable a task as a Hexenmeister ever needs to undertake, so if one is to undertake it, he must do everything possible to create the illusion that he is a Hexenmeister.” (page 322)
All-in-all, would I recommend this book?
I have very mixed feelings about whether I would recommend this book. Overall, I would not necessarily recommend it to anyone who doesn’t have a strong interest in Braucherei. It is a very heavy (literature-wise and emotionally) read, and not something I would recommend to what I call “an armchair practitioner.” To be honest, I don’t know if it’s worth the time to read for most people. However, if you have a strong interest in the practice of Braucherei and Hexenmeister work, then I would recommend it, with reservation. It is a fascinating read, but because the book is out of print, it is very difficult and expensive to procure, and I do not condone the use of pirated versions that can be found online.